Whether we like it or not, social media is defining police and community relationships around the country, and even small online events can have serious offline implications. While many agencies are active on social media, doing so without an effective strategy and a solid understanding of best practices isn’t useful, and often even dangerous.

This live, interactive 4-hour webinar will cover how to build an effective social media strategy using minimal tools, and how to determine the best way to tell your story on a fast-paced, low-attention medium. It will address best practices for social media communications, as well as how to build trust and engage effectively as a police department in today’s environment. You will learn about how social media algorithms work, as well as how humans react to them and behave on social.

Additionally, you will learn to create a crisis communications plan for any situation that may occur within your jurisdiction. You will also learn about common mistakes on social media, how to avoid them, and what to do if you find yourself in the middle of a social media disaster.

Yael Bar-tur is an expert in digital communications, strategy, content creation, crisis management and decentralized messaging.

Between 2014-2020 she served as the Director of Social Media and Digital Strategy for the New York City Police Department (NYPD), where she created and oversaw the Department's command social media outreach, providing strategy, guidance and training for over 200 official NYPD accounts. 

Yael served in the Israeli Army as a foreign press liaison in the height of two wars, as well as volunteering for reserve duty at the Israeli field hospital in Haiti immediately following the 2010 earthquake. She holds a Master's Degree from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, where she wrote her thesis on police use of social media, and returns annually as a guest lecturer on social media for the public sector.