Find your perfect college degree
The term influencer started in the early 2010s and morphed into a social media phenomenon! Social media influencers have become go-to “experts” with the unique power to inspire and motivate or push individuals toward or away from making important life decisions.
Roughly 89% and 80% of social media marketers use Facebook and Instagram, respectively, to promote their business. They develop, share, and monitor content on social media, including graphics, videos, photos, captions, hashtags, and so on.
Employing the right strategies, many personalities on social media showed it’s possible to become extremely successful in this lucrative and impactful industry—and many are quitting or willing to quit their jobs to switch careers!
2 Big Reasons Why are Social Media Influencers Are Effective
Social media influencers inform the public while interacting with them.
Information is the primary role of social media platforms, and it is the reason why many people today depend on social media to gather information. Today, social media platforms are used by social media influencers to share news, products, and developments with their followers while earning from it.
Many consider bloggers and vloggers, who primarily make word-of-mouth recommendations, more reliable, more relatable, and of higher authority than traditional informational ads. Today’s technologies also allow influencers to engage their audiences in activities instead of simply watching or hearing them talk.
Social media influencers are expected to take opinions and feedback.
Unlike good old advertising, a social media influencer shares the entire experience with an audience and encourages them to say what they think! With a social media post, the entire communication comes full circle: the message is developed and delivered to the intended audience, and the recipient of such a message reacts to it!
15 Best Degrees for Becoming a Social Media Influencer
Social media audiences, however, are becoming increasingly particular in choosing the influencers to listen to. College-level disciplines can help you give your social media career a head start and keep you on top of your game!
Sales Degree
For a social media influencer who does brand campaigns, knowledge of fundamental sales strategies goes a long way! Sales majors are at an advantage with their knowledge of the concepts of distribution, wholesale, and retail sales. They also learn the core methods for marketing research and negotiation.
Generating quality leads through word-of-mouth is expected of brilliant sales professionals—social media influencers included!
These higher education institutions offer the Sales degree:
Marketing
One of the most crucial abilities for influencers is content creation, which is something that can be learned in any degree program in Marketing. Just like doing conventional marketing work, social media influencers build their profiles or brands and secure profitable brand partnerships and collaborations—all of which require knowledge of marketing strategies.
With a focus on practical application, a Bachelor of Science in Marketing degree equips students with the techniques to discern client requirements and desires and think critically to overcome marketing obstacles.
The Marketing courses that are relevant to social media influence work include personal selling, business ethics, advertising, strategic marketing, sales promotions, digital marketing, and consumer behavior.
These schools offer a Marketing degree:
Business Administration
Knowledge of the business side of everything—including the business of social media—positions you for a lucrative career!
Focusing on the technical and analytical facets of management, a Business Administration degree is a specialist undergraduate curriculum that provides students with a solid foundation in quantitative business approach, problem-solving techniques, and data-driven decision-making.
Business Administration majors learn the core concepts of business communication, analytics, social media marketing, and advertising to navigate different markets and industries effectively.
These schools offer a Business Administration degree:
Digital Marketing and Design Degree
Social media influencers handle, create, and maintain their marketing channels online; therefore, becoming digital-savvy is a requirement! With a Digital Marketing and Design degree, you learn to navigate the digital aspects of marketing and designing. Graduates become experts in web technologies and new media.
Digital Marketing and Design students also learn the core concepts of branding, journalism, and marketing, which are all valuable to a social media influencer.
The top schools offering the Digital Marketing and Design degree are:
Writing, English, or Journalism
With a bachelor’s degree in English, Writing, or Journalism, creating, developing, and writing to come up with the right content becomes easy for social media influencers.
English, Writing, or Journalism majors complete courses in news reporting, visual journalism, and editing, enabling them to become experts at writing scripts for social media, among other platforms. Journalism graduates, in particular, can become social influencers and news media professionals, and sometimes work from home.
English, Writing, or Journalism degree is offered in these schools:
Mass Communication
Mass Communication is an integral component of social media. By obtaining this degree, graduates become knowledgeable enough to not only create their content but also analyze and predict how sharing it impacts society. Social media influencers, in fact, are adept at conducting social experiments.
These schools offer a Mass Communication degree:
Public Relations
Influencers on social media have drastically altered the function of public relations in terms of connecting with the audience. Customers now trust businesses as much as (or even more!) traditional marketers because of the shift in the power dynamics between them and the individuals they see on social media.
Today, companies connect with a wider audience, foster good branding, and raise customer awareness and engagement by integrating social media influencers into their PR plan. Public Relations majors are perfect for this job, considering the competencies they obtain from PR programs that marry the concepts of communication, sociology, psychology, technology, and business.
The following schools offer the Public Relations degree:
Psychology
Influencer marketing is largely about consumer behavior, and if you’re a Psychology major, you are at an advantage!
A Bachelor’s in Psychology lets you gain hands-on experience in and unique insights into different settings involving human thinking and behavior. As a psychology major, you are best positioned to analyze and use the addictive nature of social media, for which it is purposefully designed, to your advantage.
Psychology majors know the right strategies to establish a reputation to make a meaningful impact in the lives of their social media followers and build a solid rapport with them.
The schools offering Psychology degree programs include:
Photography
If you’re on the creative side and enjoy Photography, show off your work on social media! And because people trust those who have gained technical expertise, earning a Bachelor’s in Photography is crucial to this type of career.
Photography majors are taught visual literacy while being exposed to the many technologies in the field. They learn about the business side of Photography, too, through Business and Brand Development courses.
With an academic background and a professional portfolio, Photography graduates stand out in the crowded social media market.
These schools offer the following Photography degree:
Graphic Design
In a world where nearly everyone is visual, graphic designers have an edge! Content with a strong, attractive, and appealing design draws more traffic and keeps your audience constantly interested!
A Bachelor of Science in Graphic Design features a curriculum that emphasizes practical design experience while fusing theory, research, and critical analysis of graphics and media.
As a Graphic Design major with professional skills in graphic arts, you can set yourself up for success in the visual design marketplace on social media.
These schools offer a Graphic Design degree program:
Music
As a program of study, Music prepares graduates for a range of music-related careers, including those as music directors, composers, artists—and social media influencers!
A Bachelor of Science in Music teaches students the basics of scoring, music theory, and conducting. Music majors also gain hands-on experience in recitals and presentations. With these skills, you can easily show off that talent and perform to millions on social media.
Becoming a musician or artist used to be only for the highly ambitious and well-connected in the industry. Today, however, getting your music on major digital streaming platforms and breaking into the cutthroat industry in no time is not uncommon!
Schools offering the music degree:
Fashion
Many turn to social media when deciding what to wear. Unsurprisingly, the fashion industry exploded online, with fashion bloggers and social media influencers taking center stage! In college, Fashion majors learn about style, textile design, and the art of combining creativity and technical expertise.
Fashion Merchandising, in particular, involves the operational and business side of fashion, such as design, production, marketing, distribution, and retail. Students are also taught the concepts of creating and selling a product line that meets demands. Fashion majors also learn about fashion history and consumer behavior.
These schools offer the following Fashion degree program:
Nutritional Science
In this age of unhealthy habits and lifestyles, more and more people turn to high-authority nutritionists and diet experts who provide dietary advice for maintaining a healthy lifestyle or reaching specific health objectives. They are specialists in the use of food and nutrition to promote health.
Interested in this market? You can build a social media marketing career with a Bachelor’s in Nutritional Science. Courses include human nutrition, health leadership, and applied food concepts. The Food Entrepreneurship track teaches students to develop and market nutritionally sound food and understand the food industry.
Graduates of these programs go on to work as certified nutritionists, health educators, food service managers, and public health specialists—and become social media influencers. This is the best route if you want to practice being a social media influencer.
These top schools offer the Nutritional Science degree:
Fitness or Exercise Science
Similar to nutrition and diet, people are also intrigued and interested in exercise and proactive lifestyles—and numerous social media influencers are using this trend to their advantage!
Completing a bachelor’s program in Nutrition, Fitness/Exercise Science, or Kinesiology gives you a fundamental level of expertise. Graduates can pursue additional specialist courses and obtain coaching licenses and/or certificates to establish their proficiency in this field.
You can be a nutritionist, a nutritional coach, or an exercise physiologist, giving your audience the help they need to set fitness regimens, reduce the symptoms of certain illnesses, or achieve their desired physique.
Fitness or Exercise Science degrees are offered by:
Social Media
Social Media is now integrated into certain college curricula as opposed to being simply a module. The goal of this program is to help students acquire the practical skills to create and manage digital social media content that meets employer requirements.
Social Media students are taught content creation, blogs, websites, design, and content writing. Popular concentrations include Digital Advertising and Social Media Marketing. These programs also teach participants to use a variety of tools to maintain social media accounts and analyze statistics.
Schools offering the Social Media degree include:
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