DEFINITIONS
Blocking – Means stopping a particular user from directly viewing, responding to or making comments on a social media page.
Bots – Are programs that artificially behave, interact with other programs or generate content as if by an actual person or user.
Content – Any information that is communicated on a social media channel.
Muting – Means hiding a user’s shared content from a person’s timeline without otherwise restricting that user’s access to a social media platform.
Social Media – Internet-based websites and applications that enable the creation and sharing of content or to participate in social networking. Includes social and professional networks, video and photo sharing, blogs, message boards, webcasting, etc.
Social Media Administrator – The individual at the Commission who is in charge of a specific social media account. This person has the ability to moderate a social media account including posting, commenting and deleting comments based on the Commission’s policy guidelines for social media.
Spam – Is bulk unwanted or unsolicited electronic communications that is often sent out automatically; it can be used as a way to artificially generate credibility, support or dissent for a point of view, often involving posting excessive links or images to an individual’s timeline.
Trolls or Disrupters – Are individuals that intentionally initiate on-line conflict or havoc. Activity may include flaming or repeating insults, verbally attacking users, posting off-topic or provocative content.
ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: is responsible for managing the overall brand and reputation of the Commission and ensuring that it achieves its communication objectives. Social media has been identified as a key component in promoting the Commission in its Strategic Communications Plan.
SOCIAL MEDIA ADMINISTRATORS: are appointed by the Executive Director and are responsible for monitoring Commission accounts and posting content that reflects the Commission’s brand and vision. They will report all offensive materials (pictures, comments, etc.) posted to any of the Commission’s social media accounts to the Executive Director for further action. All administrators must take social media training as identified by the Executive Director.
Social Media Administrators will ensure all log on information for each account is placed in a secure location and kept confidential. Log on credentials (user names, passwords) will not be shared unless authorized by the Executive Director.
The Social Media Administrator will keep track of analytics for each account and will produce reports for the Executive Director as required.
POSTING CONTENT
All posts to Commission social media accounts must align with current brand (logo, font, colours, etc.) and any other templates developed for this purpose.
All content posted to social media accounts must comply with the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIP), Canadian Anti-Spam legislation, and intellectual property legislation.
The Commission will post content that promotes stories within the Service or Commission that are positive and favourable to both organizations.
Posts can also be used to clarify stories in mass media that are inaccurate or require supplemental information.
Social media posts will act as an additional tool to promote Commission News Releases and Media Advisories.
Content for all accounts will be created and/or approved by the Executive Director and will be passed onto the social media administrator for posting.
Social Media Administrators should strive to upload and/or engage with the Commission’s social media accounts at least one day per week to ensure the Commission is achieving its communication goals and maintains a dynamic and engaging relationship with the public.
The Commission will share, like or favorite other organizations social posts (eg., Edmonton Police Service, City of Edmonton) as long as it aligns with the Commission’s role in some form and would be received as positive support for that organization. NOTE: The Commission will not share any posts from media outlets.
CREATING SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT
TWITTER: Twitter allows you to tweet (send a message) to everyone who follows you or who searches content included in a tweet. You can also Retweet (re-post someone else’s tweet) to all your followers, or direct message (send a private message) to anyone on twitter.
TYPES OF TWEETS:
TWEET: a message you send out to all of your followers
REPLY: a tweet directed at a certain user or users, but can be seen by anyone. To send to a certain person begin the tweet with their username (also known as their handle) e.g., (@cityofedmonton, @DMMcFee)
MENTION: A tweet that has a user’s handle in the tweet. They will be notified of this tweet, but it will be seen by all of your followers. (e.g. Thanks to @edmontonpolice for hosting the Citizen Awards)
RETWEET: You can repost a person’s tweet to your followers by pressing the retweet icon.
DIRECT MESSAGE: You can send private tweets that will only be seen by the person you are sending them to.
BASICS:
- Tweets can be a maximum of 280 characters, including all spaces and punctuation. Direct Messages can be up to 10,000 characters.
- You can provide a link in a tweet to a website, video, etc. No matter the size of the link they can be shortened. This shortened form will take up 18 characters of your tweet. This shortened link can be tracked for analytics and reporting.
- You cannot hyperlink words in a tweet, but you can have more than one link in a tweet (although not recommended).
- An image can be attached to a tweet. An image will take up 22 characters. Your image should be in the highest quality possible. Images need to be submitted in JPG, PNG or GIF format and under 5 MB.
- Hashtags are keywords that have a # in front of them. These allow you to reach a certain audience as Twitter users search or follow certain hashtags. Some common ones used in Edmonton are #yeg, #yegcc and #yegdt. Most North American cities use their airport code to identify themselves on Twitter. Try to use the hashtags the City already uses and limit the number of hashtags used in each tweet. If the social media administrator wants to create a new hashtag they must seek approval of the Executive Director first.
- When creating a response to a tweet make sure you remember to count the characters of the user’s username you are responding to, as it will take up space in the tweet. Eg. @DMMcFee = 7 characters.
TONE & CONTENT SPECIFIC TO TWITTER: - Use plain language. Imagine the audience has limited to no understanding of the topic you are presenting.
- You have limited space, but make it fun and engaging.
- Keep them short. Shorter tweets are more likely to get retweeted.
FACEBOOK:
Facebook is a social media platform where users create their own page which can be updated with content at their discretion. Users receive information via their newsfeed, which features updates from pages they like, friends or advertisers.
The Facebook page for the Commission was created in March 2021 and features posts and events specific to the Commission including live-streaming of public Commission meetings. Users have the ability to like (an easy way for a user to let someone know that they enjoyed a post), share (sharing a post allows a user to share the post with their friends), or comment on any of our posts or events.
BASICS: - A Facebook post is limited to 63,206 characters, but it is recommended that you limit each post to a maximum of 4 sentences.
- The ideal Facebook post is around 50 characters (or fewer) which tends to get the best engagement.
- Include a link to the Commission’s webpage for more information, unless the post is just a statement.
- Include a high-quality photo. If you don’t include a photo, Facebook will auto-populate the post with a photo from the website link you provided, but the image could be low resolution.
- You can also post a video link or upload a video to Facebook.
- Both images and videos do not count towards the total character limit.
SOCIAL MEDIA MONITORING:
Commission social media accounts will be monitored on regular workdays between 8 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
A contact disclaimer and acceptable use information will be clearly posted to all Commission social media profiles and accounts.
Social Media Administrators will monitor the Commission’s social media accounts daily and report any trends or conversations to the Executive Director that might require key messages to be developed and/or to be on top of issues before they escalate.
If an external user tries to engage with the Commission the Social Media Administrator, in consultation with the Executive Director, can determine if their comments warrant a response. There is a public expectation that answers to questions will be provided as quickly as possible and
the Social Media Administrator will ensure that information contained in responses is correct and accurate and is presented in a polite, respectful way. Information will not be provided that could compromise public safety or security, or operations of the Commission and/or Service. The Commission will strive to respond to relevant questions however the Commission acknowledges they cannot engage in all conversations and the Executive Director reserves the right to use their judgement in selecting the messages the Commission responds to.
When the Social Media Administrator encounters an individual or organization that engages the Commission in a disrespectful manner on any of their social media accounts, they have the ability to hide and delete posts or block users. Trolls and trolling comments will also not be permitted. It is preferred that comments are hidden before they are deleted or blocking a user is considered. The Social Media Administrator will consult with the Executive Director on any activity that may also violate any of the Commission’s policies, such as the Respectful Workplace policy, to get advice on how to handle.
When managing the Commission’s social media accounts, the Social Media Administrator will err on the side of freedom of expression and will allow residents to engage on these public forums. It is the Commission’s preference not to ban or block users on social media, but if an individual violates Commission policies repeatedly and/or there is ongoing harassment, then there is recourse for denying them access to the Commission’s social media accounts. Record of these violations will be kept, if the individual or group in question contacts media or tries to take legal action.
The Social Media Administrator will monitor the analytics for each of the Commission’s social media accounts and will report the data to the Executive Director as requested. The performance measures contained within these analytics provides an in-depth look at the Commission’s social media presence and how it compares to previous years or months. Analytics are a good way to see how the Commission’s posts are performing and can give a solid indication of which posts are resonating with the public. The Social Media Administrator will analyze each of the Commission’s accounts using analytics to ensure the Commission is reaching their communication goals.