Tag Archive for 'Economic Development'

Economic Development Groups On LinkedIn

Published
by
Ian Smith
on March 10, 2010
in Author-Ian Smith, Economic Development and Web 2.0
. 0 Comments

Part of having an economic development 2.0 strategy is participating in discussion groups on social networks such as Facebook and LinkedIn.  The benefits of being members of groups related to economic development are:

  • Expanding your network beyond your region and areas of expertise
  • Sharing your expertise with other professionals in the field
  • Learning from others located around the world

Below are a few groups that are on LinkedIn that the team at Intelegia are members.

  • Business Retention & Expansion International (BREI) - This group is composed of economic development professionals that are dedicated to investment attraction initiatives.  Some of the common issues that serves as discussion points are incentives programs, business retention strategies and marketing initiatives for regions.
    Level of access: Open
    Number of members (as of March 9th, 2010): 129
    Owner: Ernest Strickland
  • Economic Development Network - This group is a collection of professionals from around the globe who are concerned about the engagement of research organisations with the economy.  Recent discussion topics include the use of social media marketing applications, marketing strategies and strategic planning issues.
    Level of access: Open
    Number of members (as of March 9th, 2010): 347
    Owner: Steven Brown
  • Economic Development Professionals - The Economic Development Professionals Linkedin group is geared towards individuals who wish to share and learn about best practices in field of economic development.  Lately, members have exchanged thoughts on subjects such as website design issues, search engine optimization strategies and incentive programs.
    Level of access: Open
    Number of members (as of March 9th, 2010): 2 468
    Owner:Gary Knight
  • Foreign Direct Investment - FDIexecutive - This LinkedIn group brings together professionals from all points around the globe in the field of foreign direct investment.  Issues such as attraction strategy, competitiveness, location selection and decision making are the major themes that members discuss.
    Level of access: Open
    Number of members (as of March 9th): 442
    Owner: Douglas van den Berghe
  • Next Gen Economic Development Marketers - As the name suggests, this group is meant for professionals focused on marketing in regards to economic development.  Members include economic development officers and consultants that talk about such issues as social media tools, website design and branding initiatives.
    Level of access: Open
    Number of members (as of March 9th): 171
    Owner: Ben Wright

Are we missing some other LinkedIn groups?  Let us know by leaving us a comment on this post.

Looking for an efficient way to manage your contacts on LinkedIn?  Read Intelegia’s tutorial, “Tag Function In LinkedIn“

Engaging Fans On Your Facebook Page For Economic Development

Published
by
Ian Smith
on February 17, 2010
in Author-Ian Smith, Social Media Marketing and Web 2.0 Strategy
. 2 Comments

You have finally dipped your big toe in the large body of water called, “Web 2.0″ for economic development, what do you do now in terms of engaging with individuals who are “following” you or fans?  According to Sysomos, only 77% of Facebook Fan Pages have under 1,000 fans.

If you have selected to utilize a Facebook Fan Page as a part of your economic development 2.0 strategy, here are a few tips to follow to increase the activity on the the page’s wall and discussion board.

1 - Build Your Audience

This tip may seem elementary however; building an audience is often taken for granted.  Economic development agencies begin their adventures on Web 2.0 by just creating a fan page and expect to be found in the sea of results for the query, “economic development” and prompting users to become fans.  Practical approaches to build an audience include:

  • Word of mouth promotion when meeting with stakeholders
  • Posting a link on the agency’s website where it can be highly visible
  • Placing a link in the signature of staff members’ email
  • Putting a brief note about the page in any online or offline publications

It is important to note that you should attempt to convince individuals to become “A Fan” for reason.  Individuals will decide to join based on a specific need such as keeping informed on the economic development initiatives in your region.

2 - Know Your Audience

Knowing your audience (fans) is vital.  This type of intelligence will influence the type of content that will be posted on the Facebook Fan Page.  By taking a look at who has become fans, you should be able to know  what percentage of the audience are:

  • Citizens of the region
  • Economic development professionals (elsewhere)
  • Site selectors / potential investors
  • Generic fan followers (Individuals that do not fit into the first three categories.)

A quick look at the fan’s profile could provide you with enough information to place the individual into one of the four groups listed above.

3 - Post Relevant and Timely Content

After assessing your fan base, you should be able to tailor your post for your wall or discussion board.  In the situation where your audience is comprised of economic development professionals, you may want to consider posting a link to an article regarding a particular issue dealing with a incentive program.  Making the program the subject of discussion will encourage professionals to share expertise on the topic.

Figure 1 seen below is an example of a posting of good economic news in the Chaleur region and a response of one of its Facebook Fans.


Figure 1: Link Posting On Chaleur Region Facebook Fan Page With Fan’s Comment

4 - Comment

At times, it is best to encourage a dialog amongst fans by simply being the first to comment on what you have posted.  You may post a comment summarizing the article for those who do not have the time to read it or just make a remark to spark a debate that will turn into a fruitful exchange of ideas.  Posting questions is a great way to begin to engage fans.

5 - Evaluate What You Have Done

The practice of engaging fans on Facebook is not completed as you click on the “POST” button.  It requires reviewing and evaluating what has been done and could be done to enhance the page for the fans.  Some elements of the page may include:

  • Adding applications to facilitate fan interaction
  • Including tabs for easier navigation on the page
  • Provide a news feed with relevant articles that could be the basis of a discussion

The post provided a brief list of suggestions of how to engage your audience on your Facebook Fan Page for economic development.  For more tips, read:

Are you thinking about building your economic development 2.0 strategy? Attend Intelegia’s seminar, “Optimize Investment Attraction Strategy Through Information and Social Media Applications” to learn about the key elements for a successful strategy.

Intelligence “R” US: Innovative Economic Development Practices in Mauricie, Québec

Published
by
Isabelle Poirier
on February 1, 2010
in Author-Isabelle Poirier, Economic Development, Economic Intelligence, Investment Attraction and Social Media Marketing
. 2 Comments

New economic development practices in a region is not the result of a sole leader. Changing the economic landscape of a region will be the work of individuals who collectively engage into innovative economic development practices.

Last week, I had the opportunity with my colleague Aicha Habiby to conduct the seminar, “Optimize Investment Attraction Strategy Through Information and Social Media Applications“.  Sixteen participants representing different sub-regions in the Mauricie Region gathered in Trois-Rivières, Quebec. Canada.

It was a busy day :-) Needless to say that because this course was computer based and we were more than happy to provide this training as a team. All participants agreed to start slowly but surely embraced social media tools to improve their regional investment attraction strategy and place their region on the radar of investors and site selectors. The process included achieving the following goals:

  • Establishing their “web identity” on social networks
  • Putting into place an information monitoring system
  • Improving their web researching skills by learning advanced research techniques using web 1.0 tools and sources, social media applications and real-time search engines
  • Generating “Intelligence” using specific analysis frameworks for investment attraction
  • Nurturing their virtual and real life communities by sharing information and knowledge
  • Being aware of key success factors and best practices for their future communication strategy

For quite awhile,  investment attraction techniques have included taking advantage of the web 1.0 however; it was just the beginning.  By tapping into the new applications on the internet,  the participants can now efficiently benchmark their region, target leads and promote their region.

If you want to know more about economic development opportunities in Mauricie, you can get in touch “within a click” with the following professionals:

At the end of the day, interesting opportunities are just one click or one phone call away from you… It’s yours to discover :-)

SeeClickFix: A Possible Economic Development Application?

Published
by
Ian Smith
on January 20, 2010
in Author-Ian Smith and Economic Development
. 0 Comments

Here is a web application that we happened to notice on the City of Evanston’s Facebook Fan Page.

SeeClickFix is a tool that “encourages residents to become citizens by participating in taking care of and improving their neighborhoods“.  In short, the application is a platform to post concerns about the communities that they live in.  Figure 1 illustrates the SeeClickFix page for the City of Toronto.

Figure 1: City of Toronto’s SeeClickFix Page

As shown in Figure 1, the main issues that are posted on the page are:

  1. Maintenance destroying park
  2. Dead tree branches
  3. Tree Removal

Located on the righthand side of the page is a list of locations in and around Toronto that citizens are free to post their concerns about where they live.

By using the same model as SeeClickFix, would there be a need to have an identical application for an economic development agency?  The agency would be able to open it up to citizens and other stakeholders of  the city or region to measure their needs.  On the other hand, would agencies be ready to manage any reconstructive feedback (be it positive or negative)?

SeeClickFix is available at www.seeclickfix.com

Would your economic development agency be willing to use a tool such as SeeClickFix?  Tell us!!!

Industry Cluster Development In Remote Regions: Desert Knowledge Australia

Published
by
Ian Smith
on January 13, 2010
in Author-Ian Smith and Economic Development
. 0 Comments

The following YouTube video clips provides a look at two industry cluster development initiatives by Desert Knowledge Australia. Desert Knowledge Australia is an organization dedicated to “the know-how, ideas, innovations and perspectives that Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people of the desert have developed to thrive. Identifying, building, using, and sharing this desert knowledge can and does create social and economic benefits.”

Desert Knowledge Australia Mining Services Network

This video presents testimonials of how small and large companies in the mining services sector in a remote region are operating together to offer their expertise to large mining and metal companies.  The expertise of each member of the hub is used to leverage the cluster as a whole to procure contracts for Rio Tinto Alcan, BHP Billiton and Xstrata.

Desert Knowledge Australia Bush Products and Local Foods Network

This video shares some insights regarding the working dynamics of an agri-food industry cluster.  Members discuss their experiences and the benefits of being apart of the network.  In addition, it provides an example of how the companies collaborated on a strategic initiative to identify gaps in the sector to better market their products.

Monitoring Social Networks For Economic Development

Published
by
Ian Smith
on January 11, 2010
in Author-Ian Smith, Competitive & Internet Intelligence, Economic Development and Web 2.0 Search
. 4 Comments

As of January 8th, 2010, results for the keyword search, “economic development” on Facebook yielded 396 hits for fan pages. These pages are not only built for promotional purposes but to share information with the city’s or region’s stakeholders.   As a result, the pages become as a public source of information in which competitive intelligence data can be gathered for economic development purposes.

Search Results For “Economic Development” On Facebook For Fan Pages

With the use of Google, some think that there is no need to monitor content on social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and Flickr.  An argument can be made that tracking information via these platforms may contribute to a region’s economic development strategy by providing strategic intelligence.

How you may ask? Consider the following:

  • Facebook Fan Pages serve as a compliment to websites and hence provides information on a frequent basis.   The pages are easier to update than websites and enables agencies to maintain the resource within a matter clicks.
  • Twitter pages can be used as a tool to push relevant information to interested individuals.  Information such as local or regional news, analysis reports or details on financial assistance programs can be available.

The motivation to “Become a Fan” or “Follow” is simple to understand from competitive intelligence point of view.  Individuals with accounts for both social networks can have a steady stream of information on regions and/or cities that are competing for investment dollars from around the globe.

Strategic intelligence for economic development purposes that can be gleaned on Web 2.0 can be in the form of:

  • Success stories in the region
  • List of key sectors / companies in the region / cities
  • Successful incentive programs
  • Regions’ value propositions

To learn more about monitoring social networks for economic development, attend Intelegia’s seminar, “Optimize Investment Attraction Strategy Through Information and Social Media Applications“.

Customizing Your Facebook Page For Economic Development

Published
by
Ian Smith
on January 6, 2010
in Author-Ian Smith, Economic Development, Social Media Marketing and Web 2.0
. 2 Comments

Now that you have created your Facebook Fan Page for your economic development agency, it is time to customize the page to make it is easier for fans to find information.  Not only can it be beneficially to your fans but to your economic development agency’s search engine optimization strategy.

Here are few examples of economic development agencies and cities that have selected to customizing their Facebook Fan Page.

Levelland, Texas

The City of Levelland’s Facebook Fan Page has a section that is customized thanks to boxes which contains content.   Figure 1 presents a look at the section.

Figure 1: City of Levelland’s Facebook Fan Page With Customized Boxes
Please Click On Image To Enlarge

Fans of the page has a “one-stop” point for news and information about Levelland.

To visit the City of Levelland’s Facebook Fan Page can, please click here.

Chaleur Region

The Chaleur Region, located on the northeast coast of New Brunswick, has a Facebook Fan Page with customized tabs to facilitate navigation of the page. This Web 2.0 initiative is managed by Entreprise Chaleur, an economic development agency. Figure 3 presents the tabs for the RegionChaleur page.

Figure 3: Navigational Tabs On RegionChaleur

Individuals interested in investing in the Chaleur Region can simply click on the “Invest” tab and access information on the industrial parks in the region as seen in Figure 4.

Figure 4: Information On Industrial Parks In The Chaleur Region

Customizing a Facebook Fan Page entails obtaining the assistance of a programmer and searching for different web applications available on Facebook that can be added to the page.

Are you seeking to build a Facebook Fan Page for economic development purposes?  Learn more about Intelegia’s seminar, “Optimize Investment Attraction Strategy Through Information and Social Media Applications“

What Is Available On YouTube For Site Selectors? A Month Later

Published
by
Ian Smith
on December 18, 2009
in Author-Ian Smith, Investment Attraction and Web 2.0 Strategy
. 2 Comments

To see how dynamic the search results are on YouTube for videos aimed at promoting a region for  investment attraction, we repeated the exercise performed for the post, “What Is Available On YouTube For Site Selectors?“  Here are some of the videos that were worth mentioning found on December 16th, 2009.

“Invest In”

Invest In South Africa

This clip is in the form of a traditional television commercial.  It promotes the country of South Africa as a location for possibilities when it comes to investing in a variety of sectors.

“Economic Development”

Pearland, Texas

Located on the southeast coast of Texas, Pearland presents a very clear message in terms of economic development and business attraction.  The video highlights the main locational factors that the town has to offer and as well a brief look at its competitive incentive programs.

The difference between the results obtained on November 18th, 2009 and December 16th, 2009 should not be a big surprise.  Online marketers should always keep in mind that search results are dynamic and SEO strategies must be considered to maintain or improve their search engine ranking position.

Are you thinking about implementing a social media marketing campaign for investment attraction purposes for your region?  Consider taking Intelegia’s seminar, “Optimize Investment Attraction Strategy Through Information and Social Media Applications“.

New Investment Pattern In Canada For 2009

Published
by
Ian Smith
on November 3, 2009
in Author-Ian Smith, Economic Development and Investment Attraction
. 0 Comments

Representatives of E&B DATA were on hand for this year’s Economic Developers Association of Canada (EDAC) conference in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Via data from the Investment Observatory, E&B DATA presented  its findings regarding new investment pattern in Canada for 2009.   The presentation is full of details regarding the following:

  • Status Of Major Private Industrial Projects Announced In Canada
  • Investment Trends
  • Announced Investments In Canada $ Value Per Country Of Origin
  • Investment Projects Announcements - Number By Sector
  • E&B DATA’s Green Investment Index
  • Trends Of Capital Investment Announcements - Emergence Of Green Investments
  • Green Investment Projects Canadian Regions And Sectors

Investment Projects Announcements in Canada (2000-2008)
Please click on image to enlarge

The last quarter of the presentation unveils what major Canadian cities are doing in terms of marketing themselves on the internet via Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 tools.  (To learn more, please reading E&B DATA’s benchmark study, “Web 2.0 And Business Attraction - Canadian Cities Online Marketing Index“)

To download, “New Investment Patterns In Canada” please click here

Economic Development 2.0 With SlideShare

Published
by
Ian Smith
on October 26, 2009
in Author-Ian Smith, Investment Attraction, Social Media Marketing and Web 2.0 Strategy
. 1 Comment

E&B DATA’s benchmark study, Web 2.0 And Business Attraction: Canadian Cities Online Marketing Index examined what large Canadian cities were doing in terms of the different social media tools for economic development, precisely to promote their cities for investment attraction.  Best practices of the use of tools such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr were presented.

One tool that was omitted by the cities was SlideShare which is a pretty useful Web 2.0 or economic development 2.0 tool.

SlideShare allows individuals to upload presentations and documents with the intent of sharing the content with others.  You may consider it to be the “YouTube for Powerpoint presentations”.

Conducting search on SlideShare with the keyword, “economic development”, you can discover an informative presentation by The Chesterfield County Department of Economic Development in Virgina, USA.

The presentation can serve as an effective and efficient information package for site selectors and potential investors in the region.  Slides # 34 to #38 are quite powerful when it comes to promoting Chesterfield.

To view the complete presentation, please click here

SlideShare is available at http://www.slideshare.net,