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Emily Lenard | Social Media for Government Agencies

comet

Social Media is Nothing New.

It’s a Conversation.

Between People.

branding | pr | social media

Emily Lenard | Social Media for Government Agencies

cometbranding | pr | social media

Listen

Collaborate

Participate

Like any conversation,

social media engagement

should strive to

achieve a balance.

Emily Lenard | Social Media for Government Agencies

cometbranding | pr | social media

Gov 2.0 Challenge 1: Not Knowing Where to Start

• Do your research. Reach out and ask others for their t ips/best practices.

- National Agencies

- State Agencies

- Consumer Brands

• Ask consti tuents what kind of information they would f ind helpful .

• Check out great online resources l ike:

- http://www.whitehouse.gov/open

- http://mashable.com/

- http://www.usa.gov/webcontent/technology/other_tech.shtml

Get started on social media....s l o w l y.

Gov 2.0 Challenge 2: Opposition & Lack of Understanding from Key Players

• Identi fy agency staff whose approval and 100% support wil l be needed.

- IT Staff

- Tradit ional Communication Staff

- Legal/Public Policy Staff

- Human Resources

- Agency Leadership

• Be open and understanding to their fears and/or misconceptions.

• Seek feedback.

• Be prepared to have numerous conversations on how your agency specif ically wil l accomplish goals with social media as part of the strategy.

Hmmm....strategy....about that....

comet

Emily Lenard | Social Media for Government Agencies

branding | pr | social media

Emily Lenard | Social Media for Government Agencies

cometbranding | pr | social media

Gov 2.0 Challenge 3: Developing a Collaborative Social Media Strategy

• Questions that need to be answered. Answers that need to be agreed upon.

- What are we looking to accomplish through social media?

- Who wil l be responsible for monitoring/posting/replying on each channel? Mult iple people? Different people for each channel?

- How wil l agency responsibi l i t ies change for each person involved?

- How wil l success be measured?

- What characterist ics define the agency’s voice?

- What’s the approval process for posting content?

Social media content sounds like more work...

Gov 2.0 Challenge 4: No Time to Generate Social Media Content

• Leverage available content

- Press Releases (PitchEngine.com)

- Webinars

- Pictures

- White Papers

- Events

• Re-purpose content to make i t social media-friendly.

- Tailor your message format to each social media channel.

- Insert the agency’s social media voice and personali ty.

- Think about how content might be used for social media before i t ’s created. (capturing events via video, doing short interviews, podcasts, etc) .

Goal: Make a Traditional Communications Plan Social

comet

Emily Lenard | Social Media for Government Agencies

branding | pr | social media

Gov 2.0 Challenge 5: Implementing an Even Handed Social Media Policy

• Make sure staff understand what the agency considers to be appropriate vs. inappropriate.

• Be aware of how open records affect social media for government agencies.

• Things to incorporate into a social media policy:

- Who wil l speak for the agency across every platform.

- Ongoing conversations and training on the blurred l ines of business vs. personal networking.

- Fostering an understanding that each employee is personally responsible for what s/he posts online.

- Prepared language and steps for potential social media cri t ic ism and/or backlash.

• Enforce the designated policies & practices regardless of posit ion and agency rank.

Goal: Make a Traditional Communications Plan Social

comet

Emily Lenard | Social Media for Government Agencies

branding | pr | social media

comet

Emily Lenard | Social Media for Government Agencies

branding | pr | social media

Tips for Gov 2.0 Success

• Do your research.

• Get key agency personnel on board with social media’s value by demonstrating how social media enables government to achieve transparency, part icipation, and collaboration.

• Develop a collaborative and strategic social media implementation plan driven by your agency’s specif ic goals.

• Look for ways to incorporate social media into a tradit ional communications plan.

• Re-purpose old content and think ahead when creating new content on how it might be used for social media distribution.

• Develop an even-handed social media policy.

• Determine how ROI wil l be measured.

• Look for ways to collaborate with other agencies/departments.

• Begin slowly. Get comfortable using one tool at a t ime.. .but have a t imeline for implementing the others.

Be Prepared to EVOLVE!

Questions?

Emily Lenard

emily@cometbranding.com

Twitter: @EmilyLenard

cometbranding | pr | social media