How local governments can better leverage social media. (330)

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Terence Norris
5 years ago
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1 How local governments can better leverage social media

2 A rich resource of information from the Fels Research & Consulting study Making the Most of Social Media

3 Communication channels that have a different set of rules and habits than traditional types of news and broadcast media.

4 SET UP GOOGLE ALERTS Google Alerts is a service that searches the web for news and updates based on keywords which can be ed to you at various points of the day.

SET UP HOOTSUITE A management site that allow you to organize multiple users and accounts, schedule future tweets, and track information about their followers and

5 SET UP HOOTSUITE A management site that allow you to organize multiple users and accounts, schedule future tweets, and track information about their followers and posting habits. Use this tool to post tweets into the future, to better-correspond with city events calendars or their personal work schedules.

6 BUILD YOUR AUDIENCE Use press coverage, integrate your social media presence with your website and other communications channels, cross promote, and (e)mail. Be innovative. The most fundamental measure of your effectiveness is the size of your audience.

POST REGULARLY Aurora From the Mayor s Office UP FROM 17th!

accounts. Dear Neighbor, My first year in office has been a time of incredible opportunity.

Here s an update on some key accomplishments Personnel savings, overtime reductions and health care cost containment measures.

Passage of Issue 11 creating the Geauga Lake Development District and new opportunities, along with the implementation of design standards for the area.

7 POST REGULARLY Aurora From the Mayor s Office UP FROM 17th! DEC 2014 VOL 1 If you are already producing press releases, newsletters, and have a web presence, it shouldn t take more than a couple minutes a day to keep Twitter, Facebook and other accounts updated. You just need to edit down the material from articles and press release to a brief news bite of about 140 characters for Twitter and not a whole lot more for Facebook and copy and paste it to the two accounts. Dear Neighbor, My first year in office has been a time of incredible opportunity. I have a passion for effective, accountable government with a goal of making government open and responsive to you. Together with my staff, we are getting things done! Here s an update on some key accomplishments Personnel savings, overtime reductions and health care cost containment measures. A new business-friendly sign code that also includes Historic District requirements. Passage of Issue 11 creating the Geauga Lake Development District and new opportunities, along with the implementation of design standards for the area. New Law Director; Planning, Zoning & Building Continued on page 2 LET S GET CONNECTED! Many of you have expressed your wish to see more connectivity in Aurora, so people can walk or bike to favorite places with greater ease and safety. Plans for a first phase of sidewalks in the Town Center have been approved and are being designed by an engineer, and a second phase will be included in the 2015 budget. The initial focus is connectivity on Route 82 and South Chillicothe, with a goal of tying in businesses in the Town Center and creating pathways to Aurora Farms. While some of you might think it is an easy project, the city cannot just put sidewalks anywhere. City rightsof-way must be used, and if the right-of-way is too small or nonexistent (such as having been used up by the roadway), permission must be Although many area communities are seeing a dramatic rise in road salt prices, Aurora is in very good shape thanks to the foresight and preparedness of the Service Department. Portage County reported this year s state bid pricing from obtained from the adjacent property owners. That can take time! Further, the city does have tentative plans to install bike lanes in the next several years as roadways are repaved as part of a federal project. Meanwhile, the Parks and Recreation Director and I have been engaged in meetings with representatives of northern Portage County communities interested in connecting the Hike and Bike Trail across the area. Aurora is budgeting for an engineering plan for Aurora s portion next year. THANK YOU to the residents of Aurora for supporting 15 Charter amendments. Read more on page 4 Aurora Services: It s beginning to look a lot like winter Road Salt Prices Morton Salt is $108 per ton; however, Aurora will pay just under $50 per ton. Aurora is part of a consortium of about 10 communities and school districts which has been able to get lower salt bids, good through this winter season.

Also, if you are following the right people, you may have

8 You can attach a link to a web article or even link to a newspaper article you might want to promote. Also, if you are following the right people, you may have opportunities to re-tweet news that you pick up from other people and spread the word to a wider audience.

USE THE TOOLS WELL Perhaps the best way to attract an audience is to keep it lively and focus very deliberately on creating content your followers find valuable.

9 USE THE TOOLS WELL Perhaps the best way to attract an audience is to keep it lively and focus very deliberately on creating content your followers find valuable. Consider this before any post Would the information you are sending out over social media make for engaging conversation at a baseball game or party? Do you talk too much or talk only about yourself? Do you ask questions? Periodically reviewing your social media presence with this in mind is a more useful exercise than you might think.

Periodically record this figure for each of your channels and chart your growth

10 TRACK YOUR AUDIENCE (& ITS GROWTH) The single best measure of your success with social media is the size of your audience. Periodically record this figure for each of your channels and chart your growth against initiatives you have taken to grow this audience. What seems to work? How does your audience compare with others?

Google Analytics is one of several services that can provide extensive data on

11 MONITOR USAGE Knowing how and how often people use your services is sometimes more useful than knowing who is using them. Google Analytics is one of several services that can provide extensive data on traffic to web services such as blogs, including information on how people are referred to your site, how long they stay, and what they view.

FINDING THE SWEET SPOT Many cities (& businesses) describe struggling to find a sweet spot for creating material to post to social media channels.

12 FINDING THE SWEET SPOT Many cities (& businesses) describe struggling to find a sweet spot for creating material to post to social media channels. The right combination of length, content, and tone can vary from channel to channel and may depend in large part on the demographic of each city s audience. A post may inspire an online conversation or spark an important connection. Sometimes posts have more clearly measurable goals like increasing attendance to city events or having as many people as possible click through to a news release on the city website.

Do more of what your audience responds to and if you are having trouble don t hesitate to ask your audience for help. Negative comments will happen.

13 Do more of what your audience responds to and if you are having trouble don t hesitate to ask your audience for help. Negative comments will happen. Set up a protocol to either address them or ignore them. I never recommend ignoring them! Local authorities need to be able to deal with incoming complaints rapidly, responding in minutes rather than days. Never engage in a debate online! Not every comment requires a response. Common sense and courtesy are important.

14 Instead of pushing out messages, find ways to engage, connect, collaborate, communicate and innovate! Inform public on policies quickly. Build trust by answering residents concerns. Post road closures, traffic situations, weather extremes, broken water mains, disturbances even natural disasters. Road safety initiatives. Post Surveys/Opinion polls Develop civic engagement by encouraging citizens to become the eyes and ears of the city. Post ways to help vulnerable residents. Re-share data and information about local businesses. Post pictures of residents and ask questions. Post visuals as often as possible. Share regional activities. Park/Green space activities like scavenger hunts, outdoor expos, film festivals/concerts.

15 The goal of any city wide social media strategy should be about public engagement and trying to help taxpayers understand that there is a value proposition for the money that they re paying. Governments should use social media to encourage civic engagement. After all, the whole underlying philosophy of social media is that there is intelligence in the crowd; and there is creativity in the crowd; and no ideas or policies come out of anybody s brain fully developed. GETTING STARTED

STIMULATE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA As cities compete to attract companies, be creative using social media tools to attract and interact with site selectors and company decision

16 STIMULATE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA As cities compete to attract companies, be creative using social media tools to attract and interact with site selectors and company decision makers nationally and globally. That may require adding additional social media sites to the mix. Think YouTube, Google+ and Instagram. Listen to the concerns businesses may have as to why our city may be edged out of the competition. Rebranding or strengthening the city image may be necessary. What or why are businesses deciding to relocate their companies to our city? Play up those strengths and address our weaknesses. Linking job seekers to jobs is another major aspect of economic development, and social media has been a useful way for economic development groups to promote and get results.

Best Practices for Social Media

Best Practices for Social Media Facebook Guide to Facebook Facebook is good for: Sharing content links, pictures, text, events, etc that is meant to be shared widely and around which communities and individuals