How Fairfax County Uses Social to Better Serve Constituents

The government in Fairfax County in Virginia, US, provides public services for 1.1 million county locals every day—from police, fire and rescue, animal shelter, public transportation, health department, libraries, and recreation centers, to disposal facilities.

For decades, Fairfax County relayed important emergency and service updates via press releases, conferences, and media advisories. Today, social media allows the public to play a more active role in finding information and sharing it. To support this shift and better serve constituents, Fairfax County developed a comprehensive social media strategy with the help of Hootsuite Enterprise.

Watch the on-demand webinar: Success Story: How Fairfax County Uses Social to Better Serve Constituents to discover:

• 4 Tenets of social preparedness: Including listening to community first responders during an emergency, as exemplified during Hurricane Sandy.
• 5 Ways to centralize social media: Including how various county departments have applied for social media accounts and, once approved, the social media training and strategy process with the help of Hootsuite Enterprise onboarding for best practices.
• 6 Philosophies of Fairfax County’s social media strategy: Including engaging with relevant, timely, and actionable information and becoming a trusted voice during emergencies.
• 7 Key ideas behind the updated social media strategy guide: Including developing goals for each new departmental account and sharing customer service satisfaction surveys out through social media.

Watch the webinar

Meet the speakers

Greg Licamele
Director of External Communications, Fairfax County
@fairfaxcounty

Greg Licamele has served Fairfax County as a public information officer for 10 years. Among other areas, he currently leads the county’s social media presence collaborating with all county departments to advocate, educate and implement digital strategies and tools. He serves on various social media committees, including an appointment as a charter member of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Virtual Social Media Working Group. He also serves as an instructor at The George Washington University teaching classes about social media. Before Fairfax County, he worked for five years at GW focused on digital communications. Licamele holds two master’s degrees from GW: one in emergency management/homeland security and another in media and public affairs. He holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from St. Bonaventure University.

Anne Cissel
Communications Specialist, Fairfax County Health Department
@fairfaxhealth

Anne Cissel is a Communication Specialist with the Fairfax County Health Department, specializing in digital communications. She manages the department’s internal and external websites, as well as its Facebook and Twitter accounts. Anne uses social media to monitor residents’ health concerns, educate about health issues, and provide accurate and timely information to the public, especially during an emergency. Before joining Fairfax County, Anne has worked as a social media/web content manager, writer, and editor for several nonprofits and media outlets, including the National Wildlife Federation and the Virginia News Group (formerly Times Community Newspapers).

Kristen Auerbach
Director of Communications and Outreach, Fairfax County Animal Shelter
@fairfaxanimals

Kristen received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Ohio State University. With a background in animal welfare, communications and social work, Kristen came to the shelter in early 2013. She started the shelter’s social media program, which today has 20,000 followers with posts reaching 200,000 people each week. The shelter’s social media success has been instrumental in doubling adoptions and helping Fairfax County reach a 95% placement rate of adoptable pets, earning the shelter regional and national recognition.

Mark Rybchuk
Government Specialist, State & Local Government, Hootsuite
@HootRybber

Mark has been helping governments succeed using social media for increased constituent services at Hootsuite for more than 3 years. After covering government and politics in traditional media in television and radio as a reporter and host for half a decade, he shifted to the digital world initially helping to launch an online group buying start-up organization. It was an early success and after a stint managing a team in advertising sales, he came to Hootsuite where helping governments serve constituents in new and innovative ways is one of his main passions.

Watch the webinar

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