Report Number
OS/15/09
To: Community Overview Committee
Date: 4 January 2016
Status: Non-Key
Corporate Director: Jeremy Chamber, Strategic Operations Cabinet Member: Rory Love, Customers and Digital Delivery SUBJECT: SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY
SUMMARY: The Communications Manager is tasked with developing a social media strategy as part of the Council’s priorities of listening to local people and delivering value for money.
This report provides an update of progress.
REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATIONS:
As work in progress there are no specific recommendations for the Committee to consider at this stage.
RECOMMENDATION:
To receive and note Report OS/15/09.
This Report will be made
public on 18 December
2015
1. Background
1.1 There are a number of recognized benefits for councils in developing their social media presence including:
Developing resident’s awareness of role of council
Opening up a two-way communication channel for dialogue with residents
Providing an additional customer access channel that provides a more responsive and quicker service delivery from council.
Integration with self-serve options can save money and time for residents.
Making financial savings by reducing staff time spent on customer service.
Service improvement by using continuous feedback from its customers.
2. Development of Strategy
2.1 The Communications Manager is developing a social media strategy following discussion earlier in 2015 by the Corporate Management Team. CMT accepted a recommendation to develop a Social Media Strategy with the aim of making social media an effective channel both for customer service communication, and also increased engagement with residents. It set out four stages:
Auditing the council’s current social media accounts;
Purchasing social media management software;
Developing social media protocols and guidelines, and
Training for staff and members.
3. Audit:
3.1 The Communications and Customer Services teams maintain control of the main corporate accounts however some services operate their own
accounts as they are used to communicate with specific audiences who use specific services or Council facilities. We have audited our social media presence and have identified a variety of active facebook and twitter
accounts (Appendix 1).
3.2 It is appropriate in some cases to have a separate social media identity as it allows the service provider to develop a specific profile to engage with their specific customer base. So, for instance, the users of the Coastal Park can engage with staff and each other using the facebook page. In other cases as we are part of a partnership it is appropriate for staff member to run a specific social media profile – eg Romney Marsh Partnership.
3.3 In other cases services will be given access to be able to post the
corporate facebook and twitter accounts to promote their service area as part of the council social media profile. We are rolling this out slowly with appropriate staff in Environmental Health, Emergencies and Events. 3.4 We also have linkedin, instagram and flickr accounts – the social media
strategy will make recommendations about how to manage these existing accounts which are increasingly important channels as using images is increasingly popular on social media. We are also considering the creation of a YouTube account as video is increasingly the most popular form of communication, particularly for a younger audience.
4. Social Media Management Software:
4.1 We have taken out a subscription for Hootsuite Pro, a social media
management software package. This costs £100.66 per annum and allows scheduling of posts, tracking of mentions across social media channels and analytics.
4.2 This has increased our ability to schedule posts in advance which means we can make multiple tweets over a period to promote events. Together with analytics available on the relevant social media channels we can also track impact of posts and analyse trends.
4.3 This has enabled us to replicate successful posts that are of use to customers and have a wide reach and to demonstrate that by engaging with customers we continue to grow our social media presence and it is increasingly an effective tool to reach some residents. We have increased reached over the period with over 14000 people being reached by one post about bogus callers in Hawkinge in June. However although other posts are less successful we can now track reach and learn to improve the performance.
4.4 By using this monitoring system we have also developed a process with Customer Services that integrates a quick response to the posting of enquiries and requests for action. This quick response has seen some persistent reporters praise our quick response and has seen a reduction in critical comments although these will never be eliminated completely. By promoting the self-serve process through facebook and twitter posts we are also encouraging customers to use this option and social media will be increasingly integrated into those processes.
See Appendix 2 for a summary of data from our social media channels.
5. Developing Social Media Protocols and Guidelines
5.1 As part of the publication of the Guidance for New Councillors elected in May 2015 we published social media guidelines which gave advice about how councilors should use social media in their roles.
5.2 Guidelines and protocols in use by other local authorities have been collected and we will be drawing up new guidance for staff members that will emphasise the power of social media as a communication channel but also the need for it to be used appropriately as a communication
engagement tool.
6. Training for staff and members
6.1 We provided training to councillors in the use of social media and the
guidelines as part of the induction training. It was available for all councilors and was very well received.
6.2 We have also provided training for staff members who have requested it in their role but as we roll out further.
6.3 A big part of any roll out of the social media strategy will be appropriate training for staff in social media and how it is being managed across the organisation. The communications team will need to work closely with Learning and Development to devise a suitable programme.
7. Legal/Financial And Other Controls/Policy Matters
7.1 Legal Officer’s Comments
There are no Legal Implications for this Report however notice should be had of the need for communications by SDC to represent the truth and to be safeguarded. In particular intellectual property rights of third parties must be respected and (potential) intellectual property rights introduced or owned by SDC in relation to communications on websites, printed press and broadcast media, branding (including logos) and publications may need to be protected by registration.
7.2 Finance Officer’s Comments
There are no financial implications arising directly from this report. 7.3 Diversities and Equalities Implications
Any social media strategy must take into account the fact that some members of the community do not use social media so it cannot be assumed that it is a channel to reach all sections of the community. If necessary we can use particular posts to highlight material of particular interest to certain segments of the community.
8. CONTACT OFFICERS AND BACKGROUND DOCUMENTS
Councillors with any questions arising out of this report should contact the following officer prior to the meeting
Mark Luetchford
Telephone: 01303 853507
Email: [email protected]
The following background documents have been relied upon in the preparation of this report:
Appendices:
Appendix 1: Audit of account
