Spotlight

For many chambers located in areas hit by disaster, one of the hardest aspects of the recovery process is to make the world aware that the affected town or region is indeed “open for business.” When devastating pictures and stories of despair dominate non-stop media coverage, all this bad news can have lasting negative consequences on the local economy.

As Flint, Mich., finds itself in the midst of the ongoing water crisis, many of its businesses are feeling the pinch as a result of all the negative publicity. In response, the Flint-Genesee Chamber of Commerce launched in March a social media campaign to drive business and tourism to the city of Flint. According to the chamber’s news release, the #ChooseFlint campaign, which runs through early April, "challenges people to visit a local business or attraction, take a photo and share it on social networks – and then call on three friends to do the same." The chamber launched the campaign on its Facebook page with a video illustrating different ways to #ChooseFlint.

Elaine Redd, the chamber’s director of communications, says the nationwide support has been tremendous. “So many people have asked how they can support Flint during this time,” says Redd. “One of the ways they can help is to tell everyone they know that Flint is open for business. Make a conscious choice to ‘Choose Flint’ by patronizing Flint restaurants and other businesses, and challenging three of their friends to do the same.”

Read more about the campaign here and then head over to Twitter see the many cool ways people decided to #ChooseFlint.