The city’s Economic Development Division looks to hold its second set of social media webinars May 29, focusing on Pinterest and Instagram tips for local businesses.

The free webinar lasts 75 minutes and is targeted at social media coordinators at a beginner or intermediate level. The webinar will include information on how the city uses social media and strategies businesses could use to increase and better their social media use.

Among those who will be present are Luke Stowe, digital services coordinator, Elaine Kemna-Irish, Evanston Chamber of Commerce Executive Director, Charliese Agnew, Community Engagement Specialist  and Cindy Plante, ICMA local government management fellow Cindy Plante.

During the first webinar, the discussion focused on texting, website hosting, Facebook, Twitter, and some other tools, Stowe said. This inspired a different focus for the second webinar’s discussion, which will cover new social media platforms and perspective on other topics.

“There’s so much going on… that (with) one webinar, there wasn’t enough time,” Stowe said.

Stowe calls Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Plus, Instagram and Pinterest the “big six” of social media. There is “a tendency to always talk about Facebook and Twitter,” Stowe said. Despite this, he said, depending where you look, Pinterest has an increasing presence.

According to a Pew Research study, 71 percent of adults who use the Internet also used Facebook in September 2013. About 22 percent used LinkedIn and 21 percent used Pinterest. These three were closely followed by Twitter and Instagram.

During the webinar, Stowe said he hopes to encourage small businesses to reconsider how they distribute their money, shifting advertisement revenue to a more digital source. Stowe said that there is some reluctance to make this shift, but hopes this is the direction businesses start to take.

For the first webinar, there were about 35 attendees, Stowe said, adding that he expects a similar turnout at the May 29 webinar. He said the city may schedule a third webinar in the future.

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