Marketing Me: How smart digital natives reach potential employers

I just love that my book The New Rules of Marketing & PR is used in many college and university classes. Frequently I’ll find references to the book on students' and professors' blogs and I often end up with students as my new Facebook friends or Twitter followers. What a terrific connection to up and coming communicators!

Kyle F. Reinson is professor of Communication at St. John Fisher College in Rochester, NY, requires The New Rules of Marketing & PR for his COMM 376 class. Besides his teaching gig, Reinson trains business writers and consults on PR strategy for a variety of industries, although he specializes in real estate development.

COMM 376 prepares students for the practice of public relations and students are challenged to think managerially and tactically. They work with traditional press releases, special events and advertisements, Web-based applications and Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC).

One project the students worked in was a blog devoted to campus fashion. Motto: We love fashion and want to share it with the world!

Marketing Me

Another project the class worked on was to market themselves online.

"In the 'Marketing Me' project they either had to construct an online portfolio future employers could access or they had to exhibit thought leadership on an idea or concept that they found of interest," Reinson says. "I had very few rules. The class featured guest speakers from the Student Press Law Center, RIT and Kodak -- all helping the students to address how they might market themselves to future employers as digital natives."

If you're looking to hire someone to help with your online marketing and PR, take a look at these digital natives or those studying at other colleges and universities with strong online communications programs.

David Baker
Catherine Alton
Selena Cochran
Jim Ernst
Emily Urbanski

Comments

[Michael Ray Hopkin]

David, it's great to see your book having a major affect on education. I've thought about how my college (or high school for that matter) experience would have been different with the Internet, blogs and social media. I think I have a better idea now, looking at it through the lens of some of the people you profile. It's great to witness worldwide connections taking place at all levels. -Michael

[DaveMurr]

Thank you for sharing this David.

I've been interested in how social media has been included in higher education. So the examples you provide are very encouraging.

Teaching social media would be a pleasure!

[Kyle F. Reinson]

As I try to convey important skills to students, in my view, there is no more important skill than leadership. Students don't always see themselves as leaders. They are often told they have to pay their dues.

However, with markets shifting toward online conversations, college students can take something like social media and carve out a leadership niche early in their careers.

One reason I liked the "New Rules" book so much is because I look for ways to get students thinking about how they will change the future, not simply become part of the rank and file. People who can manage change and lead those processes seem to always be valuable employees.

The potential is not in the old ways, or learning to pay your dues from someone who values the old ways. The potential is in the reinvention of public relations and marketing at a crucial moment when budgets are likely going to shrink exponentially. When organizations seek good return on investment (ROI) from their communication efforts they are going to explore and figure out social media because that's where the audience is going to be. Students may understand how to use these platforms but they do not always see the connection to what they might do for a living.

More of us in higher education, across disciplines, need to grapple with social media if we claim to be preparing college grads for the future. I hope more professors will realize that knowledge is not always created slowly through the years, these days it can be created within a few hours. To understand social media we have to engage our students in learning processes where their strengths are applied and they can develop a creative mindset.

[Website Evaluator]

It's interesting how all of the instructors of "digital natives" mentioned don't have a personal brand in the form of their own blog domain. Having a domain you own [not yourname.wordpress.com] is in my mind step one in establishing yourself online.

[Alyssa]

Hi Mr. Scott- I just wanted to let you know that my class at Boston University uses your book as a textbook as well. The class is CM443: New Media and PR. I just started your book and found your blog for an assignment we're doing that requires the class to find blogs about new media and review them.