Challenge

With the economic downturn, Michigan seemed to always be taking it on the chin in news stories highlighting the many challenges our great state was facing. It seemed there were no stories highlighting the successes the state was also enjoying.

Objective

M3’s primary goal was to check out Michigan’s business climate and understand how people truly view the state.
Other goals were to promote tourism and positivity in Michigan and show how social media can have a positive impact on businesses and communities throughout the state. M3 accomplished this hrough tweets, blogging and Facebook from all 83 counties in the state.

Actions

• Four members of M3’s Special PRops team took turns exploring and reporting on different legs of the trip. M3 met with business owners, community leaders and residents to get a better understanding of how people view the economic climate and gauge the ways in which social media affects their attitudes.
• M3 Tweeted, Facebooked and blogged their way through the entire state, using frequent updates, photos and personal accounts to tell the Michigan story. They also recorded dozens of hours of travel footage to create a “#MeetMichigan in Six Minutes” You Tube video so the tour can live on which you can view at www.m3group.biz.

Results

• M3’s Klout score increased by 20 points, cementing @m3_group as experts on Michigan, Detroit and social media.
• M3’s Twitter account (@m3_ group) climbed from a global ranking of No. 16 million on Twitter to No. 10,000 in two weeks.
• M3’s Twitter account also ranked No. 832 in the entire nation for Twitter’s popular Follow Friday (#FF) recommendations.
• M3’s website received 6,013 hits between June 21 kick-off and the July 12, 2011 wrap-up event.
• M3 interacted with hundreds of people, as well as top Michigan brands such as Domino’s, La-Z-Boy and Ice Mountain Water.

The businesses using social media had a generally positive outlook on Michigan’s economy, due largely to the fact they have a direct line of communication with their customers. No longer do businesses rely on traditional media alone; they can have a two-way conversation with customers and potential customers while delivering products and services people are asking for. They’ve found great success in their communities, and feel that to help turn Michigan’s economy around, more businesses should support local and Michigan-made products as well as the use of social media.