Telling Your Agency’s Story Through Social Media
There is a light at the end of the tunnel for agencies wishing to reach their social media goals: thoughtful storytelling. With strategic content, relevant imagery and a voice that’s authentic to your agency, you can aptly tell the story of your community. Share your organization’s history, community events, projects, news and pride, and your residents and other community members will gravitate to your online presence.
Below are key factors in successfully telling your story on social media:
Network Selection
To start off, select prime social media platforms for best reaching your audience. View the top four social media platforms we recommend to public agencies.
Strategic Planning
Successful social media begins with planning. The alternative, inadequate or no planning, positions important information and news to fall through the cracks. Benjamin Franklin had it right when he remarked, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”
To get ahead of the curve, leverage a communications calendar. This tool organizes holidays, campaigns, events and more. A bird’s-eye view of the upcoming months will give your staff time and forethought in crafting upcoming communications.
Content Creation
Once you have your plan, you can start to create impactful, relevant content for your target audiences.
View our 105 social media post ideas for public agencies. Regardless of the subject of your posts, follow the best practice of using photos or videos to enhance them.
Measuring Objectives
At Tripepi Smith, we believe in capturing important metrics to identify our clients’ growth and success on social media. Our suggested key performance indicators (KPIs) include counts on followers, likes, shares, comments, and clicks.
Collected and analyzed over time, qualitative and quantitative data establishes base lines, targets and benchmarks to identify successful post styles and content as well as understand your community’s online behaviors. They also help you answer the question of just how much of your public are you actually reaching.
Additionally, these metrics prove the value returned on the time, resources and money spent to keep up your social media accounts.
Partnering with City Staff
City staff are on the frontlines of agency events and initiatives, equipping them with information that’s waiting to be shared with the masses. Use their knowledge and expertise when developing your content calendar as well as responding to incoming inquiries.
Social media is a valuable and cost-effective tool for sharing your agency’s story. Your agency can transcend itself as simply a place to live and suddenly become a home where people thrive and communities come together (though we well-recognize the chasm that can be created in online discussions).
Tripepi Smith is available on retainer or as needed to provide social media strategy, management and coordination services. Numerous cities depend on Tripepi Smith to execute their digital strategies everyday. Contact us to learn how we can put our experience to work for your agency.