the rise of the digital ambassador

Six Tips to Launch Your Econ Dev Campaign @aboutdci #dcidigital

September 17, 2013

The Voices Heard Round the Room

Janet FritzMetro Denver EDC@MetroDenverEDC

Kim BakerGreater Houston Partnership@GHPartnership

Susan BrakeDCI@susanbrake

Have You Ever Heard the Term Digital Ambassador?

am*bas*sa*dor (Noun) A person who acts as a representative or promoter of a specified activity

A Visual Representation of Ambassadors

Why it Matters…• The marketing tactic that C-Level executives

consider to be the most effective, is word-of-mouth marketing/peer recommendations

• Harvard Business Report that 57 percent of businesses surveyed mention that they plan to increase social media spending and 38 percent of CEO's label social as a high priority

Why it Matters…

Two Pioneering Campaigns

1. Greater Houston Partnership • Mission: Build economic prosperity in the

Houston area.

• Opportunity Houston 1.0 is an aggressive marketing and lead generation program.

• Promote message: Houston is “the best place for business” and a “gateway to global markets”

• Houston received more than $144 million earned media in 2012 and more than 139.4 million media impressions featuring Houston

• Began a robust social media program in 2009 and launched the Greater Houston Partnership Digital Ambassadors Program the following year.

Houston: Digital Ambassadors

• 24 Houston-area professionals • Post on Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin• GHP sends content that promotes business and quality of

life once or twice a week• D.A.s share news automatically or copy/paste • GHP also posts items to social mediums as well

2. Metro Denver EDC• Mission: Promote the 9-county region

around Metro Denver for business development.

• Have promoted Energetic Bodies, Energetic Minds in traditional marketing, but made a deep dive into social

• Wanted to find a way to way to leverage business news and messages including job and population growth.

• Mission: Harness the social media influence of Metro Denver’s influential business leaders and passionate public.

DIGITAL AGENTS by the NUMBERS

135 active agentsTheir reach: almost

120,000 connections

Most active Networks: Twitter (60%), LinkedIn (36%)

and Facebook (5%)

Average age: 38.8

Have shared 3,375 links, resulting in 19,204 visits

to our website

Six Tips to Launching Your Digital Ambassadors Campaign

1. Seek Out “The Passionistas”

Metro Denver’s Passionistas

Houston’s Passionistas

2. Inspire Participation

2. Inspire Participation What information/E-Force posts do you most enjoy sharing with your network? Check all that apply.

2. Inspire Participation Week of… Topic

TBD Company Spotlight:

August 19/Aug. 26 Top Colorado Books September 2 Rankings RecapSeptember 9 Ambassador Survey Results

September 23 Site Selector Visit and Economic Development 101

September 30What We Mean by Energetic Bodies. Energetic Minds. Launch of the Monthly Profile

October 7 Rankings Recap

October 14 Midyear Analysis

Oct. 21 How Colorado’s Business Climate is Like Its Door Climate

3. Keep it SimpleHouston a top five "Best Big City for Jobs 2013", and Texas overall rules the list: http://ow.ly/l1rhr #HoustonBiz #WeAreHouston

Houston is a "magnet of opportunity", according to demographers Joel Kotkin and Wendell Cox. The Daily Beast reported on the nation's Top Aspirational Cities, and it’s no surprise that Houston made the list-- in the Top 3!

Forbes: The Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, Texasregion is the metropolitan area with the mostoptimistic forecast in the nation for hiring this fall,according to a new survey by ManpowerGroup.

3. Keep it Simple

4. Measure What Matters

4. Measure What Matters

5. Engage “IRL”

5. Engage “IRL”

6. Don’t Be Afraid to Change

6. Don’t Be Afraid to Change

Six Tips to Launching a Digital Ambassadors Campaign

1. Seek out Passionistas 2. Inspire Participation 3. Keep it (participation) Simple4. Measure What Matters5. Engage #IRL (in Real Life) 6. Don’t Be Afraid to Change

Thank You!www.slideshare.net/aboutdci