Local Hazard Mitigation Plan Press Release Starter Kit

An adopted hazard mitigation plan is a demonstration of a community’s commitment to safeguarding residents, visitors, homes, and businesses. After the adoption of a local hazard mitigation plan, it is important to celebrate the hard work and successes of planning. Sharing planning successes through press releases and social media can expand awareness of mitigation planning efforts. It can  also support ongoing risk communications. This document provides an overview and examples of how to announce the adoption of a hazard mitigation plan. Examples use a fictional city called “Somewhere”.

A press release is a written communication providing short, specific information on an event - in this case, the adoption of a mitigation plan. These communications are sent to news outlets to provide awareness and to be published based on news cycles and interest. Press releases are an easy way to inform the public of a mitigation plan’s adoption, update or drafting.

If you are not already familiar with your local newspapers, start there. Search online for your city’s name. Go to the “News” section of your search engine to find news outlets that cover your area. If the newspaper is available online, read through to find relevant sections and journalists who regularly cover topics like local government or emergencies.

Different newspapers and magazines have different requirements. You are more likely to be published the closer you stay to these guidelines.

When sending a press release, focus your distribution on those outlets that cover information such as disasters, emergencies and local government. Send out each email individually and address the journalist by their name, if possible. If you are unable to identify a direct contact for this type of content, it’s best to reach out to the following contacts:

• Daily newspaper in your community: Contact the City Editor or the editor in charge of the section that relates to your content.
• Weekly newspaper: Editor.
• Magazine: Editor or Managing Editor.
• Radio stations: News Director.

For ease of reading, many journalists prefer having the information directly in the body of the email. However, if you have any images or additional information, that should be included in an attachment. This keeps the message as short and direct as possible.

Contact each journalist you emailed the press release to. Ensure that they have all the information they need and that the story receives attention.

Understanding who is on different social media platforms and how to leverage features commonly used on each outlet is important to promoting messaging. Below is a breakdown of three major social media platforms, including their audiences and example posts. Highlighted sections in examples show where to change the sample text if you use the posts verbatim.

To learn more about using social media in emergency management, refer to the IS-42: Social Media in Emergency Management course available for free from FEMA’s Emergency Management Institute.

LinkedIn users are typically current professionals, job seekers and individuals interested in networking in a certain career field. Posts on LinkedIn should be focused on this professional subset. They should have messaging tailored to local governments, community planners, zoning officials and emergency managers. Encouraging stakeholders involved in the plan’s production to repost the announcement will provide additional traction and visibility.

Twitter posts gain more traction with relevant trending hashtags attached to the post. While the creation of a custom hashtag allows you to find all related posts, also including a trending hashtag will increase the visibility of a post. Twitter provides its own analysis directly on its site of trending topics and tags, but additional external services are also available.

The average Facebook user is between 25 and 34 years old. Posts should focus on this demographic. Posts with images or videos have higher views and clicks, suggesting that successful posts should include a relevant, interesting image. Bringing the message down to the individual level instead of addressing the community aspect also increases the likelihood of post interaction. Average education is nearly evenly distributed between high school, some college, and college level. With this demographic diversity, posts should be more general than tailored for a variety of education levels and interests.

FEMA Mitigation Planning Program: This page introduces hazard mitigation planning and describes its benefits. The intended audience is state, tribal, and local officials and members of the public interested in hazard mitigation planning.

IS-42: Social Media in Emergency Management: By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Explain why social media is important for emergency management.
• Describe the major functions and features of common social media sites currently used in emergency management.
• Describe the opportunities and challenges of using social media applications during the five phases of emergency management.
• Describe better practices for using social media applications during the five phases of emergency management
• Describe the process for building the capabilities and to sustain the use of social media in an emergency management organization (state, local, tribal, territorial).

FEMA Social Media: This page has links to FEMA’s different social media accounts and activities.