Pittsboro communications staff outlines website redesign, social media growth and engagement goals

Colby Sawyer, director of communications and merchant management for the Town of Pittsboro, briefed the Board of Commissioners on Feb. 10 on the town’s communications work, citing significant growth in website subscribers and social-media reach and outlining a three-phase redesign of the town website.

Sawyer said the communications department now comprises two staff members — Sawyer and communications specialist Caitlin Murphy — and that the department’s goals are to expand the town’s reach, maintain open lines of communication with residents, and invite public participation in decision-making. He said the town’s community budget survey remains live on the town engagement page and that staff would welcome help amplifying the survey.

On metrics, Sawyer said the town has seen substantial growth since upgrading the website and increasing posting frequency. He told commissioners the town had about 7,100 Facebook followers and was on pace to roughly double or triple reach and visits compared with prior years, and that YouTube views were on pace for about 5,000 views by the end of the fiscal year. He also reported social pages administered by other departments: Parks and Recreation (about 2,800 followers), Police (about 12,000 followers), and Downtown Pittsboro (about 4,700 followers, Instagram about 2,750).

Sawyer walked the board through the website redesign schedule. Phase 1, the new look, is scheduled to go live the next day; Phase 2 focuses on optimizing site content and navigation; Phase 3 will expand interactive services, including a finished “How do I” section to help residents find common services from a single starting point. Sawyer said the redesign will reduce the number of pages from roughly 30 to about 12 while improving accessibility (alt text for images, screen-reader compatibility and attention to contrast) and consolidating planning and engineering content into a unified user experience.

He also said staff began time-stamping past meeting videos on YouTube to create chapters for easier topic navigation and that the town has begun sending meeting recaps by email and social media the day after meetings to summarize what was discussed and any actions taken.

Commissioners asked which pages attract the most visits; Sawyer said planning, parks and recreation, and recycling were the most frequently visited pages and that the parks spring activity guide was the most-downloaded document in the last year. He said the team is still refining site analytics; the current site does not use Google Analytics, limiting some navigational analysis, but the communications staff can report top pages and most-downloaded documents.

Sawyer asked for the board’s continued support amplifying engagement opportunities and thanked commissioners for creating the communications specialist role.