Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are some of the terms that are common to anyone using social media and they are terms that people in Local Government need to embrace. Font Public Relations has been developing training courses for Councillors and people working in Local Government in the use of social media.
Font works for the Local Government Association of Tasmania assisting them with their media relations.
Social media describes the online tools that people use to share content and opinions, assisting conversations and interaction between groups of people and online communities. The two most popular social media networks used in Tasmania are Facebook and Twitter.
Font Managing Director Becher Townshend would like people in Local Government to become familiar with social media.
"They are asking is it a fad or is it something I need to take seriously," he said. "And until recently, I’d been of a view there were more important things to worry about.
"However, since conducting our own research on social media usage in the State, I can now tell you that 58 per cent of Tasmanians are using some form of social media. Of that percentage, around one third use Facebook weekly or more, and contrary to popular belief, the higher educated you are, the more you earn and the busier you are, the more likely you are to be a Tasmanian social media user.
Becher Townsend concluded that social media is here to stay.
"People are talking about your Local Government online every day and you can either continue to keep your head in the sand or accept that like it or not, social media needs to be taken seriously," he said. "If I told you that you could directly contact more than half your constituents in mere seconds for feedback on an issue or to notify them of important information relating to their area you would ask, ‘where do I sign up?’. But funnily enough, many organisations are reluctant to engage in social media for fear of opening up a can of worms.
"Indeed it’s likely you will see unwanted and even unwarranted criticisms about your council online. However, if you consider that those negative comments will be there regardless of whether you see them or not, there’s no question you’re better off being aware of them and having the opportunity to respond."
On the positive side, social media provides an opportunity to deal with issues head on, in an open and honest way and allows you to create a network of interested people who want to engage with you and your Council directly. However, Becher Townsend blieves said joining the social media sphere can be daunting.
Here are Font’s ten top tips for councils getting started:
- have a play – you don’t need to engage straight away. Have a look and listen to what’s being said about your organisation and research how others in your sector are approaching social media
- know why you’re doing it – are you building your brand, engaging your community, raising awareness or promoting a specific event?
- have a strategy – prepare a policy for all social media activity and allocate staff responsible for ideas, content, monitoring and response.
- manage your risk – identify potential issues and how to mitigate them and prepare a risk management strategy.
- use the right tools – establish your social media purpose and identify appropriate forums, such as a Facebook page or event, or a Twitter handle.
- tailor your content to your audience – talk about matters and issues that interest your audience and speak in a language that will engage them.
- monitor, review and evaluate – ensure you’re maintaining relevance and achieving your social media objectives.
- be transparent about your activity – when you’re not going to be online inform everyone and provide an alternative contact
- don’t panic – Use common sense and be polite, honest and timely. If someone posts something inappropriate let them know why you’ve removed it.
- experiment and have fun! Some things will work better than others. Try things out and enjoy it.
Font Public Relations is currently running courses on social media communications, including a Twitter 101 course containing a basic how to use and set up, as well as approaches to policy and procedure.
For more information contact Sarah on (03) 6223 3333 or email sarahs@fontpr.com.au.
