The Challenge to the Team
On April 1st and 2nd 2016, a team sponsored
by The Munday School of Business at St.
Edward’s University successfully competed in the first-ever Social Media Competition at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, taking home
Second Place and the award for Most Creative team. The team was comprised of Freshmen Yasmine
Acebo, and Elizabeth Steele, Junior Kyle Hayes and Senior Andrea Garza. I was proud to act as faculty sponsor and coach.
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| Susan Mantel, BSU Department Chair, Kyle Hayes, Yasmine Acebo, Andrea Garza, Elizabeth Steele, students, St. Edward's, Debra Zahay Blatz, Department Chair, St. Edward's |
The team actually started working on their assignment last
Fall, submitting a video outlining their proposed solution to the case on
December 1, 2015. We were notified
earlier this year that we were selected as one of the top six teams and made
plans to travel to Muncie to compete with teams nationwide. Also represented were Georgia College and
University, Indiana University, Brea College and Ball State University.
The students applied their skills in social media marketing
to a unique case involving The ARC of Indiana, The Erskine Greene Institute and
Marriott Corporation, all of whom were among the sponsors of the event. The topic of the case competition was one
that resonated with our St. Edward’s University students by appealing to their
strong sense of social justice.
The client was The Erskine Green Training Institute is devoted to training
those with developmental and other disabilities to become contributing members
of society and obtain employment. The
unemployment rate of people with disabilities, according to The ARC, is close
to 80%. The foundation has invested
in Courtyard Marriott hotel located next
to the Convention Center in Muncie.
There it trains those with disabilities to work in the hospitality
industry. About 20% of the staff working
at the hotel also has a disability.
The challenge to the team was to develop a social media
campaign for The ARC of Indiana and The Erskine Greene Training Institute toward the goal of attracting people to the
hotel property and hiring graduates of the program. The team’s video submission
focused on telling the stories of the individuals at the institute. There are many heartwarming stories of
individuals who are able to now work in the community as a result of this
training. Some are even able to live
independently for the first time.
The Skills for Success
The team learned their social media savvy in my marketing
classes and through individual coaching.
They team elected to draw on its own skill in video production to tell the
brand story of the Institute through the lives of the people it has
touched and then to continue that story on other platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.
This strength in video production held the team in good
stead when it received its first competition assignment on Friday night. After a presentation by The ARC of Indiana,
each team was asked to provide a sample creative piece. Quickly springing in to action, they created
a video highlighting the training facility which they used in their presentation
the next morning. The teams were
evaluated by those working in the industry and several Professors from Ball
State University. We found out after the
first round that we had made it to the second round that afternoon.
The second round’s assignment was to come up with a strategy
to overcome a negative situation that had occurred at the hotel. The team got a half hour to read their
scenario, create some presentation slides and develop their presentation. This short time frame intensified the competition.
I watched with nervous excitement as each team presented via
video link to our main meeting room. The competition was intense and I could tell it was going to be close. After a brief consultation, the winners were announced.
The Results
When the results were announced at the end of the day as a well-spoken team from Brea College took first place, St. Edward’s
Second. There was an award for best
overall strategy, which went to and St. Edward’s
took another prize for most creative approach. We were the only team to earn two awards. The students earned over cash prizes for their efforts but also gained valuable experiences. They said that they enjoyed the various activities and the compressed time frame of the challenge. The challenge drew upon all their skills learned in their courses at St. Edward's and various extracurricular experiences. I was particularly impressed by their knowledge and use of branding in their response.
Networking and Learning
Throughout the day, there was networking and there were speakers from industry
designed to inspire the students and give them more background on social media
marketing as a career. Melanie Howe from
Addition Avenue Marketing gave tips on how to build confidence by changing body
language and using deep breathing techniques.
She also said that the students in the room were part of the ‘it’ club
because they get ‘it.’
By this comment she meant that the students who compete in these types
of events are more likely to get a job in their field after graduation (75% more likely, according to her). The reason is that they use their skills in a
real-life situation and gain valuable experience. Working on a real-life scenario, particularly
under such tight time frames as that of the competition, truly mimics the
real-world scenario.
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| Melanie Howe from Addison Avenue Marketing provides tips on confidence building before Round 1 |
Andrew Lamping from Cyclone Social challenged the students
to be ‘remarkable’ and to consider themselves worthy of employment in many
outside organizations because of their skills in social media. Not only did the
students in the room know how to operate today’s connected devices, but they
had learned through their education how to identify target audiences and craft
effective campaigns. They understand
that social media marketing is not just about ‘tweeting’ but about creating
loyal customers who purchase not just once, but AGAIN.
I agree that our team had these skills. We have recently revamped
our curriculum to include digital marketing in all our courses. Our freshmen Elizabeth Steele and Yasmine Acebo received a sound grounding in branding
as well as social media marketing in my Principles Class and Junior Kyle
Hayes has been in both my Digital Marketing and Social Media Marketing classes. Senior Andrea Garza has benefited from the liberal arts background at St. Edward's as well as her business education.
We wish to thank the Marketing Department at Ball State
University, particularly Department Chair Susan Mantel and Professors Eric Harvey
and Rebecca VanMeter for their hard work in obtaining sponsors and
organizing the competition. The students
went home with cash prizes totaling $620 and are far richer in terms of their
experiences.
The feedback they received on their strategy provided the students with valuable learning on how to create and implement an effective social media
marketing plan. Many thanks to Dean Nancy Schreiber and St. Edward's University for allowing us to compete and succeed on the national level. We have just revamped our Marketing Curriculum to focus on Digital Marketing. This type of success demonstrates that these changes will continue to benefit the students.
Submitted by Debra Zahay Blatz, Professor of Marketing and Chair of the Department of Marketing and Entrepreneurship.
