The Law Enforcement Social Media Podcast: A Podcast for #LESM Professionals

In this episode of the law enforcement social media podcast, Marc talks about Facebook's Business Manager.  

On this episode of the Law Enforcement Social Media Podcast, Marc kicks it old school and teaches you how to create a Facebook Page.

• Click on Company, Organization or Institution
• Click on Choose Category and select "Government Organization" and then type the name of your police department below in the "company Name" box, then click "get started."
• At this point, you will now set up your page.

In this episode of the Law Enforcement Social Media Podcast, Marc was under the weather, so Mike is joined by special guest host Tim Burrows.  Enjoy the show.

• 100 mill daily users
• 60% users contributing daily content 
• 9000 snaps per second
• Daily video views 10 billion
• 73% are millennials
• 77% are college students 
• Value $16 billion

• 73% users are mill 77% college students 
• You don't use yesterday's tools to reach audience
• Easily humanizes the brands: #1 is you and #2 is your department

• Catalog events
• Requires disciplined attention and focus
• For the users, allows for easy download of what happened.
• It's real- not rehearsed, scripted, photo-shopped.

• Have people participate
• Show engagement with the community
• Un-scripted

• Current department news
• Upcoming events
• Holiday and Special Dates

• Show non-confidential locations 
• Spark interest in careers 

• Give something they can't get elsewhere
• Show the relationship between law enforcement officers and others 

• Ability for people to ask a question without harm or trolls, haters, self-bolstering; then answer for the benefit of all
• Virtual ridealongs, mini messages and steer towards other sources like FB live or Periscope for longer explanation
• Force people to pay attention to your story; if they don't watch today they might miss something 
• Employee representation of the department; advocates
• Can you engage applicants by showing what your department is like on a day-to-day basis?

On this episode of the Law Enforcement Social Media podcast, we discuss the new Cell 411 app. Mike conducted some testing of this app and wrote a whole article on it.  Rather than reinvent the wheel, you can click here to read the article.

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• You are 4 times more likely to crash while talking on your phone 
• Up to 23 times more likely to crash while texting
• 3 times more likely to crash while grabbing for an object

1. Visual- taking your eyes off the road.
2. Manual- taking your hands off the steering wheel.
3. Cognitive- taking your mind off the road.

On this episode of the show, we welcome Mike back. Mike was busy with his son who was playing baseball over the past several weeks. Mike is happy to be back and didn't skip a beat as we talked about Facebook Live.

Facebook Live

In January of 2015 Facebook released live streaming on a slow roll out to make sure they were releasing a good product. It was first rolled out to celebrities and special pages. It has since been released to everyone. You can even live stream in a Facebook group.

How can you use if at your police agency?

Mike recently used it during National Telecommunicators Week and interviewed his Communications Supervisor and dispatchers in the Communications center at Azusa Police Department. It can be used to live stream a major incident to get information out to your community. The fire department can use it for the same. They can use it to get information out regarding an incident that is taking place in their city. It can be used to tell your community of an area that may be closed due to an accident or another incident.

Tips and Tricks

Connect your phone to a tripod, iographer or other stabilizing device to make sure you record a stabilized video. We love all the products at Arkon Mounts. To get 10% off your purchase, use coupon code iDigitalCop. No matter what you use, just make sure you have a stabilizing device for a great video. Good lighting is very important as well, it's just as imperative as good audio. Mike and I both like the LED lights from Manfrotto. 

When live streaming, it's not uncommon for your stream to drop or disconnect. To make sure you do not get kicked off your stream, turn your phone or tablets "airplane mode" and then enable your wifi. This will still allow you to connect to the internet and ensure that you do not receive any unnecessary phone calls, text messages or app notifications.

Look at the "digital eyeball," as Brian Fanzo says. In other words, make sure you are looking into the lens, your audience is just through that "digital eyeball."

One of the biggest issues some people have when going live for the first time is pressing the record button. Don't be afraid, hit the button and just go live! With a little practice, it will become a lot easier. It's also important to remember that If you are nervous, your interviewees are going to be nervous as well if they think you are recording live video. Don't tell them that you are live streaming, just tell them you are recording video. This will help put them at ease.

Lastly, it's important that you have an external battery as well. Live streaming will drain your device's battery pretty quick. External batteries are relatively inexpensive and will hold a charge for hours.

Have fun with live streaming and remember… Don't be afraid to hit the record button.

On this episode of the Law Enforcement Social Media Podcast and COPS on Blab, we interview Maya Prohovnic of Anchor. Anchor is a free iPhone app that makes it easy to broadcast short audio clips to a global audience in seconds. Your listeners can talk back, sparking instant group conversations that were never before possible. When not recording, listen to authentic humor, knowledge, inspiration, and debate from Anchor's global collective of personality. (For complete info on the app, click here)

On this episode of the Law Enforcement Social Media Podcast and COPS on Blab, we talk about everything snapchat with Carlos Gil.  If you don't follow Carlos on Snapchat, you must add him at TheCarlosGil.  He's is one of the foremost experts and advocates of snapchat. 

The Carlos Gil 

We talk with Carlos Gil about Snapchat.  Carlos Gil is an innovative, bilingual (English/Spanish) executive with extensive corporate marketing experience engaging consumers via digital, social media, mobile and e-mail channels. His excellent written and verbal communication skills help him incorporate creativity, strategic insight, tech savvy and business acumen into product branding, yielding maximum engagement while exceeding results. Currently, Carlos is the Global Head of Social Media for BMC Software. In this role, Carlos is responsible for shaping and executing social media strategy with the goals of raising brand awareness, driving website traffic, and engaging the greater Information Technology community online. Previously, Carlos served as the Senior Social Marketing Manager for LinkedIn's Sales Solutions business unit where he helped grow and evangelize the use of LinkedIn as a social selling and marketing tool. Carlos proven track record includes leading consumer-facing digital and social media programs in partnership with: PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, Frito-Lay, Tostitos, Mondelez, and Unilever as Social Media Manager for Winn-Dixie, where he developed strategy and led the launch of all Winn-Dixie's social channels, social listening, and blogger influencer program. In addition, Carlos served as the Head of Digital Marketing for Save-A-Lot food stores, a wholly owned subsidiary of SUPERVALU INC., a Fortune 100 company and one of the largest companies in the United States grocery channel. In 2008, Carlos founded JobsDirectUSA.com as a result of a layoff in the financial services industry. Leveraging strong entrepreneurial acumen, Carlos raised awareness for his startup through social media which resulted in helping thousands of mid to senior-level career professionals find employment during the recession. Carlos' efforts have been featured by CNNMoney.com and other news media in addition to being recognized by Fast Company in 2010 among the Top 50 "Most Influential People Online".