Students use Internets ... It's Super Effective!!

I'm going to make a few quick statements this morning and add more as I get time later in the day. As orbital's post from last night discusses, the blog is doing well in search results. Despite using the blogger platform and the majority of traffic being driven by Facebook referrals, it is on the first page (2nd from bottom) of Google results for "UNBC Marketing," with just under 1600 page views in 3 weeks. That's better than my expectations for a class blog.

A Wild Blogger Appears

Using a public blog, outside the confines of Blackboard, is a double edged sword: we get to see how it is treated by search engines in real time, but it also has very real implications. There are at least 3 topics on the blog that could be stirring the pot at any time: The Commerce Student Society (CSS), the School of Business itself, and the G4G contest. We still have a month of classes, so other issues may arise as students continue to dissect topics that they feel are important.

I would like to thank those from outside of the class who have participated by commenting or by speaking with me. I see there are a couple situations in which past posts have crossed a line, and I apologize on behalf of the students; I am the one who is responsible for this blog, at least for this semester. On that note, if you find that a topic is NOT COOL, please get in contact with me and it can be revised or removed.

Ideally, this blog can compliment the School of Business. I want it to be a place where students, faculty and staff can make comments. I'm going to look at the progression of posts on all topics and make some comments in order to keep them focused, and hopefully I can tend to those issues throughout the day.

Keywords.. Keywords

The blog is doing great, ranking on the first page of google for the search query 'UNBC marketing' but we are still having a little bit of trouble with keyword density. The good news is, our #1 keyword is UNBC with a density of 2.62% which is respectable. The bad news is our #2 result is... share? Optimally we would like have our top 4 keywords as UNBC, Internet, Marketing, and Business. The question of course is how are we going to achieve this? By taking a quick analysis of keyword density of some recent posts using Site report Card (a great tool for beginning internet marketers) I have found a few issues. Here are the results of a few recent posts

As you can see we have a bit of work to do. As internet marketers we need to achieve an optimal keyword density to improve our rank on on search engines. In order to do this we need to edit some of our posts to incorporate our keywords, UNBC, internet, marketing and business.

Tropical Tigers Take a ‘Bite’ out of the Alumni Association

The UNBC Alumni Association is looking for ways to connect with as many Alumni in the most meaningful (and cheap!) way possible.

Did you know 50 million people check their email by 11:30am every day?  This is an on-demand lifestyle we are engaged in and there is no cheaper, more effective channel to share information with an audience than email.  But…before sending out mass emails, it’s important to capture the focus and attention of the reader.  So, instead of addressing every communication directly to all alumni, there may be ways to ensure the communication is meaningful to individual readers.

5 key roles of e-mail:

Drive awareness. So in the case of the Alumni Assoc., we want to provide a prelude that creates a ‘want’ to look further – what’s in it for them?

Create ongoing engagement.  Relevant e-newsletters, regular alumni events, and sharing ‘who’s doing what’ from your graduating class – pictures add value as well.

Consideration.  How do we get them to actively participate in the UNBC community?  Alumni members may need to be lured.  Discounts at the NSC?  Bookstore?  GC’s to the Thirsty Moose?  Let’s get them to the campus and keep them engaged!

Drive purchasing.  This is your hardcore, ‘buy it message’.   Hmmmm, what are we selling?  A community, connections, opportunities, networking – in this case the customers should already know and (hopefully!) trust the ‘brand’. 

Retention and Cross-sell.  Focus on customer service, we need to make members feel important, not just another email to spam so make sure it is targeted.  Things like a considerate response email or personalized thank-you’s for participation.  Also, getting feedback to learn more about what worked and what didn’t to assist with future planning.

Additionally, segmenting your e-mail list to take advantage of social media interactions and the collective influence the email recipient has on others to get involved – the multiplier effect.

Finally, get creative! 

MacBook Wheel: Practical or Practical Joke??

The Onion News Network (ONN) declared on December 18, 2008, that Apple would be releasing a new MacBook that was designed without a keyboard. The MacBook Wheel is said to revolutionize the laptop industry by eliminating the keyboard and make "typing a thing of the past." It was unveiled at the annual Apple Expo by Steve Jobs.

The Macbook Wheels features include:
- an ultra thin humming bird battery which last 19 minutes before it requires charging
- virtually unbreakable unless dropped or hit
- includes an energy saving feature which turns the screen black after 4 seconds

The Macbook Wheel will be offered in 8gb for $2,599 or the upgrade to 40gb for $9,960. It is estimated to be released for purchase 3-18 months after the convention.

It is up in the air about whether hardcore Apple enthusiasts will be camping outside stores days before the release.

Re: UNBC G4G: Meaningful or Meaningless

As everyone has seen from our last blog update, we criticize (literally tore it apart) UNBC's Gold for Green. Although we are skeptical about this project, that does not mean we do not oppose it.
Many may think that we can openly criticize G4G mainly because we "hide" behind our superficial name, The Monkey Chicklets. However, it must be understood, it is for our safety - there are many, many mad/raging/angry/crazy/psycho Green people residing at UNBC.

This week, we wanted to take a more marketing perspective at G4G. Thus, we present our take on Gold for Green's STP. For all those non-business students and lurkers, STP is simply the Segmenting, Targeting, and Positioning.

Segmentation: Identifying all segments for the product/service. The objectives of segmentation are: Break market into components; Regroup into market segments; Select which segment to target.

Targeting: To simply put targeting, it can simple defined in a question, "What is target?" Although this question is very simple and short, it can be more complicated as it can be broken down into further questions as follows: What percent of the population uses your brand?; What are the demographics?; Which media is the best to use?

Positioning: The science of perceptual strategy. It is based on a theory that strategy can only be planned in the mind of the consumer, not the marketplace.

Now that STP has been defined in a straight-forward manner, from what we believe anyways, how does this in any way relate to G4G? Well, perhaps many are still trying to understand the STP concept. But onwards!

Segmenting and Targeting Gold for Green Contest:

Finding how this contest was created for UNBC students, perhaps all the work has been completed before The Monkey Chicklets started. What we can look at is why they chose us (UNBC). Thus, we have fused segmenting and targeting together under this heading.

While segments can be defined in an infinite amount of ways, we can put broader parameters on how we define this segment. Blatantly, this contest is for students. The average demographic for UNBC students: Ages of 18-24; Income of $11,000 (estimated); Location of the Prince George area. Given that a 10-course year will cost approximately $600 including the variable costs of textbooks and those random-what-the-f fees, that's a total of $6000. Add on top of that the living fees, drinking binges, and food, that 4 months of hard labour disappears. So on the bright side, the $1000 prize is quite the benefit.

Since this contest is "open" (see our other post why we emphasize open), it will mainly target students - students that "like" UNBC of course. By targeting students, perhaps this contest is more than just the money, and transparencies. Perhaps, just maybe, they are trying to spread the awareness of sustainability to the non-green students. By reaching out now, to the younger generation, the cultural and social future trends can be changed. Or, The Monkey Chicklets just thought too much about it. We personally like the latter one.

Positioning of Gold for Green:

Now, going into the minds of the consumer, and not the market. What are the consumers in a contest? It's the contestants that are trying so ridiculously hard (sometimes going so far as obviously lying) to win. Well, winning is presently defined as being "liked." Everyone, including the Monkey Chicklets, would love $1000. Maybe not so much the Green Gift Basket. But hey, $1000 is a bonus. Make that $12,000 for this year's income!

How would UNBC G4G go ahead, and attract these segmented and targeted people? By positioning themselves within the university. How long did you guys see G4G banner, or posters up throughout the school? We saw it there for well over a month, before the club's bake sales took over (think about the amount of energy those cookies and muffins consumed, which therefore you consumed!). The reach pretty much covered the entire school population, since it was in the Wintergarden. Frequency happened at least twice a day. That's a pretty good advertisement to get those numbers.

We are not sure how many of lurkers read our first post, but we would like to say thanks to our faithful/loyal lurker (most likely classmate) mydogistoosmart.

We agree with your comment. How come UNBC does not have any regulations for companies that bid for the cafe/sandwich area? Hundreds of paper plates are given away for the wraps, and the napkins are free to take (I can take all of them, and evilly burn them for fun). As delicious and cheap as Tim Hortons' is, what about all those disposable cups and paper bags? UNBC is trying to change the company environment, their brand name. How will it change by having companies described above associated with it?

Lastly, we would like to end it with this thought.

G4G: I burn all my trash, I leave my computer on all day downloading movies, I leave 3 lights on in my room to adjust to my monitor, my laptop is on all day for MSN/Facebook, I drive to UNBC everyday (by myself of course), I never recycle because it's too far. Please vote for me!
34 Seconds Ago· Comment · · View Feedback (478)

Would they give me the prize because my friends voted for me?

“Terry Fox Didn't Finish His Run!--PS We need a website update too please Terry!"

Thank you to all who participated in making changes to the CSS site. Thank you to those who contacted us and expressed your concerns. Those involved in last week’s blog post on the Commerce Student Society did not intend for what was written to be taken as personal attacks on the students involved but more so a criticism of issues the organization has dealt with since its inception. With that said, this does not mean that we will stop writing about the CSS. Whether or not the readers of this blog acknowledge that some accountability was created from what was written, it is important to recognize that changes were made and that the Commerce Student Society, Alumni and the student body took something out of the post. As a member of the CSS told me, “any publicity is good publicity”. This statement reinforces our group project’s goal. That is to market a club using the internet as a medium.

The overwhelming amount of resources needed to implement the advantageous strategic vision of the CSS can not be accomplished by the executives alone. Prioritizing projects based on what resources you have available is indeed a terrific strategy but it then devalues or even pushes the other events and programmes on the back burner.

This brings us to this weeks topic, Leadership and accountability. We would like to present those visiting this blog with an interview from the current CSS president but due to scheduling conflict, this interview has been postponed.

An article written by Jeffrey Gandz from the Richard Ivey School of Business, states that in order to be a successful leader the following criteria must be adhered to at all time:

1. Understand and interpret the environment in which you operate;

2. Develop winning strategies;
3. Execute them brilliantly;

4. Measure the impact of your strategies systematically, adjusting strategies as indicated; and,

5. Develop organizational, departmental, team and personal capabilities.

Article found HERE

We encourage you all to take the time to read this article, if not all of it, points 2,3. In our opinion, CSS has put too much on their plate. Balancing school, work and personal commitments is incredibly difficult to do and we commend those that can successfully meet all those commitments. The effectiveness of the organization is solely determined by how it is managed and lead. We would ask that before a vision is created, a realistic look at the team's available resources be examined in great depth. It is not fair to the student body, and those involved in organizing and implementing events and activities to expect or be expected to provide or be engaged in so much. We feel that this is why it is so easy to underestimate the effectiveness of CSS. It is a case of high expectations from everyone.

Entrepreneurship Centre at UNBC

Great news for commerce students at UNBC. UNBC could possibly have its very own entrepreneurship centre. Nothing is final and details are very limited at the moment but we have a list of features we would like to see personally.

1. Guest speakers/Workshops- Have guest speaker events at various times throughout the year in which successful entrepreneurs (such as Dan Abraham PG Listings.ca) can share their experience and knowledge of creating a successful business. We would also like to see various workshops held, for example a successful business plan workshop or a design and creativity workshop.

2. A 'Dragons Den' Event- Once a semester a panel of successful business people and professors can be formed and students can approach the panel with their entrepreneurial ideas and receive a critique of their idea. This would be open to all UNBC students and not be competition based.

3. Create a Young Entrepreneurs society- This would fall under the Entrepreneurship centre. The purpose of this society would be to help raise awareness for the centre and spread the entrepreneurship spirit. This society could work hand in hand with the CSS and UNBC commerce program.

4. Intellectual Property Rights- Have a full time employee that specializes in intellectual property rights. This professional would not only service the entrepreneurship centre but also Prince George and the rest of the north as this service is not offered in Prince George or Northern BC in general.

5. A Mentorship or Internship Program- Provide an opportunity for existing businesses to actively participate with students/ be mentors and give them an opportunity to work with them.
- Eric, Prashat, Nasser (Cherry Bear)