Evolving

Government Communications

in the Social Media Age

Cameron SatterfieldCommunications Manager

King County Department of Executive Services

June 20, 2017

About MeBackground

Journalism and mass communications degree

TV news producer and director

PIO and communications manager

Role Oversee media relations, internal employee

communications, and social media

Provide strategic direction and coaching

for communications team

Who Said It?

"What's this 'Twitter' thing? You

can't tell a whole story in 140

characters! It'll be gone soon."

Who Said It?

"What's this 'Twitter' thing? You

can't tell a whole story in 140

characters! It'll be gone soon."

Cameron Satterfield

2007

Fast Forward: 2017

Twitter is top social media

channel for King County

Continuous monitoring via

Hootsuite

Often our first indication of

emerging issues

Recent Example

Flashback: 2009

H1N1 "swine" flu pandemic 59 million infected

265,000 hospitalized

12,000 diedSource: CDC

FightTheFluMO

Coordinated statewide

social media campaign Facebook

Twitter

Blog

YouTube

FightTheFluMO

Lessons Learned

Consistent message very powerful

Still allows for customization

No media filter

Easy to coordinate and collaborate

Cheap (i.e. FREE)

Go West!

Then and Now

2011 2017

■ Media relations

■ Internal

communications

■ Other duties

■ Social media

Social at King County

200+ social media channels 360,000 followers

Second-largest social media

presence of any U.S. county

35 blogs 1 million page views

Social at King County

Top 5 on Twitter @kcmetrobus - 97,100

@kcnews - 63,000

@kccouncil - 13,600

@kingcosopio - 13,100

@kcexec - 10,900

Why Twitter?

Instant, unfiltered* reach

More followers

Better suited to our

audience(s)

Threading and hashtags

Fail Forward

November 2010 snowstorm

"@kcnews is for news

releases, @kcalerts is for

emergency info"

What Happened?

Residents and media didn't

follow @kcalerts, missed vital

information

Had to retweet from

@kcnews anyway

What Happened?

January 2012 snowstorm Emergency Management

"takes over" @kcnews

@kcnews now primary source

for "all" information

Much more efficient!

Continuous ImprovementMay 2017 Severe Storms

Continuous Improvement

Another ImprovementSocial Media Action Plan (SMAP) How social media fits into overall

communications strategy

Why a specific channel is best

Objectives, goals, and metrics

Target audience(s)

Resources needed

Equity and social justice considerations

What's Next?

Boost public feedback Peak Democracy

Multi-language outreach

Use public feedback Integrate learnings into reports

and strategic plans

What's Next?

New channels? Snapchat

Yelp

_______________

Live video Facebook Live

Twitter/Periscope

Experimenting

Experimenting

What's Next?Live Updates from the

Emergency Coordination Center

What's Next?Alert and Warning System

The Power of Social

The Power of Social

The Power of Social

The Power of Social

2,000 blog views

450 Facebook shares

50 adoption inquiries

One new home for Robin

The Power of Social

Even a

"throwaway"

post can

have impact!

The Power of Social

Right people

Right information

Right time

Right decision

The Power of Social

"We don't have a choice

on whether we do social

media. The question is how

well we do it."Erik Qualman

Communications Professor

Author of "Socialnomics"

Your Turn

Thank you!

Cameron Satterfield cameron.satterfield@kingcounty.gov

206-263-9758

@CJSatter

www.kingcounty.gov/connect