Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism welcomed a new lab to its extensive list of professional programs this year revolving around the emerging field of digital audiences.
“Digital audiences is the group of people that engage with or know about (a client’s) brand and content,” Luis Bonilla, director of the Digital Audiences Lab said. He added the job description includes recruiting “anybody that would be able to consume (a client’s) content or be interested in the services of its products online.”
Students are tasked with helping different companies currently struggling with a social media presence, or that lack their full audience potential. Bonilla said he equips the students with various computer applications designed to dissect social media viewership, analyze website creativity and preview potential social media posts. The students work with one another to develop strategies, which are presented to the clients, in order to maximize search engine and audience potential.
Richard Rieves, a student in the new lab, said the appeal for the program came from “the analytical approach to it… not just making random off the wall guesses, as opposed to really doing the research and knowing why you’re trying to implement something to promote a specific strategy or obtain a certain client goal.”
One of the newest analytical tools the students adopted is Google Data Studio, which allows students and professionals alike to create interactive statistical spreadsheets for clients, allowing them to more easily digest the data.
The Digital Audiences Lab has three clients this year; however, Bonilla said he is in the midst of trying to double that number by the end of the year.
The Digital Audiences Lab works with clients all around the journalism industry including Arizona PBS, Future Tense and GlobalSport Matters, which is produced by the ASU Sports Knowledge Lab.
“A lot of the core principles you learn here, even though it may be a different industry that you’re going into, will still be familiar with the tools of how to research and what to look for,” Bonilla said. “Everybody has a presence online.”
Bonilla has spent about a decade in the field, analyzing digital audiences for the Phoenix Suns, startup businesses, and fortune 500 companies. The 2018-2019 school year marks the first year of Bonilla being able to pass down what he’s learned to students.
“Because the lab is so new, (Bonilla is) so enthusiastic about it,” said Alyssa Ruiz, a junior and public relations major at the Cronkite School.“He’s so giving to letting us make our own different proposals, mock-ups, and pitches and guide us in ways where we can still do it.”
Ruiz also said her love for the Digital Audiences Lab stemmed from the universal application of its skills.
“This is a lab where you don’t have to be in a certain major track or a certain niche to do it because it’s applicable to everywhere you go,” said Ruiz. “It’s for a creative individual who really wants to apply it anywhere in life.”
The Digital Audiences Lab shares a classroom with the Sports Knowledge Lab, although, Bonilla said he doesn’t expect this to be the case for long. He said he was told that a better work environment and high-tech televisions were in the works for the lab students.
Digital Audiences is also offered at ASU as a minor for students. Bonilla said a Digital Audiences program is quite rare in the college landscape today, which is why he jumped at the opportunity to teach it.
“It’s a synonym of digital marketing itself,” Bonilla said.
Contact the reporter at cromagli@asu.edu.
