Issue date: 11/10/09 Section: Features

Media Credit: www.1skyfl.org

Did your club or organization have a low attendance at your past event? Want to fill those empty chairs? Marketing your event is a difficult task, especially with all the different mediums available on campus, from Shark Fins, The Current, and Radio X to plastering posters all over campus. Besides the conventional tactics, however, there are social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, or MySpace that can help bring students out to your events.

"With the international students, I know we found that the best way to communicate with them is by word-of-mouth, then phone calls, then e-mail blasts, and then posters and other media outlets," said Ronald Mabunga, graduate assistant for NSU's International Student Association. "We found that that is the most effective way to market from evaluation surveys that we hand out after our events."

"The Current, Shark Fins and other media outlets are contacted to reach people outside of our listserv. It's not our target market," Kate Korzhova, program assistant for NISA, added. "Facebook is also a great tool because we found some people check their Facebook more than they check their e-mail throughout the day. Although, the best way really is through word-of-mouth because students want to go to events together and not by themselves."

An anonymous student in the College of Student Affairs added, "I think it is great that there are so many outlets, and I've tried everything from posters, to putting ads in the paper, to Shark Fins, to word-of-mouth, and I still have some students saying that they never heard about my events. I'm still trying to figure out the most effective way."

Sean Pepin, assistant director of student activities, has created a solution for many clubs who are registered with the Student Government Association. Pepin has created a Web site where student organizations can create a Web page or a link to their Facebook or Web site.

"This is a great resource for students, as well as student clubs, to get engaged on campus," said Pepin. "Some groups who are not 'tech-savvy' can attend tutorials with our office and learn how to build their Web site or can link their existing Facebook page or MySpace page to the main Web site. We want it to be really interactive."

Pepin also added that a blue board has been placed next to the elevator near the Don Taft University Center Pit for students to post their flyers for their events. However, these flyers must be approved by Student Activities first.

Some organizations, such as Kappa Sigma Fraternity, use word-of-mouth as well as flyers. "We know a few members of SGA, so we ask them to post our events on their Facebook page to get the message out to students," said Brett Peterman, junior accounting student.

The overall best marketing strategy that was used by all clubs polled was word-of-mouth. However, if you are looking for an alternative method, The Current also has a current affairs calendar that highlights various events happening that week, as well as ads that NSU clubs and organizations can place for free. To place an ad or simply add your event to the calendar,