The city has received accolades this year for social media use.
The City of Battle Creek was a finalist in the Government Social Media organization’s Golden Post Awards, an annual program "designed to honor outstanding use of social media by local and state government agencies in the U.S."
Five finalists were chosen in each of 10 categories for the best social media use. Judges chose an overall winner in each. GSM indicated they received nearly 300 entries, for the largest award program.
Battle Creek was a finalist for --
Best Social Media Customer Service --
This category honors a government agency for consistently outstanding work in Customer Service on social media, centered on problem-solving, transparency, candor, and delivering a positive experience by showing they truly care.
Battle Creek outlined our increased collaboration with Voces and the Burma Center, as well as local American Sign Language interpreters, to better provide city news and information to our neighbors who speak other languages. Staff shared the work we are doing to interpret and translate live videos, press releases, and provide bilingual social media posts.
Best Use of Social Media in an Emergency --
This category recognizes a government agency for their exceptional use of social media during an emergency, demonstrating solid social media crisis strategy in effectively reaching the public in the time where it matters most.
Battle Creek discussed our social media response to the February 2019 30-inch water main break, which resulted in a system-wide boil water advisory. We talked about using new features, like Facebook Local Alerts, using videos, and new posts while also updating existing posts, so as to make sure our neighbors had the most recent information.
We hope all neighbors who are on social media will follow the city on our various platforms! Visit battlecreekmi.gov/socialmedia for more information!