Students will work in groups, bringing together Sauder and Journalism students, on a social media project for a client. This collaborative project is intended to be a practical, hands-on exploration and implementation of what we’ve covered throughout the course.

We have lined up media partners from a variety of organisations with diverse interests.

Project breakdown:

1. Assessment of needs and proposal (including an assessment of suitable HS Pro plugins) – 10%. Due Jan 28 9.30 a.m.
2. Outline and scope of work (including evidence of significant research) – 10%. Due Feb 25, 9.30 a.m.
3. Social media strategic plan (including appendix with breakdown of who did what) – 25%. Due March 25, 9.30 a.m.
4. In-class presentation – 10%. Due April 1 from 9.30 a.m.

Project breakdown and logistics

• Week 2: in-class activity to allow you to get to know each other and team formation by end of class 2, and allocation of clients.
• Week 3: discovery meeting with client. (outside of class time)
• Week 4: item a) submission, due. Assessment of needs and proposal – 10%.

• Week 7 (Reading Week) – no classes; iPeer team evaluation. Formative feedback.
• Week 8 item b) submission due. Mid-term report on project.

Class workshop on how your projects are going. This will be an opportunity for you to get preliminary feedback on your project to date.

• Week 12: Social media strategic plan – 25%.
• Week 13: in-class presentations – 10%

You will have 10 minutes to present the project to the class. There will then be a further ten minutes for questions. The overall substance of your presentation and the way you handle the task of presenting the project to the class audience will be evaluated.

You are also required to present separately to clients and should schedule to do this in the first half of week 14.

• Week 14: No Class
  •  Final peer evaluation using iPeer.

We will schedule regular, mandatory meetings with teams, typically before or after regular class time in weeks 3 to 11 to check on progress and help teams. Typically, teams can expect to be scheduled once every two weeks for approximately 15 minutes.

Example of a successful project report:
Restaurant Awards for Vancouver Magazine (PDF)

Further notes:

Assessment of needs and proposal – 10%. This is intended as a short (2 to 5 pages) working document that provides the team with a workplan, and provides a basis for Instructor assessment and feedback. Suggested headings follow:

• Challenges and opportunities identified in client discovery meeting
• Research plans -Pilot program (hypotheses) testing plans
• Workflow: who does what and when?
• Questions, issues, areas of concern.
• Appendix: draft table of contents.
• Criteria for evaluation: should be a useful workguide for your team, AND should provide your Instructors with a basis for understanding what you will do and signing off for you to proceed, and give input/feedback.

Outline and scope of work (including evidence of significant research) – 10%.

Submit a 1-page summary: what’s going well, what’s challenging, what you’d like help with. Class involvement in helping each group to improve: 2 concurrent rooms.

Provide an appendix listing of the research that you’ve undertaken, both secondary and primary:

• Title and short description
• Findings and Insights
• Research that still needs to be done.

Social Media Plan

Your plan should be no more than 3,000 words (plus appendices) and should at least include the following sections: situational analysis, audit, tests and recommendations.

There are two audiences for this document: your client and your professors. Don’t pad the document telling the client what they already know. You should do appropriate background work to ensure that your recommendations have solid foundations but that does not mean it all has to be in your report. Look to add value so that this is a practical and useful workplan that flows from good analysis and strategic thinking. Be careful not to stray outside the scope of a social media assignment, even though you need to be able to demonstrate an understanding of interfacing with other elements of the organization’s activities.