Agenda - 03-06-2014 - 6a - Laserfiche WebLink

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16 1 Todd McGee noted the importance of a county's website as an existing channel not only 2 to provide information to citizens, but also to learn (e.g. from statistics about page visits) 3 about what kinds of information citizens are most interested in. Then a county might 4 figure ways to feature that information more prominently. 5 6 In response to a question from Commissioner Gordon, Todd McGee clarified that a 7 "crisis communication plan" should be part of your overall communications plan. He 8 said two choices are to either: take an existing plan and tweak it; or, start from scratch. 9 If you decide to start from scratch, these are the elements that should be included. 10 11 Michael Talbert noted that while doing research on this topic, he found an entity that had 12 a full plan, but that decided to do a separate strategic communications plan around 13 dealing with the great recession. He cited this as an example of an event in your 14 community that may warrant something special. Todd McGee observed that a bond 15 referendum such as the Commissioners discussed earlier in the day might be an 16 example of that type of special event. 17 18 Commissioner Price asked where a county typically puts a crisis communication plan. 19 20 Todd McGee said that in an active crisis, it is important to have one speaker. Who that 21 person is depends on the nature of the crisis (e.g. Sheriff, Emergency Management 22 Director, Public Health Director). He said it is important to spread the word through as 23 many channels as possible. 24 25 • Take stock of external elements 26 — Identify Partners 27 — Survey Citizens 28 — Local media 29 30 • Set goals and objectives 31 — Tie goals to mission and values 32 — Objectives should be specific and measurable 33 — Determine strategies for each goal 34 35 Rod Visser asked if Commissioners had any further questions about things that Todd 36 McGee had specifically addressed in his presentation, or did not address. 37 38 Commissioner Rich asked about what a social media policy entails. Todd McGee said 39 that you have to plan for how you will use social media before you get involved. The 40 worst thing you can do is start a Twitter feed or Facebook page, update it like crazy for a 41 month, and then forget about it. A plan would identify appropriate channels to use and 42 who would be responsible for keeping them updated. Consider whether you have 43 countywide accounts/pages or whether individual departments may have them. 44 Consider whether to use the county seal on all — it is a great branding opportunity. 45 Consider whether you allow public comments, and if so, what do you do with them. 46 Twitter should be updated at least 2-3 times per week. You may get away with updating 47 Facebook only 1-2 per week. Remember you can use social media to push 48 notifications. More than 50% of mobile phone users have Facebook on their phones. A 49 notification about a tornado, for example, could be put on a county Facebook page and 50 pushed to all those phones. 51 52 This concluded Todd McGee's presentation. 53 54 55 B. Discussion/Plan Outline (Todd McGee & Rod Visser)