Social Entrepreneur and Student Network - Essay Example

Online Social Entrepreneurship - Social Entrepreneur and Network (SESNet) (Words: 3504) Table of contents Structured Objective 3 Methods 3 Results 3 Conclusions 3 Introduction Purpose of the paper 4 Structure of the paper 4 Research methodology 5 Background to the Social Enterprise/Charity Nature of the organisation 5 Problems and challenges of the organisation 6 The objectives of the social media strategy 6 The budget available 7 The constraints the social enterprise has to work within 7 Literature Review Case studies of social media being used for social/environmental causes 7 Relevant social media theoretical frameworks and models 8 Relevant evaluation frameworks and models 9 Other relevant theories 10 Analysis Decide which frameworks and/or models will be used 10 Apply the frameworks/models to the social enterprise in order to develop the social media strategy 11 The social media strategy The aims and objectives 11 The target audience 12 The specific social media channels to be used 12 The nature of the proposed activity 12 The online/software tools which should be used 12 The means by which the success of the social media strategy will be evaluated 12 Conclusions Summary of the strategy and its likely overall effectiveness 13 Likely implications for the social enterprise 14 Recommendations Recommendations for the social enterprise 15 Recommendations for further research in this area 15 References 16 Appendix 17 Structured abstract Objective Current paper focuses on the design and the presentation of a social media strategy appropriate for the promotion of a specific social enterprise. Methods The literature published in this area has been reviewed for identifying those strategic choices that would secure the success of the social media strategy involved. Theories and models explaining the involvement of social media in business environment, including the social enterprises, have been compared and evaluated so that the risks related to such project are minimized. Results A social media strategy combining two critical characteristics, flexibility and effectiveness, has been developed. Conclusions It has been made clear that the design of a successful social media strategy can be a challenging task mainly because the needs and the potentials of organizations tend to change continuously even in relatively stable markets, such as the British market. Introduction Purpose of the paper Current paper focuses on the provision of a social media strategy that could support the enhancement of performance of a social enterprise based in UK, the Social Entrepreneur and Student Network (SESNet). The literature related to the specific subject will be also presented for justifying the choice of the above social strategy and for explaining the challenges that could possibly appear when realizing the particular project. Structure of the paper The paper has been structured in such way so that the phases of the social media strategy chosen for the Social Entrepreneur and Student Network (SESNet) are clear. At a first level, an abstract is provided for showing the key elements and objectives of the paper. Then, the introductory section offers a more analytical view on the paper’s purposes and content. The characteristics and the needs of the organization involved are also presented, aiming to show the issues that the social media strategy proposed will have to face. Furthermore, the literature related to the paper’s subject is presented. At the next level, the appropriate theory/ model for developing an effective social media strategy is explained. The use of this theory in practice is made clear in the following section, where the various phases of the media social strategy suggested are described. The conclusions and the recommendations sections are the last ones of this paper. These sections summarize the key findings of the paper and suggest practices that the organization under discussion should establish. Also, in the recommendations section of this paper suggestions are made for further research, referring to gaps identified while reviewing the literature published in the particular field. Research methodology The research methodology chosen for this paper is the literature review. Academic studies, as recent as possible, have been identified and reviewed for addressing the issues that are related to this paper. It should be noted that the literature retrieved in regard to this paper’s subject is characterized by certain gaps, a problem that it is also highlighted in the last section of the paper, the recommendations section. Background to the Social Enterprise/Charity Nature of the organisation The Social Entrepreneur and Student Network (SESNet) is a social enterprise focusing on particular priorities, such as: a) the promotion of cooperation between students and social entrepreneurs; this cooperation may have various aspects including the provision of information to students for covering their research needs in regard to social enterprises or the participation of students in events organized by social entrepreneurs for increasing the awareness of the public on social enterprises; b) to provide to students the chance to offer consultancy services to social enterprises; the fees related to these services are expected to be lower, compared to those of professionals, but this fact is rather expected taking into consideration the educational and professional status of students, as compared to those of professionals; c) to offer to students the chance to acquire working experience and d) to offer to students the potential to be prepared for a career related to social entrepreneurship; in addition, the above organization can help students to fully understand the principles of corporate social responsibility, a concept which is indispensable part of social enterprises. Problems and challenges of the organisation The Social Entrepreneur and Student Network (SESNet) faces a series of problems and challenges that can set important barriers in the development of the organization’s strategies. These problems need to be taken into consideration when designing the social media strategy that will be used for the improvement of the organization’s market image. Primarily, reference should be made to the difficulties related to the recruitment and the retention of members. These members, who are aware of social entrepreneurship, have certain needs that must be covered so that the involvement of these individuals in the organization’s activities faces no barriers. At the next level, the funds available for the development of appropriate training schemes are limited. This fact results to the inability of the organization to take initiatives for promoting its market image; the limited use of social media up today for the organization’s promotion is related to the lack of sufficient funds for such project. Because of the lack of funds, the organization has been also been unable to keep its strategies updated, according to the development of social entrepreneurship, and to monitor the changes occurred in social media. The objectives of the social media strategy The social media strategy proposed would have two key objectives: a) to improve the organization’s image in the market, i.e. to increase the organization’s popularity and b) to help the organization to improve its performance, so that funds are allocated for the achievement of the organization’s objectives. In the long term, the social media strategy could also help the organization to change its culture promoting team working and the participation of members in critical organizational decisions. The budget available As already explained, the organization has been unable to retrieve funds for covering its needs for promotion through social media. In this context, there is no budget available for the realization of the particular plan; the latter should be based on organization’s existing resources so that the organization’s expenses are not increased. The constraints the social enterprise has to work within One of the most important challenges that the organization has to face is the low level of inhouse expertise. Because of this problem, the organization has failed in establishing complex or demanding strategies that would secure the enhancement of organizational performance. This problem could also set in risk the attempted involvement of the organization in social media, through the social media strategy suggested in this paper. Literature Review Case studies of social media being used for social causes. Social media has been extensively used for social and environmental causes. Reference can be made, as an example, to the case of ‘Philip Pain, a student in Mexico’ (Brown 2012, p.144). Philip had a severe accident and the need for emergent operation appeared (Brown 2012, p.144). However, his ‘blood type was quite rare, O-negative’ (Brown 2012, p.144). It was impossible for local hospital to respond to the needs for blood of this type (Brown 2012). The parents of Philip used Facebook in order to gather the amount of blood required for the operation (Brown 2012). Indeed, in a few hours, ‘the blood necessary was gathered and was sent to Mexico from Florida’ (Brown 2012, p.144). In the above case, Facebook has saved Philip’s life (Brown 2012, p.144). Another example of the use of social media for social causes is the following one: online games offer to their users the potential ‘to use real money and raise funds for social causes’ (Brown 2012, p.144). Through such games people have been able to support critical social needs, as the need for food and medical material after the earthquake of Haiti or the need for providing food supplies to areas that are under-developed (Brown 2012, p.144). It has been proved that the users of online games have significantly supported the efforts of the World Food Program up today (Brown 2012, p.144). The involvement of social media in the promotion of social causes is made clear through the following example: one of the most popular social media, Facebook, has incorporated in its platform a feature for increasing social awareness of social needs: Facebook Causes shows the funds gathered for ‘the support of activism and fundraising’ (Aaker and Smith 2010, p.38). Fouts (2009) refers to the Non-Profit Technology Network, a social media network created for securing the free access to ‘valuable research material’ (Fouts 2009, p.133) and to information related to ‘non-profit technology’ (Fouts 2009, p.133). Relevant social media theoretical frameworks and models Different approaches have been used for explaining the responses of humans to social media (Figure 1 Appendix). According to Wind and Green (1974), when trying to explain the behaviour of humans emphasis should be given on each individual’s lifestyle (Wind and Green 1974, in Kahle and Valette-Florence 2012, p.6). Moreover, the lifestyle would be related to three different elements: ‘a) personality traits, b) interests and c) consumption behaviours’ (Kahle and Valette-Florence 2012, p.6). From a similar point of view, Reynolds and Darden (1972) have emphasized ‘the importance of social influence’ (Reynolds and Darden 1972, in Kahle and Valette-Florence 2012, p.6). According to this theory, individuals focus on ‘the control of events and experiences’ (Kahle and Valette-Florence 2012, p.6). Another, quite popular, theoretical framework in regard to social media is the ‘Uses and Gratifications approach’ (Smit 2000, p.122) which explains the responses of the public to social media as follows: the public tends to use social media at the level that the specific communication tool is considered as appropriate for promoting personal needs (Smit 2000, p.122). Using this approach, the use of social media for promoting the activities of a particular organization would be based on the following approach: the social media should be used for persuading the public that the particular organization could respond to the personal needs of individuals/ users (Smit 2000, p.122). Relevant evaluation frameworks and models The evaluation of the performance of social media can be a challenging task mostly because of the extremely high number of these networks’ visitors but also because of ‘the high heterogeneity involved’ (Tang and Liu 2010, p.7). Still, there are models of evaluation that can help towards the evaluation of social media, in regard to all their aspects. At a first level, reference can be made to network modelling (Watts and Strogatz 1998, in Tang and Liu 2010, p.7). The above framework is based on the fact that ‘large networks in different sectors tend to present similarities’ (Tang and Liu 2010, p.7). Another evaluation framework that can be also used for identifying the performance of a social media network is the ‘Centrality Analysis framework’ (Tang and Liu 2010, p.8) that aims to highlight the ‘key nodes in each network’ (Tang and Liu 2010, p.8). In the context of Centrality Analysis two, common, social media features, such as ‘comments and tags’ (Tang and Liu 2010, p.8), can be particularly important for evaluating the performance of the social media involved. Other relevant theories In general, the responses of individuals to social media reflect the potentials of the individuals to acquire knowledge simply by reviewing the structure/ context of a particular social media tool, a theory known as ‘situated cognition theory’ (White, King and Tsang 2011, p.295) or by ‘exchanging views with other users of a social media platform’ (White, King and Tsang 2011, p295). The latter theory is known as ‘distributed cognition theory’ (White, King and Tsang 2011, p.295). The use of other theories for explaining or for evaluating the role of social media is also possible, according to the objectives of the plan involved. Analysis Decide which frameworks and/or models will be used The theoretical framework that will be used for designing the social media strategy required in this paper will be the ‘Uses and Gratifications approach’ (Smit 2000, p.122). In the context of this framework, the social media strategy suggested will emphasize on the potentials of the organization, as promoted through specific social media platforms, to respond to the needs of individuals/ users. As for the evaluation of the social media strategy proposed, this activity will be based on the Centrality Analysis (Tang and Liu 2010, p.8). ‘Comments and tags’ (Tang and Liu 2010, p.8) will be the two, key, tools chosen for evaluating the responses of the public to the particular social media strategy. Apply the frameworks/models to the social enterprise in order to develop the social media strategy The first of the above theoretical frameworks, i.e. the ‘Uses and Gratifications approach’ (Smit 2000, p.122) could be aligned with the needs of the Social Entrepreneur and Student Network (SESNet). The specific organization needs to increase the number of its members in order to be able to achieve its objectives. Using the above approach, the development of the social media strategy should be based on the following activity: the needs of the organization’s members should be identified, so that a social media strategy that it is able to respond to these needs is identified. A sample of such strategy is presented in Figure 2 (Appendix). The social media strategy The aims and objectives Through the particular social media strategy the following goals are expected to be achieved: a) to increase the awareness of the public on the activities of the particular organization, b) to increase the organization’s members, c) to check the view of students in regard to the particular organization and d) to identify the students’ needs to which the specific organization could respond effectively. The potential increase of the funds gathered for the development of organizational activities would be welcomed but it is not set as a goal of the social media strategy. The target audience The target audience are students within Westminster University but also in other Universities across UK. The audience of mass media can vary (Figure 3, Appendix). The specific social media channels to be used Facebook and Blogging The nature of the proposed activity In regard to Facebook, the following activities would be developed: a) an account of the organization would be set up in Facebook; in this account important information explaining the organization’s current activities will be explained; b) views would be exchanged with other Facebook users; c) important links for academic research would be made available to the account’s visitors; d) surveys would be arranged for checking students needs but also their views in regard to the organization’s activities. As for Blogging, a series of activities are needed for securing all the benefits of the particular social media tool: a) The online/software tools which should be used Software commonly used in the social media platforms chosen will be employed, so that no compatibility problems will appear when trying to update the relevant platforms. In the case of Facebook the software used will be Linux while for Blogging the WordPress is considered as the wisest choice, especially due to the relatively easy process for installing the particular software. The means by which the success of the social media strategy will be evaluated In the case of Facebook, the comments made in regard to the posts uploaded in the account will be used for evaluating the responses of the public to the specific social media strategy. In addition, the following tools, as related to each Facebook account will be employed: the Social Media Monitor and the Facebook Grader, a tool used for revealing how many fans a Facebook account has managed to attract. In Blogging, the comments made in posts uploaded are valuable in understanding the responses of visitors to the blog involved. In addition, the likes sent in regard to a post can be also used for understanding the level at which the particular post was welcomed by the blog’s visitors. Conclusions Summary of the strategy and its likely overall effectiveness The social media strategy suggested in this paper is based on the use of two, widely known, social media platforms: Facebook and Blogging. The use of the specific social media is expected to help the organization to achieve its objectives, as explained above. It should be noted though that the suggested social media strategy would be carefully implemented, ensuring that all its requirements are met; using other software or different methods for evaluating the effectiveness of the particular social media would result to the decrease of the strategy’s value. Even if the social media strategy presented above has been carefully developed there are still chances for failures, especially up to the completion of all its phases. In addition, time may be required for the effectiveness of the strategy to start showing its benefits (Hinchcliffe and Kim 2012). The need for alternating certain parts of the strategy while its implementation is in progress cannot be ignored. Still, no similar strategy has been proposed for the specific organization, at least under the terms set in this paper, i.e. with no budget available. This means that the particular strategy should be implemented as of all its phases even if the organizational environment does not support the specific initiative. In other words, even if the initial responses of the organization’s stakeholders to the specific strategy are negative, time would be allowed for the role of the strategy to be made clear to all parties involved. Likely implications for the social enterprise The social media strategy suggested above could help the organization to achieve the objectives set, i.e. to improve its market image and its performance. However, the implications of the particular initiative should not be ignored. As already explained, the risks related to the introduction of a business strategy can be many. In the past, the organization had been unable to proceed to such plans, mostly because of the lack of sufficient funds. The social media strategy offers an important advantage: there are no funds required for the development of the relevant plan. Still, the chances for failures are not eliminated. In fact, the establishment of the particular strategy requires the use of important organizational resources; engaging these resources in such project could cause delays in the organization’s daily activities. In addition, it would be impossible for the enterprise to undertake another plan for promoting its performance. Reference is made in particular to the period required for the implementation of the specific strategy but also in the period that follows the strategy’s implementation, since time will be required for monitoring the actual effectiveness of the above strategy. In other words, by trying to implement the suggested social media strategy the organization can face a decrease in its performance, including delays and failures in communicating with members and in responding to the needs of its stakeholders. Recommendations Recommendations for the social enterprise As noted above, the organization currently faces a series of challenges and problems. In addition, the risks related to the suggested social media strategy cannot be eliminated. The identification of measures for controlling the potential negative effects of this strategy on the organization would be characterized as critical. It is suggested that the following actions are taken by the organization’s managers before the beginning of the implementation of the suggested social media strategy: a) the status of the firm’s existing resources, in terms of technology and staff available, is checked; failures or gaps in regard to these resources should be identified early so that severe damages during the development of the project are avoided; b) alternative plans of action should be in place; this means that in case that delays appears during the implementation of the social media strategy, other plans would be available for supporting the marketing needs of the organization, even at average level. Such plans could be also used along with the social media strategy ensuring that the firm’s current market position will not be threatened. For example, along with the social media strategy the firm should employ a marketing plan based on advertisements in local press and in academic periodicals and brochures. It should be noted that due to the lack of funds for supporting such initiatives, the measure suggested above would be feasible only if donations could be retrieved for covering the cost involved. Recommendations for further research in this area The social media strategies used by firms worldwide tend to meet specific criteria. Most commonly, emphasis is given on the improvement of an organization’s market image, as related to the increase of its popularity among people belonging in a particular group. Still, it is clear that research should be developed in regard to this issue: under which terms a successful social media strategy could be developed when the resources available for its support are quite limited? In other words, further research is required in relation to the potentials of firms with limited resources to develop successful media strategies at no cost, i.e. only by using existing resources, as in the case of the Social Entrepreneur and Student Network (SESNet). References Aaker, J. and Smith, A., 2010. The Dragonfly Effect: Quick, Effective, and Powerful Ways To Use Social Media to Drive Social Change. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons Brown, E., 2012. Working the Crowd: Social Media Marketing for Business. Swindon: BCS, The Chartered Institute Fouts, J., 2009. Social Media Success!: Practical Advice and Real World Examples for Social Media Engagement Using Social Networking Tools Like Linkedin, Twitter, Blog. Silicon Valley: Happy About. Hinchcliffe, D. and Kim, P., 2012. Social Business By Design: Transformative Social Media Strategies for the Connected Company. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons. Kahle, L. and Valette-Florence, P., 2012. Marketplace Lifestyles in an Age of Social Media: Theory and Methods. London: M.E. Sharpe Smit, E., 2000. Mass Media Advertising: Information Or Wallpaper? Amsterdam: Het Spinhuis Social Entrepreneur and Student Network (SESNet), Available at http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Welcome-Social-Entrepreneur-Student-Network-4820347.S.208283101?qid=a95a8465-8c53-4188-a921-3f892c0c3917&trk=group_most_popular-0-b-ttl&goback=%2Egmp_4820347 Τang, L. and Liu, H., 2010. Community Detection and Mining Social Media. Illinois: Morgan & Claypool Publishers White, B., King, I. and Tsang, P., 2011. Social Media Tools and Platforms in Learning Environments. New York: Springer Appendix Figure 1 – Different modes of social media (Source: http://www.cite.co.uk/the-different-types-of-social-media/) Figure 2 – A plan for social media development (Source: http://www.rhxo.com/services/social-media-development/) Figure 3 – Types of social media users (Source: http://socialmediatoday.com/pamdyer/564409/6-types-social-media-users) Read More