Masters students, from left Jay Gong, Alok Parekh and Grace Mellsop.
The Otago Business Schools digital marketing paper has seen a huge jump in the number of masters students taking the paper.
“Digital marketing is in big demand,” lecturer Dr Mathew Parackal says.
The first semester saw 20 students in the class, up from seven in 2023.
Businesses are realising that having an app, or content available on mobile phones, laptops and websites isn’t enough, he says, and that they are merely a method for transporting a message. Businesses need to have content ready to go up on their platforms as part of their brand development.
“It’s a big shift,” he says.
During the semester, his students have worked together in groups to assist one of five local businesses.
Once they’ve completed their masters programme nearly all of his students find work within three to four months of graduating, Dr Parackal says.
The five businesses students worked with this year were Otago Youth Wellness Trust, Living Well Disability Support, Brain Injury Association Otago and Dunedin Track and Trail.
Masters student Grace Mellsop says she “found a love” for digital marketing during her undergraduate degree. She worked with Dr Parackal and Dr Damien Mather over the summer and they both advised her the digital marketing paper would be a good way for her to get some hands-on experience.
Grace, and fellow masters students Jay Gong and Alok Parekh, created a crowdfunding initiative through a social media campaign for Brain Injury Association (BIA) Otago.
“Working with a local non-for-profit organisation was a great opportunity for all of us,” she says.
“It’s been really cool working with them through boosting their social media presence.”
She’s enjoyed learning how to use Facebook Meta Business Suite, to create targeted ads and other “real world skills”.
Jay says he opted to take the paper because he found Dr Parackal and Dr Mathar’s teaching styles “really suit” him and because there is a practical element within it.
“I’m more of a practical person, I enjoy studying the real-world cases,” Jay says.
Alok’s job in his home country, India, featured a little bit of digital marketing and content writing. He says there has been a shift from people using traditional offline marketing methods to using the online medium.
He took the paper because he was keen on learning the basics of digital marketing, and also getting some practical experience.
Working with BIA Otago has helped him understand how important social media is and how it can be used to increase brand awareness.