Social Media Means Deal Flow!!

                                             (Stephen McKnight)   The start of a new year (and decade this time around) is an ideal time to reflect and plan.  Looking back, one of the more significant additions to our communication lexicon may just be ”Social Networking.”  For the past several years, I have been teaching an economic development marketing course.  And each year I call out the importance for economic developers to recognize potential investors (or customers) as not the “corporation” or “industry sector,” but rather as individuals (humans if you will) each motivated by both rational and irrational factors.  They can choose locations based on factors such as friends, family and alumni connections just as easily as they may on cost, incentives, infrastructure resources or market statistics.  But up until now, economic developers found it difficult to communicate or discuss the more discrete qualities of their location directly with the potential client.  They only had the old dusty website or static print advertising to promote their  ”Great Quality of Life” tag lines – only to then hope the message hits the target. 

I think all economic developers would agree that their business is more personal, relationship driven, network reliant, and value focused than most.   And social networking?  Well, it is most often a self selecting and responsive, offering economic developers a more managed yet virtual community in which to market.  If done correctly, cities, towns or regions can quickly develop a growing list of “friends” or ”members” that represent at the very least, good spokes-persons and in some cases, new investment.

Last year, the International Economic Development Council (IEDC) in partnership with the Development Counselors International, conducted a social media survey of 307 IEDC members.  63 percent indicated that they have been using social media tools for less than one year.  More than half rated social media and networking as the most important aspect of their most immediate future marketing plans.  So the message for the start of a new year (and decade) - “Don’t hold back on building your virtual social networking skills economic developers!”  It is a tool that will evolve quickly in the coming months and, like this whole internet thing, I think it is here to stay.

[Via http://economicarchitecture.gspconsulting.com]