Niklas Myhr, PhD

As Google’s #1-ranked “Social Media Professor,” Niklas Myhr saw firsthand what can happen when you have a strong online presence.  Basically, he laid the groundwork and then happenstance and synchronicity stepped in.

“Social Media Professor wasn’t my term, but something coined by my students.  They even started a Facebook Fan Page that soon gained 1,000 followers,” says Myhr, who has taught social media, digital and global marketing at Chapman University since 2006.

“As a fun experiment, when the students first gave me the tagline, I started my website TheSocialMediaProfessor.com.  Before long, the site began ranking on Google, and I was being contacted by major news outlets for comments about social media and even got invited to serve as Digital Advisor to HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco!”

It was opportunities such as these that enabled him to illustrate to students how an online presence can impact a person’s career.

“Certainly, serendipity is involved, but you also need to plan for opportunities and be discoverable,” says Myhr, who is also an international TEDx and Keynote Speaker.

International Beginnings

Born and raised in Sweden, Myhr spent his formative years in the northern part of the country in Piteå, a small city by the Gulf of Bothnia and close to Finland.  His parents exposed him and his brothers to what Europe had to offer, including trips to countries such as France and Italy, where they would explore different cultures.

His father also started the alpine ski club in their hometown, and Myhr became involved in competitive alpine skiing, a sport he still enjoys today on California’s Mammoth Mountain.

From his father, who was a dentist just like his mother, Myhr learned the value of one of the basic tenets of social media and marketing in general—networking.

“My father saw from his mother, who ran a farm as a widow near the Arctic Circle, the importance of reaching out when you need help, and returning the favor by helping others when they need assistance.  Those lessons stuck with me,” he says.

After graduating from high school, Myhr spent a year in the Swedish Army as a sergeant, then attended engineering school in southern Sweden at Linköping University, where he earned a Master of Science in Industrial Engineering and Management.  He then moved to Stockholm, where he worked at a computer consulting company for two years, following that position with one at the executive education arm of the Stockholm School of Economics that gave him further opportunity to explore the world.

“I was equipped with a laptop and flown around the world to interview executives at various large companies,” he says.  “With the information I gathered, I wrote case studies about the business situations the executives found themselves in and the challenges they faced.  It was a fascinating job that taught me a great deal about the business landscape, as well as what keeps executives up at night.”

During his time at that position, his French mentor asked him a presumptive question that changed the trajectory of his life.

“He wanted to know at what school in the U.S. I was going to get my PhD,” says Myhr.  “At the time, I didn’t know I was getting my PhD, let alone in America.  He introduced me to some U.S. schools, including Harvard, but having missed the application deadline there, I still sent in an application to Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia.”

Heading to America

Applying was something Myhr did to appease his professor, and getting in was a “long shot,” so he was greatly surprised when he received a full scholarship to Darden.

“I had a condo in Stockholm, a good job, and friends and family, so moving out of the country was inconvenient, to say the least,” he says.  “But curiosity got the better of me, so I took the opportunity to go to America to get my PhD and then planned on coming home to be a consultant.”

While he thought he’d return home, Myhr found he greatly enjoyed the American college and university environment, so he took a position to teach Marketing at Tulane University in New Orleans.  There, he taught Global B2B Marketing, focusing on how the Internet would impact business-to-business marketing in the future, including how it would allow people to become virtually acquainted before needing to travel and meet in person.  He held the position at Tulane in the waning years of the dotcom bubble.

“Four weeks prior to the dotcom bubble crash in 2000, I gave my students a handout that said, ‘Are you ready for the dotcom crash?’  When the crash did occur, things slowed for a time regarding the Internet, and many thought online transactions in general were a fad,” he says.  “But as online businesses that survived the crash, like Amazon, began to thrive, Internet marketing gained momentum once again.  Several years later, around 2009, Facebook took off with mass online adoption, and social media became a thing.”

Coming to Chapman

Following his position at Tulane, Myhr taught at American University in Washington DC until he joined Chapman in 2006.

“Chapman was custom-built for me,” says Myhr.  “I loved the idea of personalized education for students and teaching them in a way that enables them to thrive in the workforce.”

One way in which he has accomplished the mission of providing personalized education was to cofound in 2010 with the late Clas Wihlborg, Chapman’s MBA Travel Course, “Business in Scandinavia.”  Each summer, he takes graduate students from the Argyros College of Business and Economics across much of Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland for two weeks while they learn about the countries’ high-tech business environments and local culture and make valuable professional contacts.

“Niklas is one of our star professors, who makes our emphasis on personalized education come to life,” says Tom Turk, Dean of the Argyros School of Business and Economics.  “His annual travel course to Scandinavia is memorable and one of our signature experiences.  He really cares about people and is the kind of professor that students remember for years to come.”

Turk’s Executive Assistant, Rita Desjardins, agrees.  “Niklas is well-known for his high energy and engaging personality.  He truly cares about the importance of being a positive influence on others and is dedicated to the student experience.”

Myhr, who received the Bloomberg Business Week Award for Teaching Innovation, takes the task of preparing students for the work world seriously.  In 2016, he even did a Reverse Internship at a leading digital marketing agency, VaynerMedia, in New York, where he worked closely with social media personality Gary Vaynerchuk and his personal brand team.  The experience enabled Myhr to better understand what his students need to prepare for when they enter the workforce.

While he is focused on social media and digital marketing, Myhr finds it important to also stress to students that networking is more than communicating online.

“I tell them that successful career professionals network both on and offline,” he says.  “If students have a chance to meet with people in person, I suggest they don’t miss out on the opportunity, as doing so can mean making meaningful connections that benefit their future.”

Myhr, who lives in Orange, takes his own advice, including bicycling to the Old Towne Orange Farmers and Artisans Market every Saturday with his wife, Monica, where they enjoy visiting with neighbors and vendors.