(a) General requirements. This course is recommended for students in Grades 9-12. Recommended prerequisite: Principles of Business, Marketing, and Finance or any marketing course. Students shall be awarded one-half credit for successful completion of this course.
(b) Introduction.
  (1) Career and technical education instruction provides content aligned with challenging academic standards and relevant technical knowledge and skills for students to further their education and succeed in current or emerging professions.
  (2) The Marketing Career Cluster focuses on planning, managing, and performing marketing activities to reach organizational objectives.
  (3) Social Media Marketing is designed to look at the rise of social media and how marketers are integrating social media tools in their overall marketing strategy. The course will investigate how the marketing community measures success in the new world of social media. Students will manage a successful social media presence for an organization, understand techniques for gaining customer and consumer buy-in to achieve marketing goals, and properly select social media platforms to engage consumers and monitor and measure the results of these efforts.
  (4) Students are encouraged to participate in extended learning experiences such as career and technical student organizations and other leadership or extracurricular organizations.
  (5) Statements that contain the word "including" reference content that must be mastered, while those containing the phrase "such as" are intended as possible illustrative examples.
(c) Knowledge and skills.
  (1) The student demonstrates professional standards/employability skills as required by business and industry. The student is expected to:
    (A) communicate effectively with others using speaking, listening, and writing skills;
    (B) demonstrate collaboration skills through teamwork;
    (C) demonstrate professionalism by conducting oneself in a manner appropriate for the profession and workplace;
    (D) demonstrate a positive, productive work ethic by performing assigned tasks as directed;
    (E) show integrity by choosing the ethical course of action and complying with all applicable rules, laws, and regulations;
    (F) demonstrate time-management skills such as prioritizing tasks, following schedules, and tending to goal-relevant activities in ways that use time wisely and optimize efficiency and results; and
    (G) demonstrate leadership skills by participating in career and technical student organizations.
  (2) The student knows the nature and scope of social media marketing. The student is expected to:
    (A) differentiate between in-bound marketing and out-bound marketing;
    (B) explain the nature of in-bound marketing;
    (C) identify the various social media platforms and purposes;
    (D) define social media marketing;
    (E) identify and describe significant trends in the development of social media;
    (F) understand how the development of social media has shaped online media and communications; and
    (G) describe the social media marketing ecosystem and its impact on traditional marketing strategy.
  (3) The student knows the legalities, ethical implications, and risks associated with social media marketing. The student is expected to:
    (A) apply legal boundaries and concepts affecting social media;
    (B) analyze ethical guidelines and codes of ethics to explain how or why they are important to social media organizations;
    (C) identify risk factors associated with social media marketing;
    (D) explain the concept of real-time marketing; and
    (E) discuss the ramifications of real-time marketing.
  (4) The student knows how to critically evaluate social media and digital marketing tools. The student is expected to:
    (A) evaluate and understand how social media has influenced the function of marketing;
    (B) evaluate and understand how social media has evolved and influenced the way people communicate;
    (C) analyze and evaluate the influence of social media on individuals and how individuals influence social media; and
    (D) identify potential risks, advantages, and limitations of digital marketing tools.
  (5) The student knows that strategic planning is essential to the success of social media marketing. The student is expected to:
    (A) define the social media marketing process;
    (B) understand participation as a key element of the marketing mix;
    (C) understand how to integrate social media marketing into the Integrated Marketing Plan to promote brand/company awareness; and
    (D) develop a social media marketing plan.
  (6) The student demonstrates how to use social media as a marketing tool. The student is expected to:
    (A) analyze, evaluate, and communicate information effectively through the use of social networking platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter as marketing tools;
    (B) analyze, evaluate, and communicate information effectively through the use of social publishing platforms such as Instagram, Pinterest, and Tumblr as marketing tools;
    (C) analyze, evaluate, and communicate information effectively through the use of social entertainment platforms such as YouTube, Flickr, and Vine as marketing tools;
    (D) analyze, evaluate, and communicate information effectively through the use of social commerce platforms such as Groupon, Yelp!, and 4Square as marketing tools; and
    (E) analyze, evaluate, and communicate information effectively through the use of emerging social media.
  (7) The student knows how to use mobile marketing as a marketing tool. The student is expected to:
    (A) understand the nature and scope of mobile marketing;
    (B) identify advantages and disadvantages of mobile marketing; and
    (C) demonstrate the ability to use mobile marketing tools such as Short Message Service (SMS)/Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), Quick Response (QR) codes, mobile phone applications, and mobile optimized websites.
  (8) The student measures the success of a social media marketing plan. The student is expected to:
    (A) explain the role of social media in marketing research;
    (B) understand the nature and scope of social media analytics; and
    (C) measure the success of social media marketing strategies using analytics data.
  (9) The student knows that a career in social media marketing requires knowledge of the industry. The student is expected to:
    (A) research and describe careers in the field of social media marketing; and
    (B) research employment trends in the field of social media marketing.

Source Note: The provisions of this §130.385 adopted to be effective August 28, 2017, 40 TexReg 6601