Recommendations

 

  1. Design a social media strategy that supports the mission of your individual organization.
  2. Recycle information through retweeting, sharing, and cutting and pasting. Many EM organizations are 
sharing general, relevant emergency information for the public, so should you.
  3. Build a trusted online community that perceives your updates as valuable and that is willing to 
share your updates within its own networks.
  4. Identify non-governmental knowledge hubs in your network and encourage them to share your 
updates with their network.
  5. Be creative. Think about social media tactics beyond pushing out press releases. E.g., look for 
helpful infographics by other organizations—and share them!
  6. Photos and infographics are engaging content that draws people back to your social media feed 
and keeps them engaged.
  7. Understand your audience. What are its characteristics and expectations?
  8. Situational awareness—understand that there’s a 24/7 expectation by social media followers, but 
avoid automatic updates during a crisis.
  9. Share outside the crisis. Offer valuable information even when there is no need to inform the 
public of crimes, emergencies, and disasters.
  10. Set a daily routine—using social media “management suites” (such as HootSuite 
http://hootsuite.com), you can write several updates at once and push them out on multiple 
channels at set intervals.
  11. Respond to citizen requests—this will increase trust and transparency. People will start to pay 
attention.
  12. Design a social media policy to help your team and citizens understand what is appropriate 
online behavior when it comes to commenting and conduct on your channels.
  13. Assign organizational responsibilities and roles. Distribute light work across many shoulders 
(strategists, content curators, content providers, etc.)
  14. Test and adopt new tools and techniques. Provide more training and place an increased focus on 
formalizing internal procedures.
  15. Measure your impact: Who is listening? Which channels are most used? What content is 
perceived as valuable? Many social media products offer their own, easy-to-use analytical tools.