Facebook is currently the most popular and widest reaching social network on earth, with over one billion active users. With individual profiles as well as product, corporate, or organization pages, and more, Facebook has enticed a huge percentage of both individuals and government agencies.

Good communicators know that it's important to meet your stakeholders where they are, and the truth of the matter is many of the people in your agency's demographic are on Facebook. By integrating your govDelivery content with Facebook, your organization can streamline your communications, making it easier for your audience to engage, and attracting new subscribers or audience members who you may not otherwise have found.

How does govDelivery integrate with Facebook?

Post to Facebook

Associating your organization's Facebook account with your govDelivery account allows you to automatically post your bulletin content to your Facebook page when you click Send. Elements of the Facebook post are described below.


An example facebook post, with a featured image and link to the shared bulletin page


The text of the post is whatever is entered into the Facebook block when sending a govDelivery bulletin. If this is left empty, the Facebook post will only show the shared bulletin page preview.

The preview of the shared bulletin page shows either the chosen featured image for the bulletin, or your account's default image. The subject line of your bulletin and the first few words of the bulletin text is included in the preview.

When a visitor clicks on the post, they are directed to the shared bulletin page. From here, visitors can read the full text of the bulletin, share the bulletin to other social media sites, and/or sign up for updates from your organization.

Before you can post bulletins to Facebook, you must follow the steps under Getting Started in this article. For instructions on posting bulletins to Facebook, see Selecting your Bulletin Audience and Channels.

Let Citizens Share your Bulletins

Every time your organization creates a public bulletin through govDelivery, a shared bulletin page is created with its own unique URL. You can link to this page and send social media followers or website visitors directly to these links. The header on this shared bulletin page features social media buttons, allowing users to interact with or re-purpose the bulletin content.

With the click of a button, citizens who may not be subscribers or social media followers of your agency can view, engage, and share your agency's content via the social network of their choosing. Allowing citizens to share your bulletins via Facebook, directly from shared bulletin pages gives your content better overall visibility and higher chances of being seen by those who are not already invested in your organization. 

See Bulletin Sharing and Viewing Options for more detailed information on bulletin sharing.

Link to your Facebook Page from your Bulletins

You can include a link to your Facebook page in your bulletin footer, driving more citizens to your page. 

For more information, see Managing Footers.

Getting Started

Linking Your Facebook Page with govDelivery

Connecting your organization's Facebook page with govDelivery allows you to automatically post bulletins to Facebook when you send them from your account. To link your existing Facebook page with govDelivery:

  1. On the Account Area toolbar, click on Social Media.
    Note: Social Media settings are only available to Account Administrators. If you are not an Account Administrator and you do not see this tab available to you, contact an Account Administrator within your organization to proceed.
  2. On the Area Option toolbar, click Facebook.
  3. Click Add Facebook Page(s).
  4. If you are not logged into Facebook, you will be prompted to login. Enter your email and password. If you are logged into Facebook, govDelivery will direct you to a Facebook integration screen. Click Allow.
  5. Select the pages that you want to add to govDelivery. Click Add to govDelivery.
  6. If prompted with the screen below, make sure the "Show a list of the Pages you manage" setting is set to "Yes" and then click, "Done."
        User-added image

Assigning Facebook Access in govDelivery

You must first associate a Facebook account with your govDelivery account. This lets you publish your govDelivery updates directly to your Facebook page. You also have the flexibility of limiting which administrators have access to your social media accounts, meaning that only designated administrators can publish updates to Facebook.

By default, no administrators will be automatically assigned to a newly added (authorized) Facebook account. However, once connected, any govDelivery administrator can be assigned to the account. 

To associate your Facebook page(s) with certain administrators:

  1. On the left toolbar, click Social Media.
  2. On the right toolbar, click Facebook.
  3. Click on the Facebook Page Name.
  4. Select the administrators that have permission to post to the Facebook page.
  5. Click Save.

Facebook Frequently Asked Questions

Q. How can I include my organization's logo on every Facebook post?

A. If your organization would like to append your logo to every Facebook post that you automatically send through govDelivery, you can do so easily by submitting a request to Support. This option is set at the account level, and Granicus will input an image URL for your organization, which will be added as an image attached to each of your Facebook posts automatically. The recommended image size is at least 200x200 pixels.

To include an image with your post individually, you have the option of including a "featured image" along with the message you would like to post on Facebook when sending your bulletin. This image will be used as the preview image for your post. For best results, we recommend uploading an image that is 600x314 pixels, and under 1MB in size. The minimum size image Facebook will display is 200x200 pixels. 

Q. If you send a test message, will it post to Facebook?

A. No, test messages will not post to Facebook.

Q. Can you link more than one Facebook page to a govDelivery account?

A. Yes, you can link multiple Facebook pages to your govDelivery account.

Q: Can I post a bulletin to multiple Facebook pages?

A: No, you can only post a bulletin to one Facebook page.

Q: Do I have to be logged into Facebook for a bulletin to post to Facebook?

A: No. govDelivery stores your login credentials, so you do not have to be logged into Facebook when sending a bulletin for it to successfully post to your Facebook page.

Q. If I link my Facebook page to govDelivery, do I have to post every bulletin I sent to Facebook?

A. No. When sending a bulletin, you must indicate that you want the bulletin to post to Facebook.

Q. I decided that I no longer want to post updates from govDelivery to Facebook or I have accidentally linked pages I do not want to post updates to. Can I unlink my Facebook pages from govDelivery?

A. Yes. To unlink Facebook pages:

  1. Click Social Media on the bottom left side of your screen.
  2. Click Facebook on the far-right side of your screen.
  3. Check the box next to the Facebook page you want to unlink.
  4. Click the Deauthorize Facebook page(s) button.

Q: Can govDelivery post to a personal Facebook account?

A: No, govDelivery can only post to an official Facebook page.

Q: When you link a Facebook page to govDelivery, can you link it only to a specific topic?

A: No. Any Facebook page that you link to your govDelivery account is accessible to your entire account; it cannot be restricted to only certain topics. However, you can designate which administrators have access to post to Facebook.

Q: Can you post a General Bulletin to Facebook?

A: Yes, you can post both General Bulletins and Topic Bulletins to Facebook via govDelivery.

Q: Can you post an Advanced Bulletin to Facebook?

A: Yes. You have the option to post Advanced Bulletins to Facebook in the Channels section of the message creation process.

Q. Why did my bulletin not post to Facebook?

A. The most common reason for bulletins not posting to Facebook is that your Facebook password has changed, and you need to "refresh" your authorization. To do so currently, you must remove the link to your Facebook account, and then re-add it.