Arizona state university now offers “influencer” degree major

quote:

---

PHOENIX (AZFamily) — Arizona State University is now offering a content creation major, designed to teach students how to build an audience, market themselves and grow a career as an influencer.

The program is housed at ASU’s Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

What students will learn
Jessica Pucci, senior associate dean at the Cronkite School, said the major goes beyond simply making videos.

“I don’t know any content creator who wouldn’t benefit from having world-class faculty whose sole mission is to help you and support your growth as a creator,” Pucci said.


Students in the program will learn how to measure content performance across multiple platforms and develop strategies to improve and test their content, Pucci said.

The program’s final project requires students to select a social media platform of their choice — such as TikTok — then develop a growth strategy, create content and gain followers throughout the semester.

“They will have demonstrable audience growth. They will have a platform of their choice with real content and real followers and a real audience behind them,” Pucci said.

Voices from the field and campus
ASU student Caroline Rowland said the skills taught in the program are essential.

“It is absolutely incredibly important to learn how to use social media and brand yourself,” Rowland said.

Anna Elizabeth, an Arizona-based influencer who works as a medical assistant while creating content, said the program would have helped her when she was starting out.

“There’s editing, there’s marketing strategies of it. There’s like, ‘How do I get PR? How do I get brands to notice me?’” Elizabeth said. “It’s a little bit difficult to understand that portion if you haven’t done it for a long time.”

Elizabeth said she believes the major would have made a difference for her.


“I feel like if I had that opportunity in this time that I started doing content, I feel like it would have benefited me a whole lot,” she said.

The content creation degree program also includes traditional general education requirements, including math, history and writing

---