City of Morgan Hill Communications Assessment

(Facebook), the Centennial Recreation Senior Center (Facebook), Skate/BMX Park (Facebook), Sister Cities (Facebook), Economic Development (Facebook), and Youth Action Council (Facebook). The City links to its main Facebook, Twitter and YouTube accounts in the header of www.morganhill.ca.gov , and links to its Facebook and Twitter accounts in the footer. The City employs a federated model when it comes to social media marketing: each Department or Facility with a social media asset is responsible for keeping it updated and responding to posts/comments/mentions. Maureen Tobin is the primary teammate responding to comments on the City’s Nextdoor.com posts and its main Facebook Page (City of Morgan Hill - Engage), and she frequently shares Posts from other City-related Facebook Pages, such as the Economic Development Department and the Police Department. Maureen has at least Editor-level (if not Admin-level) permissions on all official City Facebook Pages, except the Police Department's Facebook Page . Currently, there is no formal written policy that outlines how social media managers and other staff should utilize social media, nor that outlines processes for providing and removing staff access to social media accounts. Multiple people have the ability to post on the City’s main accounts, which can occasionally result in short periods of inactivity followed by a flurry of posts in a single day. From June 1, 2016 to November 1, 2016, the City “Boosted” 14 Facebook Page Posts three times (spending an average of $27.72 each time) with noticeable positive results in terms of increased Reach and Engagement. The City uses funds from its Communications and Engagement budget and its Community Services Marketing budget for Facebook advertising. As of this writing, there is no set monthly or annual amount dedicated to social media advertising, though. While there is no “master” content calendar that lays out all the posts to be made across the City’s various social media assets, the City’s multiple social media managers appear to have a strong grasp on what content to post and when. Tripepi Smith noted that the large majority of the City’s Constant Contact emails are ‘auto-posted’ to the City’s main Facebook Page and Twitter Profile. This eases the burden on social media managers, but is generally advised against for a couple reasons: 1. The formatting of an auto-post is usually either too short to provide context or too long and gets cut off. 2. Facebook’s algorithm places higher value on Posts created from the Facebook desktop platform or mobile app. These “native” Posts will have an advantage in terms of Reach. Facebook The City’s main Facebook Page has the fourth-largest audience of any City-owned social media site with 2,650+ Page Likes. Posting activity on this Page is relatively high, sometimes multiple times per day, due in part to its multiple Page Admins. The Page could take better advantage

14 “Boosting” a Facebook Page post means paying a relatively small amount for Facebook to show the post to an expanded and/or targeted audience, similar to an ad. “Boosted” posts appear higher in users’ Facebook News Feeds, improving the Reach of the post and, often, the Engagement Rate as well.

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