MKTG3506 · Digital Marketing & Social Media
The Complete Exam Bible · S1 2026Digital Marketing & Social Media
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. 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.
What MKTG3506 covers
Ten teaching topics → one framework toolkit. Each links to its free chapter guide.
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 |
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.
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).
