This week I had the opportunity to present to senior managers in my organisation (a local authority) to explain what social media is, how it is affecting us and why we need to develop a social media strategy. The key message of the presentation was:

“People are having conversations about us online, but we are not part of those conversations.”

For me this was a great opportunity to get buy-in from the very top of the organisation to the development of a social media strategy. We already have a project underway to develop a social media framework (strategy, policy, guidelines and tools) which has arisen as a result of demand from services and growing awareness of the usage of social media tools by citizens.

My presentation included a definition of social media and some statistics about social media growth and usage, to show it is not just a fad. I pulled together statistics from Mashable, E-consultancy and Socialnomics.

To demonstrate the popularity of social media, as compared to traditional printed media, I included a pie chart similar to this one:

Media comparison

The chart compares the readership of our main local newspaper (sourced from JICREG), registered users of a popular local discussion forum (sourced from the site’s own published statistics) and people with a Facebook account within 25 miles of two major local towns. This is clearly not an exact science, as I have no idea how many registered site users are actively reading or contributing. The Facebook statistics were identified by creating an advert on Facebook (but not actually putting it live) as explained by Carl Haggerty.

I defined the type of conversations that were going on as broadly related to:

  • Service delivery – queries, comments, feedback, complaints
  • Policy and decisions – discussion about consultations, petitions, campaign groups
  • Local issues – discussion about local concerns such as crime or disorder

The presentation then included various screenshots of different ‘conversations’ about the Council from local online communities and forums, social networking sites like Facebook and niche online communities like Mumsnet. I also introduced some of MySociety’s e-democracy tools like Fix My Street, What Do They Know and Number 10 Petitions and some creative examples of user generated content about Council services on Google Maps and Wikipedia.

I anticipated some of the questions I might be asked, so pre-prepared a ‘crib sheet’ of questions and answers. I did quite a bit of research beforehand and pilfered plenty of useful tips from Social by Social (check out my recent review). The section I found most useful was the initial chapter and a link to a collection of tips on selling social media to your organisation. I also had some helpful tips from my Twitter friends.

Inevitably there were some unexpected questions from the floor, which I have also included below. Please feel free to re-use any of this if it’s useful.

Why should we be bothered?

  • People are having conversations about us online, but we are not part of those conversations.
  • There is a proliferation of free, or low cost, tools that enable people to publish information rapidly, to a wide audience.
  • Although only a small proportion of people online actively contribute, a large number observe online conversations and are influenced by what they read.
  • Usage of social media is growing exponentially and will continue to do so.

How do we control what people say? How we will govern social media?

  • We cannot control what people say. Social media is democratic – it empowers people to say what they want, where, how and when they want.
  • If we ignore conversations we may be risking more than if we get involved.
  • Social media will require a new way of thinking and new ways of working.
  • We can use social media to help empower communities and build social capital.
  • Service delivery is no longer about doing things to people, it’s about helping people to do things and help themselves.

What if people criticise us, or behave in a way they wouldn’t offline?

  • People are already criticising our services and we are ignoring their comments.
  • There are many case studies showing that concerns about people behaving badly online are often not substantiated.
  • We need to choose our channels carefully. People behave differently on different channels.
  • If we host the channel or site, we can moderate offensive comments.

When and how should we get involved?

  • Engagement will be very dependent on context and what our goals are.
  • For some services social media will become a central part of their communications activities.
  • Services working directly with neighbourhoods or communities cannot afford to be left out of conversations about local issues.
  • We can tap into a wealth of valuable customer feedback.
  • We need to start small and share our experiences internally and with colleagues in other authorities.

How are we going to resource this?

  • Firstly we need to listen to what is being said about our services online using automated media monitoring tools, to search for keywords. Some of these tools are free e.g. Google Alerts.
  • We should always have a business case and evaluate outcomes, so we can measure the success of engagement and the return on investment (ROI). For example services could reach a wide audience more cheaply and quickly than with print communications. We can consult via social media and receive valuable feedback which will help inform service design. If we target our engagement activity, we can reach the right people in the right contexts.

How will we cope with the volume of service requests which might be generated via social media in the current financial situation?

  • We are already receiving a larger volume of requests because of easy to use e-democracy tools.
  • We need to transform services to be more efficient. If more customers can help themselves using online self-service, officer time can be redirected to deal with frontline services and vulnerable groups.

Is it safe? What about vulnerable groups (e.g. children, young people, vulnerable adults)?

  • When we talk about social media, remember that it doesn’t have to be a public social networking site. It could be a site we own and manage.
  • The NHS is already active in using social media to engage patients. Some successful healthcare initiatives are: Patient Opinion (where people share stories of NHS care); NHS Unlocked (which has groups for different conditions and hospital ratings); Patients Know Best (a secure initiative for patients and healthcare staff to communicate and share information, enabling patients to take control of their healthcare); Patients Like Me (discussions about diseases and symptoms).

Will some people be digitally excluded?

  • Use of social media is growing fast, but as a communications technology it is still not accessible to many people as more mainstream technologies such as mobile phones. However, for some people writing letters, speaking English and having a fixed address are exclusions to engaging with the Council.
  • We need to be able to reach people via the media that suit them.

Will it cost the earth to train and develop our staff? How do we manage the culture change?

  • Many of our staff members already use these tools in their personal lives.
  • The best way to learn is to try things out.
  • By introducing an internal business social networking tool we could develop staff skills whilst at the same time improving efficiency, collaboration, joined up working and sharing of best practise.
  • The IDeA Communities of Practise (CoP) for local government already has 30,000 members and over 800 separate online communities.

How does online activity transfer to offline?

  • Existing offline groups use online spaces to coordinate activities.
  • People with shared interests or circumstances who would not have otherwise had the opportunity to meet (e.g. because they are time poor, or socially/geographically isolated) can come together online. Often the online communication transfers to face to face meetings.

How do we ensure our staff all speak with the same corporate voice?

  • By providing guidance and policies and nurturing digital mentors, we can support staff to use these tools consistently, effectively and safely.

In case you were wondering, the presentation was well received, despite the fact I revealed some uncomfortable truths about the shift in emphasis from broadcast to user generated media, and potential impact on local government. The big question was “how exactly do we get involved?”. I’ll be working on this thorny issue with colleagues over the next few months, so will keep you updated.

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