Atlas and the economic development profession are “atwitter” about Social Media. In fact, there are few topics more frequently talked about in Economic Development than Social Media – but only a handful of economic developers have found ways to make social media pay dividends for their organization.

One question people often ask is, “How do you respond when social media attacks your brand?” Posted by the folks at Mashable, these cases studies offer valuable insights on how you can avoid a social media crisis when it comes to your brand.

“For all the praise that brand advertisers have for social media, they must be aware that it’s very much a double-edged sword. And for all the free marketing, advertising and brand promotion via Facebook (Facebook), Twitter (Twitter) and other platforms used to help build an identity and relationship with your customers, it can just as quickly turn on you and your brand.”

Read Mashable’s Full Article

Going to IEDC Columbus?

Interested in talking about how social media can work for your community? We’d love to set aside some time to talk with you about one of economic development’s most tweeted, posted and blogged about topics. Give us a call or send us a message at guillermom@atlas-advertising.com to setup a time!

Don’t want to talk? Check out Atlas’ presentation on “Eight Things Economic Developers Should be Doing with Social Media.”

For those curious about what the creative team here at Altas has been reading lately, I’m sharing an article by Shannon Noack, a writer for one of our favorite blogs—Web Design Ledger. The article does a great job explaining the importance of things like targeting a specific audience and how to achieve a user-friendly design. Read the full article here.

Exchange creates the momentum for specialization.

Posted by Meghan Casey–a smart content strategist over at Brain Traffic–this fantastic article explores one organization that is doing content very very well. And seeing the results, in the form of fund-raised dollars.

“The Bear Center in Ely, Minn., has posted daily updates about Hope, an orphaned black bear, every day since she was abandoned by her mother Lily in May. Their audience has come to expect these updates, and the Bear Center delivers. Consistently.

I doubt the Bear Center has a name for what they are doing. But, what they actually have is … you guessed it, a content strategy. It’s simple: Give Hope fans what they want, then ask them to give money to help bears.

It’s working. Donations have increased exponentially. Even better, loyal readers are out there rustling up fundraising opportunities for the Bear Center. On their own. Without being asked. I’ve never seen such a captive and engaged online audience.”

Read Meghan’s full article.

In this very conversational podcast, two professional content strategists discuss their takes on your website content. In particular, how everyone is doing the same thing and if you want to get ahead in the world of online marketing, it’s time to differentiate, it’s time to own an authentic and different message about your community, service or product.

This is one of the key ingredients to an Atlas branding project: finding your differentiator and using every tool we have to communicate it. And, whether you’re going through a branding process or not, finding your niche is never bad advice.

Listen to the whole podcast here.