In our Summer issue I wrote my opening letter from the publisher 

LETTER FROM THE PUBLISHER 
Fields Jackson, Jr  

DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION - DO YOU KNOW WHO IS ON YOUR TEAM?

I have recently accepted an adjunct professor position with Chicago State University, Chicago, Illinois http://www.csu.edu - where I will be teaching an on-line undergraduate business course - MKTG 3705 – ENTREPRENEURIAL SALES & MARKETING. I am excited about this opportunity and will use this course to discuss the impact of social media on business and communities.

My goal is to develop a case study - that will be picked up by blogs, magazines and other business schools around the country, as a training tool for the new social media realities and how they intersect with diversity and inclusion. With all the focus on customers, strategy, execution etc... it leaves one key question. Do you know who is on your social media team within your organization? 

 My first class at Chicago state is coming to an end.  As part of the final assignment, I asked my students to write a 200 word paper on what have you learned about social media and what do you plan to do with your personal brand - Twitter page or Facebook page. 

With the help of Tasha Strickland, my executive assistant, we have picked the top three papers

Here is paper # 1

 Akilah King

 As a small business owner learning how to market my business efficiently and effectively I believe is the key to success.  I have learned a lot from this class and social media was an area that I had no knowledge of.  I have never seen the need for Facebook and Twitter. However the information that I have read and study shows evidences that social media is very cost effective for marketing your brand.  

I have two companies and I have use social media for my construction company which is on Facebook and Twitter. Our brand is to provide clients with professional work, done by professional contractors, while providing quality prices. We have developed a brand that takes a person who wants to remodel or update their home or business on a budget and transform their dream into reality. 

 I started Facebook 2 months ago and have placed bids on two jobs from updating pictures and comments on Facebook.  I was unaware of how many people are on face book and twitter, because I thought it was just for gossiping. I have seen many small businesses advertise on Facebook with many followers.  Even though my company has been in existence for years people were surprised to see our previous work posted on Facebook.  We have designed (branded) a logo that is on all employees shirts, on the company’s vehicles, on Facebook and Twitter.  

Keeping our brand and using social media has allowed me to market my services to many people. There are advantages and disadvantages to social media the disadvantage that I faced was trying to get many followers or friends on Facebook and Twitter. Trying to get people to friend you and do business with you, that don’t know your company at all.  

 Now that I am using social media as another way of marketing I plan to ask my followers on Facebook and Twitter questions using real time messaging.  Letting them have input on choosing colors and voting on certain projects. I will be tweeting questions while on the job site letting them see the before and after product, might increase our followers.  My next goal is to set my business objectives that tie into social media and find tactics that are measurable against those objectives.