From Stafford County:
Today, Stafford County launched its new Instagram page, making information on Stafford County government, the community, recreational offerings, and much more available to almost 1.5 billion Instagram users worldwide. Stafford’s Community Engagement Office has intensified efforts in recent years to disseminate information via a multitude of channels and media, emphasizing a visual approach. Instagram is the next step in reaching more residents and people around the country and the world.
“We see this as an additional way to engage the public, particularly Gen Z, the largest demographic group globally,” said Andrew Spence, Director of Community Engagement. “Our team has worked hard to integrate a more visual component to our social media, and Instagram will allow us to reach an even wider audience.”
Stafford’s Instagram page (@staffordvagov) will be a more creative, interactive social media presence with original videos, photos and day-to-day “Did You Know” kind of information to help residents complete business. As well, followers will be able to message Stafford and make suggestions and requests. There will even be a special prize for “milestone” followers. If you are the 200th, 500th or 1,000th follower, you can message Stafford on Instagram, and you will receive a RocketBook smart notebook.
With the addition of video, photography and graphic design capabilities in 2021, Community Engagement has become more robust in its ability to communicate Stafford County’s story visually. Stafford received national recognition in 2022 from Government Social Media for Outstanding Use of Government Social Media for Best NextDoor Presence.
According to the, We Are Social Hootsuite Digital 2022 Global Overview Report, a staggering 58.4% of the world’s population uses social media. Eighty-two percent of the population in North America use social media. Instagram has an audience of more than one billion users, making it the fourth most popular social media site worldwide after Facebook, YouTube and WhatsApp. Stafford already has accounts on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and NextDoor, making Instagram an obvious choice for expanding social media.
