Social Media Inspired By CREWTeens
07/08/2010
Inspiration can materialize at the oddest moments. We round a corner and Zap! something unexpected takes hold of our hearts and imaginations. That's exactly what happened to me a few weeks ago.
I walked into a classroom at the Drew Charter School in the East Lake area of Atlanta .. very Hot'lanta today! .. fully expecting to meet a group of smart teens. However, 3-hours later I walked out of the building inspired and energized. The students in the East Lake Foundation's CREWTeens summer program were beyond just smart .. they were amazing!
My dear friend Mary Dugenske - the awesome director of marketing & communication - invited me to be a guest speaker for the Tweet This program. The course explores how social media and the digital world are impacting advertising, marketing and journalism. Jana Broadie, the instructor, not only brings heart but soul and humor to the class.She's created an environment where learning is interesting and fun.
The assignment that I was given was to help the students understand the differences, and similarities, of using Twitter for personal and business purposes. We started the session off with a jar of jelly beans to demonstrate that the same could be different. Of course in order to really get the concept many jelly beans had to be consumed!
A lot of the students were using social media from Facebook and Twitter to YouTube, MySpace and Ning. While munching on jelly beans we explored why. The reason: to keep in touch with friends. At the end of morning we came to the conclusion that brands had a similar purpose to be involved in social media. The reason: to connect with customers.
Some of the most significant dfferences we decided were that brands develop a strategy and content direction. We talked about the importance of knowing who you wanted to talk to (identifying customers) and how to add value while representing the brand. All in 140 characters!
East Lake Foundation CREWTeens Tweet This
View more presentations from Bloomberg Marketing/Diva Marketing.
Yup .. you never know where you'll find inspiration. Could even be from a tweet by a CREWTeen student. Worthy of a RT, don't you think?
Read more about the East Lake Foundation in an interview Mary Dugenske did with Diva Marketing.
