773-613-9798
Engaging the Public Through Social Media
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
Year:
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2024
Industry:
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Government
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Energy
Category:
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Social media strategy
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Strategic communications
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Community outreach
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Brand strategy
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Content creation
Background
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) regulates the interstate transport of electricity, natural gas, and oil. To execute this work, the public often comments on proposed projects. To facilitate participation, the Office of Public Participation (OPP) creates explainers, attends public meetings, and engages stakeholders digitally to educate people about FERC and encourage public participation. During my internship at FERC, I was tasked with creating a social media strategy and executing it via content and copywriting.
Process
To develop the social media strategy for the office, I started by researching social media content trends for other government regulatory agencies. I reviewed months of posts for five agencies and wrote a memo of recommendations based on the review. In addition to that, I looked at six nonprofits and their social media outputs.
Along with this research, I tested content on different platforms. This content would focus on various topics to identify audiences, and I’d measure engagement from there.
Day to day, I created most of the social media content that the office put out, especially supporting priority proceedings. The content would focus on industry topics, open houses and public comment meetings, and the documents the public would need to learn more about the projects.
To ensure consistent outputs, I researched best practices for graphic design, messaging, and other design components like accessibility to develop a style guide for the office. This was put together as an interactive document that all staff can use to create FERC and OPP branded content.
With the testing, research, and content created, I wrote the social media strategy for the office, focusing on several key parts:
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Organizational goals
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Objectives
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Audience personas and engagement funnels
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Platforms, messaging, and design strategy
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Audience interaction guidance
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Measurement and analysis
I presented my strategy and results to the office during the last week of the internship.
Creative Samples
Results
300+ attendees to public events where they gave their concerns about proposed energy projects
Increased Facebook engagement rate by 5% and LinkedIn by 11.6%
Instagram content interactions increased by 61% and profile views up by 25%
417 new followers on LinkedIn
Reduced time to create content by 10%
Increase in Facebook content engagement by 496 engagements
Content Portfolio
Social media strategy:
I created the social media strategy for the office complete with strategies, tactics, guidelines, and more.
Social media content:
I drafted carousels, videos, graphics, and copy for most of the office’s content during my internship.
Style guidelines:
I researched and developed style guidelines for the office including logo use, palettes, typography, icons, and images.
Final presentation:
I created a final presentation to the entire office presenting my work on building the social media strategy and the results of my work on social content.