Today’s insight comes straight from the PPR social media guru herself, Kayla Sherry. As our Social Media Coordinator, Kayla helps EDOs and other clients tell their authentic stories on social media every day. She’s here to share her practical tips on how you can best showcase your organization or business’s story online.
Welcome Kayla to the stage!
In today’s digital age, social media isn’t just a marketing tool for economic development organizations (EDOs); it’s a powerful platform for shaping perception, building trust, and driving engagement with community stakeholders.
Beyond the funny trends and entertaining comment threads, social media is a place to get creative! We encourage you to use social media to paint a picture to capture your ideal audience’s attention. If you’re not sure how, let’s talk storytelling on social media!
Leveraging Success Stories
Success stories and testimonials should be more than website decor that gets lost in the noise. It’s qualitative data that supports your EDO’s impact and illustrates how your organization helps transform local businesses.
Showcasing success stories does two crucial things: it builds credibility and creates a tangible connection other entrepreneurs can relate to. The focus here should be on the human element—who are the people behind these businesses, and what role did the EDO play in their success?
Bonus Nugget: Be sure to focus on centering the mission, NOT your organization. Organic or unpaid social media content should not be super salesy, or you’ll lose your audience’s interest!
Highlighting Local Businesses
Local talent is one of the most valuable assets a community can showcase, and for EDOs, it offers a rich storytelling opportunity. By highlighting the businesses that make your region unique, you are celebrating thriving local entrepreneurs and demonstrating the strength and diversity of your workforce.
Creating this type of social media content is especially important if you want to build better relationships with local businesses. If you’re offering to boast their achievements to your entire online audience (and have them share it with theirs), it’s a win-win for brand exposure! Who can say no to that?
Bonus Nugget: You can also present stories of local professionals, artists, or longtime residents who are already strong advocates for the local community. These “ambassadors” often share their experiences on social media and within their professional networks, so building partnerships with these individuals can help boost your EDO’s message to new users—and reinforce your support for the entire community.
Promoting Upcoming Projects
Just like a trailer gets you excited to watch a new movie, EDOs can “preview” upcoming projects and initiatives on social media to generate interest, inform, and engage audiences on its offerings.
By highlighting upcoming developments, EDOs can show stakeholders the value these projects will bring, such as job creation or improved public spaces. Incorporating stories and visuals from previous projects also builds credibility! For example, if a previous infrastructure upgrade led to significant business growth, your EDO can reference that outcome to show how long-lasting (and positive) economic development work is.
Bonus Nugget: Use “behind-the-scenes,” progress updates, and sneak peek content to build anticipation for upcoming initiatives! Highlighting the development process keeps your audience engaged and makes them feel like they are getting the inside scoop.
Visual Storytelling
(We saved this one for last because you can apply it to every other tip mentioned above!)
On social media, visual storytelling is essential for EDOs to communicate messages in a unique way. Videos and infographics can turn complex data and updates into engaging, shareable content bits that resonate with your audience. Research shows that videos can lead to increased engagement, and creating shareable content like infographics is crucial to expanding your reach.
It’s simple: short videos illustrate impact more vividly than text alone. Similarly, infographics help simplify data, making it easy for everyone—seasoned professionals and budding entrepreneurs alike—to understand.
Bonus Nugget: Engage your audience with interactive polls or clickable elements that invite them to explore data or give feedback. Interactive content encourages more engagement and provides valuable insights into what resonates with your audience, allowing your EDO to refine its messaging.
In the spirit of interactive elements, we have one request for you (we promise it won’t take too much time 😉).
We know every organization faces unique challenges when it comes to social media marketing. Last year, PPR created a Social Media Guide for EDOs to help demystify new social platforms and how to use them, and the 2024 Social Media Content Inspiration Calendar to help you brainstorm a full year’s worth of content!
For 2025, we want to hear from YOU—what can PPR provide that will help you overcome your social media challenges next year?
Storytelling is a necessary component of any social media strategy. To showcase your EDO’s impact and build authentic connections, tap into these approaches and create content that resonates with YOUR unique community.
Fill out this super short form or click here to share your thoughts and help shape our upcoming guides, blogs, and social media content. Your input could directly influence the next free social media guide!
