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Bannock County PIO reports bigger audiences, proposes weekly commissioner blog
Summary
Public Information Officer Emma Ayanna Cohn told commissioners on Jan. 8 that county social channels and email lists grew in 2025 and proposed a weekly commissioner blog and more proactive communications for high‑interest items.
Emma Ayanna Cohn, Bannock County public information officer, told the Board of Commissioners on Jan. 8 that the county expanded its online reach in 2025 and wants a more proactive communications approach in 2026.
Cohn said the county Facebook page grew to about 3,200 followers (up 27%), the county Instagram rose to just over 1,000 followers (up 16%), and the Port and Family Trust amphitheater account reached roughly 15,000 followers (up about 15%). She reported Constant Contact distributed roughly 74,000 individual emails last year with an open rate of about 58%, and said the office’s pop‑up sign‑up tool had been a major driver of new subscribers. The amphitheater and events complex channels used separate management and some legacy pages were archived to simplify outreach.
Cohn proposed creating a short, regular commissioner blog that would repurpose the snippets staff already prepares and add context for county actions. "It wouldn't require any effort on your guys' part," she said, offering to draft examples and to work with department staff on collecting "wins" to share. She also flagged the potential to involve the PIO earlier on high‑interest items so messaging can be shaped before a story reaches broader media.
Commissioners welcomed the idea but urged caution about over‑communication and how short clips can be taken out of context. One commissioner said there is "a fine line between getting too much information" and producing a "fire hose of information" that the public can misread; Cohn replied staff will try to prioritize material that will affect residents’ lives and avoid flooding audiences.
Cohn also said staff experimented with AI (Gemini) to analyze news coverage, but she cautioned commissioners to "take this with a grain of salt" because automated analysis can overstate some items. The board asked staff to draft a sample blog and return with a proposed schedule and content approach.
The report is for information; no formal policy change was enacted at the meeting.
