The Winning Combination of Social Media and an Authentic Voice

This weekend the Kent County Sheriff Department posted a recruitment video to their Facebook page. The video was supposed to be a 20 second clip inviting people to apply for 911 openings. Kate, the woman in the video, became a little camera shy and the recording session had almost an hour worth of footage and bloopers.

Joel, their savvy social media guy, decided to create a video that blended Kate’s professional footage and some of her mistakes. While the department’s overall engagement is usually fairly formal, they took a chance and went the route of Kate’s authentic voice.

Joel absolutely made the right call.

Here’s the video from their Facebook page:

It looks like a fun place with good people right? If you were looking for a job in the Grand Rapids area, this would make your list right?

Within 24 hours of the video going live on Facebook:

• It had reached almost 11,000 people
• It was viewed over 4,000 times
• It had almost 100 shares
• Kent County had 175 clicks on the link to the job posting

It is now two days later and the video has racked up another 2,000 views.

What I love about this is Kate and Joel’s combined effort to showcase the real people behind the 911 desk. The Kate you see in the video is the real Kate I know and love. I worked with her many years ago on website development, SEO, and social media training. She was a super smart student, she put her heart and soul into everything she touched, and she was just funny. This video reminds me of why I like her as much as I do.

The video works because Kate was authentic and that resonated with the users of Facebook.

Social media can be difficult for many people to master. It can be frustrating because a lot of hard work can results in zero engagement, results, and ROI.

A lot of times when it flops, it does so because it failed to reach the user. It failed to connect with them on a personal level.

Businesses of all types and sizes have embraced social media, yet few actually have the engagement needed to get a return on their investment. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

If you’re struggling with social media and haven’t quite grabbed the followers and engagement you seek, take a moment and watch the video from Kent County. See first hand what an authentic voice sounds like and see how the public responded.