City staff outline social media rules; tourism uses influencers to extend reach

City of Kingman marketing and communications coordinator Sarah Hall told the Economic Development Advisory Commission the city has a formal social media policy that governs what platforms are official, who may post on official accounts and how staff handle public comments. Hall said the city maintains official accounts on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, YouTube and TikTok and that other departments — economic development, tourism, police, fire, parks and golf and the airport — also operate accounts. She described the official pages as a “limited public forum” intended to share information rather than host debate. Hall said staff generally avoid engaging in comment threads except to correct factual questions, and she prefers to reach out privately when possible. Commissioners asked how citizens and commissioners should respond when social posts misrepresent meeting content. Hall said it is appropriate for commissioners or informed members of the public to post factual clarifications and invite people to attend council meetings; she encouraged civil, educational replies but acknowledged negative comments are common and often unavoidable. On tourism marketing, Adam (economic development/tourism staff) told the commission that the tourism program does work with influencers and in some cases through the Arizona Office of Tourism (AOT) cooperative programs to expand reach. He said influencer engagement is used to amplify organic reach; staff still buys some standard advertising (for example, recruitment advertising by communications staff) and the tourism team centralizes influencer content so the tourism page reflects the most accurate, consolidated information. Hall said she plans annual training for staff who regularly post to official accounts so they stay current on acceptable practice as platforms change. No formal action was required; the presentation was informational.