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Establishing a Facebook Presence

Craft a Strategy                               

Like all social platforms, it is essential that you establish a plan before opening your account.  Be thoughtful about the story that you would like to convey and the audience that you hope to reach. Who are your targeted followers?  Determine what information will be shared that will keep your followers engaged and connected to your social program.  Who are your new media partners and how can you best leverage their content to increase your perceived value?

Be sure that you have agency specific guidelines in place and that your Facebook strategy and objectives are in line with their expectations.  Get proper approval before establishing an account and work closely with your communications office to ensure that you are adhering to the hub and spoke business model employed state wide.  Leadership buy-in is essential to the success of your social media program.

Creating a social media team will lessen the burden of any one manager while keeping your program continuously interesting and fresh.  Develop a schedule for Facebook updates and monitoring and share calendar events among the team.  Three to four people is preferable although not always possible.

Create a Page

Establishing a Facebook account is a simple and cost free process. You must establish a personal profile initially but that should not contain any but the required content. Please do not accept friends from this personal page.  Multiple administrators can be added who will have the ability to edit page content and post and monitor on the page wall. 

All state government accounts should be established as Facebook government pages, under the “Company, Organization, or Institution” button.  It is now possible for pages to connect to other pages and this should be accomplished for all departmental Facebook accounts in order to raise the department’s combined presence.  Remember to add as much content as possible including your agencies logo, contact information, photos and most importantly, your website address.  This is your space to tell your story to the public. 

Post Your Web Address on Your Wall The only requirement is that your web address be clearly stated on your Facebook page wall.  In order for us to agree to the Facebook terms of service agreement, all government entities must post their department URL on their home page.

Best PracticesThere are quite a few best practices which will help to establish your Facebook page as an effective tool for your department or program. 

  • Be sure that you utilize all space available on your page.  Please see the Social Media Graphics link for more information on file size requirements.
  • Remember that even the photo strip can be used as a marketing tool by adding text and graphics. 
  • Be consistent with your profile images and thumbnail so that your department is easily recognizable although be aware that even your profile picture space can be used to market special events or raise awareness of a particular issue at times. 
  • Keep your information up to date and provide links to your website. 
  • Become familiar with your account settings, filters and permissions and customize them to align with your goals and expectations.

Once you have established your Facebook page, it is a good idea to invite your departmental co workers to be the first to “like” it.  This allows you to get initial feedback from people that understand your goals and to make the necessary adjustments early.  When you reach 25 followers, you are able to establish a custom URL.  Be sure to take advantage of this tool so that others can access your page easily using a search engine.

Monitoring Your Page

A Facebook page should be checked once a day at a minimum to interact with customers and monitor comments.  Posting your information or photos can ensue as it relates to agency activity, but responding to constituents must be a frequent responsibility.  Try to add value through worthwhile information and engaging images and video.  Lastly, be the first to respond to your own mistakes.  Acknowledge when you have made an error and modify the content.

Facebook users are not confined to a normal work day so it is important that you post on weekends and evenings regularly.  Respond to constituents directly using the comments section but always message them if your feedback is sensitive in nature. 

Be mindful that your social media posts do not read like excerpts from a press release.  Allow your posts to contain some personality.  This will help you retain followers.  Consider a fan of the month or other contest to keep followers engaged.  Finally, use the @ symbol to post on other pages walls to build followers.