Tag Archive for 'Twitter'

SODIL Lanaudière On Twitter

Published
by
Ian Smith
on February 10, 2010
in Author-Ian Smith, Economic Development and Social Media Marketing
. 3 Comments

The topic of this blog is based upon a posting on the Linkedin group, Economic Development Professionals, specifically in the “discussions” section of the group.

A group member brought to our attention a Twitter feed that offers trilingual tweets.

Figure 1 is a screen shot of SODIL Lanaudière Twitter page.

Figure 1: SODIL Lanaudière Twitter page

SODIL Lanaudière is the agency that encourages the development of the Lanaudière (Quebec, Canada) business communities by assisting the region’s SMEs with their projects directly.

The SODIL tweets are made available in French, English and Spanish.  The images in Figure 2, 3 and 4 illustrates the trilingual tweets.

Figure 2: French Tweet

Figure 3: English Tweet

Figure 4: Spanish Tweet

Having the ability to post in more that one language is a benefit and most importantly, it can be a competitive advantage.  Communicating with existing or potential stakeholders of a region in a language that they feel the most comfortable in is a critical aspect in marketing.

Web 2.0 For E-Government?

Published
by
Ian Smith
on November 27, 2009
in Author-Ian Smith and Web 2.0 Strategy
. 1 Comment

Many of the posts on Tools For Thought discuss the use of Web 2.0 applications for economic development initiatives.   Thanks to my colleague, Edouardine, I would like to provide you with an example of how a social media tool can be utilized in an e-government context.

Villes 2.0 : ces villes qui tweetent! presents the city of San Francisco’s initiative of using Twitter to compliment their customer service requests or complaints call centre.  Introduced in June 2009, SF311 had over 4,600 followers as November 20th, 2009.  Figure 1 illustrates the SF311 page.

Figure 1: SF311 Twitter Page

The city of San Francisco is not alone in terms of offering 311 services via Twitter.  In November 2008, Mayor  Michael R. Bloomberg of New York City unveiled the 311NYC Twitter page as seen in Figure 2.

Figure 2: 311NYC Twitter Page

Have you seen other practical uses of social networking tools for e-government?  If so, tell us!

Web 2.0 and Investment Attraction: UK Trade & Investment

Published
by
Ian Smith
on November 11, 2009
in Author-Ian Smith, Investment Attraction, Social Media Marketing and Web 2.0 Strategy
. 2 Comments

E&B DATA’s recent benchmark study, “Web 2.0 And Business Attraction - Canadian Cities Online Marketing Index” examined how well economic development agencies in large Canadian cities are utilizing social media marketing tools for investment attraction.

Just to show that cities are not the only entities that are using web 2.0 applications, countries have hopped on the bandwagon.  A perfect example is: UK & Trade Investment.

UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) is the government department that helps businesses locate in the UK and grow internationally.   The department’s website ranks amongst the best in class according to Organization for Economic Co-operation Development as stated in The World Bank’s Global Investment Promotion Benchmarking 2009 Summary Report (Please see page 62)

Upon visiting the website, you will be able to spot their collection of social media marketing  tools.  The site provides links to the following applications:

  • Blog - The provides insights on various aspects of trade and investment attraction activities.  UKTI uses a multi-blogger approach by having different staff members post on a regular basis.
  • Twitter - This  page acts as a vehicle to push information regarding  UKTI activities and relevant news items.
  • YouTube - This channel is an outlet to:
    • Learn about London’s success stories
    • Provide information on High Growth Markets
    • Provide country information
    • Access past speeches from Lord Davies - Minister for Trade & Investment
    • Access case studies
  • Flickr - The Flickr photostream allows individuals to view pictures from past business events involving UKTI representatives and ministers.
  • Facebook - The Facebook Fan Page is mainly composed of UKTI staff members and is used to provide updates on new posts on the other social networking platforms.
  • LinkedIn - The LinkedIn group is avenue in which UKTI can bring together trade and investment experts and businesses.  It is interesting to see that the department has created subgroup for business people interested in trade and investment between Canada and the UK.

Figure 1 illustrates the UK Trade & Investment’s Twitter page.

Figure 1: UK Trade & Investment’s Twitter Page
Please click on image to enlarge

UKTI shared their thoughts on their web 2.0 strategy in terms of their objectives and tangible benefits:

Objectives:

  • Reach new audiences: new and existing customers; consultants; the media; other government departments; colleagues
  • Spread the word about UKTI through news and insights
  • Raise awareness of events/initiatives/news
  • Support marketing pushes
  • Be more accessible/responsive/open/two-way
  • Keep track of what is being said about UKTI and have the opportunity to respond direct

Benefits

  • Opportunity to feed back, re-inform and offer further information
  • Increase attendance at events, and in turn increase take-up of UKTI services
  • Reach new audiences and be where conversations are already taking place
  • Positive (unsolicited) tweets about UKTI/services have reached a large and diverse audience (of previously untapped potential customers)
  • A major website traffic driver. Both Linkedin and Twitter are in the top 5 traffic referrers to the investment services website.
  • Drive (trade website) registration by raising awareness of how we can help. Eg, by tweeting business opportunities we are broadening reach beyond the current customer-base

Are you thinking about creating an economic development 2.0 strategy for economic development initiatives such as investment attraction for your city, province or state and/or country?    What are the main challenges that you will have to deal with?   Tell us.

Real-Time Search With Collecta

Published
by
Ian Smith
on October 5, 2009
in Author-Ian Smith, Competitive & Internet Intelligence, Internet tools, Web 2.0 and Web 2.0 Search
. 0 Comments

Real-time search engines are amazing.  Within a matter of keystrokes and a mouse clicks, you can have access of what is being said on social networks minute by minute.

With Collecta, you may track what is posted on an individual’s Twitter page and blog. Figure 1 is the index page of Collecta.

Collecta's Index Collecta

Figure 1: Collecta’s Index Page
Please click on the image to enlarge

Testing this web 2.0 search tool with the keywords, “iPhone” provides the results as of 10:36 am presented in Figure 2.

Figure 2: Collecta’s Results for “iPhone”
Please click on the image to enlarge

Two minutes later, the page with the results is modified with new content.  In this case, a blog enter is found by Collecta as seen in Figure 3.

Figure 3: Collecta’s Results for “iPhone” Two Minutes Later
Please click on the image to enlarge

Collecta is a  tool that should be apart of your toolkit of search applications for the internet searching or competitive intelligence research.

Collecta is available at www.collecta.com

Entreprise Chaleur Adopts Social Media Marketing Strategy With RegionChaleur

Published
by
Ian Smith
on September 10, 2009
in Author-Ian Smith, Economic Development, Social Media Marketing and Web 2.0 Strategy
. 0 Comments

Entreprise Chaleur, an economic development agency located in northeastern New Brunswick is rapidly building its network of stakeholders via its Fan page on Facebook, RegionChaleur.  The goal of the page is to promote the remote region as the best location to invest and live.

Here are a few screen shots of what the page has to offer to its fans and interested individuals.  Please click on the images to enlarge the screen shots.

The Wall with current local news headlines and associated links on the web

Photos illustrating the beauty of the region

This Facebook initiative is just a part of the Entreprise Chaleur integrated social media marketing strategy for economic development.   To complement the fan page, Entreprise Chaleur has a Twitter page and a Flickr account.

In the past few weeks, the initiative has received some attention from the media specifically by Radio-Canada and L’Acadie Nouvelle.

To become a fan of RegionChaleur, please log onto Facebook and click here.  Be sure to click on the “Become A Fan” button.

Real Time Searching With Addictomatic

Published
by
Ian Smith
on September 9, 2009
in Author-Ian Smith, Competitive & Internet Intelligence, Economic Intelligence, Internet tools, Web 2.0 and Web 2.0 Search
. 0 Comments

This tool is not new however; it is very handy for individuals who need to conduct real time searches when it comes to the web 2.0.

Addictomatic permits users to perform internet searches taking into account the content available on a wide array of web 2.0 or online social media platforms such as Digg, YouTube, Twitter, Flickr just to list a few.

Screenshot of Index page of Addictomatic

Here is screenshot of the result page for a search query using the keywords, “foreign direct investment”.

Please click on the image to enlarge

It is recommended that you test out this tool to see the long list of resources that are consulted to supply you with relevant results.

Addictomatic is available at http://addictomatic.com/

Finding Followers Effectively on Twitter

Published
by
Ian Smith
on August 31, 2009
in Author-Ian Smith, Competitive & Internet Intelligence, Internet tools, Web 2.0 and Web 2.0 Search
. 0 Comments

If you have a Twitter account, you might have seen tweets regarding services that will allow you to gain followers quickly.  These tweets are pretty bizarre at first however; they are very tempting to click on.  Upon doing so, you are basically led to sites that will promise you tons of individuals that will visit your page.

As the old expression goes, “If you want something done right, do it yourself”.  If you are looking to build your list of followers, consider using TweepSearch.

TweepSearch allows individuals to find Twitter pages based on what is contained in the bio and profile description on the pages.  This tool is especially handy when searching for experts.

TweepSearch Index Page

TweepSearch Index Page
Please click on the image to enlarge

Case Example:

You are thinking about creating a network of Twitter pages from various economic development agencies from across North America.

Solution:

There are two solutions to the case example.  At first, you may think about visiting each economic development agency’s website however; it is not the most efficient method.  By using TweepSearch, you can enter the keyword, “economic development” and be provided with a list of Twitter pages.  On the result page, the following information is available so you can base your decision on whether or not to become a follower and in turn, have the individual follow your feeds:

  • Complete text of the individual’s / organization’s profile.  Keywords are highlighted in red
  • The individual’s / organization’s screen name and proper name
  • The geographical location from where the tweets are being sent
  • The number of followers of the Twitter page
  • The number of friends of the Twitter page
  • The number of updates of the Twitter page

TweepSearch Results Page for “economic development”
Please click on the image to enlarge

To begin using TweepSearch, visit http://tweepsearch.com/

Ping.fm – Manage Your Presence On Social Networks In Five Easy Steps

Published
by
Ian Smith
on August 24, 2009
in Author-Ian Smith, Internet tools and Web 2.0
. 1 Comment

Today, many of us have multiple accounts on online social networks (ie, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter) and are wondering how to save time when posting the same message on various social networks without having to log in multiple times.

Thanks to Ping.fm, you can centrally manage your accounts on different social networks.

Here is a quick tutorial that will allow you to manage your presence on social networks in five easy steps.

Step 1: Sign up on Ping.fm by entering your e-mail address and a password. You can configure your profile in the future.

Ping.Fm Index Page

Ping.fm Index Page

Step 2: Add your social networks such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn to the account. New with Ping.fm, you can add your Facebook Fan pages.

Adding social networks to Ping.fm

Adding Networks

Listing of Possible Online Social Networks

Step 3: Create and name your group, choose the method of post selected social networks associated with each of your group. You can change them if you are not satisfied.

Creating Your Group


Selecting and Posting To Your Group

Selecting Which Group To Post

Setting Up A Posting Shortcuts

Step 4: Instead of returning to the ping.fm site each time you wish to post a message,, you can install the toolbar and send messages by clicking on “Post Message” or use “Ping this!” button to post a link you are visiting.

Using The Ping.fm Toolbar

Step 5: Click on the “Feedback” button if you have any questions.

You can now enjoy the benefits of Ping.fm.

Intelegia is using Ping.fm to manage content on the following platforms.

Tracking Capital Investments in Canada on Twitter

Published
by
Ian Smith
on July 29, 2009
in Author-Ian Smith, Economic Intelligence and Web 2.0
. 0 Comments

E&B DATA, Intelegia’s parent company,  has launched a Twitter page for those wish to track capital investments in Canada.  EB_DATA allows government agencies, economic development officers, potential investors and large corporations to keep informed on new construction, expansion and modernization projects worth more than $1 million.

E&B DATA On Twitter

To begin tracking capital investments in Canada, visit www.twitter.com/EB_DATA

We also invite you to join the Facebook Group that compliments the Twitter feed.

E&B DATA has been monitoring capital investment projects as a part of its Investment Observatory since 2000 and updates its database of projects on a daily basis.   For more information on the database, please visit the E&B DATA website.

Start Following Intelegia On Twitter

Published
by
Ian Smith
on June 19, 2009
in Author-Ian Smith
. 1 Comment

Intelegia is now on Twitter via two feeds.

For those who wish to keep up to date with our tweets regarding all things Web 2.0, click here

To focus on everything dealing with the field of competitive intelligence, follow here