| “The best thing to do is put the story out there for yourselves.” | |
| Thomas Gresham,
Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries |
|
As more and more users sign up for social media accounts, such as Facebook and Twitter, businesses and organizations are starting to see new marketing opportunities. Natural resource managers in Louisiana are discovering that taking advantage of social media is allowing them to have more direct communication with citizens—and more control over their messages.
“If you have anything going on that is of interest to people, it just makes sense from our perspective to be the originators of the information,” says Thomas Gresham, assistant director of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries’ Public Information Office. “If you have to wait for some form of traditional media to report on a program or event that you are doing, you lose control of the story. The best thing to do is put the story out there for yourselves.”
In July, the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries decided to embrace the social media trend by creating official accounts on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, and Scribd. Now the public can watch the department’s videos on YouTube, keep up to date with the latest agency news on Twitter and Facebook, look at department photos on Flickr, or read the latest regulations on Scribd—all free of charge.
“It’s worked really well, so far,” Gresham says. “We have over 1,400 followers on Facebook now. Each successive week has increased exponentially.”
The department pulls content for the Internet sites from the 350 traditional news releases that are sent out by the agency each year. Typically, Gresham says, the most interesting news release of the week that will appeal to the widest audience is selected for social media “posting” on Facebook and Twitter.
Video news releases that are created for television stations are now put on YouTube. “Without any additional expense to the department, we could reach literally billions of people,” he says. It’s also easy for staff members to upload photos to both Flickr and Facebook, and all the department’s publications are shared on Scribd.
One of the ways the department is tracking its success with social media is by using Google Analytics, which provides insights into website traffic and marketing effectiveness. Gresham says the staff was surprised to see high traffic for information on snakes of Louisiana. As a result, they added new photos.
“Almost immediately, we started getting responses on our [Facebook] wall, and it was clear people learned a lot about snakes,” Gresham says. “We’re not only putting out information, but receiving information back from our constituents.”
He adds, “We were maybe hesitant to implement social media, but now that we have, I think we made the right decision.”
The official website addresses for each of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries’ social media links are www.facebook.com/pages/Baton-Rouge-LA/Louisiana-Department-of-Wildlife-and-Fisheries/112762357891, http://twitter.com/ldwf, www.youtube.com/user/LAWildlifeFish, www.flickr.com/photos/ldwf/, and www.scribd.com/ldwf. For more information, contact Thomas Gresham at (225) 765-2496, or tgresham@wlf.louisiana.gov.
