This post at ProBlogger.com about Auto Responder campaigns got me to thinking about how public safety agencies could use auto responders.

The PIOSocialMediaTraining.com email boot camp is an auto responder campaign. After signing up and opting into the campaign a series of emails are sent on a pre-determined schedule. The same content is automatically sent to every new sign-up, regardless of when they join the campaign. The process is totally hands-off for us.

Public Safety Agencies could create auto responder campaigns to deliver a series of emails that:

1. Teach readers how to perform CPR, use an AED, relieve an airway obstruction. Include links to demonstration videos.

2. Share the history of the department. One email per decade of service.

3. Showcase each of the department’s major services such as EMS, fire suppression, prevention, inspection, and specialized rescue.

4. Demonstrate a series of simple family and personal preparedness steps for natural disaster.

Email Bootcamp Follow-up Messages

Do you have other ideas for an auto responder campaign?

Auto responder campaigns also help you build a list of people that have opted in to receive emails from your organization. In addition to the email bootcamp we email our list once a week if a new post or posts has been added to the blog. We can also add additional messages to the campaign over time.

Does your organization use an auto responder campaign? 

Have you heard what Washington DC Fire EMS (DCFEMS) have been up to? Their leadership suspended the departments Twitter account (@DCFireEMS) for 22 days.

The account reportedly stopped activity August 30 when the employee responsible for its content went on vacation. The accounts break was extended as the department investigated some of the content that supposedly placed Federal Agencies in “danger”. No specifics on the offending content were offered but Communication Director Lon Walls’ feelings about Twitter were made clear when he said, “Social media is for parties. We ain’t givin’ parties.”

Walls and the department came under intense scrutiny by both new and old media, specifically citing the lack of transparency that Mayor Vince Gray had promised would improve. The account returned to activity September 22, only a day after the suspension had been widely reported across multiple media platforms. However, the account will now be “filtered” with content requiring the approval of Lon Walls.

This situation has a number of issues that can easily be avoided if an agency takes the time to properly plan and implement a social media presence in a responsible manner. Here are a few things to help avoid making those mistakes:

• Have a communications guide for
• Include social media accounts in your communications plan
• Include social media accounts in your Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP)
• Establish a social media team
• Utilize social media in tabletop and full blown drills
• Read our blog considering we’ve already covered all these things!

Don’t let yourself or your agency become a casualty like DC FEMS where your transparency and trustworthiness are called into question by the public.

There has been a lot of talk over the changes made at Facebook. Change is not necessarily a bad thing, and has in fact become a necessity in the way we do things. It is important to understand how change will in fact effect you and your agency when the changes are made.

Undoubtedly spurred on by the coming changes,over the weekend I noticed an inordinately high number of friends who posted this message (or one similar to it) into their Facebook status:

FACEBOOK JUST RELEASED THEIR PRICE GRID FOR MEMBERSHIP. $9.99 PER MONTH FOR GOLD MEMBER SERVICES, $6.99 PER MONTH FOR SILVER MEMBER SERVICES, $3.99 PER MONTH FOR BRONZE MEMBER SERVICES, FREE IF YOU COPY AND PASTE THIS MESSAGE BEFORE MIDNIGHT TONIGHT. WHEN YOU SIGN ON TOMORROW MORNING YOU WILL BE PROMPTED FOR PAYMENT INFO…IT IS OFFICIAL IT WAS EVEN ON THE NEWS. FACEBOOK WILL START CHARGING DUE TO THE NEW PROFILE CHANGES. IF YOU COPY THIS ON YOUR WALL YOUR ICON WILL TURN BLUE AND FACEBOOK WILL BE FREE FOR YOU. PLEASE PASS THIS MESSAGE ON IF NOT YOUR ACCOUNT WILL BE DELETED IF YOU DO NOT PAY

The actual factual truth is that Facebook is NOT charging. They even say so directly on the homepage that you use to sign in:

It is important to try and verify the actual facts before redistributing a status or a story. Neither you nor your agency want to be viewed as an unreliable source of information. Why?

As for those friends of mine who posted the status update? I have now placed them on the Acquaintance list and will no longer see their updates unless I choose to look at them. As for those organizations that helped to perpetuate the falsehood, I un”Like”d them. I don’t have the patience or the time to deal with untrustworthy friends and even less tolerance for untrustworthy organizations.

I am not the only one who feels that way, which is why its important to verify information as best you can before disseminating it. By not being a trusted source of information you risk any support you may have gained in social media.

Do you verify everything you share? Have you ever not shared something because you couldn’t verify it?

All responses to disasters and incidents become great responses in large part due to the planning and training before the event that takes place. Tuesday’s earthquake revealed some important lessons in Social Media preparedness that agencies should take for when such an event occurs.

• Be ready to respond in Social Media from wherever you are – When a disaster or event happens most users will consume social media from wherever they are including through their smartphone. The ability to generate a message from a mobile location is necessity for every agency, not a luxury
• Be ready for the disaster before it strikes – Hopefully you have a Social Media Response Plan already in place. If not, you need to have one before a disaster strikes and make sure that all team members understand their roles in the case of an event. This plan should include organizational succession strategies should a member of the team be out sick or on vacation
• Include agency content in the pre-planning – The LAFD already had content designed for earthquake survival and they were able to share it quickly with others
• Response time matters – It is important that the information put out from an agency is verified from more than one source. In the case of the earthquake there were numerous reports of the activity from independent sources and the media was able to quickly verify the event (undoubtedly a large part through Social Media monitoring) a full 43 minutes before the Office of Emergency Management. This is not a confidence builder in your agency’s ability to gather and disseminate information in a timely fashion to those affected by the event and might very well be viewed as a system failure. Its important to keep the necessity of timeliness in mind

Planning is an important part of preparation for disasters and events. Social Media needs to be included in that planning for it to truly be an effective resource for both your agency and most importantly your community.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

In this episode of our award deserving podcast, Greg and Dave are joined by content and communication strategist Carissa Caramanis O’Brien to talk about the results of a Pew Research Center project concerning who uses social networks in the US. Hear us as we discuss:

• The myth busting revelation about age and social networking
• Why the gender demographics aren’t that surprising
• Diversifying social media formats across networks
• The importance of owning your own content
• Why its important for organizations to understand this data for effective messaging

Want to listen while you’re on the go?

Thanks for listening!

What do you think of the research? Please leave your thoughts in the comment section…