Introduction to Social Media for Economic Development

Northland Connection
Website Review and Agency Capabilities

About Atlas Advertising
Atlas Advertising helps economic developers reach national and international prospect and site selection audiences. We deliver branding, website development, GIS mapping, research, and creative services professionally and with a staff experienced in economic development. Unlike firms with little or no economic development experience, Atlas Advertising uses a proven mix of economic development marketing tactics that generate interest from site selection audiences.
Atlas Advertising is led by a former economic development practitioner and has worked with 48+ different economic development clients in 26 states. Our approach and experience means that our campaigns generate an average of three to ten times the response of other campaigns.
Featured clients:
State of Ohio
Indy Partnership
City of San Francisco
Greater Phoenix Economic Council
Greater Omaha Economic Development Partnership

Outline
Why Social Media is important
Overview of Social Media tools
Social Media and Economic Development
Social Media and Business Recruitment
Self Directed Training: Using LinkedIn for Business Recruitment
Building profiles
Building your network
Working your network
Self directed assignment
Wrap up

What is Social Media?

Social Media Definition, provided by social media
At its most basic sense, social media is a shift in how people discover, read and share news, information and content. It's a fusion of sociology and technology, transforming monologues (one to many) into dialogues (many to many) and is the democratization of information, transforming people from content readers into publishers. Social media has become extremely popular because it allows people to connect in the online world to form relationships for personal, political and business use. Businesses also refer to social media as user-generated content (UGC) or consumer-generated media (CGM).
Source: Wikipedia

Why is all of this happening?

Our email inboxes are overcrowded
We don’t trust the media like we used to. Instead, we trust people who we perceive not to have an agenda.
We are all voyeurs at heart
We miss our high school friends?

Why all of this seems so simple…

Why Social Media is important

Growth of Social Media (Pew Internet & American Life)

Interactive Advertising Predictions (Forrester)

Overview of Social Media Tools

Overview of Web 2.0 and communication types

“Push”
Email
Websites
Blogs
Direct mail
You Tube
Podcasts
“Pull”
RSS
I-Tunes
“Connect”
Facebook
LinkedIn
Forums

About LinkedIn

“A professional network of trusted

contacts.”

42 Million plus users worldwide, in 170 industries and 200 countries
Execs in of the Fortune 500
60% of incomes over $93,000
Segments:
Executives: 28%
Networkers/Consultants: 30%
Late Adopters: 22%
Exploring options: 20%
People with incomes of $200K + were seven times more likely to have 150 plus connections than lower income users.

Key Features of LinkedIn

Your profile
Your Contacts
Your Connections
Status updates
Groups
InMail Feature
Applications
Advertising
Mobile Access

Finding people using Google/ LinkedIn

About Facebook

“Facebook helps you connect and share with the people in your life.”
More than 200 million active users, 100 million once a day
More than two-thirds of Facebook users are outside of college
Average user has 120 friends on the site
More than 900 million photos uploaded to the site each month
More than 1 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photos, etc.) shared each week
About 70% of Facebook users are outside the United States

Key Features of Facebook

Your Profile
Your Friends
Status Updates
Inbox
Applications
Advertising
Mobile Access

About Twitter

“Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected by answering one simple question: What are you doing?”
Usage up 1300% in last 12 months

19
Twitter

Your profile
Who you follow
Who follows you
Mobile access

http://twitter.com

Social Media and Economic Development

Social Media tactics for recruitment
Build each BDR’s LinkedIn network of past deals, site selectors and local brokers, and prospects
Build industry-specific networks of prospects and past deals according to each BDR’s industry focus
Seed those relationships with the following content regularly
Slide share presentations of new data
Virtual familiarization tours
Other events

Social Media tactics for retention and investor relations
Same LinkedIn tactics as for recruitment
Add a Twitter feed and consider industry-specific Twitter feeds, as well as organizational updates, that can augment monthly or quarterly email
Focus on posting current, relevant information along with a link to a story or download
Designate a marketing representative to post 2-3 times daily
Set an edgy, “insider” tone with your posts.

Social Media tactics for workforce recruitment
Use Facebook as the primary tool, supported by a blog
Remove the GPEC brand in favor of a Phoenix wide community persona
Post about:
Networking opportunities
YP events
Job opportunities
Hot spots around town
New developments
Stay away from:
Latest economic data
Organizational announcements about GPEC

Social Media for Business Recruitment

Who is the audience, and what are they looking for?
Site selection professionals
Corporate real estate execs
CEO’s
Media
Other

What Industries are Most Actively Expanding or Relocating Today?

What Events are Spurring Expansion or Relocation Today?

What are the Top Five Decision Making Criteria for your Clients in Selecting a Location Today?

What Was the Most Important Thing an Economic Development Organization Did For You in 2008?

What Advice Can You Give EDO’s today?
Stick To The Basics
ED is about Networking, Get Out Of Your Office
Do Something Outrageous
Be prepared with all the facts
Focus On Retention
Be experts in your targeted industries

How Important are each of the Following as Sources of Information when Learning about a Community?
Scored on a 5 point scale.

When in the relationship building cycle should you use Social Media?
Stay in front of businesses with slide share, Twitter feeds
Being in their network, having a blog
Maintaining a blog, website, wikis of business info
Coordination with local partners through Twitter
Giving others in the company the ability to learn about the community through blogs, groups, etc

Self Directed Training: Using LinkedIn for Business Recruitment

Building profiles
Education and expertise
Clients you have worked with
Full contact information
Link/address to Twitter page
Link to GPEC website
Slideshare “Slidespace”
Membership groups (groups joined)
Upcoming and past events
Upcoming sales trips (as events)

Building your contact list and your connections
Inventory contacts associated with past deals
Inventory industry specific contacts
As a team, set territories
Import lists into Outlook
Import contacts from Outlook into Linked In
Write a personalized invitation – keep it simple.
Send invitations to those you know well en masse
Work your 1st degree connections to gain introductions to others on your list

Working your network
Status updates
Joining Groups
Slide share of new content
Posting news in Groups
Hosting and joining events

Self Directed Assignment
Set a goal for network size and coverage
Inventory and categorize your contacts
Import into outlook, then LinkedIn
Set a goal for growing your network
Send out one mass invitation
Work key connections to grow your network.
Next: Working the network

Wrap up
Social media extends the reach and influence of you and your organization.
Because social media is evolving, you can use it now and get great results. It will not be this way for long.
By cutting through the confusion on focusing on the right tactics, you can save time.
Unlike traditional marketing, your agency or marketing staff can’t do this for you.

Contact information:
2601 Blake Street, Suite 301
Denver, CO 80205
Contact: Ben Wright
t: 303.292.3300 x 210
benw@Atlas-Advertising.com
www.Atlas-Advertising.com