Sheffield Made Us – using social media to engage students in the university brand [A6]

Abstract

Branding online is much more than getting the right logos, fonts and colours on to your website. It is an opportunity to engage audiences at an emotional level with the personality of your institution.

User-generated content can be powerful, persuasive and engaging. But how do you encourage users to supply the content in the first place? And can you ensure that the content fits your brand?

Between April and October 2009, the University of Sheffield ran a competition encouraging students to upload videos to Youtube with the incentive of a £3000 prize. The aim was to get the students to express in their own words what they thought of the University, and how Sheffield had made them.

Join us for this marketing-focused case study and find out what we learnt, what worked and what didn’t work. We’ll share a few of the films with you – these range from those that are moving to those that are funny, and some that are downright bizarre.