Social Media Influencer Among BC3’s New Short-Term Programs

Butler – One short-term Butler County Community College program debuting this fall will help students such as small-business owners or employees to acquire or enhance social media skills, and the other, to gain practical knowledge needed to work in a medical office.

The college’s business and information technology division will begin programs in social media influencer and in medical office specialist when the fall 2023 semester begins Aug. 21.

Students can achieve a workplace certificate in the 16-credit social media influencer program and a certificate in the 36-credit medical office specialist program. Certificate programs include more general education, elective or career-preparatory courses than do workplace certificates, said Morgan Rizzardi, BC3’s director of admissions.

“The thing that excites me most about these two programs is the fact that they are shorter in duration,” Rizzardi said. “One of the top selling points of either program is that students can add it to their resume quickly to use in their job search or to complement a degree.”

The social media influencer program includes social media marketing, a course designed to help students identify how organizations use platforms to engage customers and how those uses fit into a marketing plan.

Ashley Brewer is shown Thursday, July 27, 2023, at Tammy Grassi Achieve Realty near Butler, where she works as a marketing manager. The 2023 graduate of Butler County Community College said her work has benefited from taking BC3’s social media marketing course, which is included in the college’s new social media influencer workplace certificate program.

Ashley Brewer, 23, of Cabot, has used social media for 10 years, has at least five personal accounts and said she learned “things you don’t know” in BC3’s social media marketing course.

The marketing manager for Tammy Grassi Achieve Realty near Butler said she “learned how to manage social media, how to determine what your niche is and what people want to see. What you post definitely depends on what your audience is. People like engaging content. They like to interact.”

Brewer, who earned an associate degree in marketing management from BC3 in May, said she also learned about brand identity in BC3’s social media marketing course.

“With my job, when someone looks at our profile, before they read anything, we want them to know it’s our business,” she said. “We want them to know our colors, our logo and our fonts.”

The medical office specialist program includes courses in medical coding, medical terminology, human biology, electronic health records and insurance and reimbursement methods. Courses are designed to help students find employment in positions that include medical front desk receptionist, medical secretary and medical scheduler.

“We’ve developed this certificate so that the student can focus time on learning about the medical office,” said Sherri Mack, BC3’s dean of business and information technology. “Maybe they have been assigned to that position and they have to figure out what to do about it. Those students can take this program to get the basics to go to work.”

Students in BC3’s associate degree career programs, and in its certificate and workplace certificate programs, can develop the skills needed to enter the workforce immediately upon graduation.

Business and information technology is the largest of BC3’s five academic divisions with 25 programs. It offers associate degrees in 12 career and in two transfer programs, and certificates or workplace certificates in 11.

“We see a lot of applicants in business and information technology,” Rizzardi said. “These new programs add to what we offer. They give students options. They can start and finish one of them and move on if they so choose.”

BC3 this fall will also launch new associate degree and certificate or workplace certificate virtual programs whose courses will be instructed by BC3 faculty and accessible at any time.

BC3’s new virtual options in associate degree programs are in accounting, business administration, business management and psychology and require 60 to 62 credits to graduate.

Virtual options in certificate or in workplace certificate programs include accounting skills, basic manufacturing, business skills, human resource management specialist and management of applied technology.

New virtual certificates require 30 to 33 credits to graduate and workplace certificates, 16 to 21.

Students can also apply BC3 credits toward a bachelor’s degree at public, private and online four-year colleges and universities.