Case Study: Marist College achieves real-world social media expertise with Salesforce for Nonprofits

Educating Students in Industry-Leading Social Media Practices

Marist College’s School of Communication and the Arts faced a skills gap: students were “native” social media users but lacked strategic, analytical and real-world digital marketing expertise needed by employers. Dean Dr. Lyn Lepre launched an initiative to move beyond classroom discussion and give students practical, industry-aligned experience.

The college created a Center for Social Media powered by Salesforce Social Studio and Command Center — a hands-on lab with real-time listening, engagement and analytics tools — used across courses, capstone projects, student research and campaigns for campus events and local nonprofits. Adoption grew rapidly: faculty integrated the platform into curricula, Marist’s student communications firm uses it for client work, 80% of surveyed capstone students wanted broader access, and the center is expanding campus-wide and internationally with plans to add myTrailhead for onboarding.

Marist College

Lyn Lepre

Dean of the School of Communication and the Arts