Recognized entrepreneurs and business-minded students gathered for the Pakigbinayloay session, spearheaded by the pioneering batch of Leadership Academy under the School of Business & Governance (SBG), last January 15, 2016, at the Conference Room D, Ricci Hall, Community Center, Ateneo de Davao University.
With a theme “#ViralMarketing: The Newsfeed of Today’s Society,” the said event highlighted social media’s significance and its impact towards business.
For more or less a hundred attendees from different business and governance departments, the said forum engaged both entrepreneurs and students, discussing entrepreneurship-consumerism relationship and the wide aspects of marketing covered by the advancement of modern technology.
‘Maximizing, achieving fullest potential’
Margie Clavano, the assistant dean for graduate programs, welcomed the attendees which include the panelists, guest speakers, staffs and students. She also read the welcome and opening note from the assistant dean for undergraduate programs, Rowenna Mae De Jesus.
“When we started this dream of creating a venue for highly intellectual students, to maximize their potential, we had high hopes, big dreams and bigger expectations. We thought of a lot of topics that can help these studets, achieve their fullest potentials, while unlocking their leadership skills,” Clavano read.
“The Leadership Academy slowly upheld itself, and your leadership potential just naturally came in more clearly into picture,” Clavano continued.
Having it called as the batch Genesis, the session was said to be the pioneering batch. While learning personal finance, immense management and teambuilding, the members have undergone trainings offered by the Leadership Academy of SBG.
Wider discussion of marketing-social media relationship
To emphasize social media’s influence to businesses much even more, the session invited Alwyne Jan Perez, a known blogger and motivational speaker, to discuss comprehensive aspects about the relationship of social media and marketing.
“Social media is consumer generated media,” Perez presented, reading a definition of what social media is.
“What is media consumer? ‘Yung nasa bottom. Hindi ‘yung top ang nagbibigay ng media. ‘Yung bottom up. It is media designed to be shared,” Perez elaborated.
Perez yet pointed out that the important of social media is the people who use it. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social networking sites come only as secondary, as what he emphasized.
Relating statistics to the impact of social media towards businesses, Perez presented that, globally, there are three billion people of active internet users and two billion of people with active social media accounts as of January 2015. The power of ‘consumer media’ makes traditional advertising and few other tele-marketing strategies almost obsolete.
Entrepreneurs, students
Furthermore, a panel of entrepreneurs was also invited to have their business experiences shared to students, while acknowledging the huge contribution of social media in the modern marketing affairs.
Among the panelists were Balik Bukid Farm and Restaurant co-owner and manager Louella Garcia and the online gift shop owner, Karla Singson. The session also featured the “viral ice cream vendor sensation of Roxas Boulevard night market, Dionilo Dela Torre, or popularly known as “Mang Danny.”
Meanwhile, Aurea Camille Luna, a fourth year BS Entrepreneurship student, was glad to be part of the Pakigbinayloay session, hearing business and social media tips from a resource speaker and businesspersons. When asked about what’s her impression to the event, she gave a brief note of appreciation.
“Very good. Graduating nako, ug naga-isip nako karon mag-business,” Luna said, smiling as she answered the question.
“Well, it’s a training ground for, of course, marketing with cost. If mag-business ka, mag-market man dyud ka. So, [the session is] very good,” Luna added.