Telling West Virginia’s Story

Say yes to West Virginia. That’s the concept behind the state’s social media advocate model stemming from the hashtag #YesWV.

“It’s the objective and directive of the Justice administration to lead and to proudly share all the opportunities here with the world. The #YesWV program empowers people who love West Virginia and gives them the opportunity to tell our story,” says Andy Malinoski, director of the Office of Marketing and Communications in the West Virginia Department of Commerce. “Our goal is to simply have the best, most engaged advocacy program in the nation.”

Social media has proven to the world that people with large audiences can influence their following to try products, visit places and do just about anything. It’s the same concept as celebrities or high-profile athletes making endorsements of companies. For example, someone famous wears a new Nike product and then it becomes a fashion trend, increasing sales for the company. The state of West Virginia wants its biggest fans and supporters to help share the good news of the Mountain State, whether they are famous or not.

“At its core, #YesWV is the affirmative, positive answer to most every question we get asked when we tell our story,” Malinoski says. “‘Yes,’ those things—innovation, livability, economic and cultural diversity—those things and more are here and thriving in West Virginia.”

A competitive advantage for businesses, thriving creative communities, innovation and entrepreneurship are all here in the Mountain State. Now it’s time to work together to help get the word out, front and center. The idea is to promote the wealth, beauty, livability, careers and opportunity in Almost Heaven, West Virginia.

“This program gives people the power to share those things with their networks and help continue to move West Virginia forward and show the world how wonderful it is here,” Malinoski says.

The key to the program working successfully isn’t dependent on any particular platform but the content itself. By curating and sharing high-quality, meaningful, relevant content onto the social media platforms people already use, advocacy speaks for itself.

“We just empower our participants with content, and they share what is relevant to them,” Malinoski says. “They take it from there and use their platform to tell West Virginia’s story of innovation, entrepreneurship and tourism.”

With 150 advocates already in motion, how can more people join in and become an advocate for West Virginia?

“Email me at andy.e.malinoski@wv.gov. There are some basic guidelines we expect, and the basic criteria is that you want to share the wealth, beauty and opportunity in West Virginia.”

The success of the program is based on the same factor as any other social media campaign: engagement. The more people are engaged with the content, the more the word gets out about West Virginia and all the good that is happening here.

“Organic engagement is so valuable. Our #YesWV advocates generate industry-leading engagement and click rates on the content we curate for the network to share,” he says.