Below is a best practice example of how to use a social media marketing tool such as YouTube, to promote two items at one time.
In the video, “Michigan Gives You the Upper Hand”, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) is able to market: 1) the state as THE place for investment opportunities and 2) themselves as facilitators in getting companies to invest.
Using testimonials by CEOs, MEDC drives home the message that they are will equipped with the incentive tools, services and skills to address investors’ key location factors inquiries.
Does your economic development agency have a video or channel on YouTube for investment attraction purposes? Is it effective? Let us know and we will mention you and the video or the channel in a future blog post. Please email the link to Ian at ian@intelegia.com.
What makes a good YouTube clip for investment attraction purposes?
1. A concise message with all the key locational factors that site selectors and or investors are primarily concerned about?
2. Footage of the existing land opportunities and transportation infrastructure in the region?
3. Testimonials from existing investors about the positive aspects of investing in the region?
All three elements are needed however; testimonials can go a long way in regards of putting a region on the map for investment attraction.
The following clip is from the Niagara Economic Development Corporation, the agency responsible for activities to advance the economic prosperity of the Niagara (Ontario) community.
The key elements of the video are:
The various companies from an array of sectors that has selected Niagara to do business.
How companies have built links within the business community and universities in the region.
The level of government assistance offered to investing companies.
Through the use of testimonials to promote Niagara, the YouTube clip can effectively grab the attention of potential investors and site selectors.
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.
If your economic development organization has a YouTube video or a channel, have you attempted to find it via the tool’s search engine using keywords? Any luck finding it? Is it on the first page of results? Second page? Third page? Can’t find it.
You have just experienced something that site selectors and potential investors may have to deal with in the very near future.
According to ComScore, YouTube was ranked second amongst the leading search engines on the web behind Google and in front of Yahoo in October 2009. The implications of YouTube being used as a normal search engine are important. It is plain and simple. If site selectors and their advisers can find your promotional content then you run the risk of not being seen.
A solution to the case described above is to improve your ranking on YouTube through search engine optimization strategies. Below is a series of blog posts / articles in which you can read up on some handy tips:
Here is another indication that the use of YouTube as a part of an economic development 2.0 strategy is being adopted by different organizations around the world.
Nova Scotia Business Inc. is a private sector-led business development agency for the maritime province located on the east coast of Canada. Along with a Twitter feed and a Facebook Fan Page, the agency has a YouTube channel with the following powerful video titled, “Nova Scotia Gets It!!”
There are four main themes that Nova Scotia Business Inc. highlights during the video:
Access to talented and available labour in the province
Competitive operating costs for companies which are located in the province
Providing a gateway to the North American continent
Quality of life in the province of Nova Scotia
For each theme, the agency provides a testimonial from representatives of companies that have invested in Nova Scotia and words from Stephen Lund, President and CEO of Nova Scotia Business Inc.
From a creative standpoint, the video uses headlines from news publications to show that companies are investing in Nova Scotia from different sectors.
Have you began using YouTube for your business attraction efforts for your province, state or country? Have you seen any returns as of yet? Tell us!!!
Thanks to the post, “What Is Available On YouTube For Site Selectors?“, a reader pointed us to the following YouTube clip for the Greater Rochester, New York Area. The promotional clip is specifically dedicated for investment attraction purposes.
In this 2 minutes and 10 seconds clip, Greater Rochester Enterprise does an excellent and efficient job at selling its territory to companies looking to expand their operations in the northeastern part of the United States. The key selling point that is communicated throughout the clip is that investors can find all of the main locational factors (used in deciding where to invest) in one place, in Greater Rochester. The following factors are highlighted in video:
Selecting Rochester as a place to live
The region breaking ground in green technology
Training opportunities thanks to 18 colleges and universities
The clip shown above should serve as a model for economic development agencies seeking to produce a YouTube video clip as a part of their economic development 2.0 strategy. Not only is the clip short and concise but it is visually effective by keeping the viewer’s attention on the key points of Greater Rochester Enterprise’s argument.
As a short follow up to the post, ‘What Is Available On YouTube For Site Selectors?“, ComScore, a source of digital marketing intelligence, saw an increase in the use of YouTube as a search engine. In October 2009, 3.7 Billion search queries were conducted on YouTube. This translates into an 31% increase over the past twelve months.
What does this mean for economic development professionals?
It is time to think about placing any form of promotional videos for your region on the Web 2.0 application along with the proper descriptions and tags. Search engine optimization for YouTube will be essential as a part of an economic development 2.0 strategy.
YouTube is a very powerful online marketing vehicle if used correctly. To some, throwing on a video without clear descriptions, nor well defined tags seems to be sufficient enough as apart of economic development 2.0 strategy however; it is not effective. Economic development officers and marketers of cities, regions and countries for investment attraction must remember that an increasing amount of site selectors and advisers are turning to the web as a part of their site location search process.
Just for the fun of it, Intelegia conducted a search of YouTube to see what is available in terms of investment attraction promotional videos as of November 13th, 2009. To conduct the search for the “best in class” videos, the following keywords were used:
“Invest In”
“Economic Development”
Intelegia considered results that were listed within the first 5 pages in the “All” and “Channel” sections for each of the keyword queries. The videos were evaluated and selected for this blog post on the basis of convincing the viewer that their region is the best place to invest in.
“Invest in”
Invest in Ontario
This promotional piece discusses the key locational factors to consider when selecting Ontario as a place to invest. It stresses the competitive advantage of selecting Ontario in regards to how companies can benefit from the province’s innovation-driven business environment.
Invest in Columbia
This video is used to position Columbia as the best place to invest in Latin America. It provides information that addresses concerns such as the country’s debt and inflation. In addition, it discussed trade related issues and locational factors.
Both videos above were found on the first page of results and has descriptions attached to them.
“Economic Development”
Portland’s Economic Development Strategy
Portland’s Economic Development Commission’s YouTube video is very compelling to investors. Through the use of testimonials from existing companies in the city, the commission demonstrates Portland’s manufacturing and innovation-driven environment for a green economy.
After conducting this exercise, it is apparent that some agencies or departments that are responsible for marketing their territory for investment attraction are not using YouTube at all or not to it is full potential. Agencies and departments that are in both cases must remember that it is not good enough to have a convincing video but it must be easy to find on the Web 2.0 application.
Did we miss anything?
Does your organization have a video on YouTube specifically for site selection or investment attraction purposes? Do you think it is better than the videos presented above? Post the link in the comments’ box and we will make it the subject of a future blog post.
You may wonder what kind of information could be found with Google Video that would benefit individuals such as economic development officers or potential investors? The answer is pretty simple if you stop and think about it. With the introduction of video sharing platforms such as YouTube, individuals and organizations are making interesting content available courtesy of videos. Finding content dealing with different economic development initiatives from different organizations in video format is amazing.
Google Video is a video sharing and searching platform. In October 2006, Google bought YouTube to make its content available via Google Video.
Please click on the image to enlarge.
Case Study:
As a consultant, you are asked by an economic development officer of a remote region to provide an example of mining services hub or network.
Here is a tool for individuals who wish to go beyond YouTube to find video content online.
Blinkx is a search tool that permits users watch video online as it becomes indexed. The screenshot below provide an example of how results are presented by Blinkx.
