The document summarizes a webinar about using social media for investment attraction and economic development. It discusses how social media is impacting businesses and the economy. It provides statistics on key social media platforms and outlines best practices for using tools like blogs, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube to engage stakeholders and promote regions. The webinar also discusses developing a social media strategy with clear branding, defining target audiences, and creating a content plan.
Good afternoon everyone from Montreal. I’m pleased to be with you today and I would like to thank our host, SEDA for inviting me to be a part of their series of webinars.
Before we start, I would like to give you an oveview of what we do at Intelegia. We possess two strengths that we apply on a daily basis. 1 – Our knowledge of the use of social media to engage individuals 2 - Approaches to gather strategic intelligence. Both aspects are offered through consulting and training organizations regarding their Web 2.0 content strategies for their marketing and communications plans. We also train business professionals to use web search tools, analysis frameworks and social media applications for their marketing and communications activities.
Here is the agenda for today’s webinar. In the first segment, I will touch on some key highlights in terms of where social media is going and then we will dive right into the use of social media for economic development, specifically: Social Media Impact On Business Environment and Economic Development Social Media Tools For Economic Development: Global Best Practices Facebook and LinkedIn Profiles Elements To A Sustainable Social Media Strategy
Whenever I present or conduct a seminar regarding social media, I prefer to start with a quick overview of some facts. These highlights help confirm that social media is not a fad. It is a fact of life that people and organizations are investing in a huge amount of time and money. Now, to begin, let’s look at some recent statistics….
Here is a list of interesting statistics that puts into context the adoption of the use of social media by individuals and organizations. From a marketing perspective, it is important to note how a critical mass is being built on LinkedIn and Facebook. The fourth point, 250,000,000 active users access Facebook via mobile device should be a red flag for all of us as seen in the next slide.
As EDOs, providing content that can be accessed via smartphones will be essential. Whether it is a retweet or a Facebook share, a portion of the target audience will not wait to log onto a computer, they will access the web via a Iphone or BlackBerry to share and engage on social networks. This trend graph says that we are just about at that point as we are at the mid-point of 2011.
Just to reinforce the fact that social media is no longer a fad, here are some numbers on how social media impacts how company employees are engaging with each other. For example: - 58% of individuals believe that social media is changing the way communities or teams are being built - 60% of individuals believe that social media is changing the way how people are collaborating or sharing ideas.
Social media is not exclusive to B2C marketing. Applying social media marketing to B2B segments calls for a different approach which EDOs must keep in mind. The social media aspects must foster a sense of trust. More than ever, EDOs and agencies must become a trust agent.
During the past 4 + years, we have seen how social media has changed the way business is being conducted and how EDOs are adopting the use of social media applications.
Each point in white font is a concern of all EDOs around the world. For each point, there is a corresponding solution that social media applications can be used by agencies.
Just to show the power of using social networks, consider LinkedIn as a rolodex. As an investment strategist, I have to consider all my options to get my foot in the door at a company such as BHP Biliton. LinkedIn maybe my best bet to start to see if I have a contact who can put me in the right person at BHP. This is a good example of the power of the notion of six degrees of seperation.
Here are some examples of how EDOs are using Twitter as a way to communicate: 1- a direct message 2 - brand their region 3 - engage without leaving their offices nor spending their budgets on print or broadcast media.
To summarized what I have said in the previous 3 slides, here is a comparison of the classical approach versus an innovative approach in terms of how EDOs are marketing their regions. The optimal approach would be a hybrid of both.
In September 2009, Intelegia conducted the 1st Canadian Cities Online Marketing Index, in which we measured how well cities are using social media to promote their region for investment attraction. We repeated the benchmark exercise last year and we compared our findings from 2009. From our interviews with EDOs from the top cities, I would like to share the following insights that we gathered from the interviews.
Since we began our index, we have tracked how different regions are using social media for economic development. Although there are different ways to evaluate how EDOs use social media, we have selected the following examples based on their approach of a clear content strategy. I will touch on the topic of ``content strategy`` later on in this webinar.
The SmartCity blog is an outlet for GHP to share news with their audience without the aid of traditional media. When the blog was launched, the chief blogger was Fred Morley, Executive Vice President and Chief Economist of the Greater Halifax Partnership but now the agency has adopted a multi-blogger approach via content from local stakeholders.
The NYCED Facebook page is a very good example of an agency that uses its page to post newsworthy content on a regular basis.
Here we have an EDO that uses his own photo for the agency’s Twitter account. Not only is Dave, engaging on Twitter, he has a structured approach to listening by creating lists of the feeds that he follows..
Invest In Brisbane takes a different approach when using their LinkedIn group. The agency was able to create their own pool of FDI professionals by not branding the group, “Invest In Brisbane”. As a result, they are able to engage with a very targeted audience whenever they see fit.
This clip is powerful because it touches upon the key location factors for investing in Nova Scotia. A second key point that cannot be overlooked is the choice of tags for the clip. For example, “economic development”, “investment attraction”, and “invest in”. A keyword search using, “investment attraction” on YouTube will provide this video clip as the number 1 “non-sponsored” hit on the first page of results.
Facebook and LinkedIn Profiles for professional purposes calls for an investment in time and a tiny budget. I know that some of you may have a personal Facebook profile already however ; like in the real world, it is important to keep personal and professional sides seperate. Here are some simple tips.
Here is a checklist of must haves for your LinkedIn Profile
Now that you have your LinkedIn Profile, it is important to be active and make your presence be known. One approach is to listen and engage. Find and join a group to participate in. Based on your choice, LinkedIn will send you an email to update you on the discussions that are taking place in the groups that you have joined.
Here is a checklist of must haves for your Facebook Profile
On Facebook, listening and engaging is easy. Discussions via pages that you join will appear in your news feed and you will just have to click to engage by liking the post, commenting or sharing.
Building a sustainable social media strategy is similar to building a house. In order for a house to exist for the long term, you need a plan of how the house will be built (i.e. with what materials, where will it be built, who will build it, etc.) With this in mind, there are 3 components for a social media strategy.
It is important to remember that these three elements are not mutually exclusive.
This first element allows EDOs to define what their region is know for in term of economic development initiatives. “Becoming knowable” allows regions to position themselves in terms of an unique value proposition.
This second element permits EDOs to identify the right audience to listen and engage via different platforms. The questions that will define the target audience should be: 1.Who do you want to reach? Current investors, potential investors or both? 2. What do they want to know about you? 3. Where are you going to reach the audience? 4. Why should they engage with you? Big differentiator
The third and final element is a content strategy. Essentially, a content strategy is the driving force behind any successful social media plan. It is fairly easy to identify agencies that have a content strategy from those who do not have one by using one of the following criteria. Criteria 1: Is there a common theme linking each one of the agency’s post on Facebook, YouTube or Twitter Criteria 2: Are there significant gaps in time between postings. (More than 7 days between posts)
Any questions?
The third and final element is a content strategy. Essentially, a content strategy is the driving force behind any successful social media plan. It is fairly easy to identify agencies that have a content strategy from those who do not have one by using one of the following criteria. Criteria 1: Is there a common theme linking each one of the agency’s post on Facebook, YouTube or Twitter Criteria 2: Are there significant gaps in time between postings. (More than 7 days between posts)
The third and final element is a content strategy. Essentially, a content strategy is the driving force behind any successful social media plan. It is fairly easy to identify agencies that have a content strategy from those who do not have one by using one of the following criteria. Criteria 1: Is there a common theme linking each one of the agency’s post on Facebook, YouTube or Twitter Criteria 2: Are there significant gaps in time between postings. (More than 7 days between posts)
The third and final element is a content strategy. Essentially, a content strategy is the driving force behind any successful social media plan. It is fairly easy to identify agencies that have a content strategy from those who do not have one by using one of the following criteria. Criteria 1: Is there a common theme linking each one of the agency’s post on Facebook, YouTube or Twitter Criteria 2: Are there significant gaps in time between postings. (More than 7 days between posts)
The third and final element is a content strategy. Essentially, a content strategy is the driving force behind any successful social media plan. It is fairly easy to identify agencies that have a content strategy from those who do not have one by using one of the following criteria. Criteria 1: Is there a common theme linking each one of the agency’s post on Facebook, YouTube or Twitter Criteria 2: Are there significant gaps in time between postings. (More than 7 days between posts)
The third and final element is a content strategy. Essentially, a content strategy is the driving force behind any successful social media plan. It is fairly easy to identify agencies that have a content strategy from those who do not have one by using one of the following criteria. Criteria 1: Is there a common theme linking each one of the agency’s post on Facebook, YouTube or Twitter Criteria 2: Are there significant gaps in time between postings. (More than 7 days between posts)