| UCAS code | 1234 |
|---|---|
| Duration | 1 year full time 2 years part time |
| Entry year | September 2026 |
| Campus | Streatham Campus |
| Discipline | Media and Communications |
| Contact |
| Typical offer | We will consider applicants with a 2:2 Honours degree or above (or equivalent). |
|---|---|
Overview
For graduates and professionals seeking a critical and applied understanding of digital engagement, this MA integrates social science perspectives with business and industry-focused training to prepare students for leadership in social media strategy, content creation, and digital marketing analytics. As part of the course, you will learn to conceptualise, design, and launch social media campaigns.
- Gain advanced knowledge and skills in digital marketing and social media management
- Learn how social media and digital platforms are used in contemporary business settings to drive sales and promotional activity, with a focus on precision tracking of interactions, content creation, conceptualising and streamlining e-commerce activities, and critically engaging with techniques such as SEO
- Studying an MA will give you more of a focus on the humanities-based / 'human' and social sciences elements of social media and digital marketing, and user experience. It will give you a greater understanding of how people engage with social media, and how these interactions shape their everyday lives and their behaviour online. You'll also learn how to apply this knowledge to the various areas of social media and digital marketing
- Our vibrant postgraduate community benefits from research-inspired teaching from experts in social media and related subdisciplines, including gamification and critical video game theory, celebrity cultures, promotional cultures, algorithm bias, and user data analysis
- Our MA is industry-focused, and you will graduate uniquely equipped for employment in social media and marketing positions across a range of industries
Top 15 for Communications
11th in the Complete University Guide 2026
Home to the Bill Douglas Cinema Museum
The biggest film-related archive in the UK outside the British Film Institute
Develop transferable skills and specialist knowledge through interdisciplinary teaching
Varied graduate careers
Top 15 for Communications
11th in the Complete University Guide 2026
Home to the Bill Douglas Cinema Museum
The biggest film-related archive in the UK outside the British Film Institute
Develop transferable skills and specialist knowledge through interdisciplinary teaching
Varied graduate careers
Entry requirements
We will consider applicants with a 2:2 Honours degree or above (or equivalent). We welcome students from any academic background.
Please also see our guidance on essential documentation required for an initial decision on taught programme applications.
Entry requirements for international students
English language requirements
International students need to show they have the required level of English language to study this course. The required test scores for this course fall under Profile B1. Please visit our English language requirements page to view the required test scores and equivalencies from your country.
Two of my favourite modules are Social Media: Management and Strategy and Promotional Cultures in Consumer Society. What I appreciate most is that we get to choose the brands, industries, or even specific campaigns we want to explore, making the learning process feel very personal and relevant.
What makes learning about these topics even more exciting is that I get to experiment, reflect, and refine my ideas using the frameworks we’ve been taught in class. It feels like a real test drive for the future. The modules' approach has helped me learn how to think strategically, adapt creatively, and anticipate challenges. We’re encouraged to think critically, spot gaps, and come up with better solutions. The mindset will stay with me long after I graduate, when I know I will have to be practical and use these skills in a real-world market.y
Duong
MA Social Media and Digital Marketing
Course content
The MA Social Media and Digital Marketing is industry-focused and centred around e-commerce initiatives.
You will learn how organisations in the public, commercial, and third sectors use social media and digital platforms to brand themselves and use promotional activities to drive up sales and other forms of user and customer engagement. Focusing on precision tracking of interactions, writing and crafting of promotional materials, conceptualising and streamlining e-commerce activities, and critically engaging with techniques such as search engine optimisation (SEO). You will engage in specialist content creation and other relevant practical skills used in industry.
Choose from a range of critical, theoretical, entrepreneurial, and practical modules, taught from a range of pedagogical perspectives, with employability at its core. Compulsory modules in Communications will give you a solid grounding in social media, management and strategy and optional modules are available within Communications, Drama, and Marketing (based in the Business School).
The modules we outline here provide examples of what you can expect to learn on this degree course based on recent academic teaching. The precise modules available to you in future years may vary depending on staff availability and research interests, new topics of study, timetabling and student demand.
120 credits compulsory modules, 60 credits optional modules
Compulsory modules
| Code | Module | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| CMMM001 | Media and Communications: Theory and Concepts | 30 |
| CMMM002 | Social Media: Management and Strategy | 30 |
| CDFM001 | Dissertation - Written | 60 |
Optional modules
You must take a maximum of 30 credits of Business School optional modules (module with BEMM / BEEM prefix).
| Code | Module | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| CMMM014 | Industry Insights | 30 |
| DRAM141 | Ideas Generation and the Creative Process | 30 |
| DRAM169 | Creative Industries | 30 |
| EAFM089 | Archival Encounters: Material Film Histories | 30 |
| EAFM009 | Transmedia Adaptations | 30 |
| CMMM013 | AI and Society: Critical and Cultural Perspectives | 30 |
| CMMM006 | Soft Power and International Communications | 30 |
| DRAM142 | Creative Management | 30 |
| EAFM910 | Stars, Stardom and Celebrity From the Classical Era to the Contemporary | 30 |
| BEMM115 | Marketing Analysis and Research | 15 |
| BEMM128 | Brand Design | 15 |
| BEMM778 | Applied Digital Marketing Analytics | 15 |
| BEMM786 | Service Design and Innovation | 15 |
| BEMM780 | Consumer Behaviour in the Digital Environment | 15 |
| BEMM069 | Marketing and New Product Innovation | 15 |
| BEMM068 | Managing Competitive Strategy | 15 |
| BEMM190 | Digital Transformation | 15 |
| BEEM125 | Experimental and Behavioural Economics | 15 |
The Promotional Cultures module has been especially meaningful for me. It’s helped me reflect critically on the purpose and impact of past projects I have been involved with, and offered a fresh perspective on the marketing industry. The practical approaches introduced in this module are also highly applicable to both academic and professional contexts. [The teaching is] always insightful and filled with human warmth, and I also particularly appreciate the guest lectures by external scholars.
Minghui
MA Social Media and Digital Marketing
Fees
2026/27 entry
UK fees per year:
£12,650 full-time; £6,325 part-time
International fees per year:
£25,550 full-time; £12,775 part-time
Scholarships
The University of Exeter offers a wide range of scholarships to support your education, with £7 million available for international students applying to study with us in the 2026/27 academic year, including our prestigious Exeter Excellence Scholarships *. We also provide awards for sport, music and other achievements, as well as regional and partner scholarships with organisations such as Chevening, The Beacon Trust and the British Council. For more information on scholarships and other financial support, please visit our scholarships and bursaries page.
University of Exeter Alumni Scholarship
We are pleased to offer University of Exeter alumni beginning a standalone postgraduate programme in 2026/27 with us a scholarship towards the cost of your tuition fees. Full details can be found here.
*Terms and conditions, including deadlines, apply. See our website for details..
Teaching and research
You will receive an internationally-exceptional education, including hands-on experience and training within our unique and world-leading research facilities, such as the Digital Humanities Lab and the Bill Douglas Cinema Museum.
Research-led teaching ensures module content includes the latest trends in Social Media and Digital Marketing. Our research includes: contemporary media and culture, gamification and critical video game theory, celebrity cultures, promotional cultures, algorithm bias, and user data analysis.
You will also benefit from a range of visiting expert speakers from industry, and have opportunities to participate in content creation and industry-facing events.
Outside academics, I’ve also had the chance to get involved with other parts of university life. I was part of the social media committee for my course, and I’ve worked as a language leader for Japanese too. These hands-on experiences, alongside the theoretical knowledge I’ve learned throughout the course, have equipped me for my career progression and built my confidence around working in this field in the future.
After I graduate, I plan to take a PhD degree in cultural studies in Hong Kong, and maybe work in the field of public relations at the same time.
Cherry
MA Social Media and Digital Marketing
Facilities
We are exceptionally lucky to have some fantastic facilities and resources on the Streatham Campus.
Digital Humanities Lab
Digital Humanities is increasingly important in all areas of humanities research, including history, archaeology, literatures and languages. This research space enables the examination, preservation and analysis of historical, literary and visual material. Facilities in the lab include:
- a flagship seminar room equipped with a 4.2-metre video wall, encouraging interactive engagement in a shared display space
- two state-of-the-art photography labs, including provision for the 2D digitisation of heritage material and primary sources
- an audio-visual lab with a recording studio and sound editing suite
- a MakerSpace equipped with 3D scanning and printing equipment
The Bill Douglas Cinema Museum
The Bill Douglas Cinema Museum holds a wide-ranging collection of more than 70,000 film related artefacts and is the largest research archive in any British University.
The collection is available for all students to use as a research and study resource, giving students a highly distinctive and valuable experience of studying and researching film using primary materials, documents and artefacts. State-of-the-art equipment in our Digital Humanities Lab enables the examination and analysis of these materials.
Meet the Programme Director
I am a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Promotional Media (E&R). I am also the Admission Tutor for Communications. Before the appointment at Exeter, I taught at the University of Greenwich, Cardiff University, and King's College London. I taught a wide range of undergraduate and postgraduate subjects in the fields of advertising, media and communication and digital humanities.
Before entering academia, I worked for Country Garden Real Estate in China as a Senior Brand Manager; as a Journalist for Chinese Southern Daily in Foshan, and UK Chinese Journal in London; and as a Research Associate for China Current Network. I am the vice-president of the UK-China Media and Cultural Studies Association (UCMeCSA), and also a member of IAMCR, ICA, ECREA and MeCCSA.
Dr Zizheng Yu
Programme Director
Careers
This MA provides you with valuable graduate employability skills by developing advanced skills in digital literacy, research methods, critical thinking, strategic planning, the application of abstract theory and concepts into tangible outputs, and the ability to gauge the success of such outputs through data analysis.
These skills can be utilised in a wide range of future careers across, public, private, commercial and third sectors.
Guest speakers will give you a starting point to develop your own broad network of professional contacts.
Key areas in which our graduates could work include:
- Advertising and market research/analytics
- Media or Social media management/strategy/consultancy/content creation/campaigning
- Management consultancy activities
- Media campaigns
- Media policy/education
- Computer programming and consultancy
- Video, television and music production and publishing
- Education
- Charities/NGOs
