Community engagement will benefit immensely when integrated with a broader social media strategy. Here are 7 quick tips from Government Technology on how organizations, and particularly governments can improve their social media engagement with residents.
- Make your social media page social: Let people post to your Facebook wall and foster two-way dialog and interact!
- Monitor and post daily with fresh content: Whether posting yourself or taking advantage of automated feeds from your website content, keep your social media pages active.
- Take negativity in stride: Negative comments will happen. Be patient, and use it as an opportunity to present facts and improve services.
- Pilot first, policy later: Once you have permission to start a social media page, roll with it on a trial basis. Develop policies later, after you see what works best.
- Assemble key players: When working on policies, make sure to have your city or county’s attorney involved, along with key decision-makers.
- Revisit security settings: Security settings can change often. Make it a point to regularly check them.
- Multimedia is a must: Use photos and videos as much as possible to ensure your social media content is dynamic.
Be sure to click-through to the original Government Technology article as it provides a lot more useful advice. To us, the most important piece of advice came from Susan Guthrie, managing director of external relations for Tyler, Texas, who said:
It’s vital at the outset to encourage interaction, and embrace what social media is — a two-way dialog between government and constituents. This way, platforms like Facebook can be viewed as a communications asset, rather than a potential loss of control.