Evan Cronin, a junior finance major and management minor in the Charles F. Dolan School of Business, has become an overnight social media sensation. Cronin created three TikTok videos for the release of Taylor Swift’s latest project: 1989 Taylor’s Version, which ultimately resulted in 30 million impressions in just one week. These videos were also amplified on Instagram and YouTube as part of his content creation.

Effectively mastering messaging and persuasion is a concept important to Cronin as he develops his social media content. Cronin values hands-on learning, actively engaging in courses like BUSN 1101 Messaging and Persuasion: Effective Business Communication, taught by Instructor of the Marketing practice, LoriBeth Greenan. In this course, several students, including Cronin, have shown a keen interest in crafting their external communications and found success as influencers even before taking the class.

Cronin attributes his success to timely awareness of trends and pop-culture conversation, but also key audience awareness. The Business Communications course focuses on the value of connecting with the right audience. The takeaway here for those eager to expand their social community is valuable through authenticity.

“Within this course, I learned how to deliver messages in the right way. I have worked to make my content more digestible, and not rush through the process, said Cronin. “I try to implement new styles of content to reach different audiences, such as my TikTok videos of Taylor Swift and the release of her new album.”

As part of Greenan’s course, students work with an external marketing manager to create communication tools for brand consideration. This semester, students are partnering with Karma Water, a probiotic wellness water company. Students are directly working with Kelley Bridenbaugh, Karma Water’s marketing manager, on business communications and functional marketing of the product.  

Bridenbaugh is very impressed by the work she is seeing out of the Dolan School students. She reports: “This partnership reflects the inherent value of experiential learning, bridging the gap between theory and practice. Through real-world, hands-on projects, students gain invaluable practical insights, enriching their academic journey.” Greenan adds that this type of opportunity brings the real world into the classroom; including the real constraints that are faced in business, as well as the big wins encountered when working with a client.

This particular course offers students the opportunity to learn how to provide digestible marketing strategies with a real client; exemplifying how experiential learning is at the forefront of the Dolan school’s priorities.

“As a professor, I want my students to leave my class with tools that they can use in their careers. With experiential learning, those tools are developed even further because the students experience them first-hand,” said Greenan.