@ThomasABrazelton
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Thomas A Brazelton started the topic On-Camera Screw Ups in the forum Communications, Citizen Engagement, Customer Service 6 years, 6 months ago
Our department is about to undergo some media training for our department heads and I was wondering if anyone out there had access to clips of on-camera screw ups that we can use as examples of what NOT to do.
We’re thinking about officials who disclosed too much information, stuttered or stammered during an interview or who were…[Read more] -
Thomas A Brazelton started the topic Attracting People to your Facebook page in the forum Communications, Citizen Engagement, Customer Service 7 years, 2 months ago
Our Communications Department is organizing an awareness campaign to attract more of our residents to our Facebook page.
Facebook has become a very valuable communications tool for our organization and our audience has grown over 350% in the last three years. 92% of our residents report having access to the internet with over 70% reporting that…[Read more] -
Thomas A Brazelton started the topic Policy For Sharing Photos? in the forum Communications, Citizen Engagement, Customer Service 7 years, 8 months ago
Our Communications Department makes a concerted effort to go out into the community and take pictures from local events and gatherings. We use these photos on our web site, in our marketing materials and – most prominently – on our Facebook page.
We find that use of these pictures helps to increase engagement with our residents – who frequently…[Read more] -
Thomas A Brazelton replied to the topic How Do You Reach Influencers Outside of Your Market? in the forum Communications, Citizen Engagement, Customer Service 8 years, 3 months ago
Actually, we have a couple of videos! One from 2011 and one from this year!
We’ve deliberately leveraged YouTube as a means to promote our brand. Largely because of it’s reach, if someone Google’s “Ankeny, Iowa” and something comes up that isn’t particularly flattering, that’s an abdication…[Read more]
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Thomas A Brazelton started the topic How Do You Reach Influencers Outside of Your Market? in the forum Communications, Citizen Engagement, Customer Service 8 years, 3 months ago
This is kind of an unusual question, but I thought I would pose it to the members of GovLoop to see if any other agencies are doing this.
This afternoon my manager and I were talking about our reach in terms of the local media. We have strong relationships with them and feel that we are being represented well.
But the question came up – “How do we…[Read more] -
Thomas A Brazelton started the topic How Do You Manage Your Wikipedia Page – Or Do You? in the forum Communications, Citizen Engagement, Customer Service 8 years, 5 months ago
As everyone knows – for better or for worse – Wikipedia has become *the* go-to source for information on nearly every topic in existence. Local governments are no exception.
For the last few years, we’ve been looking at the City of Ankeny’s Wikipedia page, asking ourselves “How can we make this better?”
Our Public Relations Department has a vested…[Read more] -
Thomas A Brazelton replied to the topic Defending Brand and Trademark on Facebook in the forum Communications, Citizen Engagement, Customer Service 8 years, 5 months ago
For those of you still wrestling with this issue, apparently Facebook is hosting a webinar on the topic next Thursday, August 16 at 1:30 PM EST.
3CMA posted a link just about an hour ago: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=257664821017950&id=157101001007874
Even though the City of Ankeny has navigated through the waters on this…[Read more] -
Thomas A Brazelton replied to the topic Defending Brand and Trademark on Facebook in the forum Communications, Citizen Engagement, Customer Service 8 years, 6 months ago
Greetings everyone. It’s been a little while since I’ve posted on this topic and I felt like I owed everyone a follow-up to let you know how things turned out.
After being put in touch with a representative from Facebook who was a little more prompt returning messages than who I was originally dealing with, we were placed in something of a holding…[Read more] -
Thomas A Brazelton replied to the topic Defending Brand and Trademark on Facebook in the forum Communications, Citizen Engagement, Customer Service 8 years, 8 months ago
I don’t think Facebook will let you get away with that.
As it’s been explained to us, they want to avoid giving admin privileges to pages about specific locations. So city name and state abbreviation won’t work.
Our vanity URL used to be facebook.com/AnkenyIA, which is maybe what put us on their radar to begin with?
They want names to include more…[Read more] -
Thomas A Brazelton replied to the topic Defending Brand and Trademark on Facebook in the forum Communications, Citizen Engagement, Customer Service 8 years, 8 months ago
By “custom URL,” I meant the vanity URL.
I think when you get over 30 likes on your page, Facebook gives you vanity URL permissions to more effectively brand and market your page.
For example, our page used to be facebook.com/AnkenyIA.
Now it is https://www.facebook.com/pages/City-of-Ankeny/102436154792
As it was explained to me, Facebook wants to…[Read more] -
Thomas A Brazelton replied to the topic Defending Brand and Trademark on Facebook in the forum Communications, Citizen Engagement, Customer Service 8 years, 8 months ago
For those of you looking for an update on this story, I received confirmation from Katie Harbath – the Facebook representative that Luke Stowe put me in contact with – that Facebook will not be budging on this issue.
Katie originally explained that enforcement around Facebook’s policy was decided upon after larger cities like New York and Chicago…[Read more] -
Thomas A Brazelton posted an update 8 years, 8 months ago
@1hmm07faslxm9I don’t know if I could comment intelligently as to why Iowa is leading the way in internet connectivity. Although, if I were forced to speculate, I might guess that it have something to do with our rural population. Farming technology is quickly becoming more sophisticated and high tech. Several large pieces of equipment use GPS to…[Read more]
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Thomas A Brazelton replied to the topic How to Manage Multiple Twitter Accounts in the forum Twitterati 8 years, 8 months ago
I’ll chime in and say that TweetDeck has been my platform of choice when it comes to managing multiple accounts. It’s also good for scheduling tweets over the weekend or during off hours!
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Thomas A Brazelton replied to the topic Defending Brand and Trademark on Facebook in the forum Communications, Citizen Engagement, Customer Service 8 years, 8 months ago
Luke, that is excellent news. I am very interested on getting more details from Facebook regarding their policy.
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Thomas A Brazelton replied to the topic Why Would I Want To Be A Government Employee? in the forum Human Resources 8 years, 8 months ago
I worked for corporations for 10 years out of college. While I learned a lot and gained valuable experience, sometimes it felt like I was throwing my efforts into a well. I never really saw the direct outcome.
Working for local government the last two years, I see directly how my role affects, informs and improves the lives of citizens.
I spent…[Read more] -
Thomas A Brazelton replied to the topic Defending Brand and Trademark on Facebook in the forum Communications, Citizen Engagement, Customer Service 8 years, 8 months ago
We are currently in communication with a Facebook representative. Her name is “Nancy” from Page Operations. We don’t know her last name. We have no contact information for her other than the e-mail thread that she established. We’ve asked repeatedly for a phone number that we can call to speak with a customer service representative over the phone…[Read more]
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Thomas A Brazelton replied to the topic Defending Brand and Trademark on Facebook in the forum Communications, Citizen Engagement, Customer Service 8 years, 8 months ago
Exactly. Our only recourse, really, would be to remove our page from Facebook.
But that would be like cutting off both your arms out of spite! -
Thomas A Brazelton replied to the topic Defending Brand and Trademark on Facebook in the forum Communications, Citizen Engagement, Customer Service 8 years, 8 months ago
My director and I spent a little time discussing this with the City’s Attorney yesterday and she brought up a good point. Where I an my director viewed it as a trademark issue, Facebook has no responsibility to promote that trademark. Our trademark only exists to protect us from copycats. So it was kind of a moot point.
I think we’re coming around…[Read more] -
Thomas A Brazelton replied to the topic How Is Your Agency Using Foursquare? in the forum Communications, Citizen Engagement, Customer Service 8 years, 8 months ago
The return might not be there, but it’s an opportunity for excellent brand management.
Our philosophy has always been to position the city in the places where people expect to find us. Foursquare fits into that strategy well.
Additionally, by taking ownership of certain locations, we bring their existence to the attention of Foursquare where…[Read more] -
Thomas A Brazelton replied to the topic How Is Your Agency Using Foursquare? in the forum Communications, Citizen Engagement, Customer Service 8 years, 8 months ago
That’s a great idea about pet licencing. I actually hadn’t thought about leaving tips AS the local government I represent in places that did not already under our banner.
Our primary use of Foursquare is to leave tips for citizens about the things you can do in City locations – where and when council meetings are, renting park shelters – that kind…[Read more] - Load More
