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Will there ever be an IM major or certificate in university?

by alex84
21 replies
I believe it will come, it could take some years, but there will definitely be an IM major one day. I believe at first it will be 1 course, then there will be a few more, until they can make a major out of it and probably a certificate too.

As the Internet is growing daily in number and popularity, as technologies are improving, business that want to be competitive will need to learn how to do proper IM. I wouldn't be surprised that IM could become bigger than traditional marketing in the future. Once we see that happen, there will definitely be some university programs about it.

What are your thoughts on the subject?
#certificate #major #university
  • Profile picture of the author Alex Liu
    Not sure about that. However, I'm studying in a university right now and majoring in E-business.

    I realized something similar to IM major or certificate is Derek Gehl's course.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ernie Lo
    yes I think there will be one too. It's just a matter of time.

    It will take many years for online business to be perceived as "normal" to the rest of the human race lol..but it will happen.
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    • Profile picture of the author Stanley Tang
      If you refer to internet marketing, as in "create a ebook, write a salesletter, get jv partners to promote" sort of thing (i.e. a mix between direct marketing and information marketing), then no, it's very very unlikely its going to be a major. Because if you think about it, internet marketing is a very small niche. I doubt there are even a million people who are in "internet marketing". It's when you talk about things like small business, e-commerce and web 2.0 where the market gets really big.

      But internet marketing, I don't think so. Probably just "e-commerce" or "e-business"
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      • Profile picture of the author alex84
        Maybe not the write an ebook part, but businesses will get many benefits from using other forms of IM, such as autoresponders, online JV, optimization of their website, etc. Sure if we talk about making an ebook and selling it, that's much more limited. But when many companies will get serious about online marketing, well everyone that knows about IM could benefit from it I believe.

        Probably then we will see in most major universities some IM related courses and programs.

        It's pretty nice to see a university offering a bachelor and masters in IM, I wonder if there are any other.
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        • Profile picture of the author Martin Luxton
          Alex,

          Interesting you posted this because a local university is interested in having a visiting lecturer to teach this for a term.

          Assuming all the students had a small budget and a computer in front of them, what would be your 12 x 3 hour lessons?

          Martin
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          • Profile picture of the author alex84
            Well looking at the courses that Full Sail offer for the Bachelor Degree, I think there are many courses you can do about IM. I am no University teacher, in fact I am still in uni doing my BBA. Having 12 courses of 3 hours, I would probably stay in the basic stuff, but cover a lot of subjects.

            So you start with a class about introduction to Internet marketing. A course on the Internet consumer behavior is pretty important I think, as is Internet business models. After that you can go a bit in the website creation aspect, probably for 2 classes or something. So that would make about 5 classes.

            After that, you can go over the SEO, I would say 1 class for in site SEO and 1 class for off site SEO. Then for the remaining 5 classes you could go over different ways to use IM, such as list building, autoresponders, JV, article writing, forums, blogs.

            There are so many things to talk about that 12 courses would barely start to scratch the surface of IM, as it is a very vast field.
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  • Profile picture of the author Dana_W
    Internet Marketing Master's Degree Online: Full Sail

    Full Sail University offers a master's degree in internet marketing. There are probably other schools that do as well.

    I wonder how much they teach that couldn't be learned here on the WF.
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  • Profile picture of the author Dana_W
    I'd be intrigued to actually see what they really teach in those classes. It looks like they have a one year master's program in internet marketing. Although I feel like the WF is the equivalent of a free IM course, I still think there would be a lot to learn from some of those classes.
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  • Profile picture of the author Andyhenry
    I think this will come - I have lectured at a local University in the UK before on IM so I'm sure others will do the same and grow it into a full course, or add it to marketing courses.

    Andy
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    • Profile picture of the author alex84
      I'm wondering if there would be some opportunity for some savvy businessmen to open a school teaching solely IM. There are so many people that want to learn how to make money online, well why not start a private school about IM and starting an online business. Since there are many types of online business you can start, a school like that could have a few courses. You just need to get a certification from the government, some teachers (now that might be hard to find) and nice courses all well planned and your set. Oh ya and a lot of money for building the school.
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  • Profile picture of the author RRicart
    I know some colleges allow you to hand pick your courses - and kind of design your major so lets say that you choose all web design, programming, marketing, and e-commerce related courses there is your internet marketing major......
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    • Profile picture of the author Martin Luxton
      Another thought I had about this.

      You can get cheaper educational licenses for things like Windows.

      If a marketer could offer their products at a discount and get them included in the curriculum that would be a great long term money spinner.

      Martin
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  • Profile picture of the author Lance K
    Originally Posted by alex84 View Post

    I believe it will come, it could take some years, but there will definitely be an IM major one day. I believe at first it will be 1 course, then there will be a few more, until they can make a major out of it and probably a certificate too.
    I don't know if there will be a separate designation. Maybe. Or maybe it will just be included as part of a regular Marketing degree. Either way, you can bet that "direct marketing" won't get much love.
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    • Profile picture of the author JasonKing
      If they're teaching the tactical stuff, come the end of the semester half of what yo've learned would be out of date.

      -JasonKing
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  • Profile picture of the author Eric Johnson
    I'm sure there will be if there already isn't. People will spend tens of thousands of dollars learning with a few thousand and real world experience would teach them even better.

    Kinda sad...
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  • Profile picture of the author Chris Lockwood
    I love how people keep speculating on whether this degree will ever be offered when there is already a link to one in this thread.
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  • Profile picture of the author MoBuck$
    I don't know about the IM in College. That would seriously change the world.

    If they offered that in College, then most likely everyone would want to go for it.....

    It still might not be a bad idea, but you can find out how to Market like a pro online. There are so many different ways of learning how to.

    I mean people come out with the eBooks that show you, but if you do enough research, you can find the correct ways yourself... Atleast I did.

    So in terms of that... I wouldn't pay a university to show me something that I could easily learn on my own...

    Know what I mean ?
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    • Profile picture of the author Chris Lockwood
      Originally Posted by MoBuck$ View Post

      So in terms of that... I wouldn't pay a university to show me something that I could easily learn on my own...

      The truth is that, even in college, most things are learned on your own, from reading or doing.

      The IM degree is probably intended for people who want to work for a company helping them market online, not someone who wants to run their own business.

      Sometimes it's as much about having the piece of paper to get yourself in the door as it is about your knowledge.
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  • Profile picture of the author MoBuck$
    It's not like any university would offer a Guarantee to Succeed ... would they ?
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    • Profile picture of the author John Rogers
      The kind of stuff that's going to get you ahead in this business quite frankly doesn't fit well into university curriculum. I was six classes away from a BS in Business Administration and just couldn't stomach it any longer. To that point I had taken three classes that I actually learned anything useful from, and that was very little. Certainly not enough to justify the time and expense to go through the courses.

      I did find a school with a decent curriculum for creating database driven content sites, so I'm transferring my credits there. I don't care about the piece of paper saying I graduated, but there are some significant incentives for me to continue my education, so I got a little smarter about what I was doing.

      Before you enter a university degree program, you should do some serious soul searching. Figure out what your real goals are, then decide what education will best get you to where you're going. I know far too many people who spent four (or more) miserable years pursuing a degree that they've never used.

      John
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  • Profile picture of the author alex84
    Sure you could learn all about IM on your own, as you can learn all about running a business, programing, website development and on and on by yourself. Does that mean you shouldn't be getting a diploma to show your credentials?

    If you want your own business, then frankly you don't need the BBA I believe, as you will learn more by doing stuff than reading books about theory. But then having the BBA is going to save you if your business ever goes bankrupt, as you can find work easily, compared to someone that has no degree. So the degree is a cushion in case something goes bad and I think it is the best cushion you can have.

    About IM, you could learn this stuff to be your own boss and build an online business, but it could also be to work for big companies in the IM field. So having a diploma in that field would be beneficial to someone that likes IM but does not want to build a business, or someone that want's to work in the field and start a business part time until he can do it full time.

    Again when you look at the failure rate of those that want to get in IM, well maybe having a degree or diploma would help those people succeed. Many people like the traditional teaching approach, where you go to classes, learn theory and do some work about that theory.

    So if we ever see many college and universities offering IM programs, I am sure it will become a lot more crowded with Internet marketer. But then there should be room for them, as the Internet is continuously growing and becoming bigger. Also let's not forget that we can use what we know to market in other countries if we know the language.
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