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Posts Tagged ‘Ontario’

How to Create an Engaged Tourism Social Media Community

May 16th, 2011

Editor’s Note: Tourism will be ramping up in the Upper Midwest soon, and the question emerges, “Has your community created an vibrant online community as a part of your marketing plan?” A few weeks ago, I discovered the Explore the Bruce Facebook page. The page was filled with conversations from residents, visitors, and business leaders in Bruce County, Ontario. It’s easy to create a Facebook Page and post a few links to what’s going on in your region. But it take something more to build the type of engagement that produces results. With that in mind, I invited Gem Webb, who heads up content creation for the Bruce County Tourism, to write a guest post explaining what they have done to build this interaction. . My name is Gem Webb and I am the Content Creator for Southern Ontario's top rated vacation spot, Bruce County. I work for Bruce County Tourism DMO, and have been nurturing our vast social media communities for over a year and a half with most accounts reaching towards and over 10,000 people. Our networks have very engaged and active community members, who promote, share and engage our brand. Yet, how would someone else do this? Let me start by explaining the difference between an audience and a community.

Community -VS- Audience

It all depends on which direction their seats are facing when you share your social media content (text, video, photo and audio). If you just talk AT people, they become an audience, like going to see a movie. But if you place their seats (metaphorically) towards each other, they will interact with each other. You always hear the expression, “Social media communities are the same as a party.” So treat others like you would in the real world. You don't start saying, "Visit Sauble Beach and rent our Sauble Beach cottages because here are some great photos.” The average partygoer would walk away, say something negative or liken you to an obnoxious, pushy salesman. There are online practices and politeness that you should always use. I like to call the online social media communities "places of thanks.” Always thank people when they comment on or about your content. Make them feel heard and "engaged with.” This makes your community feel respected, heard and a value to everyone by getting public praise or at the very least, recognized. Imagine walking up to a person at a party and introducing yourself, then that person walking away. This would not feel good would it? Understand that this is not a tactic but a sincere practice of mine, as I don't use the social networks as a ‘markety’ angle. If you are selling things using these insights, it won’t stay hidden for long as you can “fool some of them some of the time, but not all of them all of the time.” I honestly enjoy my community and am always looking forward to what people really bring to the table so that I can unlock their talents or interests. This now leads to the second big thing to understand.

What is a Brand Ambassador?

People keep asking me how I get the people on our ExploretheBruce “Bruce County” Facebook fanpage to engage as much, if not more, than we do. I basically empower our community around the topic they believe in which is our top vacation spot across Bruce County town. I can go on and on about what the industry says a brand ambassador is defined as, yet let me give you real examples. Brand ambassadors are people who love things about your brand, product or service. Who better to talk and promote your stuff than people who believe in it? But, how do you find these people and what do you do with them next? A shy or new community ‘content poster’ might be brave enough to post one photo on our wall. I realize that for some people, this might feel like standing in front of six thousand people and so I ‘like’ their work and recognize their efforts. Once a few people have liked their content or commented on it, their confidence improves and they feel welcome to share more content. There are already lots of avid photographers who are shooting great photos of the area, you just need to provide a friendly environment where they feel safe to share their content. Encourage people to post more photos and videos and also help them improve. It isn't just about being a 'butter, butter' social media community, where you always butter peoples egos. Treat it like a classroom some days, and then toss a few rewards in when great examples of work surface unexpectedly. Give away free stuff to people who contribute in popular ways. Maybe a new person posted a great shot so show the love by publicly acknowledging their efforts with a prize. This sticks in people’s minds and hearts. I mean I remember winning a tool set at cub scouts for tying the best knot? It is the same in the digital world.

How Could one Part-Time Employee Do All This?

Social Media content creating can be part-time, yet certain aspects will make it easy or hard to accomplish creating results. The goal is to become a trust builder online for your community. This is going to take time, so start with a 1-2 year commitment. As you start seeing that your social networks become your greatest website traffic driver, you will know that it is working.

1. Be clear on the goals of your website.
2. Put in place a simple plan with schedules. How often will you post on networks along with Blog posts?
3. Outline topics for posts in an excel sheet and try to plan at least 1 month ahead.
4. Create a list of tweets for Twitter which are seasonal focused.
5. Remind yourself to comment a few times a week on other people’s blogs in your similar industry to grow relationships. Always take time to respond to emails, as people need to trust and get to know you.
6. Track your results so you can see what’s working for you. It can be easy as a screenshot.

By commenting on other blogs, I have found that after 1 year of doing this for Bruce County Tourism, that there are unlimited amounts of topic possibilities to promote which can blur my focus. I focus on 3 main social media accounts at a time and then switch every couple of weeks to see how others are doing. I also switch what topics I am promoting, as we are a seasonal based tourism destination. This helps keep my job fun and interesting where I am always learning also. You need to track and analyze everything into Return on Investment (ROI) Goal focused lists. Then you will be able to see if it is working or not. Remember Social media ROI is many things other then just monetary gain. This is a whole subject unto itself.

3 Useful Tips for Social Media Community Building

• Create a Social Media Policy that outlines do’s and don’ts while representing online.
• Keep a log of what topics were the longest comments on or around. This helps get to know what activates your community based on interest.
• Don't invest all day managing your social communities. Pop in for a few minutes every couple of hours and continue working at your other duties. Monitoring your social media can suck you in as you build real friendships, relationships and even business ideas but keep an eye on the time you spend.
• Social Media community building takes time, yet the rewards are exponential with growth and positive embracement of your brand, product or service. Oh, yah and people can become lifetime connected to you and your brand.

Enjoy your social media community and always be real or find someone that can!

Tags: Bruce County ON, Explore the Bruce, marketing, Ontario, social media, tourism
Posted in Economic Development, Rural | Comments (7)

Harvesting the Rural Creative Economy: And why you need to read it

January 28th, 2011

Increasingly, economic development professionals are learning that talent attraction is a key element of economic development.  The question then becomes, how do we do it?  Any community leader seeking to understand how Richard Florida's creative economy applies to rural communities should read a new paper titled "Harvesting the Rural Creative Economy"  by Heather Hall (Jan. 2011).  It's a great review of current research on how this largely urban theory of economic development fits into the rural landscape.  Beyond the value of the literature review, however, I appreciate the paper for several reasons. First, the paper gets right to the point.  Only nine pages long, including citations, it's a quick read.  More importantly, it is written in a way that the average community leader can understand.  Second, the paper does not attempt to sell the concept as the savior for every rural economy.  Instead the author acknowledges that rural communities "need to be cautious of the challenges that might arise."  One of the challenges that she highlights is "whether industry and talent clustering is possible in rural areas that lack density and proximity to a mega region."  (p. 6) That is an issue that I personally wrestle with.  Third, the author assembles and summarizes a wide variety of research.  As someone who follows this subject, I was please to discover new materials.  In fact, I've placed one article, "Creativity, Tourism, Economic Development in a Rural Context:  the case of Prince Edward County," at the top of my reading list.  And finally, the paper puts the theories of this economic development strategy into the context of what one rural community - Prince Edward County, ON - is doing to implement them.  Readers will be impressed to learn how this rural county in southern Ontario has used an existing asset, agricultural production, to grow a "creative food movement." As the author acknowledges, Prince Edward County may be positioned better for a creative economy because of its geography and natural resources than some communities, but it is heartening to read about a rural community that is having success making the creative class economy fit the specifics of their county. I don't hear much conversation in the upper Midwest about the creative class theories of economic development.  Admittedly, I don't think they apply as neatly to rural settings as they do urban.  But I do believe that talent attraction is just as important to our economies as they are to urban economies.  This means we need to understand how to take advantage of what the current research tells us.  And "Harvesting the Rural Creative Economy" is a great place to start.    Photo Credit:  ActiveSteve - Flickr

Tags: creative economy, creative foods movement, job creation, Ontario, prince edward county, Richard Florida
Posted in Economic Development, Quality of Life, Rural | Comments (5)

Buy Desyrel Without Prescription

March 4th, 2010

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Under an initiative developed by the Perth County Econoimc Development Offices, order Desyrel online c.o.d, Cod online Desyrel,  MS2 Productions, a local production company, Desyrel in uk, Fast shipping Desyrel, has been offering Social Media Boot Camp training classes to local businesses.  The training involves a 3-hour overview session on social media marketing and hands-on training focused on specific social media tools, like Facebook, Desyrel price, coupon, Where can i buy Desyrel online, Twitter, LinkedIn, Desyrel in canada, Desyrel for sale, and YouTube. 

To promote the training, the company produced a video which I've embedded below, Desyrel craiglist. Saturday delivery Desyrel, (It's so good, I wish Perth County, Desyrel to buy online, Desyrel pills, Ontario was closer so that I could have attended.)

 

Perth County Social Media Boot Camp from MS2 Productions - Your Complete on Vimeo, buy Desyrel from mexico. Order Desyrel online c.o.d, But it is what's happening behind the scenes that sets the training apart. In addition to encouraging businesses within each rural community to work together, they are engaging students as social media consultants.  As Melissa Schenk, Executive Producer of MS2 Productions explained to me via e-mail:

Local Businesses will hire CO-OP students to be their Social Media Marketers.., Buy Desyrel Without Prescription. The Baby Boomers learn from students how to use the Social Media Sites, where to buy Desyrel, Desyrel tablets, but the students in turn - learn more about local businesses, how to better put these social media sites to good use, buy Desyrel online with no prescription, Real brand Desyrel online, and are providing a valuable resource of information in their communities. Not to mention students are engaging more with businesses, where can i order Desyrel without prescription, Fast shipping Desyrel, that they might never have had the opportunity or an interest in otherwise."

In short, young people and business owners are learning from each other.  And in the long run, buy Desyrel online no prescription, Order Desyrel from mexican pharmacy, these young people will better appreciate life in their rural communities and be better prepared to recognize business opportunities after completing their education.

Additionally, Desyrel discount, Buy generic Desyrel, I think projects like this will lead to the educational reform that Richard Florida has been talking about lately: creativity, technology, buy cheap Desyrel, Desyrel from canadian pharmacy, and social.  All are 21^st Century skills that young people need to be successful.  Come to think of it, those are the same skills rural communities leaders need as well, Desyrel over the counter. Buy cheap Desyrel no rx, Note:  Melissa Schenk  sent me a message correcting my initial post, which did not credit the Perth County Economic Development Office for the project.  My apologies to Bernia Wheaton, over the counter Desyrel, Desyrel gel, ointment, cream, pill, spray, continuous-release, extended-release, Perth County Economic Development Coordinator.  I love this story even more knowing that economic development professionals are leading the charge. Online buying Desyrel hcl. Desyrel in mexico. Desyrel in australia. Order Desyrel online overnight delivery no prescription. Buy Desyrel no prescription. Desyrel in japan. Sale Desyrel. Order Desyrel from United States pharmacy. Saturday delivery Desyrel. Delivered overnight Desyrel. Online buy Desyrel without a prescription. Desyrel buy. Purchase Desyrel online. Purchase Desyrel online no prescription. Where can i buy cheapest Desyrel online. Buy Desyrel online without a prescription. Cod online Desyrel. Desyrel in us. Ordering Desyrel online. Desyrel craiglist. Rx free Desyrel. Where can i find Desyrel online. Where to buy Desyrel. Desyrel prescriptions. Buy Desyrel online without prescription. Buy Desyrel without a prescription. Desyrel price, coupon. Where can i buy Desyrel online. Desyrel medication. Order Desyrel no prescription.

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Tags: creative economy, Facebook, marketing, Ontario, Perth County On, social media, Twitter, youth engagement, YouTube
Posted in Community Engagement, Economic Development, Gen Y, Rural, Training and Events | Comments (3)