Here is another excellent example of the power of social networking sites and their ability to connect brand champions. Last week I was presenting at the 2009 Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education. Each day I was at the conference I posted something on this blog about the conference, and tweeted about my experiences. One of the people following the conference on twitter was Justin Ware. We connected last week and Justin informed me about the work he was doing for the University of Minnesota.Today Justin takes time out of his busy schedule to share with us what he thinks it means to be a brand champion for the University of Minnesota. Justin, for all you do, you are the Brand Champion of the Day!
Rex Whisman
Brand champion=watchdog
of the social conversations about your brand
"The University of Minnesota
has roughly 50,000 students and 18,000 employees. Add to that nearly 500,000
living alumnae and countless interested fans in and around the state of Minnesota and you have a
colossal network of people constantly talking about the brand that is the U of
M. And of course, a lot of those people are talking about the University in a
very public manner, on-line in blogs, on Facebook, via Twitter, etc.
"To join the conversations,
the University of
Minnesota’s News Service
has developed a strong presence using tools like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.
With tools like the U of M fan page, staff in
the News Service is able to become a part of every positive conversation and
set the record straight when the talk takes a turn for the negative.
"The same principle applies
to our YouTube channel, albeit in a
more proactive way. When our president records his “welcome back” message at
the beginning of every semester, we pay close attention to what it is that the
viewers of that message want to know. For example, to produce the spring 2009
semester welcome piece, we spent a morning in one of the busiest places on
campus, randomly recording questions from members of the university community.
The president then watched those messages and responded to several of them in
this video.
"So what does being a brand
champion at a major University mean to me? It means playing watchdog over the
world of social media and engaging with those who care about your institution
to shepherd the conversation in a direction that adds strength to your brand."
Justin Ware
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