MKTG3506 Digital Marketing & Social Media
The Complete Exam Bible · S1 2026MKTG3506 Overview
- University of Queensland
- S1 2026
- 10 chapters
- Marketing
Digital Marketing & Social Media is the University of Queensland's third-year marketing elective, and it runs on frameworks: the 5Ds of digital, PESTLE and Porter's Five Forces, search (SEM & SEO), the RACE and SOSTAC planning models, the digital 7Ps, the customer journey, the PESO communications model, social and influencer strategy, content, and campaign measurement.
- Assessed by Final exam 40% · SEO Content Audit 30% · Digital Marketing Strategy 30%
- Key terms RACE, PESO model, PESTLE, SEO (search engine optimisation)
- How to prepare Treat the framework set as the grade-decider: RACE, SOSTAC, STP, PESTLE, Porter's Five Forces, the digital 7Ps, the customer journey, PESO…
- Most asked What is on the MKTG3506 final exam?
How MKTG3506 is assessed
| Component | Weight | Format |
|---|---|---|
| Final exam | 40% | Exam period · in-person, invigilated, closed book · 120 minutes + 10 minutes planning · paper-based short essays |
| SEO Content Audit | 30% | ≈ mid-semester · individual report — audit a client page, find content gaps and keywords, justify the rewrite |
| Digital Marketing Strategy | 30% | → late semester · team report + industry-report presentation (infographics) + self/peer review |
What MKTG3506 covers
Ten teaching topics → one framework toolkit. Each links to its free chapter guide.
Introducing Digital Marketing
What digital marketing is · the 5Ds · integration · APIs & platformsThe course opens by pinning down what digital marketing actually is — not a synonym for social media, but the whole digital toolkit used to acquire and retain customers across every online channel.
- 1.1 Digital marketing in plain words — the whole digital toolkit, not just social
- 1.2 Why digital media earns its place — the value of digital (the 6Cs)
- 1.3 The 5Ds of digital marketing (devices, platforms, media, data, technology)
- 1.4 Integrate, don't replace — digital across the customer lifecycle
- 1.5 What an API is — and what it does for a marketer
The Online Marketplace
Situation analysis · PESTLE macro-environment · Porter's Five Forces · benchmarkingBefore you plan any moves you can control, you scan the world you can't — that is the job of situation analysis. This chapter runs the two environment frameworks the course leans on hardest.
- 2.1 Situation analysis — three layers feeding one SWOT
- 2.2 The macro-environment — PESTLE, force by force
- 2.3 The micro-environment — Porter's Five Forces
- 2.4 The online marketplace map
- 2.5 Competitor benchmarking online
Search: SEM and SEO
The SERP · PPC & Quality Score · the three SEO pillars · the content auditThere are two ways onto page one of a search result: you buy it (paid) or you earn it (organic). This chapter covers both.
- 3.1 The SERP — the search results battlefield
- 3.2 SEM / PPC — how the auction and Quality Score set position
- 3.3 Match types and the metrics that grade a paid campaign
- 3.4 How engines work, search intent, and the three SEO pillars
- 3.5 The SEO Content Audit method (the 30% assignment)
Digital Marketing Strategy: RACE and SOSTAC
The 5Ss & SMART objectives · RACE · SOSTAC · STP · personasThis is the engine room of the course and of the 30% marketing-plan assignment. A digital strategy beats a pile of disconnected tactics, and the chapter gives you the frameworks to build one.
- 4.1 Why a strategy beats disconnected tactics
- 4.2 The 5Ss — what digital objectives are for
- 4.3 SMART — turning a direction into a target
- 4.4 RACE — goal → KPI → tactic at each stage
- 4.5 SOSTAC — the macro plan structure
- 4.6 STP and the four segmentation bases
Digital and the Marketing Mix (7Ps)
From the 4Ps to the services 7Ps · what digital does to each lever · the pandemic pivotThe marketing mix is the set of levers a brand pulls to deliver its offer.
- 5.1 From the 4Ps to the 7Ps — why services need three more levers
- 5.2 Each P and its digital twist, with an example
- 5.3 The PICK-5 answer structure for a 7Ps prompt
- The pandemic pivot — rapidly re-mixing online
Digital Customer Experience and the Journey
CX · the customer-journey stage models · touchpoints · omnichannelCustomer experience (CX) is the sum of every interaction a customer has with a brand, and this chapter gives it a spine: the customer journey.
- 6.1 Customer experience, defined
- 6.2 The stage models that give a journey its spine
- 6.3 The anatomy of a journey map (touchpoints, channels, emotions)
- 6.4 A worked journey, stage by stage
- 6.5 Usability, the online value proposition (OVP) and reducing effort
- 6.6 Measuring experience — NPS, CSAT, CES
MarCom and the PESO Model
Paid / owned / earned · IMC · email · display · the digital comms mixMarketing communications (MarCom) is how a brand speaks to its audience, and integrated marketing communications (IMC) is the principle that it should speak with one coordinated, consistent message across every channel.
- 7.1 IMC — one coordinated, consistent message
- 7.2 The PESO model and the two ladders
- 7.3 A brand mapped across all four PESO media types
- 7.4 The digital comms tools (email, display, video), mapped to PESO
Social Media and Influencers
The platform landscape · the influencer pyramid · the 3 RsSocial strategy is not 'be everywhere' — it's positioning: pick channels by audience, objective and content fit.
- 8.1 The platform landscape — position, don't scatter
- 8.2 The social strategy, step by step
- 8.3 Engagement rate vs vanity metrics
- 8.4 Social listening and share of voice
- 8.5 The influencer tiers and the reach↔engagement trade-off
- 8.6 Micro vs macro — choosing by objective and vetting with the 3 Rs
Content Strategy
Content marketing as a system · the content matrix · the calendar · distributionContent marketing is a system, not a posting habit. This chapter builds the system in order: audience → goals → pillars → formats → calendar → distribution → measure.
- 9.1 Content marketing, defined — a system, not a habit
- 9.2 The strategy components, in order
- 9.3 The hero–hub–hygiene model
- 9.4 The content matrix — four quadrants and their formats
- 9.5 Mapping content to the funnel and to search intent
Campaign Planning and Evaluation
The brief · KPIs · the metrics funnel · attribution · A/B testingA campaign is a finite, objective-led burst — planned once, then optimised.
- 10.1 The campaign-planning chain (brief to report)
- 10.2 Objectives map to RACE, and RACE maps to metrics
- 10.3 Cost and efficiency metrics (CPC, CPA, ROAS, CTR, CVR)
- 10.4 A worked campaign dashboard
- 10.5 Attribution — splitting the conversion credit
- 10.6 A/B testing, CRO and the improvement loop
The assessment is split three ways — a 40% closed-book, short-essay final, a 30% SEO content audit and a 30% digital marketing strategy — and all three reward the same make-or-break move: name the right framework, then apply it to the brand in the prompt.
This guide drills exactly that on one recurring answer shape — read the cue → name the model → define it → apply each part to the brand with a concrete example.
Worked example · free
Applying the RACE framework — the signature short-essay move, mark by mark
- +1Name the model. RACE = Reach → Act → Convert → Engage, sitting after an initial Plan step — the customer-lifecycle framework most strategy prompts expect.
- +1Reach: build awareness and drive visits. Tactic = SEO + organic Instagram; KPI = monthly unique visitors / impressions.
- +1Act: prompt the first interaction. Tactic = a free "how to brew" guide gated behind an email sign-up; KPI = email leads / engagement rate.
- +1Convert: turn interaction into a sale. Tactic = a first-order discount + a streamlined checkout; KPI = conversion rate and revenue.
- +1Engage: retain and grow advocates. Tactic = a subscription + a loyalty email flow; KPI = repeat-purchase rate / NPS.
- +1Apply it to the brand. Anchor every stage to this roaster (its product, audience and budget) and close by noting RACE is a loop — engaged advocates feed new reach.
Key terms
- RACE
- Smart Insights' customer-lifecycle planning framework: Reach → Act → Convert → Engage (preceded by Plan). It structures a digital strategy around the journey from a stranger seeing the brand to a repeat customer who advocates for it — the default skeleton for a strategy short-essay answer.
- PESO model
- A way of classifying every marketing channel as Paid, Earned, Shared or Owned media — ads you buy, coverage you earn, social you share, and assets you control (your site, email list). It forces an integrated communications plan rather than a single-channel push.
- PESTLE
- A macro-environment scan of the forces a brand cannot control: Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal and Environmental. It frames the situation analysis that opens a strategy — you read the world before you plan the moves.
- SEO (search engine optimisation)
- Earning unpaid visibility on the search results page by satisfying the three pillars — technical health, on-page relevance, and off-page authority (links). Distinct from SEM/PPC, where you buy placement; SEO compounds over time and underpins the content audit.
- Conversion rate (CVR)
- The share of visitors who complete a desired action (a sale, a sign-up): conversions ÷ sessions. It sits in the middle of the metrics funnel (impressions → visits → conversions → revenue) and is the headline KPI for the Act/Convert stages of RACE.
MKTG3506 FAQ
Is MKTG3506 hard?
It is concept- and application-dense rather than calculation-heavy. The difficulty is breadth and recall: the course runs through roughly a dozen named frameworks, and the closed-book final asks you to pull the right one from memory and apply it to an unseen brand under time pressure. Students who memorise definitions but never practise applying them to a prompt tend to underperform.
How is MKTG3506 assessed?
Three pieces: a 40% final exam, a 30% SEO content audit (individual report) and a 30% digital marketing strategy (team report + presentation). The final is in-person, invigilated and closed book — about 120 minutes plus 10 minutes planning, written as short essays. Confirm this year's exact weights, dates and conditions on your own UQ course profile, as details shift between cohorts.
What is on the MKTG3506 final exam?
Short-essay prompts that each hinge on a named framework: macro forces → PESTLE; micro-environment → Porter's Five Forces; paid/owned/earned → PESO; the customer journey → a journey map; influencers → the tier pyramid and the 3 Rs; the marketing mix → the 7Ps; planning a strategy → RACE or SOSTAC.
The winning answer names the model, defines it, applies each part to the prompt's brand, and gives a concrete example.
Is the MKTG3506 exam open or closed book?
It is closed book — in-person and invigilated, so you cannot bring notes, this guide, or any materials in. That makes recall the whole game: the frameworks have to be in your head before you walk in, which is exactly what this guide is built to do. Always re-check the current exam conditions on your UQ course profile.
Is using AskSia for MKTG3506 cheating?
No. AskSia is a study reference written in our own words — we host none of your lecturer's files, and every worked example uses our own invented brands, numbers and scenarios, never the assessed audit, strategy report or exam prompts. Sia teaches you the method to earn the marks; it does not complete or sit your assessments.
Questions students ask in each MKTG3506 chapter
- Is digital marketing the same as social media marketing?
- No. Social media is one channel within digital marketing. Digital marketing spans search, the website, email, display, video and data — the whole 5Ds landscape. Treating it as 'just social' is the exact misconception this chapter corrects. Chapter 01 · Introducing Digital Marketing
- When do I use PESTLE versus Porter's Five Forces?
- PESTLE scans the broad macro-environment (forces no firm controls); Porter scans the micro-environment (the competitive arena a firm operates in). A prompt about 'macro forces' or 'the wider environment' wants PESTLE; one about 'the industry', 'competition' or 'setting up online' wants Porter. Chapter 02 · The Online Marketplace
- What is the difference between SEM and SEO?
- SEM is paid — you bid for placement and pay per click. SEO is organic — you earn placement by satisfying the three pillars. SEM delivers traffic immediately but stops when the budget does; SEO is slower but compounds and is free per click. Chapter 03 · Search: SEM and SEO
- What is the difference between RACE and SOSTAC?
- SOSTAC is the macro plan structure (Situation → Objectives → Strategy → Tactics → Action → Control). RACE is a customer-lifecycle framework that usually structures SOSTAC's Tactics stage. They are complementary — SOSTAC frames the whole plan, RACE organises the channel tactics within it. Chapter 04 · Digital Marketing Strategy: RACE and SOSTAC
- What is the difference between the 4Ps and the 7Ps?
- The 4Ps (Product, Price, Place, Promotion) suit a physical good. The 7Ps add People, Process and Physical evidence for services and digital offers, where the experience and intangible cues matter as much as the product itself. Chapter 05 · Digital and the Marketing Mix (7Ps)
- What is a customer journey map and what goes on it?
- A visual of the stages a customer passes through (awareness → consideration → purchase → retention → advocacy) with the touchpoints, channels, emotions and pain points at each stage. It turns 'improve CX' into specific, locatable fixes. Chapter 06 · Digital Customer Experience and the Journey
- What does PESO stand for?
- Paid, Earned, Shared and Owned media — the four channel types in the PESO model. A prompt mentioning 'paid, owned and earned' (or asking how to integrate channels) is asking for PESO by name. Chapter 07 · MarCom and the PESO Model
- When should a brand choose micro over macro influencers?
- When the objective is trusted conversion in a niche on a tighter budget. Micro-influencers reach fewer people but engage harder and feel more authentic; macro/mega influencers suit broad awareness pushes where reach outweighs intimacy. Match the tier to the objective. Chapter 08 · Social Media and Influencers
- What makes content marketing a 'system' rather than just posting?
- A system runs in order — define the audience and goals, set content pillars, choose formats, build a calendar, distribute, then measure against the goals. Posting without that structure produces scattered content that can't be tied to results. The exam rewards the system. Chapter 09 · Content Strategy
- What is the metrics funnel and why does it matter?
- It's the chain impressions → clicks → conversions → revenue, with a conversion rate at each step. It matters because it localises a problem: a strong CTR but weak CVR points at the landing page, not the ad. You optimise the stage that's leaking. Chapter 10 · Campaign Planning and Evaluation
How to study for the exam
Treat the framework set as the grade-decider: RACE, SOSTAC, STP, PESTLE, Porter's Five Forces, the digital 7Ps, the customer journey, PESO, the influencer pyramid and the metrics funnel are the models the whole course — exam, audit and strategy report — runs on.
For each one, practise drawing it from memory and writing a 4–6 sentence answer that (1) names the model, (2) defines it, (3) applies each part to a brand, and (4) gives one concrete example.
Because the final is closed book and short-essay, banked framework recall is the safest mark in the subject — and the same toolkit directly powers the 30% SEO audit (the audit method) and the 30% marketing plan (situation analysis → STP → RACE objectives → PESO tactics → KPIs).
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