I recently took part in a webinar on the usage of social media by local governments, provided by GovLoop. The organization is based out of the U.S. and the statistics are those of American local governments, but I have a feeling that the statistics on the lack of, and the decline in social media usage by Canadian municipalities, are most likely similar.

The reason I think this is true here in Canada, is because I like to follow our muniSERV municipal members via their social media channels, but I often find no mention of social media on their sites. Now perhaps they don’t post the links to their social media platforms on their websites, which would be most unfortunate in itself, but those municipalities that do not use social media, or those that have decided to claw back their use of it for whatever reason, are missing out on some of the amazing potential it has to offer.

Let’s start at the beginning with a quick description of social media.

Social media describes the online technologies and practices that people use to share opinions, insights, experiences, and perspectives. Social media can take many different forms, including text, images, audio, and video.[1]

Social Media provides new and promising ways for governments to communicate the value they provide their constituents. It offers cities/towns a way to create additional value by providing more targeted, useful, information and opportunities for additional discussion.[2]

Municipalities are often skeptical about the usefulness of social media. However, the number one reason social media has not taken off, or is in decline according to GovLoop, is really all about the money for governments.

Believe me, I understand first-hand the budgetary constraints municipalities face, but I think even a small amount of your annual budget allocated to social media would go a long way to shed new light on your municipality as a forward-thinking innovative organization that wants to find efficient ways to inform and engage its citizens and stakeholders.

While not an exhaustive list by any means, here are just a few of the items I could quickly and easily identify to make the case for why municipalities should be adopting and/or expanding their use of social media.

• It’s an inexpensive channel for Public Relations – social media platforms themselves are free.
• It’s a direct and instant line of communication with and to your citizens
• It increases accountability and promotes transparency
• It encourages participation – it’s a public forum to facilitate discussions, feedback
• It’s a way to reach younger audiences who are social media savvy – maybe you’ll get some of them engaged in the upcoming elections?
• Governments need to be the creators of their own news and social media gets this news to your citizens. This is particularly important in municipalities where there is no media or coverage of Council meetings or where you have a number of non-residents.
• It aids in recruitment initiatives
• It’s a way to broadcast and promote events, ceremonies, awards etc. – citizens need to hear the good news too
• It’s a great way to promote economic development in your municipality – showcase how modern and innovative your municipality is

Although social media is generally free to use in its basic state, the one caveat is that it can be time-consuming and the time it will take to do it well, must be considered. A strategically planned and well-managed social media program however, can reduce the amount of time it takes and help find efficiencies that will assist municipalities with managing their social media platforms. Here are some tips that may help.

1. Don’t be overly ambitious with the number of social media platforms you use. Pick a few that work best for your municipality and do them well. (i.e. Facebook is great for public forums but maybe Twitter is better for announcing events, or information from Council meetings in your municipality)

2. According to GovLoop, Facebook only reaches approximately 10% of your followers but email reaches 100%. So, since email is still the most popular form of social media for municipalities, make your email lists and your newsletters the priority then, and use your Facebook page to raise awareness of your lists to encourage citizens to sign up for them.

3. If community engagement is your key purpose for social media, improve that engagement by first, prioritizing your key issues and then start asking your followers real questions you want to truly hear their comments on. Don’t forget to acknowledge their input – good or bad or they won’t engage again.

4. To alleviate the pressure on one person alone being responsible for designing all the posts, ask your department heads to submit an article or topic, in rotation. Municipalities are busy places and every department in your municipality has something going on that they need to report.

5. Try some fun things too. It’s a fact that videos receive the most engagement on social media, so consider creating a You Tube video or a series of videos like, “A day in the life of a Building Inspector”, etc., to educate your citizens on the work that goes on in the municipality. Aside from educating the public, it could double as a fun team-building exercise for your employees. They’ll take pride in showcasing the work of their department and in their involvement in the creation of the video itself.

6. It’s ok to create content once, but post it everywhere on all your social media platforms, as part of your public relations program. If you use Twitter as one of your platforms, don’t forget too, that it’s ok to repeat your tweets on Twitter because not everyone sees them at the same time.

7. Consider using HootSuite or another social media management program to help you organize and automate your postings. You can create the content when you have time and simply schedule it to be posted on a certain day and time.

8. Consider calling in a social media expert to help you get your social media program set up. Their expertise will save you time and money pulling the initial strategy together, developing work plans, drafting policies, promoting your social media to the public, etc. You can find some of these experts on muniSERV.ca

Once your program is developed, in-house staff can manage it. But remember, it’s not ok to simply add the responsibility for managing social media to the “new kid’s” workload, simply because no one else has time to do it. To do it properly, it really does takes a trained and dedicated social media or communications specialist – so be sure whoever you give the responsibility to, that the individual understands the importance of social media and is properly trained. 

Social media for local government is a big topic and there just isn’t enough space in one post to cover it all. So, stay tuned. As I find more tools and tips that can help municipalities with their social media programs, I’ll be sure to pass them on.

Susan Shannon

Principal, muniSER.ca

www.muniSERV.ca

[email protected]

855.477.5095