In marketing today, social media is an extremely powerful
tool. Social media has grown from a new form of communication and sharing
information to an expected form of interaction and influence of a person’s
opinion about your product or brand. In the past, if you had something to say
you needed a loud voice, a soapbox to stand on, and a crowd of people to
listen. Now, even the smallest voice can be heard around the world with a click
of a button. “Today’s igniters have access to virtually free, global, and
certainly instantaneous communications systems” (Schaefer, 2012).
The most common form of influence on a brand is when a customer
posts a comment or review on their experience with the company or product. At
times, the user posts so frequently that they become a spokesperson (either for
or against) the brand. However, sometimes the association between the brand and
the individual becomes so strong, the person becomes a brand ambassador in
everything they do. Sometimes the association is intentional (i.e. Michael
Jordan and Nike, Jared Fogel and Subway), but other times it is simply due to society
and circumstance.
College athletes are (for the most part) an excellent example
of a brand unavoidable or unintentional brand ambassador. When a student chooses
to play as a division I athlete at a high profile college in a high profile
position, that person immediately become an ambassador and serves as a representation
of that institution. In 2013 Ohio State University’s third-string quarterback Cardale
Jones tweeted,
Around the
country, universities are becoming more concerned and placing more regulations
against the use of social media by their players. Many schools now have put policies in place to band athlete personal social media accounts completely. Personally, I think this the wrong direction. As institutions of higher education, it is our responsibility to not only understand the power of social media, but also educate our athletes on how to use it correctly and professionally. My first thought when I hear a college has a strict social media policy is that they have something to hide. Social media is about listening, if you students have something positive to say, encourage them to say it. If not, then listen to their social conversation and find ways the institution can improve and change perception. “Saying ‘don’t use it’ is not going to work,” said Matt
Hames, manager of media communications at Colgate. “The really scary thing to a
lot of people is now a 17-year-old kid has a device in their hand where they
can say anything at any time. You just nudge them in a direction where they
think about it a different way" (Grasgreen, 2013). Teresa Valerio Parrot,
principal at TVP Communications adds, “Institutions that say ‘don’t
participate’ are missing an opportunity to highlight what student-athletes do.
You’re not able to hear about them as students” (Grasgreen, 2013).
Social Media ambassadors can be an important resource in
your integrated marketing communications strategy. Social Media Examiner has a great article about how Adobe learned to empower their employees to share positive experiences while working in the company. Cory
Edwards, head of Adobe’s Social Media Center of Excellence, explains, “we had a ‘Eureka!’ moment about how much value the average
employee could bring. As a result, Adobe now focuses on
empowering all employees to be brand ambassadors" (Julig, 2014). College athletic programs
can benefit tremendously from active athletes on social media. Though it may
not be all positive, educating your students and listening to the online interactions
can influence the conversation and brand positioning.
Schaefer, Mark (2012). Return on Influence. McGraw-Hill.
Grasgreen, Allie (2013) Tweet Smart, Tweet Often. www.insidehighered.com/
Julig, Louise (2014). 4 Ways to Turn Your Employees Into Brand Ambassadors. http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/turn-employees-brand-ambassadors/
Julig, Louise (2014). 4 Ways to Turn Your Employees Into Brand Ambassadors. http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/turn-employees-brand-ambassadors/
Brian-
ReplyDeleteThanks for your post! This is clearly a great example as Mike also talked about it and Kimberly referenced it.
I really enjoyed your take on whether social media should be restricted or more monitored for student athletes. It’s very important to educate these athletes the right way to use social media, because as you state they could be really great brand ambassadors for the college. Students want to hear other students, whether they be athletes or not, as real humans and to restrict this from them is absurd. Colleges will truly miss out on great opportunity’s that could come from honest student athletes.
Do I think there needs to be some sort of rules and education, absolutely. Putting in place a social media class for athletes to learn the best practices may be vital these days. As you mention it is easy to say whatever, whenever and there is no one that is stopping you (Jones tweet). But when athletes are taught what is professional and acceptable, a tweet or post by them could go a long way for the college’s brand.
I read about Adobe’s integration of employees through social media a while ago and loved that idea. Sharing positive experiences and fun times within the workplace just puts more eyes on how great the Adobe brand image within the company is. This is a great example of how colleges could utilize an idea like this for athletes to portray the things they like most about where they attend school.
Thank you for your reply Kara,
DeleteI completely agree, students do want to hear from other students, and a positive experience with students online can be a big deciding factor in the college search process. In fact, a study conducted by Zinch and Inigral (two college search marketing companies) showed that 76% of the students surveyed say conversations with current students through social media was influential in their decision on where to enroll. (Zinch and Inigral, 2014).
Here at Marist, I am actually in the process of developing a social media student ambassador club on campus. The group, tentatively named “Word on the River” (a play on words due to Marist’s location on the Hudson River), will be student volunteers that are interested in sharing their personal social media accounts with prospective students. The goal is to show what day-to-day life is like at the college, but also provide a connection and encourage interaction between the applicants and current students. It also provides an opportunity for Marist students to show that they understand the benefits of social media in marketing/PR, and how to use their online presence in a professional manner. “Many job seekers want to keep their private lives private. But what if you could improve your chances of being the selected candidate by using social media? Companies are checking you out online, so why not use these tools to enhance your qualifications?” (Morgan, 2014).
Bibliography
Morgan, H. (2014, Sept. 10). 10 Reasons Job Seekers Should Embrace Social Media. Retrieved 2015, from usnews.com: http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/outside-voices-careers/2014/09/10/10-reasons-job-seekers-should-embrace-social-media
Zinch and Inigral. (2014). HOW HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS USE SOCIAL MEDIA IN THEIR COLLEGE SEARCH . Retrieved 2015, from uversity.com: http://www.uversity.com/blog/social-media-and-the-college-search-infographic/
Wow, that is such a great idea Brian, I love it! A lot of high school students now turn to social media when finding or deciding about a college. I know Oswego State, where I went to college, actually gives students the opportunity to use the college's official Instagram account. A month ago the hockey team took over the account to show behind the scenes of the rink, training etc., and now the Theater department has taken over the site to show rehearsals, fun tricks they do before plays etc. It is really a great idea. I am sure we will see this more and more with colleges.
DeleteHi Brian,
ReplyDeleteJones is a great example for this discussion, the topic of social media monitoring and establishing rules and policies for social media etiquette is debatable. The NLRB prohibits organizations from placing certain restrictions on employee’s behavior in a social media setting, “Employers may encourage employees to refrain from making insulting remarks or engaging in hateful speech in social media. However, employers may not impose wholesale restrictions.” (Halpern, 2012). On the other hand, the NLRB protects employer’s by ruling that “employees may be terminated for engaging in such public rants. Prohibiting this behavior in a social media policy does not violate the Act as long as it does not chill protected speech” (Halpern, 2012).
For a student athlete, not employed by the college or university, they are entering into an agreement or contract which is likely to offer less protection for the student as oppose to an employee under such policies as the NLRB. In social media policy, some organizations explicitly state do’s and don’ts referencing things that can and cannot be said online. Scott’s (2013) recommendation is “simple”, he suggests “implementing corporate policies saying such things as employees can’t sexually harass anyone, that they can’t reveal secrets, that they can’t use inside information to trade stock or influence prices, and that they shouldn’t talk ill of the competition in any way or via any media”. Scott goes on to suggest that instead of focusing on guidelines per social media networking site, the focus ought to be on how employee’s behave in any media setting (Scott, 2013). For a college or university, I think Scott’s advice is appropriate. Isolating the school or student from social media is the wrong approach. But just as student athletes are restricted and receive repercussions from drinking, drugs, law violations, bad grades, sexually explicit behavior, etc. I think certain behaviors on social media can too be restricted. In the case of Jones, this impulsive statement is just silly. It doesn’t fall into one of the [really] bad behavior categories just mentioned, but it can be considered disrespectful. What if you said the same type of comment as an employee of an organization:
“Why should we have to go to this meeting if we came here to WORK, we ain’t come to sit in MEETINGS all day, meetings are POINTLESS.”
What if you have certain meetings that were an essential component of your job and very important to your organization? How would your organization react to this comment on social media? Do you think it would be as harsh as the Jones situation?
Scott, D.M. (2013). The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use Social Media, Blogs, News Releases, Online Video, & Viral Marketing to Reach Buyers Directly (4th ed.). Hoboken, N.J: John Wiley & Sons
Halpern, Sheryl J. (2012, December 3). When is Your Company’s Social Media Policy an Unfair Labor Practice? Recent NLRB Decisions Offer Long-Awaited Guidance for Employers. Retrieved from http://www.natlawreview.com/article/when-your-company-s-social-media-policy-unfair-labor-practice-recent-nlrb-decisions-
Kimberly,
DeleteI think you bring up a good point on restrictions on social media. I mentioned in my post information about educating athletes on proper use of social media, I think that education needs to include repercussions for inappropriate use of social media. Finding the balance between free speech and unprofessional posts by a student or employee is important. I think the organization needs to not only clearly define their expectations on the use of social media, but also be upfront on the consequences for not following that policy.
That's a good point, I would definitely agree that the consequences for not following the policy should be made clear in the policy itself.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHey Brian,
ReplyDeleteYou make some excellent points in your post this week. In particular, I liked your example of college athletes as unintentional brand ambassadors. I would surmise that student-athletes may not appreciate how playing in a high profile college sports programs makes them susceptible to the kind of media scrutiny that Cardale Jones went through. If you think about it, we’re talking about a teenager fresh out of high school whose social media influence probably extended no further than their family, friends, and high school classmates. Once their playing at the division I level, however, they’re suddenly thrust upon the national stage, their circle of influence expanding rapidly as new followers and the media latch onto their every tweet and post. The student athlete, however, continues to view their social media an innocent platform to express off beat opinions and air their vices; they had never gotten in trouble for it before, why would they think they would now? Inevitably they learn otherwise, but usually not until after some sort of glaring social media snafu damages their reputation, and by association, the reputation of their school.
Like you, I came out as against college social media bans, considering them reactionary measures that don’t address root cause of the problem, which is lack of proper social media education. As you point out, and as I mentioned in my own posting, Colgate University has taken a more pro-active method to addressing the problem by allowing and encouraging student social media use, but also teaching them to use it as a tool to empower themselves and make themselves more marketable. This method, which I wholeheartedly agree with, balances “the athletes’ right to be themselves with a mutually desired positive image” (Grasgreen, 2013). I would even go a step further and argue that social media education should come before students even graduate from high school; responsible social media education should begin as soon as a student is old enough to use social media themselves, and it should be done in partnership between parents and educators.
I’d be interested in hearing how Marist stands on this issue. Would you be able to briefly touch upon Marist’s own policy when it comes to social media and its students?
References:
Grasgreen, A. (2013, August 20). Tweet smart, tweet often [article]. Retrieved fromhttps://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/08/20/instead-telling-athletes-not-tweet-colgate-shows-how-social-media-can-work-them
Good Question Mike,
DeleteTo be honest, my work at Marist focuses on prospective students and external audiences, my interaction with current students is limited. For that reason, I am not 100% sure of the detailed policies in place in regards to social media use with our student body. I will tell you I do use TweetDeck and have a constant feel/notification of any time someone comments or references Marist in a post, and there has been times where I have found inappropriate posts and sent that information to our staff responsible for student conduct, or even directly to security. However, I do not have much information on how those situations we handled from there, but I do know they were not ignored. :)