26 November 2012

Sherbrooke Innopole ranks first among Québec economic development organizations in terms of web communication according to the 2012 Canadian American Cities Online Marketing Index study led by the Intelegia organization.  At the Canadian level, Sherbrooke is ranked 8^th, ahead of Toronto, Montréal and Québec.

With a score of 55, the Sherbrooke local development centre (CLD) makes a remarkable entry into this honour roll that evaluates the performance of the most important cities and urban areas in Canada and the United Sates regarding their digital marketing strategy aimed at attracting new investors to their region.

In addition to this remarkable ranking, Sherbrooke Innopole is regarded as having exemplary practices for its use of the SlideShare platform, which enables the publication and sharing of presentations.

« Sherbrooke Innopole made the wager, in 2010, to tackle the 2.0 challenge in order to stimulate entrepreneurship, broadcast Sherbrooke’s economic and scientific leadership to attract investors and entrepreneurs from all over the world.  Two years later, as evidenced by the Intelegia study, Sherbrooke Innopole is a leader at the provincial and national level, as Pierre Bélanger, Director General of Sherbrooke Innopole, is happy to say.  Thanks to our very active communication strategy on social media and the internet, we are not only capable of broadcasting information at the local and national level but are also able to highlight Sherbrooke’s economic dynamism to attract and retain new talent and new innovating businesses.”

With a monthly average of 24,270 hits, the main Sherbrooke Innopole Web site has generated 55,000 visits during the first ten months of 2012, which represents an increase of 141% compared to the same period in 2011.  Sherbrooke Innopole is also active on the social media (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr and SlideShare), while maintaining an English version of its Web site and that of EntreprendreSherbrooke.ca.

To establish the ranking of the 40 most important urban areas in Canada and the United States, Intelegia, a North-American authority in 2.0 marketing, analyzed numerous indicators, among them social media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Flickr, SlideShare, etc.) and their use to share content, availability of information pertinent to decision-makers and investors on the site, newsletters, event calendars, data bases for businesses and buildings, bilingualism and the flexibility of the internet site and the referencing capability of its search engines.

The 2012 edition of Interlagia’s Canadian American Cities Online Marketing Index is available at http://www.intelegia.com/en/2012/11/20/the-2012-canadian-americian-cities-online-marketing-index-is-here/

Source: Sherbrooke Innopole