Police Marketing 101: Social Media Replies!

Thanks for reading the Marketing 'For Cops' Newsletter. Want this newsletter delivered straight to your email every week so you don't have to remember to check LinkedIn? Join my Police Marketing Squad and I'll send it to you every Thursday morning! Forever free, always delivering knowledge, and never spam!

Ready to start turning social media comments into Police Officer applications?  I’ve got the police marketing comment engagement hack that will have your applicants smashing that apply now button...keep reading! 👀

Hey everyone, it’s Tom Sye your Police Marketing FTO, and this week, let me let you in on a little secret about police recruiting in 2025.  It’s not as hard as you think. 🤷‍♂️

Contrary to popular belief, it doesn’t take fancy websites, professionally produced recruiting videos, billboards, airport ads, in person coaching sessions, police themed recruiting methods, proprietary applicant generation systems, or a gigantic recruitment budget to attract police officer applicants to your agency. 🤯

Nope.  All it takes is you accomplishing three simple things.  Meet your applicants where they’re at…build a relationship with them…and show them that people like them, work for you.  😎

So, to help pull that off...let me introduce you to a redonkulously easy social media engagement hack that helps you accomplish all three of these things with the press of a button…emojis. 🤪

Yep…that’s right…those tiny, little cartoonish symbols, when used appropriately in your social media comment replies, can be more valuable than any advertising package or recruiting solution out there because they convey emotion, hence the name, which is a key factor in the relationship building process. 👍

Here are my five favorite emojis, in no particular order, that I use in social media comment replies to help bolster my relationship with applicants…

1. Raised Hands emoji 🙌

This emoji is the perfect way to show applicants that you’re cheering them on and want to see them succeed.  Use this emoji after you make agreeing type comments such as ‘great’, ‘awesome’, or ‘see you there’ after an applicant lets you know they just applied or are going to be at your next testing, etc. etc.  Bridge the gap between stranger and social media buddy by using this one. 🌉       

2. 100 percent emoji💯

Anytime you want to put an exclamation point on something factual…bust out the 100 emoji and show your potential applicant that you’re on the same page here.  I love to use this one after someone asks a question that is a no brainer such as ‘do you accept out of state applicants’ or when someone makes a compliment about the agency such as ‘seems like a great place to work’.  The 100 emoji helps reaffirm statements while showing you’re like minded.    👯‍♀️

3. Flex emoji 💪

Whenever you want to add an extra dose of encouragement to someone in your comment replies…drop the flex emoji and accentuate your support after comments such as ‘you’ve got this’ or ‘you can do it’ when someone is telling you they’re struggling a little bit with something in your process.  You can also use this one for those on the opposite end of the spectrum who are super confident of their abilities and are telling you they’re ready to crush the pt test or what have you.  The flex emoji means strength and will also help strengthen your relationship with potential applicants.  😉 

4. Rocket emoji 🚀

Whenever you receive a comment about someone taking some kind of action like putting in an application, hearing from a background investigator, completing a ride along, finishing their college degree and are now are ready to go for it…or whatever…use the rocket emoji to add validity to their accomplishment and to let them know they’re on the way up in life.  When you do so, your relationship with them takes off too. 👌

5. The pointing emoji 👆 👇 👉

Whether it’s up, down, or to the right, the pointing emoji will definitely catch a user’s attention and is a great way to highlight something important in your reply.  I use this one a lot whenever I’m dropping a link…like I’m going to give them the address to apply or to learn more but you can also just use it to feature words of encouragement or important details.  Start pointing your applicants in the right direction and they’ll start pointing themselves towards you. 🧲

Now…it’s important to note that while you can use emojis as a stand alone reply to someone’s comment…it’s my opinion that you’ll see much better results when you use them as a compliment to your text reply.  Take the extra couple of minutes to craft a thoughtful sentence or two and highlight that response with an emoji and you’ll see your comment engagement and applicant actions go through the roof. 📈

Give these five emojis a try for a few weeks and let me know how they perform for you. 😀

Ready to learn more simple police marketing strategies? 🙋‍♀️🙋‍♂️

My Road to Better Recruiting training course is enrolling right now and will teach you everything you need to start recruiting like it’s 2025 in an easy to digest and understand online format.  It’s back by my eleven years of experience in the police recruiting world and will give you the proven strategies, not theories, that I’ve used at my own agency for the past decade plus to keep up with vacancies and the ever-changing police employment landscape. 🥴   

Check it out now on my website by visiting www.forcopstraining.com/rtbr and take control of your police marketing so you don’t have to rely on an outside company. 🤘

Know someone in recruiting who needs to spruce up their social media comments?  Share this video with them so they can learn too.  Our profession is much stronger when we all work together and they’ll appreciate that you tagged them. 🤝

Have more questions about police recruiting, marketing, or anything else you're struggling with? Don't hesitate to reach out...I’m always here to help. 🙏

Until next week my Police Marketing Squad, happy recruiting! 😃

Tom

---

Did you find this newsletter valuable? Make sure to like & comment below. 👇

I'd love to hear from you! 🤩

Also, if you know someone who needs to see this content, please share my newsletter with them! I would appreciate the help in spreading the knowledge that will benefit us all and make our profession stronger! 💪

Have a marketing or recruiting topic you would like more info on? Drop me a message 📩 and let me know what you would like to learn! It might just make its way into next week's newsletter! 🤞

---

👋 I’m Tom Sye, your Police Marketing FTO. I founded ‘For Cops’ Training to teach Police Departments how to attract more qualified candidates through the same tried and tested methods I’ve used for the past ten years at my own department to keep up with turnover and stay ahead of vacancies.

Want to learn more about police marketing and recruiting? 👇

🔔 Follow my profile

✅ Connect with me

🗞️ Subscribe to the Marketing ‘For Cops’ Newsletter

You can also connect with me on Instagram, Facebook, X, or visit my website to learn more about my Police Marketing courses which are enrolling right now!