Bachelor's Degree in Digital Communication

It's estimated that 75% of our day is spent communicating in some way or another. Some of us spend more time communicating than others, but for the most part, we have learned that we spend three quarters of our day communicating; either in writing, with spoken words, or by reading, or by listening (which is still considered communicating).

Of the time we spend communicating, it's estimated that 44% of that time is spent speaking and listening, 17% is spent reading, and 14% is spent writing. We can look at these statistics another way; we listen to the equivalent of a book each day, we speak enough words to fill a book a week, we read the equivalent of a book a month, and we write the equivalent of a book each year. That's a lot of communicating we're doing.No wonder the field of study known simply as digital communication continues to grow and adds more and more graduates holding degrees or specialized certificates in it each year. Another reason for the growth of this field is the many sub-fields that can be studied within it. Students can major in Communication Arts, Communication Disorders, Communication Science, and Business Communication just to name a few.

And no matter which part of the Digital Communication field you study, a degree will offer you a broad choice of career possibilities upon graduation. With a degree in Communication you can work as public relations specialist, marketing researcher, journalist, television producer, film producer, radio executive, and so much more. Plus, as technology evolves and our society continues to use it to create more and more new ways of communicating with one another, the field of Communication becomes even more interesting to study as it continues to grow and become even more relevant to every day life.

If you want to earn a degree in digital communication and have a whole world of career possibilities open up for you, you'll need to study for either two years (to earn an Associate's Degree) or four years (to earn a Bachelor's Degree). Both degrees will require you take several courses in the areas of Advertising, Electronic Media, Organizational Communication, and Public Relations. There may be other areas of the Communication field you'll need to study to earn either an Associate's or Bachelor's Degree, but those are the areas from where most communication course requirements come. Some of the courses you’ll get to take in the area of Advertising will be Survey of Mass Media, Writing for the Media, Principles of Advertising, Audience Survey and Research, Media Strategies in Advertising, and Issues in Advertising.

Some of the Electronic Media courses you’ll be engrossed in are Oral Communication, Survey of Mass Media, Writing for the Media, Media Literacy, Screenwriting and Story Craft, Television Studio Production, TV, Video and Film Production, and Aesthetics and Techniques of Post-Production. When it comes to the category of Organizational Communication, some of the courses you'll get to take are Oral Communication, Interpersonal Communication, Group Dynamics, Organizational Communication, Persuasion, and Presentational Speaking.

In the area of public relations, a few of the exciting courses you'll have access to are Oral Communication, Writing for the Media, Interpersonal Communication, Media Literacy, Principles of Public Relations, and Audience Survey and Research. As you can see, the field of Communication offers those who study it a broad range of courses and hence, a wide variety of careers to choose from once you've earned your degree. So, if you're the type of person who puts a high premium on being able to communicate well, either through speaking, writing, reading, or listening, you may find that the field of Communication is the perfect field for you.

 

Characteristics of a Digital Communications Manager

 

Digital Talent – Unfortunately people aren’t born with this talent. You can earn your Bachelor’s Degree in Digital Communications but you’ll still need years of hard work to master the tools you’ll need to be successful.

Marketing Mindset - You need to have a marketing mindset as you’ll be working mainly with data. Let the data drive your communications work.

Decisive – Digital communication employees don’t hesitate to take action. They are decisive in their actions and take advantage of things they see regarding their data.

Customer Focused – In digital communications your #1 goal should be customer driven. Those that are successful in this line of work always put the customer first and look for ways to retain that customer and their loyalty. Proper nurturing is needed as your customers want guidance and the ability to trust you before they purchase your goods or services.

Future – In the digital world you are always looking in the future to ways to not only improve communications with your customers but how to increase communications that can help increase sales. One of the top characteristics of a digital communicator is to never take short cuts or sacrifice short term profits if it can hurt your customer base.