Gordon FletcherSalford Business School

Benefits of using Social Media for

Marketing & Communications

thefuturebuzz.com/pics/power%20users/part2/social%20media%20starfish.jpg

Some Lessons• Wetpaint• Facebook ads• Facebook fan pages• Ning• Wikipedia• Flickr• YouTube• Twitter• Creativity and competitions www.julienbagein.com/wp-content/uploads/images/social-media.jpg

Some Principles• Support

who is really on board?

• Participation web2.0 is read/write web – who is writing?

• Audience who is reading?

• Content is all important– visual culture? authoritative?

• Know the Meme • No Boundaries

should this really be separate?

• Lead, Imitate, Adapt or Learn? • Context

is this really appropriate?creativefusionmedia.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/social-media-agency-consultant2.jpg

Moving Forward• Eccl.es

(authenticated url and text shortener)

• Irl.am(QR based locational service)

• UCAS mash-up• School Developed Sim

(teaching, exec, fb, mobile)

• Closer Integration(e.g. Acoustics public engagement)

• Create Tangibility(MIT/Open Source Sentiment)

• Becoming Viral(becoming the ‘cool’ secret everyone knows)

Benefits?• Internal Improvement

(leading by example)

• Knowledge Management(we are our own audience)

• Knowledge Management(we know who, when and where)

• Offers a design sentiment• Speak to our potential students

(in their own language/medium)

• Interact with potential students

http://www.isteconnects.org/otherpics/socialmedia1.jpg

Barriers?• Internal Resistance

(low levels of personal knowledge, time, motivation)

• Information Overload(too many competing choices to make a decision)

• Content Disarray(information systems delivery, response mechanisms)

• Marketing Focus(treating social media as a special case)

• Engaging Creativity