With social distancing during the Covid-19 pandemic, social media has become an absolutely vital channel for communicating with our communities and stakeholders. This course consists of three modules of 2-hours each which cover social media basics, planning and managing your social media and using video effectively.
The three-course modules are:
Social media the basics (18 September 2020: 10:00-12:00)
During the COVID-19 pandemic, social media has been an absolutely essential tool for communicating with our communities and stakeholders and in order to do this successfully planning is essential. Regardless of what the future holds this will continue to be the case. This interactive session will help you consider the absolute basics of how to use social media as a councillor or council officer – including the different platforms, the purpose of your social media and avoiding pitfalls. Participants will have the opportunity to create a Facebook page, a twitter and Instagram account as part of the session and will receive a handout with tips and “how-to”.
By the end of the masterclass, you will have:
- Chosen the right platform or platforms for you
- Decided how you want to be seen on social media
- Worked through the steps to set up a councillor or department Facebook page
- Worked through the steps to set up a councillor or department twitter account
- Considered some Top tips – and created your own “dos and don’ts”
- Reviewed some examples of good practice examples
- Drafted (or even published) your first posts or tweets.
To get the most out of this session you will need a personal Facebook account (don’t worry we won’t be posting anything on there!) as we will need this to create your public page. If you are unsure how to create one get in touch for advice.
Social media planning: (25 September 2020: 10:00-12:00)
During the COVID-19 pandemic, social media has been an absolutely essential tool for communicating with our communities and stakeholders and in order to do this successfully planning is essential. Regardless of what the future holds this will continue to be the case. This interactive session will take you step-by-step through considering the purpose of your content and your audience before moving on to planning your content, the timing and platforms you will use. Participants will be encouraged to use the session to plan some real content around their own upcoming communication needs, although a fictional scenario will also be provided.
By the end of the masterclass, you will have
- Identified the audience or audiences you wish to reach
- Determined the overall message or messages of
- Considered the social media and other methods of communication you will need
- Mapped out the timelines for the communication
- Considered what images and videos you might use at different points
- Created draft posts for different points of your timeline.
To get the most out of this session we recommend either choosing a specific topic you would like to plan for (e.g. a consultation or council decision).
Using Video: (2 October 2020: 10:00-12:00)
- Scripted and storyboarded a video
- Considered some top tips for how to present well for video
- Understood best practice for filming a video
- Put together graphics and images to use in videos
- Understood how to edit a video
- Understood how to subtitle a video
