Some Ideas for Branding via Social Media

Abstract

The Greater Starkville Development Partnership (GSDP) has a presence on various social media platforms. The Partnership, a nonprofit organization that serves as Starkville, Mississippi’s economic development arm as well as the convention and visitors bureau, has a Facebook page, Twitter feed, YouTube channel, blog, and Pinterest page, to name a few. Each is tailored to different audiences. For example, the Partnership hosts an event called Unwine Downtown several times a year, whereby ticketholders can shop in downtown retailers while sipping wine and enjoying discounts. On its Pinterest page, Partnership employees post photos of the wines available, as well as offerings from the stores, as a means of enticing people to participate. The Facebook and Twitter pages offer information on Partnership events (including, of course, Unwine Downtown), new business openings, and support of the local university, Mississippi State University. After all, the Partnership’s slogan and overall brand identity is: Starkville: Mississippi’s College Town. No matter which social networking site someone visits, it is clear that each page is part of the Partnership’s official communication channels through consistent colors, font, slogan, logo, and tone. This chapter brings together some of the best practices I have found through my research of both local city governments and local-level destination marketing organizations (DMOs) regarding how to build an interactive, meaningful social media presence. After all, the idea behind the digital tools is to be social, but those features are not inherently built in (Bryer & Zavattaro, 2011). Government users can make the tools as interactive or as static as they see fit, and gaining the level of interactivity required for meaningful dialogue is no easy task (Mergel, 2013a). In her study of U.S. federal government agencies on social media, Mergel (2013a) found that administrators “do not desire to create a direct, reciprocated relationship with citizens by following citizens back and having creative conversations online” (p. 331). While dialogue might not be the ultimate end for governments of all levels on social media, there are still tips and tricks public administrators can use to move toward making the platforms meaningful for citizen engagement if not full collaboration. A first, critical step toward that is to ensure page visitors know the social site is official, and a consistent brand identity and tone goes toward achieving that end. As noted above, these recommendations come from two main sources of my research. In the first set of research, colleagues at Mississippi State University(MSU) and I conducted semi-structured interviews with DMO managers in a Southern U.S. state, asking about everything from place brand development and communication to evaluation and success measures. We did not ask a question about social media, but eight of 12 interviewees indicated the tools’ importance to their jobs. Interviews yielded interesting information about social media as it relates to brand awareness, interactivity, and evaluation. The second study from which these recommendations draw examined more than 4,700 tweets from various local government agencies throughout the United States. Local governments were picked using systematic random sampling, and tweets were collected for six weeks during September and October 2013 using MSU’s Social Media Tracking and Analysis System housed in the Social Science Research Center. In that research, my colleagues and I looked expressly at sentiment, asking if tone on social platforms matters for interaction. The answer is yes, and how that happens is detailed below. First, the chapter begins with an overview of branding in an online context, especially how it relates to decision-making and interaction with agencies. Next, the best practices are offered before concluding with avenues for future research.