Social Media

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Social Media is a great tool to share information on Coronavirus updates, advocate for policy, and to connect with your constituents, who may be feeling more isolated at this time. Social media is just one tool, and should be used in conjunction with traditional communication methods such as phone, mail, flyers, etc. to keep your community updated. 

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• Sharing your life in social distancing. Sharing how you’re living your life during social distancing on social media is a great way to show solidarity with your community.

  • https://www.instagram.com/p/B94Kg1nIL68/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link;

  • https://www.instagram.com/p/B91t6woDQzA/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link;

  • https://www.instagram.com/p/B9zTNG4lT9S/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link%27

  • https://www.instagram.com/p/B92tA5ABeb1/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link;

  • https://www.instagram.com/p/B92dF0_l58Q/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link;

• Advocating eating well, exercising, and prioritizing mental health during social distancing. In order to do well mentally and physically, we have to prioritize it ourselves. Sharing what you’re doing may motivate constituents to prioritize their mental and physical health too. 

  • https://twitter.com/NorthMiamiClerk/status/1240709270456258561?s=20; 

  • https://www.instagram.com/p/B9zT6emlHON/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

• Share different hobbies/activities you can take up during the Coronavirus. With all the free time, people are itching for things to do. Compile a list and share them!

  • https://www.instagram.com/p/B95ITBjljNm/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

• Share cute animals! With Animal Planet having a cute animal marathon, and Hallmark starting a Christmas movie marathon, there’s one thing that’s very clear: having a daily dose of escapism is definitely a necessity right now! Sharing non-Coronavirus related, fun things might be helpful for yourself as well as your constituents.

• Share updates on how your government agency is responding to the Coronavirus (and ask for them to respond!). This is a time of a lot of stress and uncertainty, and as an elected official you can use your platform to calm some of those nerves.

  • https://www.instagram.com/p/B92DNBLFcKT/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

• Community Resources. Let your constituents know about the great government and other community resources available to help get through social distancing. Long statements may be more difficult to read digest on social media. Consider sharing full statements as well as graphics which highlight the most important information. You can use free, user-friendly platforms such as Canva to create these graphics.

  • Share your library’s online resources https://twitter.com/CunninghamMPLS/status/1240724621785272320?s=20 

  • Share free lunch opportunities for kids

  • https://www.instagram.com/p/B93BjMxHC4S/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_lin

  • https://www.instagram.com/p/B92KNAGBdBJ/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link 

• • Share about your Senior Call Center https://www.instagram.com/p/B94EwZ5lf6M/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

  • Sharing about parks that are open https://www.instagram.com/p/B9z01M9lGbY/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

 

For more direct interaction with your constituents, you may think of…

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• Starting a Facebook live event/town hall 

  • https://www.instagram.com/p/B94EwZ5lf6M/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link 

  • Get creative with town halls! For instance, host a town hall with a therapist or a town hall for kids

• Zoom calls to talk with constituents about policy-related issues

• Starting an Instagram Live

 

Plan Events During Social Distancing 

 

In order to help bring about more social interactions, it may be of interest to plan events to bring your community together. This may include:

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• A Movie Night. Schedule a night to watch a movie “together”! Have a space to chat, and encourage community members to order takeout or delivery from local restaurants. 

• Starting a weekly book club. Use Zoom or another online/phone platform to bring community members together. 

 

Other ways to support your community

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If you have the capacity to, there are other ways you can support the community during the Coronavirus. Share them on socials!

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• Standing with the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community. In a time of increasing attacks on the AAPI community, it is important to stand by the AAPI community against racist and xenophobic attacks. 

• Fostering/adopting pets. Shelters are having to shut down, and fostering or adopting a pet is a great way to bolster your mental health while social distancing, and at the same time, help a furry friend and a local business.

  • https://twitter.com/SvanteMyrick/status/1238882914248658951?s=20 

• Supporting local businesses. Whether it be buying gift cards or ordering take out, there are some helpful ways to support local businesses at this time. 

  • https://www.instagram.com/p/B917SeuJ729/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

• Donate blood. Due to the social distancing being maintained, over 4,000 blood drives have been cancelled across the country, which resulted in a loss of over 130,000 donations. The Red Cross has blood donation centers open across the country- find one here. 

• Volunteering. Whether it’s NextDoor adding ways to help your neighbors, a google form for the neighborhood collecting information for people who can deliver food to vulnerable populations, or sewing masks for hospital, one good thing that has come from this pandemic is the overwhelming support that community members feel toward one another. In your role as an elected official, you are in a place to share volunteer opportunities about how to strengthen our communities in this time. Ex: https://twitter.com/JoshLafazan/status/1247925899313504263/photo/1

• Create a Resource Map. Use google maps to create a map of resources. Ex: https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1LSfov2kKi_ipyJpj4D2L4zm4mtS2bRbu&ll=39.30458016408801%2C-76.58415013728711&z=12

• Get a billboard. Be like this high school principal and let high school seniors know their community is celebrating their accomplishments by getting a billboard to highlight them.