Pasco Economic Development Council Earns National Award for Social Media

April 24, 2012

Pasco Economic Development Council is proud to announce that it has just been awarded the 2012 Economic Development Award for “Best Use of Social Media” from Business Facilities magazine. Business Facilities: The Location Advisor is the premier trade publication source of national and international corporate real estate and site selection news. It is widely known in the industry for its annual Economic Development Deal of the Year competition.  This year it added first-ever Annual Economic Development Awards with a special category for “new media,” including Best Use of Social Media and Best Video. According to Business Facilities, Pasco EDC “understood that social media marketing is a moving target and took the proper actions to strengthen their efforts (i.e., hiring a social media specialist, creating a campaign around their slogan, and producing their own content).” The objective of Pasco EDC’s social media campaign was to connect with business and community leaders and their extended networks where they spend most of their time – on the computer. “Many people don’t know what economic development organizations do, who they work with, or how to get involved,” said Summer Martin, Pasco EDC Marketing Coordinator.  Martin, who was the social media strategist behind Pasco EDC’s success, noted that “Social media makes us accessible and approachable to businesses and individuals so they can get to ‘know’ us, and at the same, it’s informative and builds community pride.” Pasco EDC focused on branding each of its social media sites with its new ad campaign featuring the fresh faces of kids, and kept the look consistent on all of its social sites.  Business Facilities was especially impressed with the look of the sites, commenting that “Pasco County’s branding and design was also very consistent across all platforms, something that a lot of organizations miss the mark on because they are trying to do too much with social media.” To keep informed on what Pasco EDC is doing, follow it online: twitter.com/pascoedc facebook.com/pascoedc youtube.com/pascoedc pinterest.com/pascoedc linkedin.com/company/pasco-economic-development-council