BE AN INNOVATIVE SOCIAL NETWORKING PRO!!

In our modern world where Information Technology seems to be driving the business wagon, there is a need to get thorough knowledge on how to best use the Information Super Highway commonly known as Internet. We need to know how to get to use the social media so as to generate income from it. That is why am proudly presenting to you a new innovation in the internet world by the name SOCIALPRO CLUBS

Read more about this Idea and get to know how it will benefit you as an individual towards generating income through social media.

AN OVERVIEW OF SOCIALPRO CLUBS

1.      Why are we targeting universities?

The core objective of these clubs is to teach, educate, create awareness and impart knowledge & skills of social media to the university students. These clubs will develop a talent pool of graduates with a solid understanding of digital media to bridge the knowledge gap and demand there is today for people with skills and expertise in various disciplines of social media. This will ensure students understand how to tap into the potential online and approach social media as a business & communication tool and a teaching aid to lecturers. These clubs will enhance collaboration, exchange of ideas among the students and the industry and nurture creativity because students especially shall be exposed to the limitless possibilities online. SocialPro clubs will also help university students refine their business ideas, find a high-potential commercial opportunity, gather resources such as talent & capital, figure out how to sell and market the idea and manage rapid growth. How? All the key partners they need for their start up ideas are on social media. There’s need to reach out to that innovative student in campus especially outside Nairobi and connect him to all these platforms, hubs, opportunities and information and that’s what SocialPro clubs will do. Lack of information or difficulty in accessing it is what stifles innovation in universities and SocialPro clubs will bridge that gap by making information available, provide a platform (both online and offline)for exchange of ideas and to share opportunities among university students thus boost collaboration.

It’s more like having hubs in these schools connected by social media. We’d like to use SocialPro clubs to tackle unemployment by using social media to connect university students to opportunities, information and key partners in the industry. This is meant to bridge the gap between the universities and the industry.

2.  Will the clubs be online i.e. will the students join and participate through pages/#tags etc…do you plan on having a website for the clubs?

Yes. First of all we want to create the interest at the university level in the pilot phase between October and December in the five universities. As we do the pilot phase, interested students can form an informal SocialPro club at the university, then we shall approach their university administration with a request of establishing a social media club in the university. With proper authorization then the interested students will conduct elections or nominate among themselves students to sit in the executive committee for a year. With a fully registered club at the university then the executive committee can recruit members.  For the launch and pilot phase we shall be working with already existing professional university clubs with bias to IT, Marketing & PR and AIESEC clubs in these universities.

The conversation will be both online and offline. We are currently working on a site that enables connect all these clubs online that will be an information portal. Currently we have established a Facebook page and a group (SocialPro Clubs Kenya) where students can join and be part of the community.  After the pilot phase we shall be sending out weekly newsletters to all the participants since we will collect email addresses, urge students and lectures to subscribe to our newsletter on our interactive website with links to sources of vital information. This newsletter will tackle various issues on social media to deepen the understanding of social media. We shall also be holding quarterly contact talks in each university with an invited speaker, partner organization, our sponsors or by Social Edge Africa.

3. How will they be managed by students and what is the bigger objective?

Once we establish these clubs we shall handover their management to the students who will run them with the guidance of a patron. However in the first one year we shall work hand in hand with the students in the clubs executive committee to support them financially in their events, connect them to speakers and experts plus help them secure corporate sponsorship for their activities. We shall also work with the universities administrations to ensure these clubs get financial and technical support on ground and that lecturers participate in the events to learn more on digital media. We also intend to have a weekly session on twitter to engage different business leaders, organizations (Private, GOK and NGO’s) various topics of interest to university students and youths in general on Fridays from (9-10am) using #SocialPro. The idea is to provide an objective and professional platform for #KOT to debate and generate awareness on the impact of politics, leadership, governance, innovation, education, corruption, and media on the business environment. Each week we shall have a different topic, invite three or four panelists online and have #KOT engage them for an hour on the topic of the hour.

Besides that we shall also use the platform to sensitize university students and youths on responsible online behavior and how to use social media as a PRO. All this is meant to ensure the youths engage responsibly online especially regarding creating and passing hate messages online in this election period. Moreover we have seen a rise in porn pages, blogs and Twitter handles being created in the country by the young guys, through these clubs we shall let such people know how they can put social media into a better use, make a return on the time and money they spend online through engaging in economically beneficial activities online.

Through the SocialPro clubs students will;

1.      Enable collaboration and exchange of ideas among students in other universities and industry. (spur innovation)

2.      Allow/provide a platform for information sharing with external partners and students.

3.      Exchange of information with the industry will bridge the gap between the university and expectations of employers.

4.      Understanding of social media will help students keep pace with fast moving events.

5.      Discover the best and newest ways to market with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, blogging, video marketing and social bookmarking sites.

6.      Learn how successful social media campaigns were executed and how to achieve similar results.

7.      Learn how to creatively engage and grow a loyal following on social media.

8.      Create awareness of the realities, opportunities and requirements for the various disciplines of social media.

9.      Promote innovation, enhance collaboration between universities, tap creativity and inspire development.

10.  Learn about personal branding on social media, social media etiquette and how to engage professionally on social media.                                                                                 

11.  Help students understand the opportunities available in form of careers on social media.

12.  The students will also engage, share and interact with brands and learn from their successes, challenges and failures on social media.

Through SocialPro clubs lecturers will benefit in the following ways.

1. Help lecturers embrace social media and learn how to integrate it into teaching.

2. Understand how to connect with their students on social media and gain valuable feedback, share information etc.

3. Help the lecturers embrace social media learn how to communicate, engage and interact with students on social media.

4. Establish processes that control the publishing and monitoring of their content online & globally.

5. Help lecturers understand how to publish their content on multiple networks, optimize it for a variety of multimedia formats and optimize it for many types of screens to ensure it’s viewed easily and consumed.

6. Help lecturers understand how to edit the content into a creative formats that entertains, educates and inspires.

7. Help them learn how to create and share content for the different types of media such as video and text.
8. Basically they will learn how social media can make their work easier and more fun!

Posted in: Innovative Minds