In the heart of it

Every year, it seems that the number of Sauder events are increasing by ten-fold. You see CUS club booths everyday, with posters, swags, and people occupying the tables, promoting their club’s events. Whereas last year, booth-ing was enough to attract attention, this year Facebook promotion is more effective. Facebook promotion came to effect last August, when BizzComm, (which I am involved in), began promoting UBC Freshmen Reception to incoming freshmen using Facebook.
Our club utilized the Facebook friend account and became friends with students, which added a personal touch and created a presence on their Facebook walls. This promotion was successful, as we attracted more than 450 freshmen across Canada to come. The Facebook promotion soon became the new trend among Sauder clubs, but now, even this strategy is becoming obsolete. Although students use Facebook to gather information and to keep updated by “creeping” on each other’s walls, in reality people who clicked “attend” are not guaranteed to actually attend.

With only two months left of my presidency in BizzComm, I was very blessed to discover – from one girl on my team – a new marketing strategy that was even more effective than Facebook. To promote BizzComm’s signature event, Speakout Public Speaking Competition, she didn’t wait for people to come to our booth, or spam on people’s Facebook walls. Instead, she took a very personal approach and took the time to talk to each and every one of her friends about the event and “invited” them to come. It is easy for us to just  “sell” our event and leave, but she took the time to LISTEN to her friends. Thanks to her, I was reminded that although promoting through Facebook can be easy, but in the heart of it, everyone appreciates marketing that is relational, and on a personal level.