March 2021
Congratulations to the more than 1,500 Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA) members who competed in the third annual Stukent Social Media Marketing Challenge. Students competed using the world’s first social media marketing simulation, Mimic Social, which is used by top educational institutions around the world.
Participants tested their social media marketing skills by managing a simulated $5,000 weekly ad budget for fictitious bag company Buhi Supply Co. They practiced marketing on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Pinterest.
Participants gained experience:
– Selecting content to post
– Targeting specific audiences
– Promoting and scheduling posts
– Analyzing key performance indicators
The Three Winners
Each of the three winners comes from Har-Ber High School in Springdale, Arkansas! A special shoutout goes to their DECA advisor, Laurie Jennings, for giving her students the opportunity to participate in this year’s competition.
First Place: Noah Seiter
Second Place: Nathan Womack
Third Place: Reese Bell
The Top 10 Participating Schools
- Har-Ber High School, Arkansas
- The Harker School, California
- Shawnee Mission East High School, Kansas
- Colonial Forge High School, Virginia
- Richard Montgomery High School, Maryland
- Republic High School, Missouri
- Maine West High School, Illinois
- Branson High School, Missouri
- Zebulon B. Vance High School, North Carolina
- DeForest Area High School, Wisconsin
Congratulations to each participating DECA student for his or her accomplishments!
Instructor Experiences
“I love that Stukent gives students the opportunity to learn about social media marketing through a simulation that mimics what it would really be like if they were doing this job for a brand. My students were very engaged, and they also love to compete so we really appreciate that Stukent gives our DECA chapter one more opportunity to compete in something throughout the year. If any teachers are looking for a really fun way to integrate social media marketing into their course, I would highly recommend this software!”
- Laurie Jennings, DECA advisor
“Based on my reflection questions from the challenge, almost everyone felt it was engaging, fun, and a ton of information that relates to the real world of social media marketing. They all said they would recommend it for other marketing students. Thank you for offering this challenge opportunity. It was a fun learning experience.”
- Ingrid Hillestad, DECA advisor
Student Experiences
“The Stukent Social Media Competition challenged me to take my marketing skills and apply them to real-life situations. When I had run my first round, I had done fairly well, but I knew that I could do better. I looked at my metrics and utilized the different data of different platforms to modify my technique and increase revenue. This approach to learning social media marketing has given me great insight into the business field, and I want to thank Stukent, DECA, and my advisor, Laurie Jennings, for giving me this opportunity.”
- Noah Seiter, first place winner
“The Stukent competition was a very engaging and fun way to learn more about social media marketing. It was interesting and informative using software that’s similar to what actual marketers use in business today. This competition taught me a lot about how important analyzing the data is. Without statistics, I would’ve been lost on how to improve my strategy. I thoroughly enjoyed this competition and highly recommend it to current and future DECA members! Thank you to my advisor Mrs. Jennings for the opportunity she provided and Stukent for the opportunity to compete and learn more about the marketing business.”
- Nathan Womack, second place winner
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