The VASWCD Photo Contest has been a fun and easy way to engage the public on our social media page and collect high-quality conservation images for marketing and outreach. Currently, Facebook voting is live for selecting the “People’s Choice” winning photo. We invite anyone to vote by “liking” their favorite(s) photos on the VASWCD Facebook page post. 

Social Media Tip: You can “pin” your Facebook posts, so they stay at the top of your account page! Reach out to maura.christian@vaswcd.org to access a Google drive of 230+ submitted photos to use in your outreach efforts. 

Here’s another way to make your marketing materials look great: the new Virginia Agricultural Cost Share graphic. Use it to dress up a handout, flyer, webpage or your latest swag. The graphic is available in multiple formats to suit your marketing and printing needs. Find it in the Agricultural Cost Share Marketing Toolkit. Need a different image format? No problem. Reach out to rebecca.jones@dcr.virginia.gov.

The photos and graphics above can help you continue to elevate your SWCD’s social media game. Here are 4 tips for making sure that the words and strategy are as good as the images.  



1. Keep it short. Experts over at Hootsuite recommend that you keep your posts to 80 characters or less. Not 80 words — 80 characters. Try your best to keep posts short enough to avoid the dreaded “See more” link at the end. 

2. Post at the right time. In general, 10 a.m.-noon on weekdays is the sweet spot, according to this article from Sprout Social. The worst day to post? Sunday.  

3. Use a casual, friendly tone. Instead of sounding overly “official,” write like you’re talking to a friend. If you're offering something, don’t list rules, restrictions or exclusions in the post. Link to those details, instead.  

4. Follow other great government agency social media accounts. Some of our faves are the Virginia Department of Transportation, the U.S. Department of Defense and the Transportation Security Administration. Who said government communications can’t have personality?