The Power of Video

Communicators find creative ways to tell their city’s story

by Kara Irby, Florida League of Cities

There are many ways to tell the story of your community. With a handful of planning, a dash of purpose and a pinch of creativity, municipalities large and small can use video to share their message effectively.

Communicating the message of your municipality doesn’t have to be difficult or expensive, but it does require intentionality and effort. The power and impact of video are unparalleled. According to Medium.com, the average viewer remembers 95% of a message when watched compared to 10% of the message when read.

Municipalities across the Sunshine State are using videos to communicate important messages to their residents and visitors. From weather updates to community engagement nights, municipal communicators are getting creative and using more than just photographs and flyers to share what’s going on in their city, town or village.

The City of Parkland recently launched its Mayor’s Minute segment on social media channels and in the local newsletter.

Parkland Director of Communications Todd DeAngelis (center) interviews Mayor Rich Walker for the City’s “Mayor’s Minute” segment.

Photocourtesy of City of Parkland

“The goal was to put out relevant info, in the Mayor’s voice, in small digestible chunks,” said Todd DeAngelis, Director of Communications for Parkland.

DeAngelis created a one-minute interview-style segment to promote exciting events and key initiatives taking place in the city. Naming the segment “Mayor’s Minute” ensured the segment would remain concise to hold future creators accountable.

He encourages communities looking to adopt something similar to be intentional about the title of their segments and to think ahead of the video elements that will be used.

“If you can’t be visual … it’s probably not worth doing,” DeAngelis said.

He also encourages posting completed videos a couple of different times on social media to reach various audiences.

Time and resources are also important to consider when it comes to video production in your municipality. From brainstorming to closed captioning, DeAngelis estimates it takes about 10 hours from content ideas to completion to produce the “Mayor’s Minute.” It cost the City just over $2,000 in one-time costs for all the equipment used to create the segment. (See breakdown of costs below.)

Destin city staff recorded and posted a 10-second video of the waves at the Destin East Jetty that garnered more than 60 shares on Facebook.

For municipalities with smaller budgets, today’s smartphones can also provide quality video for your communication needs. Public Information Manager Catherine Card with the City of Destin doesn’t hesitate to use her phone; she says it’s the quickest, most efficient resource to capture what’s taking place in her community.

A 30-second video of the message boards alerting motorists about local road safety improvements and 10 seconds of waves crashing on the shore as Tropical Storm Fred approached garnered more than 60 shares on the City’s Facebook page.

“People want to see what’s going on,” said Card.

In the City of Port St. Lucie, a public service announcement on swale maintenance was produced entirely in-house by communications staff. The video was translated into Spanish and Haitian-Creole.

“It was important to translate and educate residents that maintaining the swale is the homeowner’s responsibility,” said Nicole Hricik, Marketing Supervisor and Communications Liaison for Port St. Lucie. “We are a multi-ethnic and diverse community, and it was important to be able to provide this information in some of the other common languages spoken here, like Spanish and Haitian-Creole.”

Port St. Lucie city staff created a video on swale management using a GoPro, drone and Canon C100 Mark II.

Port St. Lucie city staff helped with the translation. Looking within your organization and harnessing your colleagues’ talents and abilities can help limit costs.

But what if you want to hire a team with the latest and greatest equipment? Card said that when it came to using an out-of-house company to create a video on keeping their beaches clean for their #LeaveNoTrace Campaign, she had to consider priorities.

“It is important that we understand the priorities of our City leadership and elected officials so we may plan accordingly and determine the best use of City resources,” Card said.

Kara Irby is a Communications Specialist at the Florida League of Cities.

COST OF PRODUCING "MAYOR'S MINUTE"

PRODUCTION:

Canon XA11 Camcorder Master Starter Kit: $1,547.00

Magnus VT-4000 tripod: $119.96

Two Saramonic TX9 wireless lavalier microphones with camera-mounted receiver: $399.00

128GB SD memory card: $38.82

Genaray LED-6200T light with on-camera mount: $74.25

TOTAL: $2,179.03 – One-time Purchase

VIDEO EDITING SOFTWARE:

In-Shot: Free Movavi $29.99-139.95 Corel VideoStudio: $99