September 12
The University of Texas San Antonio just launched its new digital media degree, one of the only content creator degrees available in higher education. A new program beginning in the Fall 2024 semester, the digital media influencer path teaches students how to develop professional skills necessary for creating content and developing a brand that can be leveraged for its influence.
Associate Communication Professor Chad Mahood told the Houston Chronicle the new digital media influencer path is an evolution of a digital media degree the school has offered for over a decade.
Many universities across the nation have implemented digital media degrees over the past several decades, often as extensions of the communications schools. These courses aim on filling the gap between more traditional degrees like journalism and film.
But with UTSA's new degree focused specifically on digital media influence, students are as likely to implement marketing and business skills as they are content. "We concluded upon years of teaching that the students who do better at this don’t just create content that is good, but content that is based specifically for their audience and their audience’s behavior," Mahood says.
The digital media influencer program currently has 80 students admitted, with 72 in-person and 8 online.
While the notion of a digital media influencer may only be 10-15 years old, the idea of selling influence is as old as marketing itself. UTSA introduced this specific type of content creator degree for a few reasons.
First of all, the creator economy is already at $250 billion per year and is on track to be worth more than half a trillion dollars by 2030. That lands it among the biggest industries in the world, including traditional avenues like retail, food, and insurance. Just because the specific medium of digital media influence is new doesn't mean it isn't already an incredibly viable career path.
"For anybody skeptical about if they should put the money in this degree or investment in their child, ask yourself: How do you find out about anything?" Mahood told the Chronicle. "You're probably not getting it over the radio or reading it all in a print newspaper. It's coming mainly from scrolling through your phone."
But just there's a lot more to being an influencer than posting online, there are a lot of hard skills creators need to develop in order to run an efficient business and build their brand. And if you don't understand some core business concepts, you're likely to end up devaluing your own brand. That's why this particular content creator degree focuses not just on the ins and outs of apps, but on all the intricacies of running your own business — and even the reality of building your brand as a side hustle until it's strong enough to support you full-time.
So should everybody who wants to build a career marketing their influence flock to a program like this? Well, it probably wouldn't hurt. But don't forget, this industry grew into a goliath essentially on the backs of people who were (and still are) just "figuring it out."
You don't need a degree in influencing to be an influencer — just as the hundreds of thousands of other influencers have proven. But once you get to a certain point in digital media, it's a lot more efficient to learn the basics of how to do something before you try to do it, and to learn about mistakes to avoid before you make them.
Once you get to a certain number of followers — or have companies and brands reaching out to you — having the background and resources from a program like UTSA's can help you maximize your impact and avoid major mistakes. There is a point where a lot of this becomes unmanageable for one person (and it may come earlier than you expect, in many cases).
If you're interested in learning more about the program but don't feel like moving to Texas, there's an online version available, too.
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