Social capital, brand and football: tales from the digital field

Class of 92 take over Salford City FC, Guardian ArticleThis research focuses on a new era for Salford City Football Club (SCFC). In the 2014/15 season, when SCFC were in the 8th tier of English football, they were taken over by ex-Manchester United players the Class of 92. The new era heralds an unusual case of a non-league football team having such high profile owners with reported ambitions to turn SCFC into a ‘digital football club’ (Conn, 2014). (more…)

The growth of next generation digital business at Salford

Alex Fenton at MediaCityUKI was recently interviewed by a journalist for an article in the Independent on “The Powerhouse of the North – Connecting students to business is just one of the ways management schools are improving the area’s prospects“. It’s a topic close to my heart, so I wanted to reflect more on this including:

  1. How students at Salford have access to cutting edge businesses without needing to be in capital cities. The growth of the digital sector for SMEs in Salford and Manchester and how this can rival the access the next generation of business leaders have in other cities.
  2. How being based in Salford is an advantage to entrepreneurial students, as they’re able to make great connections to the rest of the world
  3. The kind of support that’s available at The University of Salford to students and companies in terms of incubators, business advice, student internships, joint research and events that bring together SMEs, academics and students.

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Search and Social Media Marketing Tips for 2014

Alex Fenton at MediaCityUKAs the course leader for a Search and Social Media Marketing CPD course at the University of Salford, MediaCityUK, I sometimes get asked for contributions to publications. I wanted to share these tips with you – I hope you enjoy them and please feel free to contribute!

1.   The right people – If you do not have expertise within your organisation, seek advice and training from reputable sources. Search and Social Media Marketing is not rocket science, but you will save a lot of time and money if you work with experienced people with a successful track record.

Seek out recommendations from customers, employers or colleagues and speak to the people that they have worked with previously to gauge how effective they have been with previous projects. (more…)