DIGITAL MARKETING SKILLS NEEDED BY BUSINESS EDUCATION STUDENTS IN PUBLIC TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS IN CROSS RIVER STATE FOR BUSINESS SUCCESS UPON GRADUATION

The study determined the digital marketing skills needed by business education students in public tertiary institutions in Cross River State, Nigeria. Three specific purposes and research questions covering email marketing skills, social media marketing skills and e-commerce skills and three null hypotheses guided the study. Descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. The population comprised 94 Business Educators in four tertiary institutions in Cross River State offering business education programmes. The entire population was studied without sampling since the size was not too large. The instrument for data collection was researchers-designed four rating scale questionnaire titled: Digital Marketing Skills Rating Scale (DMSRS). The instrument was validated by three experts and was tested for reliability using Cronbach Alpha coefficient which produced reliability coefficient value of 0.78. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions and determine the homogeneity of the respondents’ means while t-test was used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. Findings indicated that the three digital marketing skills used in the study are needed by business education students to a very large extent. Also, there was no significant difference between the mean ratings of respondents on the extent business education students need the three social media marketing skills used in the study as a result of institution type, institution ownership and gender. Based on the findings, it was concluded that by adequately developing the three digital marketing skills used in the study, business education graduates can position themselves as valuable assets to any organization seeking to enhance its online presence and reach. It was recommended among others that public tertiary institutions need to adapt their curriculum to meet industry standards by integrating essential skills like email marketing, social media and e-commerce to enable students stay ahead of the curve and thrive in the competitive business landscape.