15 SOCIAL MEDIA TIPS FOR PARKS & REC IN 30 MINUTESCarla Pendergraft

Carla Pendergraft Associates

www.carlapendergraft.com

About You

How many are using social media personally?

How many are using social in your job? How many have restrictions on use of

social in job?

About You

How many are frustrated with how municipal culture is the polar opposite of the culture of the Internet and social media? Change-averse vs. embracing change Closed culture vs. open culture

Municipal Culture Roadblocks Social media may be seen as

superfluous to the mission Virus dangers Open Records, Open Meetings Acts Municipal managers often behind the

curve on technology

Your Mission

To let go of the need for your city to “get it”

To be the evangelist for social media To embrace and become comfortable

with constant change in the technologies To commit to lifelong self-teaching To purchase and use technology on your

own in order to learn it (e.g. iPhones)

Some Innovative Examples

Pearland PARD Facebook Page Most posts are by citizens, not staff People use it like a rec center bulletin board

Looking for basketball partners People asking questions of staff

Maintenance complaints Dates of recurring events Requests

15 SOCIAL MEDIA TIPSFOR PARKS AND RECREATION

1. Ask for input from citizens.

Name that park! Report maintenance problems – ask

citizens to be your eyes and ears Where should the next park be? What else?

2. Conduct a photo contest

Upload photos of their favorite park, activity, etc.

Include stipulation that you can use their photos in your publications

Ask them to upload directly to your Flickr group, or your Facebook page if you prefer

3. Create a group on Flickr, encourage people to post photos of your parks.

VisitAustinTx invites you to share your photos of Austin in their Flickr group pool, via Twitter.

Round Rock’s Flickr Group - >1,000 photos

4. Video contest

Video Contest - “Tell us how you have fun in (your city’s) parks”

Comedy is encouraged! Must be family-friendly Embed the best ones in your website.

Plano, Texas Parks and Recreation

47 videos posted by the City on YouTube

5. Decentralize posting responsibilities Have a team of people from your staff do

the posting. This creates a variety of voices Helps keep the content fresh and new Arlington PARD “signs” their posts: “Gary-

APRD”

6. Post Before and After Photos Before the flood and after the flood Before the park renovations and

afterward Before the skate park and after

Always have people in the shot! It’s not about the parks, it’s about the people.

7. Link all your web presences Home page of your Parks website should

have links to all your social media pages This is where people go to get the whole

picture Cross-post these links. On your Facebook

page, have links to all the others and so on.

8. Conduct a Contest

Ask people to tweet about one of your events for a chance to win a prize.

Example: Go to @wacopard and tweet, “I can’t wait for #pawsinthepark in Waco this Saturday!”

Benefits: you get publicity for your event among all their followers, Google will pick it up, and the hash tag will indicate the level of interest in the event and prize.

9. Incent people to friend and follow you

Example: “Become a Facebook friend of the Waco Parks and Rec Department. Each month we will give away a prize. New winners will be chosen exclusively from our fan base.”

10. Monitor key searches on Twitter. Use Tweetdeck, Hootsuite, etc. to create

a saved search “Waco Park” or “City of Waco” or

“Cameron Park” might be some typical ones

Monitor the use of these terms and respond where appropriate.

11. Encourage Hashtags

Decide what hashtags make sense for your department, and start publicizing them. That way, you can monitor the conversation and give people a way to express themselves that is less random than if they make them up themselves.

Examples: #wacoparks, #texasredsfestival, etc.

12. Use Foursquare

Foursquare is a location-based social networking site.

Foursquare cross posts to Twitter and its traffic is becoming hard to ignore.

“Do you manage this venue? Claim here”

Claim your listing, correct the information, post tips, create specials

13. Claim your offices on Google Places

Go to: www.google.com/places Will allow people to find your offices

more efficiently Positions your offices on Google Maps

14. Use Yelp

Review your parks and points of interest Encourage others to do the same

Yelp.com – “park” near 78701

Great job, Austin!Many reviews of Austin parks.

15. Monitor your reputation and online reviews Do regular Google searches on your key

terms and phrases Set a Google alert at

www.google.com/alerts/ Correct misinformation where you can Encourage positive reviews

Bonus Tip – Google Maps

You can create custom Google maps of all your recreational venues

Embed them in your website Easily update them with changes Create different maps for different things

Waco CVB Recreation page

Google map of recreation-al venues in Waco