The City of San Marcos is in the running for the “Crowd Favorite” category in the 2016 Golden Post Awards for its use of social media during last year’s floods, and the community is being asked to cast their votes online.
The City is also a finalist in the “Social Media Crisis Communications” and the “Social Media Strategy in Solving Crime” categories.
“Social media is a powerful tool for two-way communication with our residents, especially during emergencies,” said Kristi Wyatt, Director of Communications and Intergovernmental Relations. “Being a finalist for these awards shows how effectively City staff and the public can work together to spread vital information during emergencies.”
Go to www.sanmarcostx.gov/crowdfavorite for descriptions of the City’s two submissions and direct links to the voting:
“The Lifeline – San Marcos Social Media During 2015 Floods,” City of San Marcos, Texas (Category: Social Media Crisis Communications)
Memorial Day and Halloween 2015 in San Marcos weren’t times of celebration; instead they were times of despair following two historic floods. The communications team used several tools to relay information, but social media was the lifeline for the community, the timeliest and most accurate way for residents to get information to keep them connected and safe in the midst of disaster. The statistics in this entry are more than just numbers. They’re life preservers, collective grief, and hope – a powerful example of social media making a difference.
The first 24 hours of the Memorial Weekend Flood, San Marcos communications team established the city’s sites as the authority for flood information and organically grew from 2,891 to 9,629 followers. Less than 5 months later the new audience was once again using these tools during a major flood. The City has retained those followers through good social media management and now has over 15,000 followers on the main City Facebook page and over 13,000 on the City’s main Twitter site, all organically grown.
“Flood Scammer,” San Marcos Police Department, Texas
2016 Golden Post Award Finalists | “Flood Scammer’” San Marcos Police Department, Texas
(Category: Social Media Strategy in Solving Crime)
After natural disasters con artists run rampant. One particular scammer scammer targeted the San Marcos community after the Memorial Day Flood. She pretended to be a victim and tricked residents out of money and even stole from their homes. Thanks to our loyal social media followers, she’s now behind bars.
Some of the City’s posts during the floods reached hundreds of thousands of people, even when cable service went out.
While the Communications staff is proud of the work done on social media, it was just one part of an integrated crisis communication plan that also included press conferences, interviews with local and national media, printed materials, and public meetings.
The 2016 Golden Post Awards are the second annual award program exclusively designed to recognize the outstanding use of social media by local and state government agencies in the U.S. The awards will be announced at the 2016 Government Social Media Conference & Expo in Reno, Nev. April 6-8.