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SOCIAL MEDIA GUIDELINES
The City uses social media to further the goals and missions of its departments. Social media is
intended to supplement the use of traditional media and provide an additional avenue to engage
with the public in a professional, courteous and responsive manner. The use of social media
allows the City to communicate directly to its citizens, conveying messages that are timely,
relevant and informative to a wide-ranging audience.
Social media is broadly defined as internet-based communication tools, including but not limited
to, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Nextdoor and Instagram.
The City has not historically used social media except for Twitter. Accordingly, these guidelines
are initially intended to allow the City to begin using social media by limited staff members in a
manner to quickly identify and address any issues prior to widespread usage by other City staff
after such issues have been addressed.
In Administrative Policy No. 300.020: Communications, it is stated that, "posted content shall be
consistent with the guidelines developed by the Economic Development Manager and approved
by the City Manager. The guidelines are as follows:
ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
City Manager shall be responsible for approving any created social media sites/profiles and shall
designate staff that have the authority to post information to social media. Since the City is
beginning social media usage, initially the only staff member authorized to request accounts shall
be the City's Public Information Officer (PIO). PIO and designated economic development staff
shall be the only staff members allowed to post.
IT personnel shall serve as the creators of all social media accounts and assign access rights to
other City staff as needed. IT personnel shall keep informed of current trends and best practices
in security and retention of social media. IT shall set up social media account archiving through
Page Freezer or other suitable methods.
Economic Development Manager shall maintain the social media guidelines and provide input to
PIO in creation of new social media accounts. Any modification to the social media guidelines
shall be reviewed and subject to approval by the City Manager.
Public Information Officer(PIO) shall work with City departments to identify needed social
media accounts; develop plans to allow creation and operation of social media accounts;
maintain social media accounts, including receiving and posting information from City
departments through social media; develop social media strategies; keep up with new
developments in social media; and set standards for measuring effectiveness of social media. PIO
shall keep an inventory of all official City social media accounts.
PIO, Economic Development Manager, and IT shall coordinate with the City Clerk's office to
retain all social media records in accordance with applicable state and local retention laws, rules,
and policies.
PIO shall adhere to these guidelines for posting and maintaining official City of Spokane Valley
social media accounts.
Department directors and/or division managers are responsible for monitoring content provided
by their departments for use on social media.
CREATION OF ACCOUNTS
When planning to launch a new social media account, PIO, in coordination with department
staff, shall create a plan that details how the account will further the goals of the department or
City and include:
• Target audiences
• Goals and objectives
• Justification for the particular platform and how it reaches target audiences
• Staff who will be designated to provide information to PIO to post on platform
• Examples of information that will be shared
• Frequency of posting. Accounts must be able to generate enough newsworthy content
to post following best practices for that platform (e.g. daily for Facebook).
• Resources needed, including separate management software or budget
Plans shall be comprehensive and show that the requested platform will provide meaningful
distribution of City information and best practices of applying its use.
Once the plan is completed, it shall be reviewed by the Economic Development Manager, who
shall add input or comments before forwarding to the City Manager for a decision.
After authorization from the City Manager, PIO shall work with IT to set up creation of an
account following best practices. No personal accounts shall be tied to official City of Spokane
Valley social media accounts.
POSTING GUIDELINES
All social media accounts representing the City of Spokane Valley shall adhere to other
applicable State and local laws and City policies, including but not limited to non-discrimination
laws and policies. Further, social media account postings shall adhere to brand standards and
values. Photos, images, colors, logos, etc. used shall align with the City's logo laws and any
brand guidelines.
Content shall highlight the City of Spokane Valley as a great place to work and live. That is the
guiding principle. There should be a mix of self-promotional posts that show off the City's good
works, public art, parks and businesses, as well as informational posts that share important
information about roads, snow preparation, City events and activities, and upcoming meetings
and calls for volunteers. All postings shall be civil, informational, and succinct.
PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT
The City of Spokane Valley welcomes dialogue with the public. Social media tools reach a new
and different audience from traditional media sources and can improve interactivity between the
City and the public. However, the primary usage for the City's social media shall be distribution
of City information and messages. Accordingly, the City's social media shall only be a limited
public form and the City shall not be required to allow any and all dialogue that users desire to
post. The City hereby establishes the following commenting use terms and conditions that shall
apply to any site user/visitor. Such terms and conditions shall be prominently displayed on each
social media account in substantially the same form as provided below and all public use of the
City's social media account(s) shall be subject to acceptance and agreement to the terms and
conditions.
Terms and Conditions
Individuals accessing or using this site accept the terms and conditions stated on this page
without limitation or qualification. These terms and conditions apply only to the [Social
Media Account] managed by the City of Spokane Valley. The City of Spokane Valley
maintains the right to modify these terms and conditions without notice, and any
modification is effective immediately upon posting to this page unless otherwise stated.
Continued access or use of this site following the City's posting of any modification
signifies acceptance of such modification.
In addition, all users of the City of Spokane Valley [Social Media Account] page are
subject to the f Social Media Account] statement of rights and responsibilities and other
applicable terms. The City of Spokane Valley has no control over [Social Media
Account's] privacy policy or the company's modifications to it. The City of Spokane
Valley also has no control over content, commercial advertisements, or other postings
produced or distributed by [Social Media Account] that appear on the City of Spokane
Valley [Social Media Account] page as part of the [Social Media Account] environment.
The City of Spokane Valley operates and maintains its [Social Media Account] page as a
public service to provide information about City programs, services, projects, issues,
events and activities. The City of Spokane Valley assumes no liability for any
inaccuracies this site may contain and does not guarantee that this site will be
uninterrupted or error-free. Information and comments posted on the City of Spokane
Valley [Social Media Account] page in no way constitutes a legal or official notice or
comment to the City of Spokane Valley.
Commenting Policy
The City of Spokane Valley [Social Media Account] page is a limited public forum. We
encourage people to use the comments function to ask questions and share thoughts as
they relate to the topic being discussed. We expect comments generally to be relevant and
courteous. To that end, the City of Spokane Valley has established the criteria below
regarding comments, and reserves the right and discretion to remove comments that are
consistent with these criteria.
The City of Spokane Valley reserves the right to remove comments that:
• Contain obscene, harassing or profane language
• Contain threats, personal attacks, or defamatory statements
• Contain hate speech directed at race, color, sex, sexual orientation, national origin,
ethnicity, age, religion or disability or discrimination of any kind
• Constitute advertising or promote or endorse specific commercial services or products
• Compromise the safety or security of the public or public systems
• Support or oppose political candidates or ballot propositions
• Are not topically related to the particular post being commented upon
• Violate the [Social Media Account] statement of rights and responsibilities
The City may remove comments without notice or explanation. Due to the nature of this
page, we cannot assure users that comments or questions made on this page will become
part of the official record for any particular issue. People who wish their opinions,
compliments and concerns to be officially on record or responded to in a timely manner
should use standard means of commenting via mail, email or telephone and direct them to
the appropriate department or contract person.
The views expressed in comments reflect those of the author and do not necessarily
reflect the official views of the City of Spokane Valley. The City of Spokane Valley
retains no responsibility or liability for comments that are posted by the author. Even
when deleted, by the author or by the City based on the criteria above, comments may be
subject to disclosure. See "Public Disclosure" below. The City of Spokane Valley shall
not be obligated to remove any comments except as determined in its sole discretion.
The City may block any non-City user for violating the terms and conditions and
commenting policy.
Timely Review
We recognize that the internet is a medium unbound by regular business hours and
comments are welcome at any time. Given the need to manage City resources, however,
comments will generally be reviewed only during regular business hours Monday
through Friday. Questions posted in comment sections may or may not be reviewed
quickly or receive a timely answer. Inappropriate comments made by non-City authors
may or may not be removed in a timely manner.
Copyright
Copyrighted and other proprietary material may not be posted or submitted in any form
unless permission to do so is clearly indicated. In posting his or her own comments or
other work, a commenter grants the City and anyone viewing the site irrevocable
permission to copy, distribute, make derivatives, display or perform the commenter's
work publicly and free-of-charge.
Public Disclosure
Information posted by the City of Spokane Valley and comments posted to this page by
other authors are subject to the disclosure requirements of the Public Records Act, RCW
42.56. Public disclosure requests should be directed to the City's Public Disclosure
Officer.
The City may modify the terms and conditions for any particular social media account at any
time, subject to City Manager or designee approval.
Review
We recognize that the internet is a medium unbound by regular business hours and comments are
welcome at any time. Given the need to manage City resources, however, comments will
generally be reviewed only during regular business hours Monday through Friday.
During normal business hours, it is the responsibility of the PIO to work with other City staff to
respond to questions, messages and comments as appropriate. However, the City shall not be
required to respond to any particular post. Responses may also be provided by other means as
may be appropriate, such as email. The City has other means for accepting specific citizen
complaints and questions, and the City may refer posters to such means to allow proper
responses through normal channels. Any response from the City on social media shall be civil,
informational, and succinct.
Accounts with the ability to send auto-responses to messages (such as Facebook)will utilize this
feature, letting citizens know the City's normal business hours and the best way to report
problems, ideally directing them to the City website or SVexpress. Optional profanity blockers
will also be turned on when available. For example, Facebook offers a filter that can block
profane words.
City of Spokane Valley Facebook Plan
Purpose
In late 2016,Atlas Advertising created a marketing strategy for the City of Spokane Valley with community
engagement as one of the primary goals.The objectives are to foster a sense of community pride and
encourage others to visit and relocate.To be successful,the plan also requires the implementation of social
media, including Facebook specifically, as a way to connect with residents.
Target Audiences
Residents in the City of Spokane Valley as well as residents of the entire surrounding metropolitan service
area, news media and community leaders.
Why Facebook?
Facebook is the world's largest social media site. Facebook is used by a majority of Americans across a wide
range of demographic groups.According to a 2018 Pew Research Study, roughly two-thirds(68 percent)of
U.S. adults report they are Facebook users,and around three-quarters of those users says they access
Facebook on a daily basis.
Expanding to Facebook opens the City of Spokane Valley to a whole new audience. Only 32 percent of
Facebook users say they also use Twitter,while 90 percent of Twitter users say they use Facebook.
According to another Pew Research Study from 2017,about 67 percent of American adults somewhat rely on
social media platforms for news. Facebook remained as the dominant platform for news with 45 percent of
American adults saying they get news from the social media site.
Another Pew Research Study from 2013 found that 39 percent of adults do political or civic activities on social
networking sites,which includes reposting government content.
Goals and Objectives
Facebook will provide a new platform for the City to directly engage with community members. Since the
current social media presence is limited to Twitter and YouTube,these goals reflect setting up a new account,
which will need to be closely monitored to gather information about its audience and effectiveness.
1. Grow audience to at least 1,000 likes or followers by January 2020.This will give the platform about
one year to grow to this size, but it should only be the beginning. Looking at other Washington cities
around the same population, Facebook followers range from 1,500 to close to 10,000. But this varies
by location, how long the city has been using Facebook and content shared.A goal of 1,000 for the
first year is attainable and will provide enough of an audience to determine what is working and
what is not on the page.
2. Measure average conversion and engagement rates to create a baseline.As the page is created, it
will take a little time to figure out what resonates most with the target audience. It won't be enough
to measure followers and likes. Keeping track of each post's conversion (clicked link,filled out form,
etc.)and engagement(shared or commented)will be important to create future goals.
Staff and Resources
Staff designated to share on the official City of Spokane Valley Facebook page include Public Information
Officer, Economic Development Specialist and Economic Development Office Assistant.
Staff will work with IT to create secure logins using a third-party social media manager. Hootsuite is the
recommended tool to manage both Facebook and Twitter(and other accounts as created,such as
Instagram).The "Team Account" allows for three users, unlimited scheduling and 20 social media accounts.
Atlas Advertising's marketing strategy also recommends consolidating social media management with one
tool.
Additionally, Facebook's algorithm is making it increasingly difficult to build an audience organically,despite
the relevance of the content. Eventually organic reach might be zero.To provide the best opportunity to
reach City of Spokane Valley residents,there will need to be some paid advertising. As part of the marketing
contract with KREM, ads are planned for a city Facebook page with the KREM team as the advertising
managers. Resources are already set aside for digital ads through the KREM contract, and having a Facebook
page will only enhance that strategy.
Content
Content will highlight the City of Spokane Valley as a great place to work and live. That is the guiding
principle.There is incredible photography of the region's landscape and outdoor recreational opportunities.
There should be a mix of self-promotional posts that show off the city's good works, public art, parks and
businesses as well as informational posts that share important information about roads, snow preparation
and upcoming meetings and calls for volunteers.
The Facebook page can also be used to share relevant information from city partners, like the Spokane Valley
Chamber, local nonprofits, police,fire,animal control and schools.
The PIO will develop a content calendar to create a framework for the types of posts and how often.As a
general rule,there will be at least three-four times each week. Much of the same content can be shared
across platforms with little editing. Create once, publish everywhere(COPE) is the practice of repurposing
content to get the widest use and audience. By developing strong stories and images and publishing on a
number of platforms,the city will work more efficiently.
A content repository will be created for all content that can be written/designed ahead of time. Examples
include when offices will be closed,annual events like street cleaning and evergreen posts that can be shared
at any time.
All content will be in adherence of the city's communications policy and social media guidelines.