Social Marketing

Choosing to be a public relations major at Temple has given me the chance to take many classes that I normally wouldn't choose. Since the PR major leaves a lot of room for electives, and I didn't choose a minor, I have been taking a bunch of different classes that I am interested in. One area that I have learned about that I really like is social change.

I learned about social change in my sociology class, and in a social movements class that I have this semester. I thought it was really interesting, but I didn't know how I could merge that with my love of PR. Would I try to work with a company that's goal was social change?

One solution to my question came at the end of the semester when I had to write a newsletter for a class. One of my topics was called social marketing; something I didn't know anything about. It turns out that social marketing is "the planning and implementation of programs designed to bring about social change using concepts from commercial marketing" (The Social Marketing Institute). After doing some research on social marketing, it seemed like something I would really be interested in.

One of the things I love most about PR is that you can take PR anywhere. It's possible to merge your interest in PR with another one of your passions. All it takes it a little digging, a little soul searching (what are you passionate about?) and a little research!

For more information on social marketing, check out The Social Marketing Institute's website here.