This is one in a series of posts pulled from Chris Brogan’s “100 blog topics I hope YOU write.” (#3)
I absolutely think that my town should use social media. I just spent some time reviewing the town’s website, and I’m impressed at how much information is there and how often it appears to be updated. However, seeing as I’ve lived in this town for 5 and a half years and have never visited the site before, I wonder of what sort of traffic this site gets.
Basic ways I think that my town should embrace social media:
- Create a Facebook fan page. This doesn’t take much time at all, and it creates a great portal for residents to get information on what’s new and happening. Especially now with the new page layouts/page status updates. I can’t imagine why anyone who lives here wouldn’t become a fan of the town, and the exposure to new content available on the town’s site would likely increase the activity on the site. A Facebook fan page could also provide a spot for locals to discuss events being announced on the page, discuss local town news, share knowledge and opinions, etc. There are so many resources for creation of Facebook pages, such as this great white paper from The Advance Guard, so there is really no excuse for not taking some time to create a page, especially as Facebook keeps growing and growing.
- Get a Twitter account. I realize that this is becoming standard fare now, and look at the explosion of Twitter across multiple demographic groups. Twitter and Facebook can be synched together to expand the availability of updates on new happenings in town or new site content. Not to mention the power of Twitter Search when it comes to people talking about the town and surrounding areas. I have had a few wonderful experiences in the last few months with mentioning something in a tweet and hearing back from someone representing that interest, and being completely helpful. (Look at @visitPA for an example of this – I mentioned a visit to one place in PA and after they alerted me to their site, I am planning a much more involved trip.)
I’m sure the process of getting the town involved with social media would have to be a process with steps, but I think these are two major steps that would start to really develop the footprint of my town in the social web.
Does your town participate in social media? Do you think your town SHOULD participate in social media? What are your ideas for this?
