As part of the Digital Project Development module, students from the Entrepreneurship & Innovation Management MSc and Digital Marketing and Channel Management MSc programmes combine theory and practice to develop an understanding behind the key digital business activity of crowdfunding.

In partnership with Guildford Borough Council, Module Leader Jim Sears has identified seven projects where students will work together to increase the social impact of council funding. Students will present their campaigns to an audience made up of Surrey Business School staff and academics, Guildford Borough Council representatives as well as the charities at the centre of the projects. The launch event is sponsored by Guildford Borough Council and takes place Thursday 12 March.

A Digital Project Team have taken then role as ‘project creators’ where they have built an initial digital crowd for the seven campaigns and began to encourage people to support the projects on the crowdfunding platform Gaggle Connect.

We caught up with the Digital Team to ask about their experience of the module so far:

Meet the students:

Please give a brief overview of your role in the project team.

Faizal: The module is loaded with digital marketing tasks! We are all part of Joe Gaggle’s Digital Team and our role is ‘crowdspeaking’ which means it’s our responsibility to increase the visibility of these campaigns to our target market. We are looking to maximise awareness about our crowdfunding campaigns and hopefully get people to pledge money for the campaign they would like to support.

Kay: I mainly work on social media and graphic design. I create posters and infographics about the campaign as well as developing the Gaggle Connect website.

Nicha: We write blog posts and use social media to post regular project updates.

What are the benefits of doing a practical module like this?

Kay: It is an opportunity for me to improve my skills working on digital media, plus engaging corporate sponsors is a useful skill that will help me in my future career.

Nicha: We get to apply what we have learned from class, and at the same time develop new skills that could be attractive for future employment. This module is quite intense but fun at the same time. There will be ups and downs, as we are dealing with real charities and real campaigns that will bring positive change to people in our community.

Faizal: I believe that we are getting the necessary hand-on planning skills for a digital campaign because we are trying to post on each platform at strategic times. It really gives us an overview of the day-to-day tasks of a digital marketer.

Are you enjoying the module so far?

Kay: The module is fun and is a new experience for me!

Nicha: This module is a great opportunity for students to have the first-hand experience in project management as well as connect with people and local businesses!

Find out more about the crowdfunding projects.

Discover more about postgraduate study at Surrey Business School.