Community Marketing and Blogging

The “Merritt 18” are a positive voice for the Nicola Valley

“To sit back and watch the Merritt program empower locals to play a bigger role in representing their community positively online while interacting with others in the community… is very powerful.”

These past few days we have embarked on another round of training with some new Merrittonians about positive marketing and blogging for the Experience Nicola Valley Blog based out of Merritt, BC Canada. Thank you to Gurpreet and his staff at the Ramada Inn in Merritt for being so accommodating and just all-a-round great people to deal with.

Content marketing training, and engaging with like-minded people (aka blogging) is a top 3 favorite part of my job. Number one favorite – for you newbies to my blogging – is a no brainer, it has to be outdoor adventures. Number 2 would have to be research road trips in the Maple Leaf RV with my co founding brother Colin.

But when it comes to communication, relationships and teamwork there is no better joy for me than sharing my passion and enthusiasm for small and rural communities in Canada. Being a small town boy, there is an affection that runs deep. In so many ways content marketing is good therapy for the bloggers, the community, the traveller and for us.

Community blogging presentation in Merritt, BC, Canada

So if my elementary math teacher was right… 14, 15, 16, 17… that makes it 18 bloggers. The “Merritt 18”. That has a cool ring to it! I think it deserves a hashtag for this post – #merritt18 . What do you think?

So you can imagine my excitement of having another opportunity to do some meeting and greeting with more real people. It was another opportunity for “moi” to connect with 7 more quality individuals who live, work and play in Nicola Valley. Here they are! Please give them a round of applause. I am clapping right now. Eh.. come on clap.

(Back Row L-R)) Tony Luck, Greg Girard (Middle Row L-R) Melvina White, Wanda Luck, Michelle Bacon, Ali McDougall, Traci Marie Nixon (Front) Tania Stewart

Thank you Merritt and the Nicola Valley

We are already seeing the positive results online from the stories and experiences shared by the current Experience Nicola Valley bloggers. A great group representing many parts of the Nicola Valley ranging all over the map from a youth blogger in Grade 10 , Jordyn Lee, she so rocks… to one of our most popular bloggers, the very funny and classy senior Diane Lavoie. So thank you to the community of Merritt and throughout the Nicola Valley for your support of our story tellers.

The real gratitude comes in the chatter on the streets of Merritt, in the coffee houses and on social media. There is a feel-good buzz reverberating in this community. I am hearing it, I hope the locals are too. Slowly we are making a difference one word at a time. I feel like a proud parent!

We are now training another group of bloggers. Seven to be exact. I am sure there are 2 or 3 super star bloggers in this group too. As one blogger put it when talking about the team…

“Have your say everyday”
Melvina White

Nicola Valley Skills To Succeed

Who better to talk up their community than the people who live, work and play in the community. It is the people who live in Merritt BC Canada who know the community the best. Not some suit and tie behind a desk in some far away land. Locals have the passion. It is an opportunity for all our new friends involved to become a positive role model in the Nicola Valley. Something every community in Canada can never get enough of. I do believe the “Merritt 18” will do their part.

Presentation blogging in Merritt BC

Community Marketing Highlights of the Nicola Valley

So encouragement, teamwork and positive attitude were the key words of our 3 day retreat. As part of the process I wanted to know what this group of Merritonians thought of the Nicola Valley. I asked our current new and eager “blogites”, “What makes Merritt BC Canada so special?” The catch was to blurt out one-word descriptions as fast as you can to fill a list of 10. Here is what the group came up with.

Music
Lifestyle
People
Affordability
Fishing
Downtown
Hiking
Mountain Biking
Photography
Star Gazing

The Power of the Community

This is a big deal! The results so far in just 6 months clearly shows that this community marketing program can be a big part of the solution for many a rural and small communities in Canada. The success of some of the bloggers leaves us very little doubt that the community marketing program can accomplish great things with the right people, right tools and the right attitudes.

It is the first community marketing program of its kind in Canada. Congratulations to Merritt is in order. To sit back and watch the Merritt program empower locals to play a bigger role in representing their community positively online while interacting with others in the community… is very powerful.

Community Storytellers

In a few short days the community marketing “blogites” will have a voice echoing throughout the “blogosphere”. Soon, real soon, the fun begins as the new bloggers will be unleashed on the Nicola Valley to explore, experience and tell positive stories. With so many boots-on-the-ground there are going to be some very impressive stories to tell. So keep on checking them out at www.ExperienceNicolaValley.com or follow us on social media (links below).

Our content marketing family is growing and I am so proud of this group of people, putting their differences aside, and coming together for the common good of Merritt and the Nicola Valley. So… out of curiosity I had to ask this new group of bloggers, “Why they want to tell stories and share experiences via blogging?”

“To share my stories, experiences about this amazing community!”
Michelle Bacon

Do you have a Nicola Valley story to share?

Everyone has a feel-good Nicola Valley story to share? Do you? Contact your favorite blogger today and make the arrangements for them to stop by. They love to chat, I do know that.

Look up individual bloggers on the www.ExperienceNicolaValley.com blogsite. New bloggers will be added in next few days.

You can find them online too on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram .

Tag them anytime on social media @experiencenicolavalley

Join the conversation and add a hashtag to your posts #experiencenicolavalley

Life is good in Merritt BC Canada!