How to build a high-performing social media presence from scratch through the LGR process

Local government reorganisation creates something that most comms professionals rarely get: a genuine blank slate.

You’re not inheriting someone else’s decisions about which platforms to be on, what to call the accounts, or what kind of content to post. You’re making those decisions from scratch, with the benefit of everything you’ve learned from what came before.

That’s worth pausing to think about –  it’s easy to treat the social media setup as a technical task to get done in between everything else, and miss the opportunity it represents. New council, new presence, new chance to build something with clear purpose from day one.

This guide walks you through how to do that well. It covers the decisions you need to make, how to get them signed off, and how to build accounts that are ready to start bringing your communities with you before vesting day arrives.

This is piece two in Orlo’s LGR series. If you haven’t done a full audit of your existing social media presence yet, start with piece one. The decisions you make here will be much easier if you already know what you’re working with.

Two things need to be in place before you start creating accounts.

The first is confirmation of the new council’s name and brand. You can’t set up accounts without knowing what to call them, and you don’t want to set them up twice because the branding changed. If brand guidelines for the new council aren’t finalised yet, push for at least a working name and a decision on visual identity before you proceed. Social media accounts are public-facing from the moment they’re created.

The second is clarity on who has the authority to make decisions. Some of what follows, particularly naming, handle choices, and which platforms to be on, may need sign-off from senior leadership. Work out who needs to approve what before you start, so you’re not creating accounts and then having to unpick decisions later.

More on getting sign-off in a moment.

Some councils reading this will already be operating under a shadow authority structure. A shadow authority is the transitional governing body that exists before vesting day, with elected members and officers in place. It sets budgets, plans services, and ensures a smooth transition, but without full legal powers. It’s the new council in waiting.

Surrey is the clearest current example. Following the government’s decision, two shadow authorities are being established for east and west Surrey, each preparing to become a new unitary authority on vesting day. For the comms teams involved, the social media questions are live right now, not in twelve months’ time.

If you’re in this position, a few additional questions come into play.

Does the shadow authority need its own social media presence before vesting day? There’s no single right answer. Some shadow authorities will want to communicate under their own name from the moment they exist, to establish identity and start building community familiarity with the new council. Others may continue communicating under predecessor council names until the formal changeover, to avoid confusing residents before anything has actually changed. The right call depends on your local context, your timeline, and what your communities already know about the change.

If the shadow authority does establish social media accounts, are those the same accounts that will become the new unitary’s permanent channels, or are they transitional? This matters for naming, handles, and audience building. Setting up a shadow authority account that you’ll then have to migrate again on vesting day creates unnecessary complexity. Where possible, set up the accounts you intend to keep, even if the branding and messaging evolves as you move from shadow to live.

Who speaks for the shadow authority on social media, and under what governance? Shadow authorities are new entities and the internal sign-off structures may not be fully established. Getting clarity on this early, before something happens that requires a public response, avoids difficult conversations under pressure.

The rest of this guide applies whether you’re building accounts for a shadow authority or directly for a new unitary. Where the shadow authority phase adds complexity, the principle is the same: make decisions you can build on rather than decisions you’ll have to unpick.

The instinct is often to be everywhere. Resist it.

Each platform you commit to is a commitment to resource, content, and management, ongoing and indefinitely. A new council launching on six platforms with no plan for each is worse than launching on three platforms with a clear purpose and a content approach for each one.

The question to ask for each platform is: where are our residents, and what do they need from us there? The answer will vary by council area, by demographic, and by the nature of the services you’re communicating about.

As a starting point:

Facebook remains the broadest reach platform for local government audiences in the UK “with the most people across most age groups and demographics” (LGA). If you’re only going to be on one platform, it’s probably this one. It works well for service updates, community information, and two-way conversation.

X (Twitter) has a more fragmented audience than it once did, but is still relevant for media, stakeholders, and politically engaged residents. Worth having a presence, but unlikely to be your highest-volume channel. It’s also worth maintaining for social listening purposes. Monitoring what residents, journalists, and other organisations are saying about the new council, particularly in the early days, gives you early warning of emerging issues and a much clearer picture of how the transition is landing with your communities.

Instagram works well for place-based content, community stories, and anything visually led. Less suited to transactional service information.

LinkedIn is worth having for a new council, particularly for economic development, investment, and employer brand messaging. Less relevant for direct resident communications.

YouTube is worth considering if you’re planning video content, particularly for council meetings, public consultations, or longer-form community content. As a bonus this content can be clipped for other channels.

Nextdoor is increasingly relevant for hyperlocal community engagement, particularly in areas where Facebook Groups have become fragmented or contentious.

Bluesky is growing quickly and has a particularly active public sector, journalism, and policy community. It’s not yet a mainstream channel for resident communications, but it’s worth securing your handle now even if you don’t plan to post actively straight away. Some councils are already building a presence there and it’s likely to become more relevant over the coming years.

Threads is still finding its feet as a platform, and the local government use case isn’t clearly established yet. Worth monitoring, but not a priority for a new council launch.

WhatsApp is worth serious consideration, but it works differently from every other platform on this list. WhatsApp Channels function as a broadcast tool, letting you push updates directly to residents who opt in, which can be highly effective for time-sensitive local information. Some councils are also using WhatsApp community groups for more conversational engagement. The considerations are different though. You’ll need to think carefully about governance, moderation, response expectations, and how you handle direct messages. If you’re planning to use WhatsApp, make sure you have a clear policy in place before you go live, not after.

TikTok is worth considering if you have the resource and skills to do it well, and if your community profile includes a significant younger demographic. Don’t create an account unless you have a genuine content plan.

For each platform you decide to be on, document the purpose before you create the account. What will this channel be for? Who is the primary audience? What kind of content will it carry? This becomes the foundation of your channel strategy and it’s also useful for the sign-off conversation.

Want to see some examples of who’s doing channels well?

Carmen Proctor and the team at Staffordshire County Council use TikTok in a great way. 

Valleys2Coast uses Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp for connection, and TikTok for capturing the transformation. They use LinkedIn for professional partners. A great example of using channels for different audiences. 

West Midlands Combined Authority used Instagram cleverly and got a collab from Ozzy Osbourne’s official account. 

This is where things get complicated, and where decisions made quickly can cause problems for years.

Your account name and handle are how residents find you, how other organisations tag you, and how your presence is perceived. Getting this right matters.

Account names

Your account name, the display name that appears on your profile, should be the full official name of the new council. This is what residents will search for and what will appear in search results. Don’t abbreviate it here, even if the full name is long.

If the new council has a short form or acronym that will be used widely, you can include it in brackets in the display name or in the bio. For example: “Anyshire Council (ASC).”

Handles

Handles are where the practical constraints kick in. Platform character limits, existing account names, and the availability of consistent handles across platforms all come into play.

Work through this framework when choosing handles:

Start with the ideal. What would you choose if there were no constraints? Usually this is a shortened, recognisable version of the council name. @AnyshireCouncil, for example.

Check availability across all platforms at the same time. Don’t secure a handle on one platform and then discover it’s taken on another. Do the search across every platform you’re planning to be on before you commit to anything.

Prioritise consistency. Having the same handle across all platforms makes it significantly easier for residents to find you and for other accounts to tag you correctly. If @AnyshireCouncil is available everywhere, use it everywhere.

If consistency isn’t possible, use a clear and logical variation rather than something unrelated. @AnyshireCouncil on Facebook and @AnyshireC on X is understandable. @AnyshireCouncil on Facebook and @ASC_official on X is confusing.

Avoid numbers and underscores where possible. They make handles harder to remember and easier to mistype.

Avoid anything that ties you to a specific geography that might change. If boundaries are shifting, a handle that references a specific place name could become misleading.

Document your final choices and the rationale before you create anything. This is part of your sign-off pack.

A note on old handles

If your existing councils have well-known handles, think carefully about whether to redirect them or let them lapse. In some cases, a popular handle can be migrated or pointed toward the new account during the transition period. This feeds into piece three of this series, which covers audience transition in detail.

Some of these decisions are straightforward enough for the comms team to make. Others, particularly the platform choices and naming decisions, may need sign-off from a director, chief executive, or even a member.

The challenge is that senior leaders often have strong opinions about social media without always having the context to make informed decisions. Your job is to make the decision as easy as possible to approve, while making sure the right things are being decided.

Present options, not open questions. Don’t go into a sign-off conversation asking “what should we call the accounts?” Go in with two or three clearly presented options, a recommendation, and a brief rationale for each. Decision-makers find it much easier to choose between defined options than to generate answers from scratch.

Frame it around risk and opportunity, not social media mechanics. Most senior leaders don’t care about character limits or handle consistency. They do care about reputational risk, resident confusion, and the council being ready for vesting day. Frame your recommendations in those terms.

Be clear about what you need a decision on and what you’re just informing them of. Some things genuinely need sign-off. Others are operational decisions that the comms team should own. Be explicit about which is which, or everything becomes a committee decision.

Set a deadline. Social media account setup takes time, particularly if you’re pursuing verification (more on that below). Be clear about when you need decisions made in order to be ready by vesting day, and work backwards from there.

A one-page options paper with your recommendations and a clear ask is usually more effective than a lengthy report. Keep it short, keep it visual if you can, and make the recommended option obvious.

Once decisions are made and signed off, here’s what a good setup looks like.

Admin access

Set every account up using a shared council email address, not an individual’s personal or work email. This is non-negotiable. Accounts tied to individuals create access problems when people leave, and in a reorganisation context, people are going to move.

Add multiple admins from day one, at least two people who have full admin rights to every account. Document who they are and store credentials securely in a place the organisation controls.

Managing multiple new accounts across multiple platforms simultaneously is one of the less visible operational challenges of a new council launch. If your team is handling several channels at once, from different devices and logins, the risk of errors, missed messages, and inconsistent responses goes up considerably. Having a single platform to manage everything from day one makes a significant difference, both to the quality of your output and to the workload of the people doing it.

Profile completeness

Every account should be fully complete before it goes public. This means:

• Profile image (council logo or crest, correctly sized for each platform)
• Header or cover image (on-brand, sized correctly for each platform)
• Bio or description (clear, plain English, tells residents what this account is for)
• Website link (to the new council website, or a holding page if the website isn’t live yet)
• Location information where applicable
• Contact information where the platform allows

An incomplete profile looks unfinished and erodes confidence in the new council before it’s even started.

Bio copy

Your bio has to do a lot of work in very few characters. It needs to tell residents who you are, what this account is for, and, during the transition period, where they can find more information.

Keep it plain. Avoid jargon. Use the council name in full at least once. If the account has a specific focus, say so clearly. “The official Facebook page of Anyshire Council. Local news, service updates, and community information for residents of Anyshire” is more useful than “Welcome to our page!”

During the transition period, consider adding a line that acknowledges the change: “Formerly [Old Council Name]. Serving residents of Anyshire from [vesting date].”

Verification

Pursue verification on every platform that offers it for public sector or government accounts. Verification signals legitimacy to residents at a moment when there’s likely to be some confusion about what’s official and what isn’t.

The process varies by platform and some are more straightforward than others. Build the verification applications into your setup timeline rather than treating them as an afterthought, as some platforms take several weeks to process.

Pinned posts

On platforms that allow pinned posts, have an introductory post ready to pin from day one. This should welcome residents, explain what this account is for, and, where relevant, acknowledge the transition from predecessor councils. It’s often the first thing a new follower will see.

New account or renamed account?

Before you commit to creating brand new accounts for the new council, there’s a strategic decision worth making first. Starting fresh gives you a clean slate, but it also means starting with zero followers. Building a meaningful social media following takes years of consistent effort. Walking away from that to begin again is a significant cost, and one that’s worth weighing carefully.

The alternative is to rename and retain an existing account. Most platforms allow you to change the display name and handle of an account while keeping the followers intact. If one of your predecessor councils has a large, engaged following on a particular platform, renaming that account to the new council rather than creating a new one means the audience comes with you.

Transport for Greater Manchester’s transition to the Bee Network is a well-known example of this approach. Rather than starting from scratch, the existing account was renamed, keeping its established following while the new identity was built on top of it.

If you go down this route, a few things to think through:

Which account do you rename? If multiple predecessor councils have accounts on the same platform, only one of them can become the new council’s account through renaming. The others will still need to be retired and their audiences migrated. So the rename approach solves part of the problem but not all of it. You’ll still need a transition campaign to move followers from the other predecessor accounts to the renamed one.

Is the handle available? Renaming an account doesn’t automatically free up the new handle you want if it’s already taken by someone else. Check availability before you decide on this approach.

What happens to the old handle? When you rename an account, the previous handle is released and can be claimed by anyone. Consider keeping the old account active but dormant, as a placeholder, while you transition, to prevent impersonation or confusion.

Prepare your responses. Whether you’re creating new accounts or renaming existing ones, have a bank of holding responses ready for the old predecessor accounts before the transition starts. Residents will ask where to go, and having clear, friendly redirect responses ready means your team isn’t drafting them under pressure.

The right choice depends on your specific situation: how many predecessor accounts are involved, the relative size of their audiences, and whether the existing accounts have any reputational baggage worth leaving behind. There’s no single right answer, but it’s worth making the decision consciously rather than defaulting to whichever option feels easiest in the moment.

Our recommendation is to get new accounts live before vesting day, not on it.

Here’s why. Vesting day is going to be busy. There will be announcements, media interest, and a lot of things happening at once. If your social media accounts go live on the same day, you’re trying to set them up, manage content, respond to residents, and handle the noise of the day simultaneously. That’s a lot.

Getting accounts live in advance, even just a few weeks, means:

• You can start building a following before vesting day, so you’re not launching to an empty room
• You can test content, tone, and processes before the pressure is on
• You can start the transition messaging early, giving residents time to find the new accounts and follow them
• You arrive at vesting day with momentum rather than starting from zero

The accounts don’t need to be posting at full volume before vesting day. A clear purpose, a consistent cadence, and content that starts to tell the story of the new council is enough. Think of it as warming up rather than launching.

The key condition is that you have a content plan for each channel before it goes live. An active account with no plan quickly becomes an inconsistent one, and that undermines the “fresh start” opportunity that reorganisation gives you.

It’s worth coming back to this, because it’s easy to lose sight of in the practicalities.

Most councils have social media accounts that evolved rather than being designed. Channels that exist because someone thought it was a good idea in 2013. Accounts with unclear purposes, inconsistent tones, and audiences that nobody quite understands. Content strategies that grew by accretion rather than by intent.

A new council doesn’t have to inherit any of that.

The decisions you make now, about which platforms to be on, what each channel is for, who the audience is, what the tone will be, set the pattern for years to come. That’s worth getting right, and it’s worth making the case internally for the time and resource to do it properly.

Getting this right is easier with the right tools and the right support around you. The councils that approach reorganisation with a clear platform strategy, proper governance, and the infrastructure to manage their communities well are the ones that build trust quickly and maintain it. That’s true whether you’re working with a small comms team or a larger one, and it’s true from day one.

The councils that come out of reorganisation with the strongest community relationships won’t necessarily be the ones with the most followers. They’ll be the ones who were clear about what they were doing and why, and who showed up consistently for their communities from day one.

Getting the accounts set up is the start, not the finish. You still need to bring your existing audiences with you.

Piece three in this series covers the mechanics of audience transition: how to move followers from old accounts to new ones, how to manage the archiving or retirement of predecessor accounts, and how to coordinate the switchover so residents aren’t left wondering where to find you.

Piece four goes deeper into the community side: how to talk to residents about what’s changing, how to maintain trust through the transition, and what good community engagement looks like when the landscape is shifting.

If you’d like help thinking through your platform strategy, account setup, or transition planning, Orlo’s professional services team and network of community partners can work with you directly. Orlo is built specifically for public sector organisations, and helps new councils manage their entire social media presence, from multiple accounts and platforms, through a single place from day one. Get in touch to find out more, or book a demo to see how Orlo can support your new council now, through the changes, and from the moment it comes into existence.

This guide is part of Orlo’s Local Government Reorganisation content hub. Find more resources at orlo.tech/industries/local-government/