As a FREE promotion, I offered on my Facebook page to assess anyone elses page for them if they commented on my post.  James Duckett, Technology Services Division Manager for the City of St. George, UT. responded.  I have worked for a city department before and understand there are limitations and lots of red tape to do what most companies wouldn’t bat an eye to. So the fact that the city even has an active Facebook page is a huge plus! So lets gets started…

City of St. George, UT.

Needs improvement:

1. No welcome page/landing tab

This is your first impression.  A welcome page is your opportunity to get their attention, convey a message, and wow them.  No welcome page means new fans land on your wall which, depending on what your last post was, could be boring. Welcome pages are easy to create especially if you are a computer guy who knows HTML or iFrames. But if your not that savvy there are plenty of free applications like wix.com or you can always outsource it to your favorite web guy.

2. Business listing

I wasn’t quite sure how you got the City to be listed as a sports club and actually thought that was cute since St. George is known for its outdoorsy venue of rock climbing, hiking, marathons and triathalons. But hopefully you set up the catagory as a local business/place and then sub category as community or government OR under organization/government organization.  Good news is that if you set it up wrong you can always change your category under the “edit page” feature. The name is good and says the city and state in the category line since of course there may be more than one St. George (What? Never!).  ;) however it would be even better to have the state listed in the title name.

3. Profile picture

I would suggest using a larger logo for the profile picture. It’s too small to read the super cursive script that says St. George and it just gets lost. 

4.  About me

List the city’s website first on the “about me” section which will help funnel people over to the city website. Making that link easily accessible is a plus.

5.  Wall posts

Fans are unable to post on the wall, limiting the engagement.  Many cities do this for a number of reasons such as they, don’t want spam, they don’t have anyone full time to monitor the postings, or they don’t want negative feedback or irrelevant posts. The problem is, the city is alienating it’s fans and citizens by doing so.  Social media is about people and talking to those people, not at them. Allow them to talk to you and then listen and respond. If there are negative comments, use it as a PR moment and solve the problem. 

6.  Use applications

The page is a little boring and could be spruced up with other applications.  The city has a ton of information like events, department listings, and other city links.  Use iFrame pages to create custom tabs to show a list of common referenced numbers or the events tab for upcoming community events. Connect the city’s Twitter and YouTube pages and create tabs for those as well. Make your Facebook page a secondary site to your website.  Maybe even include a monthly Mayor’s address on video to post to YouTube and Facebook.

7. Picture strip

Use your picture strip at the top of the page to your advantage. Any picture you post on your wall gets thrown up there but you can manage those pictures and keep what you want on the strip. Just hover over the pic you don’t want and you will have the option to delete. Use descriptive pictures and logos to tell a story or convey a message.

The good stuff:

1. The name

As I said earlier, the name is good and to the point. City and state in the category line which will differentiate you from other similar cities when users are searching for you. 

2. Featured Likes

On the left side of the page is the “featured likes” section.  You have used this area well and connected with other departments and partners with the city such as the recreation center, police department, and Art Festival.

3. Good content

Frequent posts with links and detailed information is great! Lots of info coming from the city so get it out there!

4. Info tab

A history of the city gives a little trivia to someone who may not even been looking for it. I like it!

5. Pictures

Lots of great pictures from events and around the city, keep em’ coming!

Finally, ask yourself why would anyone look for and then go to the City of St. George’s Facebook page and then add that information. Are they looking for relocation, employment, chamber of commerce, utility department, events, news, phone numbers, the Mayor? Even better…ASK THE FANS. 

Good luck!

Click the pic!