Tech culture and social media inspiring the Kamloops economy
The startup community is alive and well in Kamloops. The acceptance of innovations in technology and the vibrancy of the social media community is encouraging more and more entrepreneurs to kick start their dreams and put down roots in our fair city.
Kamloops Innovation Centre has been the pillar of the tech community in Kamloops since they opened their doors in 2012. They support the local start-up community, host prominent guest speakers, and they host an incredible event every year called TechBrew.
TechBrew brings Kamloops’ latest technologies, innovators & decision-makers together for a fun and casual evening of inspiration, networking, and…beer! RTOWN was proud to be a sponsor of this year’s event and I had a chance to mix and mingle with many amazing local entrepreneurs including the team at Two Story Robot.
Two Story Robot tinkers with software, but most recently have started playing around with Facebook Messenger Bots. Bots are a hot topic right now as they can add extra functionality to larger apps and provide automated customer service responses. The popularity of bots is booming with big business like CNN for example but the goal of Two Story Robot is to focus on small business, giving the SMB market a go at automated, reliable communication when their clients have quick, easy questions to answer. Bots won’t be taking away the social media manager role, thankfully, but rather becoming an assistant and support device when needed. Our Community Manager team is very excited about the future of Facebook Messenger and what is to come with Bot Development!
TechBrew Bot in Action The state of Social Media in Kamloops goes above and beyond fun tech events & bots, of course. Local businesses are investing in social media more than ever to help market their businesses to a greater audience, reach their target demographic more effectively and build better relationships with their customers.
An excellent example of this comes from SKIN Kamloops. They only use Facebook to promote their business, as they have discontinued all traditional marketing. Our long-term goal is to educate their clients, inform them of upcoming specials and new product offerings, and build their customer base. It has been incredibly rewarding to watch their fan base grow, the website traffic increase and hear them tell us how busy they are and how much success they are having with their new products. Client success is as important to us, the Community Managers, as it is to our customer and this is a great example of Social Media success.
“Since working with RTOWN, our business has seen a marked increase in Facebook activity. Most importantly for us, this has translated into more traffic to our clinic and a significant increase in booked appointments.” — Sven Kip
Kamloopsians are not only engaging on social media, but they are also using the RTOWN App to collect rewards from their favourite local businesses. Our loyalty app has brought over $400k back into the local economy, which in itself is something we are very proud of.
It is this support of the local economy that gets RTOWNers out of bed in the morning. Seeing events like TechBrew and inspired teams like Two Story Robot drive confidence in the community that Kamloops will be a leader in innovation, technology, and social media.