Social Media Overview

Social Media Retention Policy

There is not an enterprise wide retention policy for social media. 

Agencies establish their own record retention schedules. Many agencies use their correspondence schedule for social media posts. 

Archive Social will archive all posts so the agency may have a permanent legal record of social media posts.

 This archive provides a legal record of social media posts which is important if the State were sued for removing a post that violated our social media policy.  

If you have questions about Archive Social or would like to add your agency accounts to this enterprise service please submit a Service Desk Request.  

There is no charge for agencies to use Archive Social as license funding is provided by IOWAccess.

Best Times to Post on Social Media

Sprout Social teamed up with the Harris Poll to better understand how consumers and use social in 2021.   This new report shares the best time to post.  

Generally it looks like the worst days to post are Wednesday and Saturday. 

Their report highlights several industries patterns but does not specifically mention government so check out the information for non-profits.    

The report also highlights best practices for various platforms like X (Formally known as Twitter):

• Best times: Wednesday 9 a.m.– 3 p.m., Tuesday through Thursday 9–11 a.m.
• Best day: Wednesday
• Worst day: Saturday

You can learn more current and update to date social media strategy tips in Sport Social's article "Best times to Post on Social media".

Social Media Security Tips

Did you start your day with planning your social media calendar?  Did those efforts include a review of the security practices for your social media platforms?  

If you have not turned on two factor authentication for login to Facebook, Twitter, and other platforms, please get this done.  Two factor authentication is the best first step in preventing cyber vandalism to your account.  
Here are some quick links to security recommendations for various social media platforms. 

Help with Linked In account names and duplicates

Instructions from LinkedIn on how to change the profile name.

Instructions on how to merge and close duplicate accounts.

Suggestions for dealing with a high volume of comments

The good people with the Government Social Media Organization shared these suggestions to help social media managers deal with the high volume of comments we are receiving during this unprecedented time.  Please reach out if you need help!

• Check your social media moderation policy first. What does it say about comments? Involve legal if it needs an update.

• Seeing a lot of misinformation? Set up a Fact Check webpage to quickly point commenters to the real info.

• Team of one? Involve other agency staff with clear parameters (such as monitoring only).

• Comments can get to you, so take a break, and recharge regularly.

Pew Research study on Social Media Use

Pew Research released this study of social media habits of U.S. adults in January and February of 2021.  

A growing share of Americans say they use YouTube and Facebook remains one of the most widely used online platforms amount U.S. Adults.  "With the exception of YouTube and Reddit, most platforms show little growth since 2019."  

If your agency is looking to post videos to your website and you don't have a YouTube channel just open a Service Desk Request and DOM DoIT can load your video to the State of Iowa YouTube channel.

Hashtags

Multiple hashtags are great for Instagram posts.  Facebook indicates you should keep it to 4 or less.

Stay up to date with the latest product updates and best practices, check out Facebook.com/GPA website

Check out these social media templates from Ready.Gov can help you get the word out about winter weather safety.

Ready.gov Winter Weather Social Media Templates

Here are their recommended hashtags:

#WinterSafety

#WinterStorm
Did you know you can follow weather alerts in up to 5 locations using the @fema app?  Good resource for all weather conditions!

Image and Video Size Guide

 “The 2020 Social Media Image Sizes Guide” explains to you what the best image sizes are for each social network and the image types to use. 

Every major social media platform is listed on here so you’re up-to-date with social media platform optimization.

Government Social Media Organization members suggested these mobile tools for video:

• Captioning with Autocap
  • This free tool is available on both Apple and Android devices.  Import or record a video and the app will auto-generate captions.  But, don’t worry, if it mistakes “emergency” for “emerging sea,” you can go in and manually change the words. Export and natively post on your agency’s social media to reach the largest audience possible.
• Mobile Based Video Editing with InShot
  • Edit like a pro on the go with InShot! Easily trim, cut, split, merge & adjust video speeds with a flick of your finger. Add in free vlog music (or your own), sound effects or voice-overs to make your video pop. InShot also has all the tools to resize your video and add colored borders so you can be Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat ready.

Preparing for crisis a social media checklist

The Government Social Media Organization published a good article and checklist about preparing for crisis.  

• Do you have a good way to monitor your accounts to track the questions, issues, and sentiments of Iowans so you can best respond?  

• Do you have a backup plan to bring in reinforcements when you get overwhelmed with the volume?  

In January of 2021 the DC Metro Police put out a call for help for Public Information Officers to assist in their digital communications and operations for the inauguration and brought in 5 PIOs from around the country to help. 

This is a great idea that you might try to replicate locally.  Who have you identified for backup if things get crazy?

One of the items on the checklist is archiving your social media accounts.  DOM DoIT provides access to Archive Social at no charge for all agencies to archive their social media accounts.  

If you have questions about Archive Social please submit a Service Desk Request.

Emergency Preparedness Toolkit

Ready.Gov, an official website of the Department of Homeland Security, has free toolkits filled with preparedness messages, topic ideas, hashtags, graphics and outreach materials. 

Use these items to start talking to your audience about potential crises today so they know to turn to you for accurate, timely information later. 

Prepare your department, yourself & your audience for if/when an emergency happens.

What to do about a violation of our social media policy?

The good news is citizens are engaging with us.  The bad news is sometimes citizens engage inappropriately and in violation of our Social Media Comment Policy.  What can we do?

Make certain:

• Your agency has a policy posted on the agency website (most agencies link to https://www.iowa.gov/policies) that gives public notice to expected behavior and that the State has the right to remove comments/posts based on listed criteria.  

• Make certain your website link is available in your social media profile.  

• Where possible, as with Facebook, include a Terms of Use or Note with your Comment Policy. Agency examples: https://www.facebook.com/pg/iowadnr/notes/?ref=page_internal or see the Story https://www.facebook.com/pg/IowaTourism/about/?ref=page_internal

You can remove posts to your site when they violate the policy.  

You should add a tag to the post in Archive Social “Removed for Policy Violation.”  This will allow you to easily find posts that were policy violations if you have inquiries.

Other Considerations and Advice:  Sometimes the behavior in violation of the policy is embedded in a complaint which could be a request for assistance. 

In these instances it is important to contact the individual and recognize they have a complaint or question that needs to be addressed.   

There is always a risk the individual will be encouraged to post more with a response.  

Generally the best format for a response includes recognizing the sender has a concern and needs assistance.  Acknowledge the frustration they have had with our government processes or systems.  

You can recommend that they private message you their phone number so you can reach out directly to learn more about which processes or systems are broken as we work to continuously improve our processes.