When Boris Spassky was losing to Bobby Fischer during their 6th game in 1972, Bobby opened the game with an uncharacteristic and strategic first move, using the Queen’s Gambit. In checkers, there are only seven possible opening moves. In chess, there are 20 opening moves, that soon turn into thousands. Boris was not playing checkers; he was playing chess, and he lost that game and the next.
In emergency management, social media is chess. It depends on strategy. To be effective, we have to think of several moves ahead. We have to be aware of who we engage (stakeholders), what they are thinking (media), and what their next move may be (elected officials). We have to understand when to sacrifice and when not to. We need to understand that Facebook may be a Queen, but Instagram is a Rook, YouTube is a Bishop, and LinkedIn is a Knight, while NextDoor and Pinterest are Pawns.
So why do we play it like checkers in emergency management? That is what we do. Something happens. We happen to have Facebook and X, so we jump to both of those, post it, and call it a day. And when we are asked how we did, we quote impressions, likes, and retweets and everyone lives happily ever after in a simple children’s game.
But there is so much at stake. With that in mind, I offer these ten considerations to ensure social media strategies can become as evolved as chess.
10. Reach. Do you know which social media reaches more audiences? A few examples – Facebook has 2.9 billion monthly active users, Pinterest as 444 million, and Twitter/X comes in 10th place at 217 million. If reach were the only criteria, one might ask why so many organizations are satisfied with tweets over nine other platforms.
9. Demographics. Do you ever pitch something to either younger Americans or older? Do you consider that the average age for Instagram is 18 to 24 years old and the average age on LinkedIn is 30 to 39 years old? Do you know the average age for all the platforms?
8. Purpose. One of the reasons why there are so many platforms is that they tend to serve different audiences and purposes. I did a quick poll each on Facebook, LinkedIn and NextDoor. I acknowledge all the caveats of limited sample size, polling errors, how the questions and options are phrased, et al. But simply to illustrate a point. Emergency warnings and disaster updates rank low on what people value on Facebook and LinkedIn, but they rank high on NextDoor. In fact, NextDoor is the only major social media platform whose purpose is to provide individuals and communities information that impacts their communities, like natural disasters and government services, and it can be pushed by county (incidentally the exact way disasters are declared). Recently, a regional emergency management post on NextDoor garnered 250 likes and 202 comments. During the same time period I reviewed the same organization’s national Facebook site to find that over the last ten posts it never exceeded 45 likes or ten comments. It begs the question why this is not the preferred platform for emergency responders.
7. Bang for buck. I convinced my last organization to give NextDoor a try and it has proved successful. But I failed at getting them to give me permission to use Pinterest, despite 444 million followers. Ignoring Pinterest is like playing checkers. One can debate how useful the audience may be (though numbers can only lie so much). Here is the bang – you could cut and paste a ton of evergreen preparedness material on Pinterest within minutes and include a link for more information and never have to babysit it again. 444 million! Let’s say only a fraction of the subscribers would pay attention. But if I told you could reach 5,000 new people with preparedness information? You would checker jump at the chance.
6. Engage Followers. Some organizations forget that social media is social. They set it and forget it. But that is undermining the greatest power of the game. If you invest in having social media, it is essential to also invest in monitoring and responding to subscriber comments. It is a missed opportunity when an organization gets blasted on its own social media and they do not stand up for themselves. They might as well create blank banners and pass out pens so others can describe them.
5. Leverage Other’s Social Media. Too many organizations boast about their own platforms with little regard to others. In some cases, you can achieve far more on other organizations platforms than your own. CDC could post social media messages on the Black Doctors Association social media either by posting, linking, tagging, or sharing, depending on the medium and the relationships. If you want sports arenas and their patrons to be more prepared, are you better off posting that on FEMA’s Facebook or theirs?
4. Targeted Audiences. If we have never paused to consider our target audiences, if we can’t quote them off the top of our head, then we are already behind. To take it up a notch further, have we assessed paid social media? Have we reached out to influencers? Are we well versed in Search Engine Optimization (SEO)? If the questions make us uncomfortable, the answers are likely more troubling.
3. Internal Social Media. Wouldn’t it be another missed opportunity if we invested in social media platforms for external audiences but never considered or implemented social media to engage with our own teams and workforce. Some organizations use Viva Engage (previously Yammer). Slack is another popular platform. What platform does your organization use? Please don’t say SharePoint. That’s not employee engagement. Every member of the team is an emergency manager and can be value added to the outreach.
2. Artificial Intelligence (AI). If we haven’t started, it is time to get smart on AI both in terms of pushing and receiving social media. Emergency management is a fast paced environment. AI can speed up our outreach. It is a powerful tool for our social media team to use to craft messages, as long as they add the human element and correct errors. Yep, AI still makes errors, especially in tone and context. Caveat emptor.
1. Humor. Many organizations do this well, like Wendys, Netflix, Skittles, and Oreos. Much of the federal government fears this tactic. But check out the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Instagram account if you want to see some funny, brave, and effective stuff. Just remember, humor is high risk and high reward. Let your funniest person craft them and your most prudent person review them.
Hopefully, you found some value here, otherwise, feel free to just consider these random thoughts, shared en passant. The board is yours. It’s your move.
Dan Stoneking is the Owner and Principal of Stoneking Strategic Communications, the Author of Cultivate Your Garden: Crisis Communications from 30,000 Feet to Three Feet, the Founder and Vice President of the Emergency Management External Affairs Association, and an Adjunct Professor for Public Speaking at West Chester University.