Social Media For Fire Departments

Why Social Media Video?

Your community is on social media.
They expect you to be.

Social media, like it or not, is a part of every modern fire department’s communication strategy. Your community is surely on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. If your department is not, you are missing a prime opportunity to communicate and educate the tax payer on the services available to them, and what you as a department are doing on their behalf. That education translates into votes when it comes time for department related tax increases.

Every public safety organization has at their fingertips a great opportunity to create a unique brand that will be the face of the department to the community. That brand will be how the tax payer knows and understands what you do on their behalf. When creating a brand it is important to ask yourself and your team what you want to convey and highlight. Once you have defined what you want the public to see and understand about the department, it’s time to execute that strategy by building your brand on social media platforms.

Creating Quality Content | Content Is King

In the world of social media - content is king. Make no mistake - Good content will make or break a social media campaign. People watch your videos or read your captions because your content catches their eye and intrigues them.

Your content is your message. Now is your opportunity to hone that message into one that displays the professionalism, humility and discipline your department is founded on. By crafting and building a social media presence, your department is able to show the community the extensive training and preparations made daily on their behalf.

Public Service Announcements (PSA’s)

Social media is an indispensable tool for educating the public about fire and wind warnings, hiring opportunities and even social events. For constituents that follow your account, information can even come up as real-time alerts right to their phone.

Behind The Scenes | Capturing Training Video

Hiring a film crew to capture your training routines allows you to highlight the efforts of the front-line troopers and convey to the voter the daily training being done on their behalf. It also raises awareness with surrounding departments of facilities and resources available to them to make the greater community safer.

Fire Grounds | Filming Emergencies

But not all film crews are created equal. Inevitably, the film crew will be called to a real emergency with your department. The best footage comes from real-life work. The importance of knowing the fire ground and having documented live fire and real emergencies cannot be understated. Camera operators that are sensitive to HIPAA laws and what they should and should not film as well as a basic understanding of where to be and not be on a fire ground are invaluable assets to the safety of everyone on scene.

Mind Shift has extensive experience in filming both live fire and firefighter training videos, cutting our teeth on BURN: One Year On The Front Lines Of The Battle To Save Detroit, and most recently completing work on BURN X - the 10 year follow up to the Detroit fire documentary.

Posting Consistent Content

Appointing a member of your team to oversee social media accounts is a great step toward consistency in your brand. People engage with your department when you post more often. These posts can be images with text or video. Video should be kept short and should always use good lighting and high quality audio and imagery. All images and video should be intriguing enough for the viewer to click on it and watch or read the content.

For those new to the scene, posting a couple time a week is a good starting goal.

Need help filming your social media? Reach out and lets start a discussion.