Calgary Economic Development

‘Life in Calgary’ is Calgary Economic Development’s Instagram page, created for the purpose of changing any negative national and global perceptions about Calgary, by promoting our city’s thriving creative and community energy. Each week, a different local business, influencer, or organization signs up to take over the account to highlight their ‘life in Calgary’ – what makes the city a great place to live and work from their perspective.

With more than 50K followers, Life in Calgary is a well-known local account that has more followers than several Calgary attractions and organizations including the Calgary Zoo (45.8K followers), CBC Calgary (38.7K followers), and The Calgary FolkFest (18.6K followers).

Booked months in advance, influencers volunteer to take over the account a week at a time to share their love of the city. The benefit to the influencers is the opportunity to highlight their work and passions to a unique audience, with weekly impressions that reach into the millions.

The Instagram page creates a new interactive relationship between Calgary Economic Development, the participating organization or influencer, and the over 51,000 Instagram followers each week. It also makes an often-unapproachable topic, the economy, more approachable by highlighting how the local economy is something everyone is a part of. This account highlights the best of the city and shares well-known to little-known city gems. The shareable content promotes city pride and encourages locals to be part of the community energy.