Ridgefield hires social media consultant

The town government of Ridgefield has hired a local social media consultant to coordinate its online presence on Facebook and Twitter.

According to a Ridgefield Press report, Emily Pambianchi of Social Graces Communications will be paid $800 per month to post information online about issues impacting Ridgefield residents. Pambianchi”™s fee is being allocated from the town”™s $61,000 contingency fund.

First Selectman Rudy Marconi welcomed Pambianchi”™s input by stressing the need to increase awareness of local issues, observing that voter participation in local elections can be between 40 and 50 percent while budget referendums can see less than 10 percent turnout. Marconi believes social media will help younger Ridgefield residents become more active in town issues.

“The largest nonvoting demographic we have in town is 25 to 40,” Marconi said.

“The town will be more informed, rather than reading information on other pages that may be out in the community and getting facts mixed up,” Pambianchi stated. “I”™ll put it out there with a video, with an image. This will all be coming from the town, going out on Facebook and Twitter.”

Pambianchi”™s consulting firm has only been in business since January ”“ she was previously business development manager at Pamby Motors in Ridgefield and both marketing and employment director at the Prospector Theater in town. In accepting the assignment, she stated that she will also be tracking social media conversations on Ridgefield-related subjects. “Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, my monitoring system lets me know if anyone”™s engaging,” she said.

Pambianchi noted that Facebook and Twitter will be her primary social media platforms on behalf of Ridgefield, adding, “We”™ll think about Instagram later.”