BAMA 513 Reflections
The course served as a nice refresher for a subject I was employed in prior to my doing the MBA. I did gain some new insight into certain aspects of digital marketing. The discussion around how website content flows into a CRM via Marketo was quite fascinating. I also enjoyed learning about the McKinsey model of the consumer decision journey.
At first I dismissed the model as more consulting jargon and an attempt to glean more money from consumers. But upon further reflection, I agree with a comment made in class that the model does a good job of focusing on the individual consumer as opposed to the macro-level analysis of traditional funnel models. Social media has given consumers (and everyone else) a greater voice, which forces companies to engage in honest dialogue.
I have believed since 2009 that social media should be viewed as a skill set rather than a dedicated job role. As the industry is quickly evolving, it appears that this belief is becoming a reality. It is rapidly becoming a point of parity for anyone working in marketing, communications and public relations (regardless of their specific job function) to have some aptitude in using not only social media, but other digital marketing fundamentals (e.g. SEM, SEO, funnel design, CRM, etc.) Just as using Excel or Word was a differentiator and then become the norm, basic social media knowledge will too become a standard of industry.
The field of marketing is evolving at a swift rate, and I for one am glad for this upheaval. My previous experience at print media showed me the dangers of complacency and the necessity to embrace change. It is a fundamental truth in business that the only absolute is the absolute certainty that shit will change. You can either ride the tide, or be swept underneath and smashed on the rocks. This applies equally to individual careers as much as it does to companies. Never rest on your laurels, and never assume that you have learned enough to quit learning.
Group Project – Koerner’s Pub
Our group project for Koerner’s Pub was a fun experience. I enjoyed the group dynamics and everyone on the team (Nash, Tom, Yacine, and Eric) provided some good insight. The owner was very supportive of the project and best of all, we got to drink copious amounts of beer and sample the delicious menu of UBC’s best pub!
The project consisted of utilizing Koerner’s Twitter channel to drive traffic to Koerner’s Facebook page. We tweeted about food, beverages, and “lifestyle” topics and included a trackable link with every tweet. The result showed that people liked Koerner’s pub, had trouble finding the pub, and responded highly to video and photos. We also performed a website audit and gave several suggestions for greater engagement. The entire project ran for 5 weeks.
Our group then presented our findings to the owner of Koerner’s. Unfortunately, I could not attend the actual presentation due to commitments with my employment, but I was informed from the other group members that it was well received, although it did not provide any ground-breaking insights.
Challenges
The largest challenge for me was mustering the enthusiasm to continue on the project. With several group projects on the go, working part-time and looking for gainful post-MBA employment work I was exhausted. Having said that, if I could do it over I would have been more actively involved in the project. The stress of finding employment post-MBA has been weighing on me quite heavily, and this obsession has been detrimental to my final MBA period.
A major challenge was the limitation in scope of what we could accomplish. Koerner’s website didn’t appear online until after we had started. Driving users from Facebook to Twitter is not an optimal tactic, as the audiences on both platforms are quite distinct. Furthermore, we did not really entice visitors to the Facebook page by posting any particularly relevant content. For example, we tweeted a fun fact about Koerner’s with the promise to learn more via a link, but once a visitor reached the Facebook page we did not follow up on the promise. This is a dangerous strategy, as visitors may get upset that the link they clicked on did not deliver on what was promised. Best to mitigate this risk by providing visitors exactly what they expect to find.