First university in Belgium to use a UGC platform
Staying up to date with the latest trends and technology solutions is a crucial for PXL University in Belgium. The university was the first school in Belgium to implement a solution for user-generated content (UGC). Knowledge in content marketing is important for students who want to get an accurate picture of the modern marketing reality, says lector Guy Storms.
“We are early adopters. We have an inventive approach and wanted to try something new,” says Gerrit Schuermans at the communication department at PXL University.
By using Flowbox for user-generated content on the university website, students and teachers can get a visually appealing image of different activities and new students can get an idea of what life at campus is like.
“It saves a lot of time by bringing pictures from various sources together on one page, as doing this work manually by yourself is often very time-consuming. This is an easy way to involve our community,” says Gerrit Schuermans.
Since the solution was first implemented, other schools have followed their example.
“We think it’s great, for us it’s a sign that we are going in the right direction and doing the right thing,” says Gerrit Schuermans, adding that the solution will also soon be used to promote various items from the webshop.
“It’s an exciting feature that we are going to try soon. When you can add pictures of a product and link it to your webshop, it opens up a lot of new possibilities. We have hoodies and sweaters for example that we are going to promote with this feature.”
User-generated content and content marketing is also an important part of the lectures at the university. Lector Guy Storms believes that social media and content marketing plays a central part in the modern-day marketing reality, and the more insights he can get from companies on the forefront of the industry, the more accurate lectures he can give to his students.
“I teach my students the importance of content marketing, and social media is a big part of that,” says Guy Storms.
While Guy Storms works as a lector at PXL University, he is also working with marketing at a commercial company, where he is often in contact with different retail companies.
“From what I’ve seen, there is a great demand to find ways to use the content posted on social media in ways that generate concrete results. Using a tool that collects UGC seems to be a really good way to go,” says Guy Storms.
Storms contacted Flowbox recently and requested a guest lecture. Through this, he was hoping to be able to give his students some new insights when it comes to different ways to use social media for marketing purposes. According to Guy Storms, solutions like Flowbox bring large values to companies — especially the ones in retail.
“By letting representatives from marketing tech companies give lectures to my students, I give them the opportunity to receive unique insights in modern marketing solutions that will grow even bigger in the future. UGC and the technology around it is definitely one of these solutions.”
According to Guy Storms, this arrangement is not only beneficial for the students, but also for the companies.
“Many marketing companies are desperately seeking people with knowledge in these fields.
Through these guest lectures the students receive an understanding and a deeper insight in technical tools, like Flowbox for example. This gives the students an advantage on the market once they graduate. At the same time, the companies have gained both possible free marketing, as they will be top-of-mind for the students, as well as possible competent future employees. “It’s a win-win situation!” says Guy Storms.
The collaboration with Flowbox has been very successful, according to Guy Storms, and he is looking forward to similar interworks in the future.
“I encourage all companies in the industry to do the same, as it’s very beneficial for them and they are helping to educate the next generation, says Guy Storms.
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