Social Media Fellows Execute Business School’s Digital Marketing Initiatives
By Liz F. Kay
If you’ve liked a video or shared a social media post published by the Providence College School of Business in the last seven years, then you’ve supported a unique experiential learning opportunity for students.
During the academic year, the business school’s social channels are managed by the Benjamin Family Social Media fellows. This group of students help fulfill the business school’s digital marketing initiatives by developing social media content and analyzing its performance.
“The (social media) fellowship is a leading example of the kind of experiential learning opportunities available to PCSB students,” said Sylvia Maxfield, Ph.D., dean of the business school. “These experiences are an integral part of earning a ‘liberal arts business degree’ at PC and support our strong record in post-graduate job placement.”
The program is named in recognition of its founders, Meg and Adam Benjamin, both alumni from the Class of 1991. Adam is the CEO of UpperCampus, a career discovery organization focused on connecting high school and college students with universities and employers that match their career goals. He founded the company in 2018 after leaving an executive position at Facebook.
The Benjamins endowed the program in 2016 to offer students real-world experience marketing the business school through its official social channels, and it has evolved since its inception.
During the fall semester, the fellows now enroll in a three-credit course that is a marketing elective. The class is taught by executive-in-residence Chelsea Rothman ’10, ’12G, who is a senior brand marketing manager at Samsonite. At the beginning of the year, the students set goals informed by the business school’s strategic plan. During class, they plan content for Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube, review the posts’ performance and progress toward their goals, and compare their results with competitor schools. The students are also administrators of the Providence College School of Business LinkedIn group and write blog posts for the business school’s news website.
The group’s work has also expanded beyond the business school itself. Initially, the team was made up of five students — a chief content officer, creative director, analyst, editor, and community manager. Now the team has grown to nine, including several digital marketing consultants.
These consultants assist campus partners with their communications needs. This year the fellows are supporting the Student Success Center, the Ryan Incubator for Entrepreneurship in the Arts and Sciences, and Friartown’s Closet, a student-run secondhand clothing store founded by Mary Gifford ’26.
“The fellowship now operates like an agency, with the business school as its primary client,” said Rothman.
Adam Benjamin said he was excited to see how the program has grown. When the original team began in 2016, they had to develop their own processes, developing a social media marketing plan, content calendars, reporting templates, risk management procedures, and more. “Each team since has been able to build upon, refine, and add to these programs, procedures and creative applications making them more effective and efficient,” he said. “To see the enhanced team now support not only the PCSB, but these additional partner groups on campus, is amazing and demonstrates how we are building a scalable solution that can be leveraged across Providence College and the greater PC community.”
Some things remain the same, however. Each student is paired with an alumni mentor. In January, the group travels to New York City to meet with alumni working in tech and digital marketing. Past destinations have included Google, UNTUCKit, marketing agencies, and more. At the end of each semester, they present their results to stakeholders. And in addition to the course credit in the fall, the students receive a stipend for their work during the spring semester.
Fellows say managing social media for the business school has provided valuable experience that has helped them as they started their careers. Some alumni are currently working at employers such as HubSpot, Amazon, and TJX.
Madeline Snow ’19, a senior sales and client services team manager at Amica Insurance, served as the manager of the 2018-2019 fellows. “I was able to get a taste of what it’s like to lead a team,” which helps her in her current role, managing six direct reports, she said.
It also helped her land a position as a content writer earlier in her career. “Having had the experience of writing for the PCSB social platforms definitely set me apart in the application process and also allowed me to quickly excel in the role,” Snow said.
