Whether you have an existing Facebook page for your utility or are thinking of getting started on the social media platform, you want as many local followers as possible so that your posts have the most reach possible in your community. Buy how do you get people to follow you?

Here are few ideas:

• Add a link to your page from your website and in your email signature block. You can either include the page URL or use the Facebook icon and add the URL link to the image to call more attention to it. You can also add the URL to utility bills with a call to action to follow your Facebook page.
• Use the FLC formula. Follow, like, and comment (FLC). Go to local pages – maybe the city’s page, school district’s page, or the page of some other local group with a large following. Follow, like, or comment on posts and followers’ comments. Studies show that when you FLC, those individuals or groups often follow you back.
• Create shareable content. Think funny, informative, appealing, innovative, beneficial – anything that followers might share on their Facebook pages. If one follower with 1,000 Facebook friends shares your post, that gets your utility in front of many people who might then follow your page as a result.

When it comes to communications, a key element to being effective is to be consistent. Many organizations use a style guide when communicating to their customers.

A style guide lays out how you will treat elements of writing when they appear. It can cover things like when to capitalize, when to abbreviate, how to refer to something on a second reference, whether to use a numeral or spell out a number, whether something should be italicized or put in quotes, and more.

There are various style guides available to use – such as the AP Stylebook or Chicago Manual of Style – that detail out how to style just about anything when it comes to words and punctuation. You don’t have to get into everything, but you may want to be consistent on a few basics such as when to use numerals or numbers and how you will treat specific words relevant to your utility or city such as how to refer to something on the second reference. Not everyone in an organization will be consistent so when it comes to public communications, you might want to consider making someone the point person to review everything before it’s distributed externally.

If you don’t have a logo and want one or have one that you’d like to freshen up, you should keep in mind a few basic principles.

1. Your logo should reflect your utility in an accurate and unique way. For example, are you a water utility? Make sure to have the idea of water incorporated in your logo.
2. Your logo should be simple. Don’t try to include too much detail in any symbol or image. Don’t include too many words, either.
3. Your logo should work well in both color and black and white (one-color printing). Don’t rely on the use of different colors to show distinctions in shapes, for instance.
4. Your logo should be scalable so that it works for anything from a business card to a billboard. For this reason, you may want to make sure to create your logo in vector format so that it doesn’t lose resolution as you increase the size. If you need help with this, consult a graphic designer.
5. Your logo should be artistically balanced. No part should overpower the rest. Shape, color, and line density can affect a logo’s balance. Have a few people review any logo you’re considering to get additional input.