The rise of social media has created a fundamental shift in the way citizens absorb information and have their voices heard. Rather than calling their local government with a question about an infrastructure project, they increasingly expect the answers to come to them via Facebook or Twitter.

So if public works professionals are to promote new projects and create better community engagement, they must join in the digital conversation.
 
Data from the 2018 Yellow Social Media Report shows 88% of Australian internet users have a social media profile. More than 60% of them use social media sites daily and 34% check it more than five times a day. Results of the 2016-17 State of the Service Report reveals that the Australian Public Service has embraced social media too, with 75% of Government agencies using it to support business outcomes. The most commonly reported tools were Twitter, Facebook and blogs. Additional channels included YouTube, LinkedIn and webcasts.

However, social media expert Janine Marin, founder of Janine Marin Communications, which provides training and coaching to government, businesses and executives to help improve their social media success, says there are further opportunities for government to harness digital communications, especially at a local level.

“Social media helps build community and that’s what local government is about,” she says.

“But I see a real fear of the unknown among local government and a concern about not doing a good job promoting themselves and their works on social media.”

A strategic approach

The best way to alleviate the fear, says Marin, is to become informed. She explains that different social platforms are used for different purposes.

“In the case of a new public work, Twitter would be used to provide regular updates, whereas Facebook would be used to provide more context – what you are doing, why you’re doing it and the fact that you want to hear from the community,” Marin says.

“Facebook is the best platform for that community conversation and feedback.”

Marin adds that Instagram would be used to build a visual profile about a new public work.

“It could be used to show behind the scenes, for example, or show a video interview with a civil engineer and what they’re doing on the project.”

Opinions vary about the right frequency of social media posts, and Marin advises to aim for consistency.

“If you’re on Twitter, for example, some studies shows around three or five tweets a day is best,” she says.

“On Facebook, you should post about once to twice a day, no more than three unless it’s a huge event. On Instagram, you should post about once a day at the least, but whatever the frequency you choose, make sure you’re consistent.”

To maintain consistency, Marin recommends developing a social media calendar.

“It should include times of regular posts and aim to increase these during a public works program to build greater awareness and engagement,” she says.

“There’s a risk of local government taking a ‘spray and pray’ approach by pushing content out across all social media platforms and praying that they have some kind of engagement. A content plan helps you to be more strategic.”

Knowing when to respond

Social media provides a two-way dialogue, but should you always join the conversation? Josie Khng, Communication Strategist at contentgroup, which specialises in communication strategies for government and public sector organisations, says it’s important to develop policies around social media engagement that outline how to respond to feedback.

“We develop a framework for our clients that’s like a standard operating procedure of how to respond,” she says.

“It includes questions such as, ‘What’s the sentiment of the post?’, and includes ways of responding, depending on whether it’s positive or negative,” she says.

“If it’s negative, is it defamatory? While I think government needs to buy into the social values of being on social platforms, which include transparency and honesty, they need to consider the sentiment of the conversation.”

What’s on the horizon?

Social media is rapidly evolving and public work professionals would be wise to look out for the future trends. Marin is seeing two key trends emerging in local government. The first is ‘hyper-local social media’. Platforms like Facebook are developing their geo-targeting capabilities, which allow them to deliver messages to users in specific locations.

“This will allow local governments to personalise their message by targeting niche groups or specific ages or genders,” she says.

The second trend, says Marin, is a growth in artificial intelligence, where chatbots can be programmed to respond to feedback on social media.

“Within local government, especially for customer service roles, we’ll start to move away from the phone and the in-person interaction and move more to social media,” she says.

Khng also predicts a growth in chatbots for social media.

“I think it could be very interesting for government in being able to respond to provide frequently asked questions, for example, or information about road works,” she says.

This story is adapted from the original, which was published in the Nov/Dec edition of inspire magazine. Read the original and more here.