2012 Canadian American Cities Online Marketing Index©

Call: 1.514.443.2148 | Email: [email protected] | Visit: www.intelegia.com 1

CITIES • ONLINE • MARKETING • INDEX


©2012. Intelegia Group. All rights reserved.

The Canadian American Cities Online Marketing Index report is prepared from sources and data which Intelegia believes to be reliable and accurate, but we make no representation as to its accuracy or completeness. The report is provided solely for informational purposes and is not to be construed as providing advice, recommendations, representations or warranties of any kind whatsoever. Opinions and information provided are made as of the date of the report’s publication and are subject to change without notice. Intelegia disclaims any liability for errors or omissions therein.


04

57

06

60

08

62

17

63

21

646566

Preamble

Context

Key Insights

Results

Best Practices

Site Selection Tools - Web 1.0

Social Media Tools - Web 2.0

Mobile Applications

Elsewhere In North America

Planning Points

Final Thoughts

Methodology

Frequently Asked Questions

About Intelegia

About The Authors

Bibliography

TABLE OF CONTENTS


Why in the world should economic development agencies bother about social media when they execute their investment attraction and retention strategy?

Over the last four years, we have monitored on an ongoing basis the use of social media in economic development to blog about the best practices in the field. We have also conducted interviews with agencies’ communications and marketing executives. We have trained hundreds of economic development officers (EDOs) in Canada and in the United States. To conclude, we have performed an annual benchmark which translates in the Intelegia’s Online Marketing Index.

EDOs are now split in three categories: a) Early adopters (i.e., EDOs that have solid engagement strategies on various platforms), b) Late comers (i.e. EDOs still attempting to engage their audience on a selected amount of applications) and c) Status quo agencies (EDOs that are applying classic marketing tools and approaches). If every agency in the first two categories is now embracing the applications, then they are not equal in their expertise and best practices.

• Twitter is the most popular social media tool among the agencies in Canada and in the United States. 85% of agencies are using the micro-blogging site, followed by LinkedIn which is used by 85% of Canadian agencies and by 80% of American agencies.

• Between 2011 and 2012, the addition of a mobile site went from 10% to 25% for Canadian agencies.

• American agencies consider Facebook as a valuable tool, since 80% of them have a Facebook Page..

Think about it.


PREAMBLE

http://twitter.com/intelegia

https://plus.google.com/109597487418187686663/posts

http://www.linkedin.com/company/intelegia


Some CEOs are knowledgeable of how social media come into play with investors and site selectors to raise the awareness of their region and brand, to identify prospects and secure investment and inspire trust. Kudos to Paul Kent in Halifax, Bruce Lanzenby in Ottawa, Stuart Rogel in Tampa Bay and Barry Broome in Phoenix for embracing social media; however, they still do not represent the majority. Could one reason be that EDOs often have a hard time understanding how they can isolate the role and value of social marketing in their investment attraction successes? This year, Atlas Advertising, an American advertising agency specializing in economic development and site selection, published “High Performance Economic Development: How Technology and Outcome-Based Metrics Will Save Economic Development Investment and Promotion As We Know It” report and uncovered that amongst

the 12 factors influencing site selectors, “Existing relationships with economic development officials” and “News stories about community” were ranked in the top 6 replies. 1 With this being said, agencies must understand that social media applications do accelerate the process of these two factors. Linkedin as the primary tool to connect, share and engage for business purposes and Twitter as the number one social media tool used by traditional media outlets to monitor news confirms the shifts in communicating and conducting research via the web.

We have witnessed that a few agencies have gone a step further in using social media. With the priority of attracting skilled talent, these agencies have decided to use their social media tools and online presence to promote talent attraction initiatives. Cities will be unable to attract and retain companies without a sufficient

Isabelle Poirier Founder of Intelegia

base of skilled talent to select the best employees. As a result, agencies must consider how they can use their existing social media infrastructure to attract and keep qualified talent. Competing with neighboring cities or regions for skilled workers means agencies must formulate a digital marketing strategy to reach and convince individuals that their respective location is the best choice to work and live. This entails clearly illustrating the key location factors to individuals looking for employment and at the same time, engaging companies interested in investing in the region.

What we aspire to do with this report is to showcase how leading economic development agencies in Canada and in the United States

are using social media in their marketing mix and what they were able to accomplish. It is our hope that more EDOs will realize the value of

implementing a digital marketing strategy for their investment attraction and business retention needs.


PREAMBLE


Why the need for an expanded index this year?

1 2Over the past three years, the authors of the Canadian Cities Online Marketing Index© have witnessed the following:

Economic development agencies that were quick to adopt social media applications to marketing their regions for investment attraction purposes have continued their efforts. By being the first few that understood the impact on their respec-tive communications strategies, agencies will have a competitive advantage over other agen-cies that have been slow to adopt tools such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube and to utilize them in an efficient manner. As a result, there is a clear imbalance between agencies which wish to continue to market their regions as they did a decade ago and those which have embraced a web 2.0 culture.

Economic development agencies from large cities in Canada can no longer ignore the branding and communication benefits of having a complete digital marketing presence. These cities which have been “late comers” to the new realities of online marketing have shown signs of progress; however, they must comprehend fundamental approaches to engage with their target audiences that include potential investors and site selectors.


CONTEXT


Both groups of agencies in Canada do not operate in a vacuum and must contend for investment dollars in large and innovative cities in the United States.

Understanding the dynamics at play when attempting to promote a region for investment attraction and business retention on a larger scale, Intelegia decided to examine how 41* agencies from large cities (based on population) were using digital marketing applications to convince potential investors and site selectors that their city is the only location to invest in.

Although this benchmark report evaluates the basic use of a variety of digital marketing tools by the agencies, close attention was paid to how the cities are able to illustrate their respective brands.

With the help from selected economic development professionals via their insights regarding the importance of strong branding, readers of this report will have an understanding of:

How branding is essential to break through the clutter in the digital space to connect with key decision makers with regards to investment opportunities.

The need to have a branding strategy to reinforce the benefits of investing in a specific location especially when neighboring jurisdictions can easily claim and communicate the same benefits.

The input in the form of comments from the chosen economic development professionals are mentioned throughout this report.

41 agencies were reviewed for the 40 metropolitan statistical areas since the metropolitan statistical area of Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA is comprised of two economic development agencies: San Bernardino Economic Development Agency and Riverside Office of Economic Development.

*


CONTEXT


To complementIntelegia’s benchmark exercise for this report,the co-authors had the opportunity to interview the representatives at some of the top ranked agencies from Canada and United States to gain further insights into their approach of using digital marketing tools. Top ranked agencies have taken a risk of using social media to strategically brand their city for economic development initiatives and it has paid off.


KEY INSIGHTS


Greater Halifax Partnership has been able to enhance its community’s capacity to attract and expand foreign direct investment by making their investment attraction content easily accessible and shareable. The accessibility of investment attraction materials (i.e., Why Halifax investment video on iTunes, YouTube, website and Facebook page, four sector podcasts on Libsyn, iTunes, and an ebrochure tool) enables partners and online communities to share and embed content for their own trade missions, location and expansion activities.

Such tools enable the agency to build an online network of champions promoting Halifax as a

Greater Halifax Partnership Benefit: Viral Branding Effect

foreign direct investment location with a strong brand. In addition, the tools are great avenues to collect information on potential investors. Potential investors enter their contact information (i.e., phone number and email address) to gain further information. These leads are then logged by the agency’s team, contacted and promptly provided with additional customized information. In 2011-12, Greater Halifax Partnership received 237 requests for information (most electronically). As a result of those requests, the agency identified 12 business development leads with the potential for 2,263 new jobs. Four leads were closed and 419 jobs were created.

From a talent retention point of view, the agency leveraged its social media tools by promoting a UPS Canada job fair in July 2012. This effort assisted in UPS Canada recruiting the right personnel and ultimately played an instrumental role in selecting Halifax as a location to open an office as a part of the company’s Atlantic Canada expansion plans. UPS Canada is looking to fill over 100 positions in Halifax.


KEY INSIGHTS


Via their YouTube Channel, Hamilton Economic Development unveiled in August 2012, “Wake Up From Your Commuting Nightmare”, an animated short designed to market and brand Hamilton as a viable live/work choice to those on the endless commute to Toronto. Without any form of advertisements, the animated film got noticed by the local television station, CBC Hamilton, which is very selective when it comes to picking up feeds from news sources.

Hamilton Economic Development Benefit: Earned Media and the Viral Effect

Using the local press outlet, the agency was able to leverage the exposure to brand the city of Hamilton as the location to do business without the hassles of commuting from and to Toronto. Within a day, the CBC Hamilton story got picked up by “Daily Brew”, a Yahoo Canada News daily blog. The video has been viewed 5,400 times on YouTube in three months.


KEY INSIGHTS


In October 2012, World Business Chicago (WBC) co-hosted the inaugural Chicago After Hours talent recruiting event at the University of Illinois’ College of Engineering in Urbana (UofI), a landmark event that brought Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and 39 of the city’s tech companies to the campus to accelerate the momentum and buzz about Chicago.

World Business Chicago Benefit: Brand Awareness

Prior to, during and after the event, WBC utilized Twitter via @WorldBizChicago and #AftrHrs to showcase the city. By providing hashtags, handles and content ideas to all of the companies in attendance, the organization was able to create a social dialogue that raised brand awareness for Chicago and its burgeoning tech community on

Twitter and Facebook. In addition, WBC engaged influencers at the UofI. WBC also interacted with the Mayor’s Office in order to engage additional audiences. The panel discussion was streamed live via the Mayor’s Office and the University of Illinois websites.


KEY INSIGHTS


London Economic Development Corporation Benefit: Workforce and Company Retention

To support labour retention strategy specifically for technology sector in London, Ontario, London Economic Development Corporation launched the digital marketing campaign in April 2012. The campaign is composed of a website, www.london-techjobs.ca and a Twitter account, @LdnTechJobs to efficiently engage with agency’s target audience rather than using traditional newspaper advertisements.

Since the launch of the campaign, the agency has successfully retained a handful of IT and ICT companies that were struggling to grow in London. The case of Digital Extremes, a digital interactive game development company founded in London can be highlighted as a success story for the agency. The company selected to stay and grow in London based on several cost competitive advantages and with the agency’s efforts to attract talent. The company closed their Toronto office and decided to expand and invest in London.


KEY INSIGHTS


In July 2012, Edmonton Economic Development Corporation launched a labour attraction initiative that was support by a digital marketing presence in the form of the website (www.opportunityawaits.com), Facebook page and Twitter account. Although the collection of tools are used to provide relevant and current content to job seekers, the agency aimed to inform its target audience (located in Seattle, Washington) by demystifying any misconceptions about Northern Alberta with short brand messaging.

Some of the results from the campaign include:• 1,130 job applications were received;• Opportunityawaits.com received 25,032 visitors (June 28, 2012 - October 1, 2012);• Opportunityawaits.com received 21,030 unique visitors (June 28, 2012 - October 1, 2012);• 1,274 social media referrals to opportunityawaits.com.

Edmonton Economic Development Corporation Benefit: Workforce Attraction


KEY INSIGHTS


Front Row Tampa Bay was an initiative by Tampa Bay Partnership in which the agency hosted a live streaming webcast during the 2012 Republican National Convention. With 17 hours of video content, the agency’s primary objectives were to promote the local business environment for investment attraction and to increase the positive perceptions of the eight county Tampa Bay region in the key economic development measures by those attending the convention.

In post-convention research that measured perceptions about the Tampa Bay regional brand on 27 key attributes, it was discovered that all 27 attributes registered an increase from the pre to the post-convention research, 15 of which saw significant improvement and there were no decreases.

Tampa Bay Partnership Benefit: Defining Brand Attributes


KEY INSIGHTS


To bring awareness to an initiative that dispute the United States International Trade Commission’s tariffs of 24 percent or more on Chinese-made solar cells and panels, Greater Phoenix Economic Council utilized their blog; Twitter and YouTube to disseminate their message of opposition to the tariffs. On July 26th, 2012, the agency released a letter of protest and posted the link to the document on their blog. To push the news about the letter, a tweet was sent out and two news sources pick up the news to serve as the basis of the own respective tweets.

To continue their efforts, the Greater Phoenix Economic Council pushed content through the channels featured statements from CEO, Barry Broome, stressing how the commission’s decision could hamper the investment climate for the solar industry in Phoenix.

Greater Phoenix Economic Council Benefit: Defining Brand Message Reinforcement


KEY INSIGHTS


Greater Halifax PartnershipWithin the successful marketing team at Greater Halifax Partnership, representatives face ongoing challenges in the form of i) ensuring that there is enough relevant content on the selected social networks, ii) investing the right amount of time to build an audience and relationships, iii) be comfortable with the fact that not everything is going to be positive and iv) finding a role for new tools in the current strategy.

Hamilton Economic DevelopmentHamilton Economic Development still tackles challenges pertaining to resource allocation for their social media strategy in particularly human resources and information technology. The agency’s representatives expressed the need to have a sufficient amount of personnel to contribute to the agency’s social media efforts and getting personnel to use iPads to encourage accessing and sharing information “on the go”.

Success doesn’talways come easy for the top-ranked agencies.They all have their own ongoing challenges to overcome in an attempt to be perfect.

Edmonton Economic Development CorporationThe Edmonton Economic Development Corporation faces three main challenges in the form of i) knowing whether the content that they are sharing timely and relevant information with their target audience, ii) reinforce to assigned individuals the importance of sharing relevant content and iii) how to best allocate its limited resources to ensure success on their chosen social media tools.

World Business ChicagoThe main challenge that World Business Chicago has to contend with is how to efficiently and effectively engage with an array of different audiences on social media. Even though the agency is connecting and supplying content with existing and potential economic development stakeholders, being relevant to other audience members on Twitter remains a hurdle to improving the social media strategy.

London Economic Development CorporationWith their sector specific approach to social media for investment attraction, London Economic Development Corporation is faced with time management challenges. In order to reach established social marketing objectives, the agency has to ensure that the right amount of time is spent executing strategies. To overcome this challenge, the agency hired a social media coordinator.

Tampa Bay PartnershipThe major challenge that Tampa Bay Partnership must deal as it continues marketing Tampa Bay via social media is attempting to define their audience to properly engage with relevant content.

Greater Phoenix Economic CouncilGreater Phoenix Economic Council is assessing how to allocate more resources to the marketing team to ensure that their social media presence is maturing.


KEY INSIGHTS


2

1

CANADA

4

31

5

1

1

5

3Greater Halifax Partnership

Invest Ottawa

CEO Paul Kent’s posts on SmartCity Blog

CEO, Bruce Lazenby, active Twitter user

2

4

Edmonton Economic Development Corporation

Regina Regional Opporunities Commission

Hamilton Economic Development

London Economic Development Corporation

Facebook Timeline: Providing relevant content

Twitter: High engagement levels with followers

YouTube clip, “Wake Up From Your Commuting Nightmare”

YouTube clip, “Today Tonight in London Canada”


RESULTS


Hamilton Economic Development

Edmonton Economic Development Corporation

Invest Ottawa

Canada’s Technology Triangle

Sherbrooke InnopoleLondon Economic Development Corporation

Regina Regional Opportunities Commision

Greater Halifax Partnership

84

60 556270

84 73 72

Calgary Economic Development

Montreal International

Saskatoon Regional Economic Devleopment Authority

Economic Development Winnipeg Inc.

49 46 40 39

38

33

36

29

35 34

2931

Niagara Economic Development Corporation

Greater Toronto Marketing Alliance

Quebec International

Greater Victoria Development Agency

Vancouver Economic Commission Development Corporation

City of Barrie

Windsor and Essex County Development Commission

City of Oshawa


RESULTS


4USA

2

5

3

1

4

35

1

2

Greater Phoenix Economic Council

New York City Economic Development Corporation

Greater Houston Partnership

World Business Chicago

Tampa Bay PartnershipCEO, Barry Broome, sharing and engaging on Facebook

Tumblr blog: a news outlet for up to the minute developments in the city

Mobile application of the website

Twitter: Getting economic data out in 140 characters or less

CEO, Stuart Rogel, active Twitter user


RESULTS


New York City Economic Development Corporation

Tampa Bay Partnership

World Business Chicago

Invest Atlanta Detroit Economic Growth Corporation

Economic Alliance of Greater Baltimore

Greater Phoenix Economic Council


92

49 475159

64 62 61

Los Angeles EconomicDevelopment Corporation

San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation

Minneapolis Saint-Paul RegionalEconomic Development Partnership

Boston Redevelopment Authority

44 43 42 40

36

28

35

23

32

23

28 11

10

The Beacon Council

Dallas Office of Economic Development

Select Greater Philadelphia

San Francisco Center for Economic Development

Enterprise Seattle

St. Louis Development Corporation

Riverside Office of Economic Development // San Bernardino Economic Development Agency

Greater Washington Initiative


RESULTS


Economic development agenices that have a digital marketing strategy have an obligation to provide site selectors with meaningful intelligence to make sound decisions. In order to do so, agencies need to understand what site selectors are looking for and how to package the information. Utilizing a compilation of Web 1.0 tools, agencies can efficiently communicate what their region can offer to potential investors. Agencies that fail to have a clear and structured approach to furnishing data that site selectors need to access easily run the risk of making it difficult to “get the ball rolling” in terms of facilitating attracting investors.

SITE SELECTION TOOLS // WEB 1.0


BEST PRACTICES


As seen in Figure 1, a tab dedicated to site selection professionals is present on the index page of the Minneapolis-Saint Paul Regional Economic Development Partnership website.

Site selectors that choose to click on the tab can quickly access tools and data regarding:

• Major Industries & Companies• Workforce• Location & Transportation• Maps• Utilities• Business Incentives• Search Properties• Innovation

Economic development agencies that fail to place their site selection portion of their website “upfront and center” run the risk of not facilitating the primary steps in attempting to attract investment, that is to provide information efficiently online to key decision makers.

Minneapolis-Saint Paul Regional Economic Development Partnership Benefit: Appearance of Link To Site Selection Section On Index Page

fig. 1


BEST PRACTICES


A section for site selectors on an agency’s website should not only include relevant data and information tool but it should be able to offer site selectors the ability to connect with representatives that are responsible for investment attraction activities. Figure 2 is a screenshot of the “Site Selection Services” page on the Greater Halifax Partnership website.

Located on the right-hand side of the page is information on the agency’s point of contact, Nancy Philips, Director of Business Development. Along with her photo, the agency supplies three avenues to contact Nancy Philips:

• Via the phone• Via email• Via an inquiry form

Putting the contact information for the individual responsible for investment attraction and business retention on the same page with site selection data will make life easier for site selectors.

Greater Halifax Partnership Appearance of Contact Person Name for Site Selection Inquiry

fig. 2


BEST PRACTICES


The ability to provide current information regarding a region is a very powerful marketing strategy that economic development agencies can take advantage of if they select to do so. Not only is an agency furnishing updated data to potential investors but the information available on the website can serve as a communications tool to show how well the region is doing periodically.

Via its “Resources” section, the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) allows site selectors and potential investors to read a “wealth of statistics, economic data and analyses on New York City”. As seen in Figure 3, the city’s Economic Snapshots reports are available on a monthly basis.

Within each issue of the monthly report, the agency gives readers a look at the different aspects that plays a role in the New York City economy (i.e., private employment, hotel occupancy rates and office vacancy rates).

Providing current data to site selectors about a region will aid in their decision making process in terms of putting a location on their short list of potential places for their clients to invest.

New York City Economic Development Corporation Age of Information for Site Selectors and Potential Investors

fig. 3


BEST PRACTICES


World Business Chicago offers a site selector mapping tool that gives individuals the capability to find available real estate in Chicago based on 15 amenities such as:

• Available Industrial Space• Available Office / R&D Space• Industrial Corridors• Planned Manufacturing Districts (PMD)

In addition, the online tool permits individuals to filter results based on four mappable incentive programs such as:• Tax Increment Financing (TIF)• TIFWorks Program• Enterprise Zone• New Markets Tax Credits (NMTC)

Figure 4 is a satellite view of the map that was generated by the agency’s site selection mapping tool for available industrial space that would qualify for the TIF Works Program for a company of 25 – 100 employees.

Having an “easy to use” database of available real estate on an agency’s website facilitate some of the “on the ground” work that site selectors would like to avoid. Providing “time saving” intelligence can help in attracting site selectors to consider a region.

World Business Chicago Available Real Estate Database

fig. 4

Possessing an “easy-to-use” tool on an agency’s website to locate available real estate in a region can contribute to efforts to engage site selectors and potential investors. Rather than visiting countless amount s of possible sites in person, some selectors prefer to begin their search online thanks to tools that agencies supply.


BEST PRACTICES


Economic development agencies that depend on Google to be found by site selectors must have a coherent search engine marketing strategy in hopes to be ranked on the first of results. Some agencies may select to have their indexed blog posts act like landing pages to push individuals to their site selection section. There are a few agencies that rely on organic search results to capture the attention of information seekers.

Based on search queries with Google conducted on September 25th, 2012, links leading to the Hamilton Economic Development website (i.e., investinhamiliton.ca and were found utilizing the following keywords:

• Hamilton + “Economic Development”• Hamilton + “investment attraction”• Hamilton + “invest in”• Hamilton + “incentive”

Figures 5 to 8 illustrate the results that were found using the keywords listed above.

To improve an agency’s organic search engine rankings, it is important that the city’s name appear on webpages along with selected keywords that may come to mind from a site selector’s point of view.

Hamilton Economic Development Search Engine Optimization on Google

fig. 5-8


BEST PRACTICES


BLOGS Agencies that decide to have a blog as a part of the social media strategy have the ability to execute an efficient content marketing plan. Only through an established content strategy that takes in account original content which can contribute to a convincing argument to investors why to invest in their respective metropolitan areas. The ideal content strategy should take into account insights from representatives of the agency and not solely copy from press releases and external links to other articles.

SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS // WEB 2.0


BEST PRACTICES


Boston Redevelopment Authority’s blog breaks the mold of a traditional blog layout. Readers are given an index page of post titles along associated images. To easily browse through the site, the agency offers tags on the top of page where readers can click on to access relevant content for their needs.

Figure 9 is a screen capture of the Boston Redevelopment Authority’s posts that are labeled with the tag, “Business News”.

To help individuals find information quicker on the agency’s blog, consider creating tags that best reflects the content and the city’s brand.

Boston Redevelopment Authority Use of Tags

fig. 9


BEST PRACTICES


The content strategy that is executed for the New York City Economic Development Corporation’s blog is based upon curating unique content that represents the city’s brand in terms of economic development initiatives. Figure 10 is a post that was published on September 18th, 2012 highlighting the agency’s visit to the South by Southwest (SXSW) annual event.

Readers of the post were able to obtain insights regarding:

• The evolution of NYC’s diverse tech sector• The city’s booming innovation hub and game-changing government investments• The rapid startup growth over the past few years and tech talent recruiting challenge

Adhering to a content strategy for blogging purposes will aid in keeping the marketing tool sustainable and reinforce brand messaging.

New York City Economic Development Corporation Content Strategy

fig. 10


BEST PRACTICES


FACEBOOK In February 2012, the social media giant introduced, Facebook Timeline. The new feature is composed of several changes from an administrator and fans point of view. Agencies that use Facebook as the core of their digital market plan must deal with the specific modifications that entail selecting an appropriate cover photo to brand the region and pinned posts to their timeline. 2



BEST PRACTICES


Using the Facebook Timeline function, Greater Phoenix Partnership is able to document their accomplishments since their inception. Figure 11 and Figure 12 are the images that agency has pinned to their timeline. Figure 11 is a pin from 1995 documenting GPEC ranking in Top 10 Economic Development Organizations in the World by Site Selection Magazine and Figure 12 announcing the location of DHL to Greater Phoenix marks GPEC’s 300th company that was located in Phoenix in 2002.

Both pins can be very effective and efficient in communicating to potential investors and site selectors that Phoenix has a proven track record in terms of attracting businesses to invest.

Greater Phoenix Partnership Facebook Timeline Pins

fig. 11 fig. 12


BEST PRACTICES


Figure 13 is a screen capture of a post from Greater Phoenix Economic Council’s CEO, Barry Broome Facebook Timeline. In the post, Broome shared a link to a radio interview which he conducted with a local station on the subject of the city’s growth compared to Las Vegas. The posted link led to 5 comments from the CEO’s friends and Broome himself making a statement about how cities brand themselves.

Considering that there are few economic development officers that are on and utilising Facebook for professional purposes, Broome can be highlighted as a “Social CEO” for investment attraction.

Greater Phoenix Economic Council “The Social CEO”

fig. 13


BEST PRACTICES


TWITTER The simple design of Twitter allows users to push information to followers. The microblogging platform acts as an efficient one-way broadcasting tool for some economic development agencies; however, some have yet to discover the possibilities of engaging regional’s stakeholders and how tweets can contribute the reinforcement of branding initiatives. Moving forward, agencies should consider executing business-to-business Twitter engagement strategies to prompt a more dynamic use of the social media application. 3



BEST PRACTICES


Figure 14 is a discussion on Twitter that took place on July 31st, 2012 between the London Economic Development Corporation and Hudson Boat Works. The engagement seen in the screencapture highlights how London Economic Development Corporation is a great supporter of investors in the region via retweeting an article regarding Hudson Boat Works. The exchange was rather timely since the investor, Hudson Boat Works’ product (i.e. ribless racing boats) was being used in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, England.

Constant engagement with economic stakeholders on Twitter illustrates an agency’s commitment to actively play a role in the growth of existing businesses and potential investors in the region.

London Economic Development Corporation Engagement with Stakeholders

fig. 14


BEST PRACTICES


With consistent use of hashtags, a city or region can either build or reinforce their brand or a specific economic development initiative. Figure 15 illustrates three tweets from New York City Economic Development Corporation’s (NYCEDC) Twitter feed with three hashtags to focus on.

1) #LatAm2NYC - LatAm to NYC, the inaugural Latin American-focused program of NYCEDC’s World to NYC initiative, promotes trade and investment between New York City and Latin America 2) #Bronx – NYCEDC is attempting to position and brand the Bronx as a location for business incubators3) #nytech – Branding for the New York City tech industry.

To show how viral a hashtag can get on Twitter, Figure 16 is a screen capture of a Twitter search query for “#nytech” conducted on September 13th, 2012. Agencies must allow themselves to create hashtags for initiatives that will be easy to remember and properly brand their region.

New York City Economic Development Corporation Use of Hashtags

fig. 15 fig. 16


BEST PRACTICES


To understand the role of place branding, it is important to understand what a brand is and is not. In my experience, too many communities believe a brand is simply a logo and tagline. In reality, a brand is a promise. It sets an expectation of the experience an investor or resident will have if they choose to become part of your community. To be effective, the promise must be relevant, competitive and authentic. Branding is ensuring that promise is kept across as many touch points as possible and over time.

Edward Burghard CEO, The Burghard Group


BEST PRACTICES


YOUTUBE The video sharing platform is one of the most dynamic tools that marketers can use to promote a product or a service. Agencies that choose to utilize YouTube to sell their region for business and investment retention and attraction purposes must abide by the following key elements to ensure a solid presence on the platform. • The ability to be found via the search function • The ability to provide current content • A solid channel that contains a variety of videos that profiles a region



BEST PRACTICES


The Beacon Council, the Miami-Dade County’s official economic development partnership dedicated to “bringing new, job-generating investments to the community” has been pretty effective in appearing on the first page of results of YouTube. For the following queries, the organization’s videos were easily found (as of August 30th, 2012):

• Name of city + keyword, “invest” + United States• Name of city + keyword, “economic development” + United States• Name of city + keyword, “investment” + United States

Figure 17 provides a screenshot of the results for Miami + keyword, “economic development” + United States

To avoid being behind a set of cluttered results, agencies should attempt to be consistent with keywords when uploading content to the video sharing platform.

The Beacon Council Search Engine Optimization

fig. 17


BEST PRACTICES


Figure 18 is a screenshot of London Economic Development Corporation’s “Today Tonight in London Canada” video on YouTube. Released in June 2012, the clip is able to reinforce the city’s brand identify as being a diverse location when it comes to working in different sectors during the day and by night, a pretty cool place to live with a dynamic night life. From an investment and talent attraction perspective, this video is quite powerful in terms of conveying reasons to select London, Ontario to “invest, work and play”.

With a solid branding and content strategy, agencies can create powerful YouTube clips that can vividly illustrate the key benefits of a region for investment and talent attraction.

London Economic Development Corporation Brand Reinforcement

fig. 18


BEST PRACTICES


LINKEDIN Via the business social network, agencies are supplied with a variety of marketing avenues that can play key role in a city’s investment attraction framework. From a complete professional profile to customized tabs from an agency’s company profile, activity on LinkedIn will aid in engaging decision makers when it comes to considering possible regions to invest in. Agencies that fail to have a solid presence on LinkedIn will make it difficult to execute an integrated digital media strategy for any economic development initiatives.



BEST PRACTICES


Figure 19 is a portion of the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation LinkedIn Company profile where the agency’s updates are stored.

These updates are automatically sent out to appear in the follower’s news feed. As a result, the agency’s push marketing strategy to site selectors and potential investors is supported with the efforts on LinkedIn using the company update feature.

San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation Company Updates

fig. 19


BEST PRACTICES


Along with the default company profile that economic development agencies have selected to post on LinkedIn, two benchmarked agencies have supplemented their profiles with additional promotional with adding a customized “Services” tab.

i) Greater Halifax PartnershipFigure 20 presents the content that is available underneath the “Services” tab. By browsing through the list of services, clients can learn more about how the agency can facilitate the investment attraction process and read existing recommendations.

fig. 20 fig. 21

ii) Montreal InternationalTo reach out to a bilingual audience, Montreal International has provided descriptions of services in French and English. Figure 21 is the agency’s page on LinkedIn promoting its “Sélection de site (Données et conseil) / Site Selection (Data and consulting)” service. Agencies that fail to recognize the LinkedIn’s features to post content on their corporate profile on a systematic basis are missing the opportunities to reach and engage with their targeted audience as a part of their digital marketing strategy.

Greater Halifax Partnership // Montreal International Use of “Service” Tab


BEST PRACTICES


SLIDESHARE Known as the YouTube for presentations and other documents, Slideshare can be used to publish and share information regarding a region for economic development initiatives. In addition, having a presence on Slideshare can reinforce an agency’s search engine optimization strategy for Google.



BEST PRACTICES


Via Greater Halifax Partnership’s Slideshare account, economic development stakeholders can access a great amount of strategic intelligence. By reading the information that is stored in the presentations placed on the platform, site selectors and potential investors can align their objectives with the strategic goals of the agency. Figure 22 is a screen capture of the presentations on the Greater Halifax Partnership’s Slideshare account page.

Greater Halifax Partnership Offering Strategic Intelligence

fig. 22


BEST PRACTICES


Based on the number of files that are uploaded to the Sherbrooke Innopole account, the agency is doing a great job of posting presentations after industry events. Figure 23 is a screen capture of the agency’s account with 53 presentations.

As a component of a content marketing strategy, agencies should be proactive in sharing updated information on other platforms beside their website. Sharing platforms such as Slideshare maybe an outlet where site selectors will continue their search for decision making data. Slideshare provides a pretty powerful dashboard with analytics with data that can be used to target individuals who are reading the agency’s documents.

Sherbrooke Innopole Sharing After Events

fig. 23


BEST PRACTICES


Gartner, the leading information technology research and advisory company, expects that companies will shift their marketing budgets to mobile channels and experiment with cutting-edge apps to capture marketing and sales opportunities. 4 While economic development agencies do not have the big budgets as large brands do, it is important for agencies to understand that the shift is happening. The shift of placing content on platforms where decision-makers can access it via smartphones and tablets should lead agencies to think about what tools and functionalities they can offer in a mobile environment. It may not be sufficient enough to place all existing content on the agency’s website onto a platform that just formats data for smartphones. 5

MOBILE APPLICATIONS //


BEST PRACTICES



Via its mobile application, Greater Houston Partnership offers an easy way to navigate through an abundance of site selection related information. As seen in Figure 24, the menu is straightforward and provides a list of all key economic development contacts at the agency.

fig. 24


BEST PRACTICES


Greater Halifax Partnership

fig. 25

The mobile version of the Greater Halifax Partnership website serves as a platform to gain access to content on social media (i.e., blog and Twitter). Figure 25 is a screenshot of the Twitter feed as seen on a smartphone.


BEST PRACTICES


Minneapolis-Saint Paul Regional Economic Development Partnership

fig. 26

The Minneapolis-Saint Paul Regional Economic Development Partnership (Greater MSP) mobile application provides site selectors with access to information pertaining to where to look to start, expand or relocate a business, or are planning to visit the Greater MSP area to enjoy the countless attractions and destinations the region has to offer. Users can search, find and pinpoint on a map, all of the area’s Fortune 500 headquarters, Forbes 2000 private companies, and popular tourist attractions. Figure 26 is a screenshot of the interface on the Greater MSP mobile application, the contact information section and the agency’s YouTube feed.


BEST PRACTICES


Riverside Office of Economic Development

fig. 27

Via its mobile application, the Riverside Office of Economic Development offer individuals an opportunity to read and gather information via the “Seizing Our Destiny” blog. The blog is devoted to building and supporting the Riverside brand, “Communicate. Connect. Measure.” And is able to tell a precise story of what is going in Riverside from an innovation and economic development point of view. Figure 27 is a look from a smartphone at a blog

post regarding the University Of California - Riverside (UCR) School of Busi-ness being among the top in the United States of America. Launching a mobile version of an agency’s website will entail deciding what content should be available to site selectors to assist them in conducting research and contacting key executives from their smartphone.


BEST PRACTICES


Although this benchmark study only assesses the digital marketing presence from economic development agencies from the largest 20 cities in Canada and the United States, Intelegia has monitored what other metropolitan cities are doing to efficiently market themselves via the web. The following agencies are using websites and social media tools that worthy for other agencies to use as great examples when building their respective digital marketing strategies.

ELSEWHERE IN NORTH AMERICA //


BEST PRACTICES


Chief administrative officers and economic

developers know that investment attraction is highly competitive. To stand out from the crowd, and to differentiate a community from its local and regional neighbors, effective online branding is critical. Crests, logos and branding that is busy, dated or similar to many other communities, just doesn’t have a chance in today’s world of constant media and message overload. To be effective an online community brand must be recognizable, memorable, visually consistent and the messaging must be focused and clear. Effective online marketing doesn’t just happen, it takes work, but it can pay back in spades.”

Anya CodakPresident, YFactor


BEST PRACTICES


Via its news section on their website, the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission provides site selectors with a “one stop” shop for news pertaining to the metro Orlando area. Figure 28 is a look at the “Publication”subsection.

Site selectors can find the following information products:

•Texture Magazine - A publication focused on the technology companies, personalities and innovations • Communiqué e-newsletter - Weekly news for and about EDC Investors• Annual reports from the agency

All of the publications from the agency are geared to support the city’s brand message, “Putting Imagination To Work. Orlando”

With the aid of a content strategy, the Metro Orlando Economic Development Corporation has a defined playlist for their videos. As seen in Figure 29, the agency has assigned compelling titled to each of the list to prompt individuals to watch the videos. (i.e., “Why Orlando”, “Orlando Works”, “Innovative Companies In Orlando”.)

Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission

fig. 18

PUBLICATIONS

DEFINED PLAYLIST ON YOUTUBE

fig. 28 fig. 29


BEST PRACTICES


Via “The Cone of Silence” blog, the Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation is able to repurpose content as a part of a content strategy. Figure 30 is a screenshot of the agency’s, postdated August 30th, 2012. Instead of just reposting an abstract and link to the USA Today article, the agency puts it into further context to better position Denver and Boulder as a place for technology startups to invest.

Amongst the 12 pinboards (as of September 17th, 2012) that the Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation has on its Pinterest account, there are 5 pinboards that are dedicated to some of the city’s key industries. Figure 31 is a screen capture of the agency’s pinboards. By creating pinboards and pinning images illustrating their key industries, the agency is able to reinforce its brand of being a city that welcomes investments and projects in the sectors.

Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation

fig. 18

BLOG - REPURPOSING CONTENT PINBOARDS BY SECTOR

fig. 30 fig. 31


BEST PRACTICES


The growth of Instagram over the past two years is due to mobile web capabilities via smartphones. Not only are Instagram users taking and editing photos, they are creating special hashtags and sharing their content via the mainstream social networks (i.e., Facebook and Twitter). Agencies that are not adopting the powerful platform and culture that is driving the usage are missing out on capturing vivid images that can go a long way in the promotion of some key location factors.

Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation has been able to master the power of using Instagram as a part of their social media marketing toolkit for investment attraction and business retention. Figure 32 is an Instagram post from the agency that instantly captured a group of site selectors embarking on helicopter for a visit of Denver. Along with the images on the photo sharing platform, the agency created the hashtag, ‘#siteselect12’ to strategically brand future posts and will allow others to find images associated with investment attraction in Denver.

Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation

USE OF INSTAGRAM USE OF HASHTAGS

fig. 32


BEST PRACTICES


Site selectors visiting the Greater Richmond Partnership (GRP), Inc. website have access to a tool that enables to create a customize report in .pdf for their decision making needs. Figure 33 is a screenshot of the “point and click” interface that individuals may use to generate a report with data detailing i) access to markets, ii) business advantages, iii) major incentives and iv) state and local taxes. Figure 34 is a page from the customized report detailing “Access To Markets” information for the Greater Richmond area.

Greater Richmond Partnership, Inc.

fig. 18

fig. 30 fig. 31


BEST PRACTICES


Control is a distant memory. Real or imagined, economic development professionals once thought they could control their message and blast it at their target audience with impunity. The landscape has changed. Social media and Internet websites change the character. A brand is no longer a club to wield. It is a story that must be told to an audience that must first be engaged. A brand is no longer static. It is dynamic; equally controlled by marketer and audience.

Eric Canada Partner, Blane, Canada Ltd.


PLANNING POINTS


1 Tell Them About Your Brand and Then Show ThemWith increased competition for investment dollars, economic development agencies must work on their brand if they are seeking success using digital marketing tools. Breaking through the clutter in the form of Facebook and LinkedIn posts, tweets and YouTube videos to reach site selectors is a difficult task without a brand. Clear defined brand messages can be the keys to differentiate competing regions if the messages are created and disseminated correctly. Via social networks, it is no longer sufficient for agencies to tell the world that their region is the best choice to invest in. Agencies must consistently illustrate why the region is the best option to invest in by using key brand attributes that must be substantiated with curated content. An absence of having brand attributes to back up claims will eventually lead agencies with a lack of content to engage individuals on social media with the goal of meeting marketing objectives. A list of brand attributes is necessary to build a content strategy that will support a sustainable social media presence while reinforcing key selling points.

In order for economic development agenciesto possess a sustainable digital marketing presence to promote a region for investment attraction, they have to be proactive and plan for the future. To ensure that the digital marketing strategy remains relevant in the broad marketing plan, agencies must consider the following planning points.

2Be Mobile... NOW!Of the 41 agencies that we benchmarked, we only found that 23% had a mobile version of their website. In order to make life easier for site selectors, content must be accessible via smartphones. Analysts have predicted again that “mobile phones will overtake PCs as the most common Web access devices worldwide by 2013.” 7 If you are thinking about having a mobile app, stop thinking and just do it. You may be in a situation where if you do not have a mobile application, you may not exist to potential investors and site selectors. These groups of individuals are using their smartphones to work “anywhere” and will have a need to access information online that is in a suitable and convenience format for decision making purposes.


PLANNING POINTS


3Know Your Current ToolsIt is essential that agencies have a very good idea on what they can do on specific platforms to market their region. Established social media applications are constantly making changes to allow users to engage with brands efficiently. Agencies that have selected to anchor their social media efforts to a Facebook brand page must be informed on any new development that are planning for the future. 8 Not being current on the modifications made to social media tools will have agencies stuck using tools inefficiently and not reaching their marketing objectives. To stay informed, agencies should stay plugged in by tracking news from sites such as Mashable (www.mashable.com), Social Media (www.socialmediatoday.com) and Social Media Examiner (www.socialmedi-aexaminer.com)

4Know New Shiny Tools Social media applications landscape sees new tools arrive on a constant basis. According to 2012 Social Media Marketing Industry Report by Michael Stelzner, 9 businesses are seeking to learn more about the capabilities of Google Plus. This benchmark discovered that agencies have yet to discover the advantages of Google Plus especially when it comes to creating individuals networks, company’s profiles and search engine optimization benefits. Recent tools such as Pinterest and Instagram which holds so much promise for branding purposes needs to be mastered by agencies that wish to sell their city via sharp images.

5Be Current When your agency decided to use social media applications to market your region or city, you took a promise to supply current content to engage your target audience. With “easy-to-use” content curation tools and social media management dashboard, agencies must be able to post current content without the stress of wondering what to post next. Ideally, agencies should gather content that illustrates the region’s brand. As a result, agencies should consider establishing and executing a content strategy to be prepared for any gaps that may arise in the future.

6 Time to Bridge the Gap Marketing representatives in agencies are completely aware of the benefits of using social media for investment attraction; however, it is time for others to understand the advantages. With site selectors using social media outlets to conduct research on potential locations, it is essential for everyone in the agency who is responsible for the attraction or retention process to play an active role in executing the social media strategy. This includes the chief executive officer, senior business development officers and media relations representatives. To bridge the gap, consider training seminars that will explain the use of LinkedIn, Twitter and blogs that will facilitate any work that is being done on the ground.


PLANNING POINTS


They all have their own ongoing challenges to overcome in an attempt to be perfect.

Every community has an online brand. The question is, did the community create it or did their competitors? A community not protecting or building its online reputation is putting itself at a significant disadvantage in the site selection world. As a community, you are who people believe you to be and you can either impact that belief system through online branding or let it be set for you by your silence.

Dave QuinnExecutive Director, Bastrop Economic Development


FINAL THOUGHTS


The dynamic of connecting and communicating with site selectors andpotential investors is constantly evolving given the willingness of these groups of individuals to adopt using social media platforms and the ability to be reached via mobile applications. As a result, agencies must be prepared for these current realities with approaches that are meant to reach marketing objectives efficiently.

The digital era waits for no individual, nor economic development agency. Regardless of geography, agencies can find themselves in three groups in regards to digital marketing for investment attraction and business retention.

Group #1: Agencies that completely understand the importance of investing the necessary resources to support their digital marketing strategy.These agencies will continue to be “on trend” and use the latest applications to promote their brand in the efforts of differentiate themselves in the eyes of site selectors and potential investors. By being active on the major social media tools, the agencies should be held in high regard by other agencies seeking to have a solid footprint on the digital media landscape. These agencies will be able to tell a story about how their presence on social media made a significant input in investment attraction promotion activities.

Group #2: Agencies that are trying to catch up.After taking note of the power of social media marketing in a business-to-business context and best practices in economic development, these agencies are trying their best to catch up to compete with other agencies that are doing well as digital marketers. With the necessary allocated resources, these agencies should be able to leverage their existing marketing strategy with digital marketing tools. The requirements for this to happen are: i) training personnel, ii) defining or clarifying a region’s brand and iii) executing a content strategy to engage a targeted audience.

Group #3: Agencies that think digital marketing tools are nice to have but….These agencies are well aware of digital marketing tools; however, they are quite content with their website and web 1.0 applications. Only the adoption of a web 2.0 culture will prompt agencies to accept what social networks can provide in terms of promoting and branding a region to reach out to potential investors. In order to be a successful economic development agency using digital marketing tools regardless of which of the groups that they are in, an agency must realize that they are business-to-business marketers. In the Content Marketing Institute (CMI)’s “2013 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends”, it was discovered that of 87% of business-to-business (B2B) marketers now spread their message through social media tools. As a result, agencies must strive to efficiently use these “two way” communication platforms meant to reinforce a brand in times when competing for investment dollars is an on-going challenge.


FINAL THOUGHTS


The methodology used for the Canadian American Online Marketing Index© 2012was based on the framework used for the Canadian Cities Online Marketing Index© 2011 benchmark study. The set of cities was selected based on the Top 20 Canadian and American Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA) as defined by Statistics Canada in 2012 and the United States Office of Management and Budget in 2011. 41 agencies were reviewed for the 40 metropolitan statistical areas since the metropolitan statistical area of Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA is comprised of two economic development agencies: San Bernardino Economic Development Agency and Riverside Office of Economic Development.

The benchmark considered the following elements for the evaluation of agencies’ social media applications, Web 1.0 features, the availability of relevant information for site selectors and potential investors. The appearance and ability to browse the mobile version of the agency’s website were evaluated.

The benchmark considered pages and feeds directly linked to the metro area economic development organizations’ website, as well as social media applications that presented contact information consistent with the organization’s website. (i.e. president, general manager or marketing contact information, mailing address, phone number).

The agency’s social media applications were assessed based upon the appearance of:• Blog(s) (including Tumblr)• Facebook Page • Twitter• LinkedIn (Professional and Company Profile)• YouTube• Flickr• Google+• Pinterest• RSS Feeds• Videocasts• Podcasts• Content Sharing Pluggins (ie, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, etc)• Availability of a mobile version of the agency’s website on smartphones

In addition, a set of metrics were used to evaluate how the social networks were used and their frequency.

The appearance of the following Web 1.0 tools was accounted for:• Newsletters• Newsletters Archives• News Alerts / News Listings• Forums• Event Calendar

To evaluate the effectiveness of an agency’s website in terms of furnishing information for site selection initiatives, the following elements were considered:• Currency of location factors information• Complete contact information for the individual(s) responsible for investment attraction available on the first page of the section or on the “Contact Us” page• Not only was the multilingual functionality of the site identified but also the ability to provide specific data in more than two languages (i.e., key location factors, etc.)• A database of available commercial real estate

Assessing how easy to find information on a city’s agency courtesy of a search engine was conducted using Google and the following queries:• “economic development” + Name of city + Canada or United States• “investment attraction” + Name of city + Canada or United States• “investment” + Name of city + Canada or United States• “invest in” + Name of city + Canada or United States• “incentive” + Name of city + Canada or United States

The examination of the social networks, Web 1.0 applications and site selection information were conducted between July 2012 and October 2012. The searches on Google were executed on July 2012 and mid-September 2012.


FINAL THOUGHTS


Q// When were the sites and applications reviewed for the benchmark? A//The sites and applications were reviewed during the period of July 15th, 2012 to October 31st, 2011.

Q// How did you select the cities to be included in the benchmark study?A//Intelegia selected the largest 40 metropolitan statistical areas (MSA) according to Statistics Canada in 2011 and the United States Office of Management and Budget in 2010. 20 metropolitan cities were chosen from each country.

Q// How were the agencies/organizations selected?A//The agencies/organizations were selected based on their mandate to promote their region for investment attraction and business retention purposes as stated on their website.

Q// What were the 20 main criteria that were used for the benchmark?A//Below are the 20 main criteria that were used.

Q// What do you mean by “multilingual content”?A//“Multilingual content” allows users to read site selection and economic data relevant content in more than two languages.

Q// What is a podcast?A//By definition, a podcast is a video or audio file that can be downloaded directly from a website and be played via a media player. Video clips available on YouTube or other sharing platforms are not considered to be podcasts.

Q// What do you mean by Web 1.0?A//The Web 1.0 is the portion of the web that contains static pages (instead of dynamic user-generated content) and online guestbook.

Q// What do you mean by Web 2.0?A//The Web 2.0 is the portion of the web that facilitates interactive information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design and collaboration on the World Wide Web.

Q// What do you mean by a mobile application?A//A mobile application functionality allows individuals to access and view the agency’s website and its content on a smartphone.

Q// What is a “content strategy”?A//A content strategy is a plan that will allow agencies to be organized and efficient when it comes to using social media for marketing purposes. At the heart of a solid content strategy is illustrating key brand attributes of a product or service.

Web 2.0 Applications• Blog• Facebook Page • Twitter• LinkedIn Company Profile Page• YouTube• Flickr• Google Plus• Pinterest• Ability to share via StumbleUpon, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.)• RSS Feeds• Videocasts• Podcasts• Availability of A Mobile Application

To conduct further analysis, Intelegia applied additional metrics for the social media tools.

Web 1.0 Applications• Newsletters• Newsletter Archives/News Listing• News Alerts• Events Listing Site Selectors Orientation• Appearance of link to site selection section on index page• Appearance of contact person name for site selection inquiry• Multi-language content (i.e., two or more languages)• Available real estate database• Age of information for site selectors and potential investors• Information on incentives


FAQ


Headquartered in Montreal, Canada, Intelegia develops and implements marketing strategies leveraging social media for economic development, tourism, industry and finance. Intelegia also develops strategic plans and strategies to attract and retain talent and capital investment. With its key expertise in social media strategies, it successfully contributed to communities winning top prizes at the Economic Developers Association of Canada (EDAC) annual awards. Intelegia provides training in North America and Europe on the topic of online marketing research, strategic analysis techniques and the use of social media in marketing and communications. Intelegia publishes a weekly blog post regarding best practices, approaches and tips on the use of social media applications for investment attraction. The blog was launched in 2006 and has a worldwide readership (more than 30 countries). Posts can be read at:


ABOUT INTELEGIA

http://www.intelegia.com/en


With 15 years of experience as a consultant, Isabelle Poirier is a North American expert in the field of using the web and social media for economic development. She develops social marketing and communication strategies. Isabelle assists private and public organizations in managing their brand image on social media platforms.

For clients in the field of economic development, Isabelle created a set of indicators to identify potential foreign investors for provincial government agencies in Ontario, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador. Recently, she developed the social marketing strategy to brand Golden, British Columbia internationally as a migration destination in the Canadian Rockies.

In 2009, Isabelle led the team behind the initiative that placed the first Facebook page for an economic development agency in Canada. In the same year, she developed the first Canadian index that measures the use of social media applications in an economic development context.

Since Summer 2010, Isabelle has been an invited regularly to be a seminar trainer at Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute in Atlanta and Savannah in the United States. Since Spring 2012, she is a guest lecturer at McGill University in Montreal, Canada.

Since 2008, Isabelle Poirier has conducted training seminars covering competitive intelligence, business intelligence and web intelligence for organizations such as the ESCP Europe Business School in Paris, Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada (DFAIT) and Industry Canada.

Isabelle can be contacted on:

LinkedIn - http://www.linkedin.com/in/isabellepoirier Twitter - @intelegia Google+ - https://plus.google.com/u/1/113335279725582476573/about/p/pubFacebook - http://www.facebook.com/isabelle.poirierintelegia

Ian is a content strategist at Intelegia. With his knowledge of the social media tools and an understanding of branding on the web, Ian formulates content marketing strategies for clients’ needs. As co-author of the Canadian Cities Online Marketing Index© and chief blogger at Intelegia, Ian documents and assesses global best practices of organizations’ approaches to social media marketing in terms of integrating their branding and communications strategies to obtain their marketing objectives.

Ian contributed to the building of the Region Chaleur Facebook Fan Page. The page was a pilot project for Entreprise Chaleur, economic development agency for northeastern New Brunswick region.

As the competitive intelligence senior analyst and researcher at Intelegia, Ian has established a framework utilizing online research processes and vast knowledge of relevant sources to identify potential investors. Based on prior investment record, corporate strategies and financial status, Ian assists clients in making a business case to approach investors to consider specific sectors in targeted regions.

Since joining Intelegia, Ian has undertaken several economic development mandates for such clients as Golden Area Initiatives, Team Weymouth, Hyron Corporation, Industry Canada, Ontario Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, City of Montreal.

Ian can be reached on:

LinkedIn - http://ca.linkedin.com/in/iancarlsmithTwitter - @citweetzGoogle+ https://plus.google.com/107584393265742132478Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/ian.c.smith1

Isabelle Poirier, President Ian Smith, Content Strategist and Competitive Intelligence Researcher


ABOUT THE AUTHORS


1 High Performance Economic Development: How Technology and Outcome-Based Metrics Will Save Economic Development Investment and Promotion As We Know It, Atlas Advertising; www.atlas-advertising , p. 17, 2012.

2 How To Use Facebook Timeline For Brand Pages: New Feature Details, TechCrunch, February 29th, 2012. http://techcrunch.com/2012/02/29/how-to-use-timeline-for-pages/

3 6 Twitter Tips To Boost Your Twitter Engagement, Business 2 Community, September 3rd, 2012. http://www.business2community.com/twitter/6-twitter-tips-to-boost-your-twitter-engagement-0269287

4 10 Cutting-edge Mobile Application Trends for 2012, IT Business Edge, December 2011. http://www.itbusinessedge.com/slideshows/show.aspx?c=87261

5 Mobile Application Planning For Investment Attraction, Intelegia, July 2012. http://www.intelegia.com/en/2012/07/25/mobile-application-planning-for-investment-attraction/

6 4 Things To Consider For A Content Strategy For Pinterest, Intelegia. February 29th, 2012. http://www.intelegia.com/en/2012/02/29/4-things-to-consider-for-a-content-strategy-for-pinterest/

7 Mobile Apps Versus Mobile Websites by John Tornow, 2012 Digital Trends. http://trends.clickhere.com/mobile-apps-vs-mobile-websites/

8 As Facebook Changes, Marketers Must Follow, eMarketer, August 24th, 2012. http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1009296

9 2012 Social Media Marketing Industry Report by Michael Stelzner, 2012. http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/SocialMediaMarketingIndustryReport2012.pdf


BIBLIOGRAPHY


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