Online Bachelor of Science in Digital Audiences

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The online Bachelor of Science in Digital Audiences gives students the skills they need to use digital and social media to deepen impact in any industry, including strategy development, digital analytics, SEO and SEM campaigns, paid and organic social campaigns, audience research and more.

Resident tuition | Non-resident tuition
ASU Online offers start dates every 7.5 weeks.
Multiple enrollment sessions throughout the year.
Required number of credits to complete this degree.

Walter Cronkite School of Journalism & Mass Communication

Companies and organizations around the world have a critical and growing need to connect with audiences on digital and social media to increase impact in everything from sales to community cohesion. Corporations, advocacy groups, entrepreneurs, government agencies, community groups, news organizations and nonprofits all need professionals who understand how to reach large online audiences in order to increase sales, advertising, donations, political support and community impact.

The expertise required to leverage online audiences is different from traditional training in public relations. It requires training in social science research, real-time data analysis, digital audience behavior, multimedia content creation, ethics, law, entrepreneurship, project management, writing and public speaking. The online BS in Digital Audiences blends these disciplines in a data-driven, hands-on curriculum.

Through required coursework, students learn to measure and analyze how consumers interact with content online, on social media and on mobile devices. Using those measurement skills, students learn how to grow audiences through applying search engine optimization, search engine marketing, paid and organic social media campaigns and audience research in digital content creation. In the program’s capstone experience, students work with real-world clients to create audience-first content and develop, test and execute audience growth strategies in real time.

Throughout the BS in Digital Audiences program, students develop a deep understanding of the ethics, laws, security risks and privacy concerns all digital content creators must weigh in growing and engaging consumers.

Award-winning program:

  • For over 15 years, the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication has earned the best record (96 awards) in the Society of Professional Journalists' national "Mark of Excellence" competition.
  • Cronkite reigns first in the nation for record-breaking Hearst Journalism Awards (the Pulitzer Prizes of college journalism).
  • Cronkite has the best record of any journalism school for the international Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for reporting on social justice issues.
  • Based on student work around video journalism, Cronkite won the very first Edward R. Murrow Award.
  • Cronkite has earned more awards of any school in the nation from the Broadcast Education Association's Festival of Media Arts.
  • Recognized a top leading journalism school in the country by New York Times, USA Today, U.S. News & World Report, the American Journalism Review and The Times of London.

Calendar

Next Start Date:

01/07/19
Most Innovative

Featured Courses

MCO 307: The Digital Audience

Who are the people who make up digital audiences? How do digital audiences behave? And why is it important to research, identify and monitor digital audiences and their engagement with your organization? This course introduces the student to the very essence of the digital audience, exploring how community, consumer, social psychology and theory converge on digital platforms and social networks. Through case-study analyses, students learn how audiences differ across industries and platforms, the elements that engage or dissuade users, and how organizations use audience data to manipulate growth strategies.

MCO 436: Audience Research and Behavior

Prepares students to undertake or manage research on customers, employees, readers, viewers, influencers and others with whom an organization seeks to communicate or build relationships. Digital data have profoundly reshaped how organizations mine and interpret audience data, so the course introduces new techniques and tools for developing audience insights, as well as traditional qualitative and quantitative research methods.

MCO 437: Audience Acquisition and Engagement

Students learn how to attract and grow audiences on established and emerging digital platforms. Students discover tactics and strategies for targeting, obtaining and engaging audiences by leveraging social media, search marketing and SEO, digital content, ecommerce, digital advertising and others.

MCO 438: Digital Audience Analysis

Students discover how to access, manipulate and translate audience data. Students learn how to mine data from Web sites, social networks, apps, email campaigns and video platforms, and how to use analysis tools and techniques to translate metrics into valuable, actionable insights that drive engagement strategies and business decisions. By working with real audience data, students receive hands-on analysis and reporting experience.

MCO 439: Digital Audience Growth

Capstone challenges students to synthesize their digital audience knowledge and skills acquired in the previous courses through an applied project. Working with a real client and live, ever-changing data, students work to increase and engage the client's digital audience, executing a growth campaign from audience identification, targeting and strategy development to implementation, engagement and measurement.
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Faculty

The Cronkite School attracts award-winning professional journalists and world-class media scholars from the country:

  • Former Washington Post Executive Editor Leonard Downie Jr.
  • Former BET Vice President Retha Hill
  • Digital media leader Dan Gillmor
  • Former Sacramento Bee Executive Editor Rick Rodriguez
  • Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter and editor Jacquee Petchel
  • Pulitzer-Prize winning reporter Steve Doig
  • Former Knight Foundation journalism innovator Eric Newton

Program Summary

Total Hours:

120

Related Careers

Graduates with an ASU Online Bachelor of Science in Digital Audiences have career opportunities illustrated in the following list. Career examples include but are not limited to:

  • Social media manager
  • Communications specialist
  • Public relations associate
  • Journalist

Requirements

All students are required to meet general university admission requirements.

Freshman | Transfer | International | Readmission

Affording College

Learn about the different types of financial aid and scholarship opportunities available. ASU offers a Cost Calculator, Budget Worksheet and Scholarship Search to make the college planning process easier.

Don’t meet admission requirements?

You can still earn your way into ASU through the Earned Admission Track. To begin, submit an application to ASU. If Earned Admission is right for you, an enrollment advisor will reach out with more details.

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