Fees Must Fall

FEES MUST FALL

#FeesMustFall is a campaign that was led by students who opposed fee increments which were planned for the year 2016. It began at WITS University and within time, it had spread to other Universities in South Africa.


From my point of view, this campaign was a success. The students used social media to their best advantage. They had no advertising budgets to market the campaign and therefor they had to market #FessMustFall themselves.

Students from different learning institutions started spreading messages among each other using technology and online digital platforms. They raised awareness on social media and social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp and even shared videos on YouTube.


The use of technology and online platforms made it easier for students to reach other students and other targeted audiences. Students used inter alia, carried hand written posters that spread awareness to everyone. The hand written posters included quotes and phrases that reminded the government about all promises that were made about free education since 1994.
Pictures were taken and posted on social media to illustrate the cause of the campaign. Many people joined the conversation from different parts of the world. Majority responded by liking, commenting, sharing and hyper-syndication as a whole. 
          Advantages of Social Media

1.     Students reached audiences without paying for it.
2.     The use of rich media made it much easier for students to gain attention.
3.     #FMF had all the necessary ingredients of a winning marketing campaign. Students achieved international fame because the campaign was attention grabbing
4.     It helped potential investors identify students who needed funding.
5.     The high impact of this campaign was visible on television, it was heard on radio and even read on print mediums.
Conversations were carried out. Positive and negative information concerning this issue did spread and sooner, the president had to act on it.


Disadvantages

1.     Other people could/used the FeesMustFall campaign as a platform to initiate their own agendas. 
2.     A lot of time was wasted. Students missed classes and tests during the course of the campaign.
3.     Some students fell victim of identity theft and fraud.


Recommendations

I think that PRP's should use media strategically to implement their messages and actions through the use of social media, such as the way students did in this campaign.
PRP’s should use such a campaign as a platform to communicate and know the needs and expectations of students, as their target market.







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