CSUEB Students Help Nonprofits With Social Media
- April 18, 2014
Students from Cal State East Bay’s MBA program have gained valuable professional experience while helping local nonprofits enhance their social media presence.
In fall quarter 2013, lecturer Kimberly Legocki assigned the 21 students in Marketing 6999, “Issues in Marketing (Social Media)” a hands-on project: To research, develop, and present a social media strategy for a local organization.
“Most students of this generation know how to use Twitter and Facebook for personal use,” Legocki explains. “But few of them know how to incorporate these tactical tools into a plan that delivers business results.”
Working with the University’s Center for Community Engagement, Legocki lined up three nonprofits and four for-profit businesses that wanted social media help. Students worked with these organizations in teams of three.
Pitawat "Top" Pornyuenyong, Mark Spicer, and Voravalun "Pear" Virapornsawan worked with South Hayward Parish, a social services agency co-sponsored by seven religious congregations. South Hayward Parish operates programs related to homelessness, family services, education, and hunger prevention—and does so on a shoestring budget, with part-time staff and dozens of volunteers. Its food pantry alone has more than 7,000 clients on its roll, up from 4,000 in 2012.
Nonprofits like South Hayward Parish increasingly use social media tools like Facebook and Twitter to raise awareness of their work among donors, volunteers, and beneficiaries, according to Sue Merrill, South Hayward Parish’s executive director. But because of budget and staffing restraints, nonprofits’ digital efforts can often be disjointed or inconsistent.
That was true with South Hayward Parish. The three CSUEB students reviewed the organization’s website, Twitter feed, and Facebook presence before their initial meeting with Merrill and program director Sara Lamnin. “We had a hard time figuring out what they did, where they did it, and who they did it for,” Spicer admits.
At that first meeting, they learned about the organization’s operations, needs, and goals. They also learned that South Hayward Parish had no staff or budget for social media. “We have no money,” Merrill says, “so whatever they suggested for us had to be affordable.”
With those constraints in mind, the students suggested one immediate change: A new Twitter handle—@SouthHayParish—that matched South Hayward Parish’s other online names. “That made sense, and we did it the next day,” Merrill says.
Next, they recommended that South Hayward Parish use an online tool called HootSuite to centrally manage all its social media accounts. (HootSuite is free for small-scale users.) “It’s going to let us know what we’ve accomplished,” Merrill says of HootSuite. “It’s a tool for us to be more effective in what we do. It’s making us more efficient, at no cost, which is what we asked for.”
Over the course of the quarter, Pornyuenyong, Spicer, and Virapornsawan learned about social media tools and techniques in Legocki’s class, and applied what they learned to South Hayward Parish’s particular needs. Their work culminated in final reports, submitted both to Legocki and Merrill, with specific steps South Hayward Parish could take to better engage clients, volunteers, and donors with social media.
“We all agreed that consistency was deficient in their marketing strategies,” Spicer says. “Using the skills we learned from class, we were able to make worthwhile recommendations that may be able to bring about positive changes.”
Working with South Hayward Parish was an eye-opener for the students. Spicer is no stranger to hardship; the Detroit, Michigan native is an Iraq war veteran and a former civilian contractor in Afghanistan. His teammates are both foreign students from Thailand with limited exposure to economic hardships in American society. All three were inspired by the dedication and hard work of South Hayward Parish’s people.
“Trust me, I’m not an activist,” Spicer says with an easy laugh. “I’m one of the few Republicans in the Bay Area. But I was just really impressed with these people. They’re proud of the fact that they get up every morning and kick ass for people who can’t do anything for them in return.”
Merrill, in turn, is both grateful for the students’ help, and glad to have broadened their horizons. “That’s what education does for you,” she says. “It opens your eyes to what’s out there.”
And though Spicer plans to work in business once he receives his MBA, he says his experience with South Hayward Parish will stay with him, both professionally and personally.
“The social media industry is relatively new,” Spicer says. “We’re still writing the rules for it—so as the rules are written, it’s important for us to be involved.”