Bracebridge Communication Strategy Shows Positive Results
Bracebridge General Committee announced that its Communication Strategy for public engagement is paying off, in the May 7, 2024, meeting.
Mayor, Rick Maloney, indicated that the Town is moving forward with positive outcomes for their efforts. He said, “When I see numbers like 184% in new follower increases, page profiles increasing by 219%, impressions 191%, overall increases across all of the platforms that we have, I think we’re very well positioned on the right trajectory.”
He indicated that he was impressed with the successful connections and positive results they’re establishing with their online platform, which he believes is easier for the public to use engage with.
Councillor, Don Smith, also praised the progress the Town is making to engage the community. He said, “I’ve seen tremendous ability to reach out and deliver messages of the Town. I think that’s really important, particularly in these changing times of communication that we are able to deliver the message and to inform the people of Bracebridge and beyond of what is happening here in our community.”
He inquired about what the ongoing improvements to the Town’s website would be, indicating that there are still challenges with the search feature.
The Town’s Communication Coordinator, Jacqueline Fulton, advised that staff are aware of the search issues and the upgrades are ongoing for the whole site with a “focus on reviewing content to make sure that everything is up to date, easy to find, so we can improve our overall user experience.”
She explained that improvements will include site navigation so that people can easily find what they are seeking without necessarily having to use the search feature.
Deputy, Brenda Rhodes, also expressed appreciation for the website improvements, including the tax bill option, suggesting that it will also help reduce spending.
Councillor, Andrew Struthers, indicated that the Town has faced challenges since the roll out of the new strategy, such as loosing the local newspaper, which impacts the Town’s reach of people that are not using online platforms. He inquired about how the Town will address this challenge.
Fulton advised, “We continue to have very good relationships with our media partners.” She said the partners remain attentive to the Town’s media releases and program initiatives and help promote it.
She continued, “Demographics include 8000 followers, and the majority are in Muskoka.”
According to Fulton, the Town is reaching the 18-to 65-year-old age group. However, considering their reach to the younger age groups is low (i.e., 2.1% on Facebook), they are including other options such as posters, radio, and other ways to compliment their existing efforts to engage them.
