INTRODUCTION
Many municipalities spend hours producing cable programming, from government meetings to community news. But as residents increasingly turn to digital channels for information, local governments have an opportunity to get more value from that content.
According to a study at the Pew Research Center, 88% of U.S. adults get news from digital devices at least sometimes, compared with 63% who get news from television. Rather than creating more content from scratch, municipalities can repurpose or change existing programming into short videos for social media while continuing to use their cable channels.
Here are a few ways to decide what to keep on cable, what to share on social and how to make the transition.
WHY LOCAL GOVERNMENTS ARE SHIFTING FROM CABLE TV TO SOCIAL MEDIA
As a general best practice, your communications should be available where your target audience (e.g., residents) spend their time. Social media gives municipalities another way to share updates, explain projects and highlight the community without requiring residents to tune in to a scheduled cable segment.
Short video clips of 30-60 sec. can save residents the time of watching a 30-min. program and still be informative. Videos can also be shared, revisited and linked to additional resources.
Also, many platforms track analytics so municipalities can review engagement metrics to see which topics attract the most attention.
WHAT TO KEEP ON YOUR CABLE CHANNEL VS. MOVE TO SOCIAL MEDIA
First, do an audit of your cable content. Determine the time it takes to produce each program, viewership numbers (if available) and relevance.
Use these factors to decide which programs to keep in the current format, which segments could be repurposed as or converted into short-form social media videos and which programs may no longer justify the production time. This helps identify opportunities to get more value from existing content while maintaining programming that serves residents’ needs.
For example, a full committee meeting may still be relevant for residents who want to hear the complete discussion, while project updates may be more accessible as short videos. The goal isn’t to eliminate cable programming; rather, it’s to determine which content benefits from a full-length format and which ones residents can better consume via social media.
HOW TO TRANSITION CABLE TV CONTENT TO SOCIAL MEDIA
Once you’ve identified the cable TV content to repurpose as or convert to social media videos, follow these best practices when creating your videos:
- Each video should communicate one main idea
- Format the video for mobile viewing (e.g., vertical 9:16 video)
- Capture attention early; otherwise, you risk users scrolling past your videos
- Add captions to help viewers follow along when watching without the sound on
- Post Reels to your story and share a clickable link to the website for more information