MIRI: Business academics of Curtin University Malaysia (Curtin Malaysia) recently highlighted the tremendous benefits of using social media as a powerful business tool to secondary school students attending its first-ever Curtin Virtual Business Workshop.
Organised by the Faculty of Business at the university, the workshop was attended by about 50 students from five Miri schools — SMK St Columba, SMK Dato Permaisuri, Pei Min Middle School, SMK Lutong and SMK St Joseph.
They learned how businesses from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to big corporations are increasingly using social media and other digital media to brand themselves and market their products and services.
Foundation in Commerce lecturer Siti Kasmah Mohamad Kassim, who coordinated the workshop, said the Faculty of Business recognised the fact that students nowadays were
actively engaged in social media and will continue to do so into adulthood and in their future careers.
“Social media is becoming an essential tool to reach out to customers, increase brand awareness, boost sales, gauge market trends, and a lot more.
“We want to impart the importance of this significant trend to students, to develop their marketing knowledge and skills, and prepare them at an early stage for possible careers in related
fields in the future,” said Siti Kasmah.
Acting Dean of the Faculty of Business, Associate Professor Pauline Ho, meanwhile, said that the workshop was in line with the faculty’s ongoing initiatives to reach out to secondary school students and the community at large, and leveraging its expertise in marketing, entrepreneurship, management and other disciplines to promote future careers in business.
Among the topics covered in the workshop were the basics of entrepreneurship, using Instagram for business, photography skills, creating designs with Canva (an online graphic design application) and
search engine optimisation (SEO).
They also learned the importance of working in virtual teams in a session conducted by Acting Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Business and senior lecturer in marketing, Dr Shamsul Kamariah Abdullah.
According to Shamsul, teamwork can go further than face-to-face collaboration in the digital era. Teams can collaborate using virtual platforms such as
social networking sites, allowing individuals to connect and build networks with their team members.
The workshop was only the beginning of the students’ learning. Having formed teams to work on related projects, they will continue to be coached and mentored by academics and student mentors of the faculty until August 30, 2019, after which they will be judged on the merits of their projects.
The top three teams will showcase their projects and presented with cash prizes during the Curtin Malaysia Carnival in September.
