According to our 2009 EDAC Members Marketing Survey:

• 59.3% of EDAC members are using email campaigns.
• 28.1% of EDAC members are already using social media. It is the top new marketing activity planned for 2010 for those that aren’t.
• 92.8% have a website specific to their organization, yet only 7.3% have a blog.

As more economic developers embrace new social tools, it is important to realize that when it comes to these new marketing channels, the old rules simply don’t apply. Here are 8 tips that cover ideas, etiquette and advice for getting started with social, blogs and email:

1.    Have a strategy and integrate it

If you hear your colleagues exclaim: “We need to get a Twitter!” or “Let’s get at least 100 Facebook friends!” or “Let’s buy a third party email list so we can show big distribution numbers!”, then you don’t have a strategy, you have a big, big problem.

True, these tools are growing in popularity and importance, but aiming wildly at the flavour of the month is not the way to take advantage of them. Like any marketing channel, you must answer basic questions like “Who do we want to reach?”, “What message do we want to send?”, “What is the goal of this activity?” Once you’ve got that figured out you can decide on the tool that will get you there.

Your strategy in these new areas must also work with your overall marketing strategy. Too often, marketers neglect the important potential of cross-pollination that comes from social media, blogs and email. How can you use them to leverage each other and your other marketing efforts?

2.    Do your homework
We can’t offer you a magic bullet when it comes to selecting from the suite of tools available to you. While Twitter may work for some, the openness and frequency demanded by that platform may not be right for others. An in-house email solution may be the route for you, while your neighbour may choose to leave the technology up to an outside agency. It is incumbent on you to research what is out there and decide what, if any, tools you want to integrate with your current strategy.

Using these tools may seem like a cheap way to go, but what you save in hard costs you will incur in the time required to keep your content fresh and interactive. Think carefully about what you will have the time to sustain.

3.    Don’t jump right in

Once you have decided on the channels you’d like to integrate, it’s time to… sit back and take notes? Yes. Many social media platforms have their own vernacular and etiquette. Watch how your peers are using these tools, and note how audiences are responding.

Email, blogs and social networks are fickle mediums, as it takes very little effort to “un-follow”, “un-friend” or hit delete. Be sure to get a good grasp of how to make the best impression and build trust and credibility. You will only get one shot.

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