Here's an excerpt from Ed Burghard's post - an interview with three economic development marketers about Social Media in regard to place/community marketing:
Interview with Sandy McMerty, Susan Merryman, and Lorna Shepard - Experts in the use of Social Media for Economic Development
The 2009 IEDC Annual Meeting is now in the history books. It was a very well run educational meeting with a number of excellent presentations. This year, everybody was interested in learning more about the successful application of social media in economic development. I had the good fortune of attending a plenary session entitled "Doing More With Less: Using Web 2.0 for High-Impact, Low-Cost Marketing". Jessica Tuquero, Account Supervisor with DCI, moderated this session and the panelists were Sandra McMerty, North Dakota Department of Commerce; Susan Merryman, Columbus Chamber of Commerce (Ohio); and Lorna Shepard, Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada. The presentations and subsequent Q&A impressed me so much, I thought it would be great if I could interview the panel so if you weren't able to attend their session, you could potentially still benefit from their experience with and knowledge of social media.
- Question: Many Economic Development Organizations are keenly interested in social media because they believe it is a free communication tool to get their message out broadly. Based on your experience, what are the key questions you would encourage EDOs to answer before deciding to make social media part of their media mix?
Sandy McMerty - The questions that lead to good marketing decisions rarely change for the medium, social media is no different. In the end the keys are: What product are you selling? Who is your audience? What is the message you want to convey? If the organization is targeting an industry it needs to know what messages support that before it starts using social media to get the word out.
Susan Merryman - I agree. Social networking needs to fit in the organization's broader strategy. It's a tool, not a stand-alone strategy. Although it's a "free" medium, organizations must still consider sustainability. Once you've determined if/how this fits in the overall strategy, consider: What is your goal? Do you have the resources - mostly human -- to sustain a presence? How will you measure success? Do you have policies in place to guide participants?Lorna Shepard - Adding to the experts' advice (with which I wholeheartedly agree), it's critical to understand your target audiences. Not every EDO's target is using social media currently; however, if an EDO has a goal of exposure or coverage, social media may make sense. Alternatively, if an EDO knows that the best way to reach their goal and target is direct sales or personalized communication, social media is not a replacement for (the typically more costly) sales efforts required to successfully locate a company.
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