Manage your company’s social media in-house? Then you know that developing your own text and graphics is a real . . . pain in the apps. Believe it or not, several government agencies provide free graphics and videos that you can share on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Whether you want statistics, stock photos, or complete PSA campaigns, you just have to know where to look!
Posting to social media helps your business stay connected with workers and the community. If your goal is outreach for recruiting, then To Exceed recommends Facebook Ads and other paid advertising to quickly reach a broader audience. In theory, “materials produced by federal agencies are in the public domain and may be reproduced without permission” as the U.S. Department of the Interior confirms, BUT, it’s not always clear. Some images on government sites are produced by outside contractors or licensed for only certain uses. Check out these examples of free resources, and continue reading to see how copyright issues arise with other resources like the Ad Council and the CDC’s MCRC.
Graphics and Resources by the NHTSA
Powered by the NHTSA, the “Traffic Safety Marketing” website has communication resources for “States, Partner Organizations and Highway Safety Professionals”.
The Safety Topics include Distracted Driving, Seat Belt Safety, and Teen Driver Safety. Some topics like Drunk Driving include multiple campaigns. Seasonal graphics emphasize the risk of drunk driving on an upcoming holiday. Some campaigns include both static and animated graphics.
For relevant stock photos, the NHTSA’s Image Library offers a “collection of traffic safety-related photographs and graphics for you to use to support your highway safety programs. There are no copyright, usage, or accreditation requirements on these images.” You can browse through images with different types of vehicles or safety topics, including holidays, distraction, seat belts, and law enforcement.
FMCSA Campaigns with Free Facebook Posts
The FMCSA has tons of information about different safety campaigns and statistics. Ever feel like a broken record with safety reminders? Then you’re probably not presenting your message effectively. Many FMCSA campaigns include suggested text and hashtags to accompany images.
Several different “Our Roads, Our Safety” campaigns address specific topics:
- General Safe Driving
- CMV Safe Speed
- Distracted Driving
- Work Zone Safety
- Localized Materials
- CMV Seat Belt
- CMV Driver Health & Safety
Other FMCSA resources include CMV Driving Tips with 30-second videos about different real-world scenarios like Unfamiliar Roadway and Inadequate Surveillance.
CVSA Campaigns and Resources for Social Media
Known for safety inspections and the International Roadcheck program, the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) is a non-profit association. Related programs and resources include inspections, enforcement and awareness programs, industry partners, awards, and events. More than 60 one-minute videos have been posted to Vimeo as CVSA Inspection Bits, showing real-world examples of violations found during inspections.
- Human Trafficking Prevention: Resources include shareable PSAs, social media graphics, and informational videos. Does your workforce know about the hand signal for victims of trafficking and domestic violence to ask for help?
- Operation Safe Driver: The annual week-long campaign focuses on education as well as enforcement. Resources include 15-second PSA videos. The page for CMV Driver Resources has printable materials and truck driver testimonials from the FMCSA “Voices of Safety” campaign.
- The North American Fatigue Management Program: An Industry Partner separate from the CVSA, the NAFMP provides safety training materials and educational resources, including a free PowerPoint series that can be downloaded with or without audio voiceovers.
- CDC Tips from Former Smokers: Social media resources from the CDC include montage images, video testimonials, infographics, and text, including new, first-person stories from former smokers and their loved ones.
Trucker Health and Wellness Graphics for Social Media
Truck driver health is a big issue for employers and drivers. Obesity and other health issues can make it harder to pass the DOT physical, not to mention quality of life. Everyone knows the importance of diet and exercise, but it’s good to find different ways to focus on specific issues like smoking, cardiovascular health, and fatigue. There’s growing awareness about mental health issues, and employers are taking a more active role, sometimes offering benefits like online therapy and counseling services.
- National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI): Educational campaigns from the NIH tackle Blood Pressure, the DASH eating plan, Cholesterol, COPD, Blood Diseases, Sleep Health, and the “Aim for a Healthy Weight” program.
- CDC Health Topics: Individual topics like Diabetes and Prediabetes have their own toolkits with infographics and other media. You can browse recent CDC infographics using their search tool.
- Mental Health Graphics for Social Media: The “Get Involved” section of the NIH Mental Health website includes text and graphics for depression, suicide prevention, anxiety, eating disorders, and PTSD. Read our own post about Supporting Mental Health in Truck Drivers.
State DOT Programs with Free Graphics
Aside from the national resources, many states have their own creative teams and graphic designers at their DOT and similar agencies. Your state might have timely reminders for seasonal driving hazards. Bigger states like Texas and California tend to have larger budgets for developing sharable social media resources.
- Go Safely Media Toolkits: The California Office of Traffic Safety, in partnership with CalTrans, offers graphics, videos, and even crossword puzzles covering DUI, distracted driving, speeding, wrong-way driving, and work zones.
- Be Work Zone Alert: PSA videos featuring kids of CalTrans workers remind drivers that construction workers have dependants and families.
- Traffic Safety Campaigns in Texas: A robust selection of social media graphics, including #EndTheStreak, “Talk. Text. Crash.”, Move Over or Slow Down, and Work Zone Safety.
⚠ Beware Copyright and Licensing Considerations
Nobody wants to run into copyright lawsuits. On social media, it’s usually easy to like, share, and comment on PSA-type posts that have been posted by the organization (using the “share” button on their Facebook post). Some resources have strict rules, however, when it comes to downloading and uploading videos and similar content. For example, videos by the Ad Council and the CDC’s Media Campaign Resource Center (MCRC) may come with use restrictions, expiration dates, or fees.
- Media Campaign Resource Center (MCRC): The CDC has images and videos about tobacco use, primarily intended for nonprofits and government agencies. For-profit companies can request permission on a case-by-case basis, and many ads carry “use and talent fees.”
- The Ad Council: PSA videos come with strings attached. Any videos you download and post must be deleted by the expiration date. Sharing directly from the Ad Council’s Facebook or YouTube pages avoids that liability.
Use Restrictions, Attribution, and Other Best Practices
Use restrictions vary from one resource to the next. The NHTSA’s Image Library allows you to edit and modify images without attribution, but generic stock photos are very different from educational infographics. The team at To Exceed reached out to the agencies above, and a few took the time to respond. According to an email from CDC’s Division of Diabetes Translation, “The public is allowed to use materials from government websites as long as there is proper attribution and they are not charging others to buy the material. So small business owners can use the CDC materials as long as they do not alter them (e.g., removing the CDC logo) and they can pay to boost their post on their account.”
In general, it makes sense that you shouldn’t remove the logos of agencies or campaigns, since those would allow readers to find more information. A lot of popular internet memes are produced anonymously with highly unreliable information (and no attribution). Your company can have a positive impact by directing attention to more credible authorities on health and safety topics.