Social Media: It Works for City Mayors Too

Often times, we imagine city officials wearing suits and sitting in big arm chairs just signing papers all day long. What would you think if you saw the mayor of your city wearing a Halloween costume riding a bicycle? That is how the mayor of Fort Worth operates! Mayor Betsy Price, elected in 2011, is very involved in the city happenings as well as using social media to share what she is doing. If she is passionate about something, she isn’t sitting in her office writing letters; she is out doing it herself!

Mayor Price has been working on an initiative since beginning her term as mayor called, Bike! Fort Worth. The program encourages citizens to ride bicycles, presents safety ordinances for cycling lanes and smoother roads, and is part of a drive to get the citizens of Fort Worth healthy. To promote this campaign, Mayor Price has been using social media to not only promote the initiatives, but to also show her actively practicing what she is preaching through photos and videos. Instead of waiting for a newspaper to submit a single photo of the event that happened a week ago, Mayor Price posts the photos in real-time, making them relevant and frankly, more interesting.

As part of Bike! Fort Worth, Mayor Price ran what is called “Rolling Town Halls,” which are bike rides through the city of Fort Worth. You can see in photos and videos, she is out there in her spandex riding with everyone else! For the year-end wrap up, she hosted a Halloween themed ride, complete with a tour of a graveyard, and used social media to promote it. Throughout the month, she posted photos and videos, asking for suggestions on what costume to wear for the ride. When the event was over, photos and videos were posted, people were engaging, and everyone seemed to feel a part of the mayor’s life.

Sounds simple enough, right? While it wasn’t a huge event, it was engaging, and that is what counts. In today’s world, you need to have a social media presence to be noticed. This idea is trickling down from the big shots, like the president, to city officials, like the mayor of Fort Worth. Mayor Price does a great job of sharing photos of her events, articles about projects she is working on, and listening and responding to the people who post on her page. She is engaging with people on a public platform and connecting with voters in a personal way.

No matter what stance they are taking, politicians are appearing more and more on Facebook and Twitter, using them as platforms to share their ideas and goals. Have you liked your favorite government official on Facebook yet?