#RESPECTFULMOUNTAINEER
CO-FOUNDER
While attending West Virginia University, one thing people always like to acknowledge is how Mountaineers know how to have a good time. However, one thing I could not identify with, was how some of my fellow Mountaineers chose to have a good time. After WVU’s football team defeated #4 Baylor, the nation was shocked and amazed by this news. Many celebrating all over, for what this win would mean for the remainder of the season for WVU football. One thing that did not sit well with myself and a few other peers, was the national attention WVU was receiving, not for the win, but for the way Mountaineer fans were choosing to celebrate the win in Morgantown, WV. The night WVU upset Baylor, the city of Morgantown went up in flames, and many residents of the town feared for their own lives. The stories from the media shifted from “WVU upsets Baylor” to “West Virginia Fans Riot in Morgantown after beating Baylor”, which completely took away the spotlight from the young men who worked so hard to beat Baylor.
When I logged online and saw how people began to slander and bash my soon to be Alma Mater, I became extremely frustrated and reached out to one of my peers, who I was currently taking Marketing classes with. We talked for quite sometime about the proper execution of trying to market our university in the best way possible during this bittersweet moment. We also embarked on what this would mean for our futures, and many of our peers, if this type of behavior continued to be the forefront of many headlines. At the time we were considering constructing our own newspaper articles or blog posts for the media to cover, but realized the negativity was spreading a lot quicker than those tasks would allow us to publish. I also noticed the main source of exposure was social media, and we had actually been learning in our Marketing 325 - Buyer Behavior course, with Dr.Laurel Cook, about how companies can use social media to better reach their consumers. While keeping everything I had learned in class on my mind, I had suggested we somehow start our own positive trend to overshadow the negative ones surfacing. After using the hashtag #RespectfulMountaineer, and tagging other Mountaineer peers to use it, we were able to dissolve via social media the negativity WVU was receiving. This was definitely a highlight of my collegiate career, simply because it took a lot of hard work, courage, and networking to help spread the word about what it was we were trying to accomplish with this hashtag. We had the pleasure of having our hashtag be used over 1,500 times, reaching more than 500,000 people, and 1.4 million timelines. This hashtag taught me that we all have a voice, and our voices are even more powerful when we use them in a positive way.
RESOURCES:
Photos provided by Twitter.com
For more information and also documentation regarding this endeavor visit:
http://wvmetronews.com/2014/10/29/wvu-working-for-positive-atmosphere-as-gameday-approaches/
http://www.be.wvu.edu/news_events/respectful-mountaineer/
President Gee recognizes our efforts in his end of the year address to the University: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoEty4g2rIg&feature=youtu.be&t=4m22s
Video showed at football games in support of our campaign: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftP69gNAPK4