Story through city: exploring Belgium through social media

SMM students discover hidden stories in Ghent, Antwerp and Ostend

What makes a city unique and how can its stories be translated into engaging social media content?

Prof. Dr. Stefan Rohrbach travelled to Ghent with six students from the Social Media Marketing & Management (SMM) program to participate in the one-week Erasmus Blended Intensive Program (BIP) “Story through City”. Together with more than 60 students from Ghent, Oulu, Rome, Stuttgart and Vienna, they explored how hidden urban stories can be translated into engaging social media content. Following online preparation sessions, the participants met in Belgium for the intensive week from 30 March to 3 April 2026.

Learning in the city

Working in international teams, the students explored Antwerp, Ghent and Ostend. They spoke to local people, discovered distinctive places and identified a unique story in each city. Their task was to transform these stories into creative social media formats, including reels, carousels and single-image posts. Sessions on city marketing, storytelling, interviewing, audience engagement, video production and social media provided the foundation for their fieldwork. The students then applied these concepts directly on location, making creative decisions and producing content under real-world conditions.

International teamwork in practice

The program brought together students with different cultural backgrounds, perspectives and skills. Developing shared ideas in newly formed teams strengthened their abilities in content creation, intercultural communication and collaborative work. At the end of the week, the teams presented their final projects to an expert jury and received professional feedback. An online follow-up session gave participants the opportunity to reflect on the experience and learn from the strongest projects. “Story through City” demonstrated how cities can be understood through the people, places and stories that shape them. For the SMM students, the program combined academic learning with practical content production and a truly European experience.

Special thanks go to Nicky Malfliet and Tim Van der Mensbrugghe from Artevelde University of Applied Sciences, as well as all participating partner universities, lecturers and students.