{Replica} PR stunts & gurilla marketing from universities: 11.000 euro scholarship via social media voting?

7 Responses to "{Replica} PR stunts & gurilla marketing from universities: 11.000 euro scholarship via social media voting?"

1. Philipp Höllermann

   Hello Mrs. Janson,

   nice that we can create it again in their blog. Of course that is
   Competition is primarily a marketing tool with which we focus on
   unusual way of presenting as a university
   private distance learning providers are not that easy ... the alternative
   the well-known poster campaigns and glued buses;).

   Your criticism I can also understand a bit far: Of course it goes with
   this competition for the ability is a concern (“Why do I want that
   Win a scholarship. ”) Particularly concise, personable and / or funny
   (and therefore not for educational reasons). But I
   think also the message that is transported is quite relevant: A
   important personal concern, a vote may be essential
   influence. At the fifth point of the vote, a contribution is now available, in
   which is about the compatibility of work, study and children ... and that
   although this is “only” represented by images and text (i.e. half
   which gives points per “vote”).

   I also assume that not only direct friends, family and
   “Fans” participate in the competition, but other people also cast their votes
   and be influenced by this message. And of course
   even without facebook-Account or Twitter (the integration and use of this
   Networks is optional, not exclusive).

   But above all - as far as I know - we are the only private university with us
   Remote study programs a regular scholarship program the partial and
   Full scholarships for our courses (worth about 90.000 Euro
   yearly). Here are the criteria neediness, educational career, professional
   Achievements and social commitment and are determined by the scholarship committee
   considered. That too is not democratic, but at least that's the way it is
   "Fair" as it goes in a traditional scholarship program.

   My question would be: Do you have alternative suggestions for a
   Scholarships? :)

   Best regards,

   Philipp Höllermann
   Project manager of IUBH remote study programs

   Reply
   1. Simone Janson

      Hello Mr. Höllermann,
      thank you for your very interesting and nuanced comment. Yes, you always have very sensational promotions too. That someone 11.000 euros per FacebookVoting is actually rather rare. Unfortunately, the fact that you still have a regular scholarship program is neglected a little. And I would even agree with you that the traditional awarding of scholarships is not necessarily more democratic.
      However, I had thought something further in the matter: Next week I will discuss in a panel of experts with Ursula Engelen Kefer, Agnes Dietzen from BiBB and Stefan Pfisterer from BITKOM on the social change from training-based occupations to competence-based activities. An important aspect of the latter, in my opinion, is the self-marketing in the form required here. That's very radical Professor Dr. Gunther Dueck, mathematician and ex-IBM manager, formulated several times, namely on the re: publica 2011 and in the Enquete Commission of the German Bundestag: Who can not network, communicate and market, falls behind. Crucial for him is that the education system is here preparatory.
      But, especially here in the blog, I keep finding that there are a large number of very intelligent people who are simply far from self-marketing in terms of their personality or who even reject this form of (apparently necessary) self-expression. Is it therefore desirable for society to move in this direction? And if not - can this trend still be prevented?
      I could not answer these questions clearly.

      In any case, action is a very exciting example, which will surely take up again.

      Simone Janson

      Reply
   2. Philipp Höllermann.

      Hello Mrs. Janson,

      Thanks also for pointing out this action.

      You are of course right if you point out a little critically that we will not let the final decision run as a vote and therefore not leave it to the interested parties. But that has less to do with the fact that we consider it too “dangerous”, but rather with the fact that we cannot generate a critical mass of participants without great effort.

      A meaningful result - which goes beyond mere expressions of interest - would require several dozen or, in the best case, XNUMX participants and that is currently not possible for us with such a special topic. If we were to start a binding vote in such a situation, we would have - in addition to a high technical effort - in the end a very manageable number of active participants and probably a number of centers that are simply not financially viable. Unfortunately, that is the crux of the matter with “customer democracy” (which I personally think is great and flow into it wherever possible).

      Best Regards,
      Philipp Höllermann
      Project Leader Distance Learning at IUBH

      PS. By the way, our remote study page has its own website at www.iubh-fernstudium.de which would be better than a photo to the article :).

      Reply
      1. Simone Janson

         Hello Mr. Höllermann,
         thanks for your comment.
         From an entrepreneurial point of view, I can fully understand that: the creation of distance learning centers is associated with high costs. That is then a different caliber than, for example, designing a Pril bottle or the Facebook- Looking for the face of the company - well-known example of crowdsourcing campaigns that went a little differently than expected.
         What always bother me a little is when companies jump onto the current crowd-sourcing trend, because it is somehow so fashionable or because they believe it is cheaper, but then do not go through to the end. In your case, however, the collection of customer feedback makes sense.

         The thing with the range I see a little in reverse: If people feel taken seriously, they are also more interested in participating in such a thing. Even with a small target group, a representative cross-section can be found. But, you are right: Something is always associated with costs, sometimes with higher costs than easy to do.

         As far as the photo is concerned: I actually searched for a nice photo of the IUHB myself, but found none. And I actually liked the colorful squares better than the green of the distance learning site ;-)

         Reply
2. pasch pasch

   Unfortunately, it is a pity that social media is not even understood by companies and universities that teach it. It could be so easy: participation + interaction = communication

   Reply
   1. Simone Janson

      Hallo,
      I am surprised not to be honest. I mean: institutions and social media? Is not that a contradiction in itself?
      Otherwise, I think the basic idea of ​​social media is also great, unfortunately, it is now being used in an inflationary manner for the mechanisms described above.

      Reply
   2. Philipp Höllermann

      Hello,

      Take a look at our community engagement and our social media activities ... then you may find that open communication is our central concern and participation is very important. :)

      Best regards,
      Philipp Höllermann

      Reply