Abstract
The rapid proliferation of social media platforms has fundamentally transformed commercial landscapes worldwide, compelling educational institutions to re-evaluate their curricular offerings. This study empirically investigates the impact of social media marketing (SMM) skills acquisition and digital innovation exposure on academic performance, entrepreneurial intent, and career readiness among business education students in Nigerian tertiary institutions. Employing a quantitative cross-sectional survey design, primary data were collected from 384 purposively and randomly sampled undergraduate students from eight universities and polytechnics across the South-East, South-West, and North-Central geopolitical zones of Nigeria. Structured questionnaires adapted from validated instruments (Cronbach's alpha = 0.87) were administered, and data were analysed using descriptive statistics, Pearson product-moment correlation, and multiple linear regression. Findings reveal that SMM skills acquisition exerts a statistically significant positive effect on students' entrepreneurial intent (β = 0.612, p < 0.001) and career readiness (β = 0.548, p < 0.001). Exposure to digital innovation tools similarly demonstrates a strong positive relationship with academic performance (r = 0.693, p < 0.05). Regression analysis indicates that SMM skills and innovation together explain 68.4% of variance in overall graduate employability outcomes (R² = 0.684, F (2, 381) = 412.3, p < 0.001). Additionally, 74.2% of respondents reported that SMM coursework had increased their confidence in starting a digital business. The study recommends the urgent integration of structured SMM and digital innovation modules into formal business education curricula across Nigerian tertiary institutions, supported by public-private partnerships with technology firms.