Last week, BusinessWeek reported that, B-schools are adding courses to teach students what it social media means for business. Harvard, Columbia, London Business School, INSEAD and HEC Paris are amongst the list of schools that have begun addressing the corporate demand for social-network-savvy employees. Given the popularity of social media networks, it is not surprising that employers are looking for these skills. Social media networks not only provide companies the opportunity to connect with their consumers, but also provide insight into what consumers are talking about – helping companies to understand their consumers better which in turn could impact future marketing strategies or new products.

Columbia Business School offers four Internet marketing courses, according to BusinessWeek’s article. Two of them, “Social Media,” taught by Rachel Sterne, CEO of GroundReport.com,  and “Media and Technology,” taught by New York Times technology columnist David Pogue, will be offered for the first time next spring, according to professor Rajeev Kohli, chair of the Columbia marketing division.

Meanwhile at Harvard Business School, professor Mikolaj Jan Piskorski introduced a second-year elective course, “Competing with Social Networks,” last fall and BusinessWeek says 172 students enrolled—three for every available seat.

INSEAD professor Andrew Stephen created the “Advertising and Social Media Strategy” course after joining the faculty in June 2009 to address what he saw as a need to train MBAs in non-traditional marketing techniques, says BusinessWeek. The two-month course made its debut in January of this year. “My feeling was that all the B-schools were lagging behind in preparing MBA students for dealing with the new media landscape,” he explains.

At LBS, students participate in the Google Online Marketing Challenge, running an online advertising campaign that will benefit a real business, according to the syllabus says. Student teams taking part in the challenge develop a strategy, assess the results of the campaign, and make recommendations for the company, according to the Google website.