KC Area Development Council’s Selective Social Media Adoption

12Apr2010 Filed under: Social Media Author: Jason Harper

Can an organization effectively “join the social media revolution” without using Facebook and Twitter?

The Kansas City Area Development Council thinks so.

The KCADC promotes the Kansas City region to businesses and investors looking at new markets. According to its site, to date, the KCADC has attracted more than 500 companies to the region.

The local nonprofit has decided to start leveraging social media to accomplish its goals. However, as a post by PR person Ashlie Hand to the brand-new KC Think Blog explains, the group will be using some social platforms and avoiding others.

After writing about how she consulted online communities at Babycenter.com in raising her kids, Hand explains that the KCADC surveyed investors and about “100 site location consultant contacts” to find out how they are using social media.

They concluded that in order to build a social media campaign focused on investors only, the KCADC would use LinkedIn, a branded YouTube channel and a weekly blog. “Since few of our KCADC investors are using Twitter or Facebook for business relationships and networking, as popular and useful as they are for some, we’re not going to waste our time there,” Hand writes.

At a time when companies are racing to set up Facebook pages and Twitter accounts to connect with their communities, doesn’t that declaration sound strange … perhaps a bit reactionary?

Looking at the organization’s list of overall goals, we can imagine ways the KCADC could use Facebook and Twitter to do things like “enhance awareness of our metro’s assets to create positive perceptions”and to “promote the region as the business location of choice.” I, for one, would be happy to follow a group like KCADC on Twitter, but I guess I won’t get to.

By refusing to take part in the conversation on the biggest social platforms, is KCADC missing opportunities to build community and attract new business?

Then again, KCADC did do its research. Far too many companies have rushed into the social networking fray without a clear plan — other than, in some nightmare cases, “Let the intern handle it.” The KCADC took a close look at its community and business goals before deciding which social platforms to use.

What do you think? Is the KCADC being clueless or appropriately selective? Do you like its investors-only approach to social networking? Should it be more open to connecting with regular people?

And thought they won’t find out about this post via Facebook or Twitter, maybe we’ll get some KCADC people to weigh in, too.

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Tags: blogging, Facebook, KCADC, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube

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Jason @lockerpartner

Joe, thanks for your great insights, and thank you, Ashlie, for remaining in the discussion.

I think Joe's right that in addition to the C-suite guys, there's a world of young execs who are using social platforms like Twitter and Facebook for seeking out opportunities to expand to places potentially like KC. We should be there to meet them.

Also, the trouble with LinkedIn is that it's not much of a content platform. As Joe points out, you've got all this great stuff on your site already -- social media will help it reach that many more people.

Congrats on the PBS thing -- that's really awesome. But I wouldn't put it in the same category as a social/web2.0 thing, unless it develops some kind of viral life beyond TV and newspapers.

joecox

Great article Jason and really glad to see more of Ashlie's explanation of why they are going in the direction that they are.

I get it. You have a non existent social media marketing budget and you are trying to move in the right direction while making sure that you don't over extend yourself. The worst thing out there is a lifeless Facebook page or a sleeping twitter stream that hasn't had a post for 2 months.

The survey of your most important client, your investors, is absolutely the place to start and I commend you for taking the time and energy to make that happen.

What I think is the missed opportunity and the essence of the post is all of the energy that you could harness and create with the community that you serve. When you witness the speed that passionate ideas can grow and build momentum through this social medium, ThinkKC's cause seems like a perfect match to help facilitate and strengthen all of those voices. It's exciting for nerds like me to run with, but I do understand that there are limiting factors, like time & money.

The site itself is FILLED with information that in the past, I've spent hours all over the internet trying to search out for marketing analysis. It's overflowing with great, sexy content and it's really wanting to get out.

I say use social media to give stuff out, spread it around and who knows what could come out of it.

The #1 thing is the attraction of businesses to this city that have eyes & ears inside this new world of communication. Young companies, tech companies, MONEY MAKING companies. Sure you can meet face to face with the 55 year old guy in the C Suite, that still dictates his email and thinks twitter is for his grandchildren, I just would hesitate to say that this "is the way this business is done".

If that's the only people you reach out to, chances are it's the only people you'll ever get.

Traditional media & PR? How about you give me that budget and I'll make your head spin.

Ashlie Hand

Hi, Joe. I agree whole-heartedly and hope that we can evolve our strategy to include a broader audience sometime in the near future. The C-suite is truly where location decisions are made today so our focus will always be there when it comes to our core business. As for the general lifestyle marketing we do, we have a program called KC2.0. This program does have a strong following on Twitter and Facebook (try KCCareerNet on Twitter or genKC on Facebook). I do get excited about all we can do to increase awareness of KC's great lifestyle and career opportunities through new communication mediums like social media and web video. Check out the article by Kevin Collison in today's KC Star - our documentary film is getting great national play through the PBS system. http://www.kansascity.com/2010...

Jason @lockerpartner

Thanks for responding, Ashlie, and for sharing those numbers! I think your approach of polling your community before developing a social media plan was really smart.

I guess my next question would be: Do you or any of your colleagues at the KCADC use your personal Facebook or Twitter accounts for anything business-related?

Ashlie Hand

Jason - we had that very discussion internally when formulating our strategy and found that it differs so much based on the individual. I do think there may be a place for us on Facebook and Twitter at some point. Here are a couple of points I make in my original post,

"Do your research and start where YOUR audience already feels comfortable. You can branch out and be a trendsetter for your industry later after you’ve learned the ropes a bit."

AND

"As social media plays an increasing role in how we communicate in the business world, it will play a bigger role in KCADC’s communication strategy – we believe this is just the beginning."

So, it's not entirely accurate to say that we've "effectively shunn(ed) Facebook and Twitter" ... they just aren't part of our strategy today.

Jason @lockerpartner

Ashlie,

I used the word "shunning" because your original post definitively says you're "not going to waste [y]our time" on Facebook and Twitter. That came off pretty strongly to me, hence my choice of words.

In any case, I think it's great that you're keeping your options open. There's no reason to rule anything out at this point. Good luck!

Ashlie Hand

Thanks!

Ashlie Hand

ason – thank you for your comments and insight. I thought I’d offer a little more detailed look at our thought process in building our strategy. Of the 97 KCADC investors who responded to our survey, 42% are using LinkedIn on a monthly or weekly basis for business and 18% use it daily. Compare that to 23% monthly or weekly for Facebook, and only 8% monthly or weekly on Twitter. 21% say they visit blogs less than once a month. Our KCADC investors are typically c-level executives down to the VP level in the KC region’s largest corporations and civic groups so this is probably a pretty accurate reflection of that demographic’s use of social media.

Of the 30 site location consultants who responded to our survey, 10% refer to LinkedIn and 3% listed blogs as sources for them as they evaluate markets across the U.S. for their clients. Facebook and Twitter both scored a big goose egg – 0%. For this audience, it’s still face to face contact that makes the difference. Members of our business development team connect with site location consultants through LinkedIn and a few are using Facebook, but it’s a very relationship-oriented business where one-to-one contact is most effective.

So, that being said, we feel this is a manageable entry into social media for our organization. This is part of a comprehensive and strategic communications program for us, as well, that includes a long list of traditional marketing and PR strategies to tell the KC story to a broader audience.

My advice is that anyone just starting in this process keep their strategy flexible. I am certain that ours will evolve as we gain more experience in communicating through social media. I would not recommend anyone taking their first step into any new medium try to do it all from the get-go.

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