Background The Social Media for Business & Community Engagement (SM4BCE) project originated as an idea among members of staff in Coventry University's Corporate Partnership Unit (CPU). The CPU is part of the University’s Business Development Group, a team of staff who focus on developing the University's activities with external partners with the aim of generating income for applied research activities and raising the profile of the University with key stakeholder groups in business and the community. The project was inspired by the University's 2011/12 student recruitment campaign, which saw Coventry University become the first UK University to use augmented reality technology in its advertising, combined with a feeling that the way the University was marketing itself to businesses wasn’t keeping up with developments in technology and social media. This was of particular concern as Coventry University, like many other UK Universities, is currently trying to develop new sources of funding – particularly for applied research. CPU submitted a bid for JISC funding that addressed these issues and investigate how new technologies and social media could be used to engage business and the community. Aims and objectives SM4BCE aimed to change the way Coventry University interacts with its stakeholders in business and the community. At the time the bid was written, the University’s business-facing marketing relied almost exclusively on printed marketing materials which, coupled with an outdated website, made it difficult for business and community stakeholders to find out what we did and how to engage with us. This project aimed to learn from best practice in the use of new technologies and social media both within Coventry University and from across the Higher Education sector as a whole. The key objectives for SM4BCE included: An evaluation of current best practice in the use of social media and related technology for business and community engagement designed to inform institutional development across the sector; Understanding how businesses and other non-student stakeholder groups currently interact with us and how they would like to interact with the University; Starting to use social media and related technologies to support business development activity; Developing a toolkit designed to inform our future business and community engagement strategy as well as to inform the development of the sector. Context Coventry University already has a strong reputation in the field of business engagement however, at a time when Higher Education Institutions face unprecedented pressure to work more effectively with partners in the public and private sectors, it is vital that we explore the potential of new technologies to enhance Coventry University’s organisational capability in this area. As new methods of communication, such as social media, become the norm there is a risk that the University will cease to interact effectively with its target audience unless it starts to use these channels effectively.
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
Background The Social Media for Business & Community Engagement (SM4BCE) project originated as an idea
among members of staff in Coventry University's Corporate Partnership Unit (CPU). The CPU is part
of the University’s Business Development Group, a team of staff who focus on developing the
University's activities with external partners with the aim of generating income for applied research
activities and raising the profile of the University with key stakeholder groups in business and the
community. The project was inspired by the University's 2011/12 student recruitment campaign,
which saw Coventry University become the first UK University to use augmented reality technology
in its advertising, combined with a feeling that the way the University was marketing itself to
businesses wasn’t keeping up with developments in technology and social media. This was of
particular concern as Coventry University, like many other UK Universities, is currently trying to
develop new sources of funding – particularly for applied research. CPU submitted a bid for JISC
funding that addressed these issues and investigate how new technologies and social media could
be used to engage business and the community.
Aims and objectives SM4BCE aimed to change the way Coventry University interacts with its stakeholders in business and
the community. At the time the bid was written, the University’s business-facing marketing relied
almost exclusively on printed marketing materials which, coupled with an outdated website, made it
difficult for business and community stakeholders to find out what we did and how to engage with
us. This project aimed to learn from best practice in the use of new technologies and social media
both within Coventry University and from across the Higher Education sector as a whole.
The key objectives for SM4BCE included:
An evaluation of current best practice in the use of social media and related technology for
business and community engagement designed to inform institutional development across
the sector;
Understanding how businesses and other non-student stakeholder groups currently interact
with us and how they would like to interact with the University;
Starting to use social media and related technologies to support business development
activity;
Developing a toolkit designed to inform our future business and community engagement
strategy as well as to inform the development of the sector.
Context Coventry University already has a strong reputation in the field of business engagement however, at
a time when Higher Education Institutions face unprecedented pressure to work more effectively
with partners in the public and private sectors, it is vital that we explore the potential of new
technologies to enhance Coventry University’s organisational capability in this area. As new methods
of communication, such as social media, become the norm there is a risk that the University will
cease to interact effectively with its target audience unless it starts to use these channels effectively.
The project also had wider relevance to the UK Higher Education Sector, primarily because Coventry
University is not alone in seeking to increase the proportion of its research income that is private-
sector led. The current government budgetary constraints are unlikely to be relaxed in the near
future and most UK HEIs therefore have to seek alternative sources of research funding.
The Business Case If Coventry University is to build on its current success in business and community engagement and
to meet the institutional target of 25% of applied research income to be private-sector led by 2015,
as laid out in its 2010-2015 Corporate Plan, we need to ensure that the channels we use for
engagement with business are sector-leading and fit for purpose. The 2010-2015 Corporate Plan also
sets out our aim to explore web-based collaborative tools and applications and to develop
innovative models of research communities. To be successful in both of these aims the University
needs to understand its current capabilities in this area and to work with stakeholder groups to
develop relevant tools and strategies for future business and community engagement.
The increasing prevalence of social media and related tools means that universities such as Coventry
will have to become more innovative in the ways in which they seek out and collaborate with
partners and clients. There is a growing expectation that communication should be multi-channel
and interactive – not simply a website and an enquiry telephone number. This project allowed us to
explore a number of new methods of engaging with business and community partners in a number
of key areas which can then be used to inform the business and community engagement strategy of
the institution and develop the social media toolkit.
Key Drivers The key drivers for SM4BCE were:
1. To retain a strong position in the field of Business and Community Engagement;
2. To ensure that our communications with stakeholders in business and the community
remain relevant, keep pace with rapidly changing communications technology and use the
most appropriate channels;
3. To help Coventry University meet its corporate objectives of increasing the proportion of
applied research income which is private-sector led to 25% by 2015. This can only be done
by strengthening our relationships with existing private sector partners and developing new
relationships;
4. To help Coventry University continue to innovate in the ways it communicates with its
stakeholders, particularly with its students as they become the business stakeholders of the
future.
JISC Resources Used A range of JISC resources were reviewed as part of the project. Using social media for business and
community engagement is in its infancy within HE, which may be why the majority of JISC resources
available were of limited relevance to SM4BCE. It took some time to find a comprehensive list of JISC
resources that seemed relevant, and when these were located, there were limited details on what
the resources contained, meaning that time was spent reviewing only to find that the resource
wasn’t relevant. Details of the JISC resources used and reviewed as part of SM4BCE are below:
1. Online Promotion of Research Expertise: http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/tools/research-
expertise
This was a particularly useful resource providing invaluable information for the first stage of
the project which reviewed current practice on social media within the higher education
sector. SM4BCE used the resource to establish a benchmark for where Coventry University
was in terms of social media use. The project final report was based around a review of
University websites – the team looked at 75 in the UK as well as some overseas for
comparison and some key findings stood out:
i. The assertion that there was “too little interactivity and too many brochures”
resonated very closely with our experiences at Coventry, in fact this was essentially
the rationale behind the bid to JISC! Brochures definitely have their place, it’s really
important to have tangible publicity materials but these days people expect
websites to be much more than a repository of downloads. This prompted members
of the project team to look at for improving the interface for our digital and
although this doesn’t solve the problem of “too many brochures” presenting them in
more innovative and interactive ways may be a big step forward.
ii. The report found that social media was used mainly for student engagement – again
something the project found at Coventry. Even social networks aimed at business
users such as LinkedIn weren’t used in a co-ordinated way by HEIs. The presence of
staff on LinkedIn was entirely down to personal choice and there was no drive
towards a “corporate” presence.
iii. The assertion that online channels were unimportant in establishing business and
community relationships but very important for maintaining them was of interest to
the project. This prompted the project manager to explore this is in the focus group
sessions as the University’s online presence could be seen as its shop window and
the way SM4BCE envisaged progressing was to help create more partnerships
through more effective use of different social media.
2. Addressing barriers to Business and Community Engagement: