Office of Unified Communications Making the most of Social Media at your Agency When Social Media Falls in Your Lap

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Brook Armstrong
5 years ago
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1 Office of Unified Communications Making the most of Social Media at your Agency When Social Media Falls in Your Lap Wanda Gattison Public Information Officer, OUC May 6, 2014

2 History Traditional tools to communicate with its customers: Snail Mail Fax/Telephone distribution lists for press releases Agency Website

3 Social Networking Twitter Facebook Flickr

4 Why Social Media? Social networks are effective at increasing participation-by lessening the level of motivation that participation requires. 65% of Americans consider themselves social media users. 4 of 5 Internet users visit a social networking site monthly. 77% social-media users say that they get their news from social media. Online news readership grew 8.5% in 2010.

5 Why Social Media? Citizens no longer have to search for the news, the news finds them on their preferred medium 250+ million people use Facebook on a daily basis. Facebook tops Google for weekly traffic in the U.S. Facebook is now the 3 rd biggest referral site for news articles. The fastest growing segment on Facebook is year-old females

6 Pros New ways to communicate with customers. It s real time two-way communications. Gives you a voice in conversations already taking place. You can monitor what is being said about your agency. You can tell our own story. You re one of the cool kids-shows agency is not behind the times!

Cons Tools are free, staff time is not. Can spread yourself too thin. Can t be half-hearted about it. You have to provide content, monitor feedback and respond promptly.

7 Cons Tools are free, staff time is not. Can spread yourself too thin. Can t be half-hearted about it. You have to provide content, monitor feedback and respond promptly. Need to know who is representing agency and speak with ONE VOICE. Must tailor message to fit medium. Not everyone is using social media! Must still use traditional methods to reach broader audience.

Households with less than $30,000 per year also had the highest jump, about 11

8 Going Mobile Social media apps are available for most mobile devices. -Citizens can access your social media sites from almost anywhere. Households with less than $30,000 per year also had the highest jump, about 11 %(tying with year olds) in wireless use. Social media apps help to bridge the digital divide.

9 Federal Government The White House President Obama stated that we need to reform our government so that it is more efficient, more transparent, and more creative, and pledged to reach beyond the halls of government to engage the public. Government needs to recognize that we cannot meet the challenges of today with old habits and stale thinking. -President Barack Obama

10 District Agencies In Washington, D.C. 70 City agencies now manage social media sites. Public Information Campaigns -Potholepalooza -New Trash Receptacle Roll-out Social media is part of Grade.DC, District government s customer feedback program.

11 The Office of Unified Communications Social Media is an integral part of OUC s communications plan. By using social media we continue to expand our reach. Utilize Hootsuite.com to monitor our social media platforms, and to schedule 4 tweets per day.

Twitter Follow @311DCgov for up-to-the-minute developments with city services and information in Washington D.C. Quality vs.

13 Twitter for up-to-the-minute developments with city services and information in Washington D.C. Quality vs. Chatter Almost 3,000 followers Has garnered positive feedback and improved the image of the agency.

14 Top Things to Know About Twitter Designate a team to work closely together to both post and respond quickly to constituents 24/7. Know your audience! Stay in YOUR LANE! Utilize hashtags.

15 Top Things to Know About Twitter Loop in other relevant agencies often to garner their input and support, especially important for 311. They will retweet your message! Tweets should be under 140 characters. Retweeting is flattering, but should not be overdone.

16 Top Things to Know About Twitter Designate a team to work closely together to both post and respond quickly to constituents 24/7. Know your audience! Stay in YOUR LANE! Utilize hashtags.

#Hashtags Using hashtags to categorize Tweets by keyword: People use the hashtag symbol # before a relevant keyword to categorize those Tweets and help them show more easily in Twitter Search.

17 #Hashtags Using hashtags to categorize Tweets by keyword: People use the hashtag symbol # before a relevant keyword to categorize those Tweets and help them show more easily in Twitter Search. Clicking on a hashtagged word in any message shows you all other Tweets marked with that keyword. Hashtags can occur anywhere in the Tweet. Hashtagged words that become very popular are often Trending Topics.

18 #Hashtags #TBT #bostonstrong #RoyalBaby In Washington D.C. #onecity #AgeFriendlyDC