Public Sector Social Media Strategies

Transcription

1 s Survey Partner: GOSS Interactive Public Sector Social Media Strategies Survey Report 2013

2 Use of Social Media in the Public Sector Survey 2013 Use of Social Media in the Public Sector Survey 2013 The Survey As the Digital by Default agenda moves swiftly forward, it is now more important than ever for the public sector to embrace new digital ways of working. 82% of adults are now online with 43% actively using social media. And with the rise of smartphone use and 56% of UK adults now in possession of a web-enabled phone, social media presents a huge opportunity for enhancing service delivery. However, with these benefits comes a number of challenges for public sector organisations. Access to social media in the work environment has traditionally been limited due to fears over security, productivity and accountability. The Social Media Survey 2013 is the first igov survey to consider the public sectors current stand point and future plans for social media, including how and what activities are tracked through different social media channels. The core aim of the Use of Social Media in the Public Sector survey 2013 was to provide a snapshot of the public sector's current use of social media on an organisational level This document contains the key findings of the Use of Social Media in the Public Sector Survey 2013 and considers the strategies in place at present, along with an overview of the relevance of certain social media channels and the role social media will play over the next 12 months.

3 Summary of key findings The findings of this survey are based on a sample of 420 people representing 318 unique organisations from the public sector. The important role played by social media in modern public sector communications is evident by the fact that 82% of those who participated in our survey ranked it as Very Important or Important to their organisation. And as social media grows, so do the number of employees with responsibility for delivery with 78% of organisations now deploying 1-5 employees to this area. Profile of respondents Of those who took part, the majority were from local government (33%), 16% from Education bodies, 14% from Central Government, 13% from NHS, 12% from Housing Associations and 11% from Civil Society. Figure 1: Participants by sector Participants by sector as a percentage % Local government Education bodies Central Government NHS Housing associations Civil Society Of those who participated, more than 50% represented senior level positions within the organisation with 194 in senior positions, 114 in middle management and 65 in nonmanagement roles. Individuals identified themselves as Chief Executive (10%), Director (22%), Head (18%), Manager (38%), Other (22%). Of those who said Other, it was to emphasise the wide number of portfolios covered by particular roles - for example, strategy, ICT, Customer services to name a few. 1

4 Profile of current digital use 63% of participants told us their organisation has a social media strategy with 5% unsure if one exists. However 87% of organisations incorporate social media within their overall Communications strategy and 82% of individuals viewed social media as important or very important to service delivery. Of the 3% who saw it as not important at all, there was a broad mix of public sector bodies covered. In a survey conducted for GOSS Interactive in 2011, 70% of those surveyed included social media within the Communications strategy so this illustrates a shift in importance placed by the sector on social media. This is an uplift of 17% on Responsibility for social media lies for the majority with those working in the Communications family (Marketing, PR, Digital, Communications) at 69% but interestingly, 14% said None at all or declined to comment. However there was some movement towards sharing ownership with other departments such as Customer Services to drive up ownership amongst employees. Organisation interest in digital engagement and social media The purpose of using social media within organisations was quite mixed nearly all organisations using social media for more than one purpose. However, despite the move towards delivering more public services online, it is interesting to note that creating online communities of interest scored highest, which may be viewed as organisations focussing on listening more and engaging in conversation with those using their services. Figure 2: Purpose of social media within organisations Internal Communications Service user feedback Creating online communities Other Advice and guidance Online learning and professional development Customer services 7% 10% 19% 19% 20% 6% 19% 2

5 Organisations surveyed felt the use of case studies and best practice examples could best support the development of social media. This was closely followed by training for both practitioners and managers. Interestingly, provision of guidance from central government scored quite low at 3%. Social media channels Organisations were asked which social media channels they currently use, plan to use in the next twelve months or do not have any plans to use in the future. See below. The average number of channels currently used by organisations was five compared to four channels as part of GOSS Interactive s 2011 survey. This illustrates the rise in interest in social media and the desire to explore the wider landscape. Figure 3: Social media currently in use Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Google+ Blogs Photo sharing Podcasts YouTube/Vimeo Other social media 17% 5% 21% 5% 11% 18% 9% 3% 11% 3

6 Figure 4: Social media plans for the next 12 months Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Google+ Blogs Photo sharing Podcasts YouTube/Vimeo Other social media 10% 9% 9% 13% 13% 12% 10% 15% 9% Figure 5: No plans to use Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Google+ Blogs Photo sharing Podcasts YouTube/Vimeo Other social media 15% 3% 6% 7% 12% 15% 18% 13% 12% 4

7 From this, we can gauge that Twitter is the most popular social media channel currently used although LinkedIn also experiences high usage as more and more organisations recognise the corporate value it can add. In the next twelve months, blogs seem to be the preferred route. However, given the rise in use of Google +, it is interesting to note that 22% of organisations have no plans to use it going forward. Of those who use other social media, Pinterest and Yammer were mentioned often The next two illustrations highlight how organisations rated the success of particular channels. Twitter and Facebook scored a combined 50% in terms of high priority whereas Google + was deemed the lowest priority followed by podcasts. Figure 6: Social media channels who scored 4 or 5 (On a scale of 1-5 with 1 = Not relevant at all and 5 = Very relevant) Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Google+ Blogs Photo sharing Podcasts YouTube/Vimeo Other social media 5% 16% 29% 5% 6% 8% 2% 8% 21% 5

8 Figure 7: Social media channels who scored 1 or 2 (On a scale of 1-5 with 1 = Not relevant at all and 5 = Very relevant) Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Google+ Blogs Photo sharing Podcasts YouTube/Vimeo Other social media 15% 3% 6% 7% 12% 15% 18% 13% 12% Analysing trafþc The majority of organisations (22%) told us they analyse trafþc from social media sources but 13% donõt monitor any activity or donõt know. The majority of activity was tracked via individual channels such as Twitter and Facebook at 45% but 11% do not currently track any activity. 15% of organisations currently use a paid for service or outsource to an agency. However 76% of organisations currently use Google Analytics to measure the effectiveness of digital engagement and social media channels. This compares to 43% of organisations who completed the 2011 GOSS Interactive survey and illustrates the shift in importance being placed on analysing data to demonstrate effectiveness of channel use. Use of social media management tools Of those who currently use social media management tools, the most popular feature was analytics data (monitoring trends over time) at 26%. However, only a small percentage of between 5-8% used related tools such as sentiment, audit trail and actual reporting which can often mean organisations are not using data effectively. 6

9 Digital budgets 32% were unable to tell us what their organisationõs 2012/13 budget but for those who did answer, 21% have a budget between 10-50,000. The majority told us this budget is not likely to change in % of organisations do not have a monthly social media budget and of those who do, the majority (27%) told us it was between % would consider paying extra for social media management features. Yet 73% do believe digital engagement and social media can contribute towards efþciency savings so it is clear that organisations can see the value associated with using this channel but at this point in time, are not willing to invest in development. This potentially demonstrates the need for organisations to align Communications strategies with budgets, in particular when 20% of organisations are facing a 20% reduction in budget. It also resonates with the fact that those in charge of the pursestrings are not necessarily those with the knowledge of how to use social media to beneþt business. In the next twelve months, we asked participants how much priority their organisation will give to certain social media activities. Of those listed, greater interaction with service users scored highest and was closely followed by improving social media presence on websites. 27% of organisations viewed improving tracking activities as high priority, which is nor far off the percentage of organisations who invest in social media. However, 21% viewed it as low priority. This shows us that organisations want to utilise social media channels for the beneþt of communicating with and delivering services but are not investing as much time in tracking activity. This could potentially mean that opportunities to monitor which activities work best for particular audiences, such as those hard to reach, are being missed so there is no benchmark to set the business case for investment with no tangible results to showcase. Figure 8: Organisation priority use of social media in the next 12 months (On a scale of 1-5 with 1 = Low priority and 5 = High priority) Improving social media presence on website % Greater interaction with service users % Exploration of new social media channels % 7 Improved tracking of social media activities % Review of social use by employees %

10 Conclusion GOSS Interactive welcomes this timely survey underlining the challenges, best practice and opportunities that are presented to Public Sector organisations in delivering digital content and services to end users. It is no surprise to see social media activity increasing, with more budget, analysis and activity all contributing to improving service delivery, engagement and efþciency savings. As social media usage continues to grow, one of the new challenges is managing all the content and channels available. The survey shows which channels organisations chose to use (21% use Twitter and 18% use Facebook, with 22% having no plans to use Google+) and that 43% of organisations want greater interaction with service users via social media channels. This highlights that many are missing the point. A Forbes survey in January 2013 showed the top 5 (non-chinese) social media channels as: 1. Facebook 2. Google+ 3. YouTube 4. Twitter 5. LinkedIn Comparing where customers are going with what organisations are using shows some alarming disparity. The channels organisations choose are not necessarily the ones users choose. End users choose the channels they want to use, and the organisation should follow their lead and engage with users in usersõ networks of choice. This is where being able to manage thousands of channels can become a challenge. Figure 9: Organisational vs. Customer use of Social Media 8

11 Additionally, all digital marketers know that the most important side of their activity is measurement and reporting in order to prove successful engagement and justify budgets. Yet 15% of organisations are still not tracking social media activity on their website and only 27% use tools to understand social media analytics and only 10% use reporting tools. Not surprisingly only 13% have an increased budget for 2013/14 despite 89% agreeing that social media can contribute towards efþciency savings. There is a solution to overcome all these challenges which some are using. Social Media Management tools are starting to be more widely adopted as a way of creating further efþciencies by scanning thousands of channels, not just social media, including blogs, forums, media and review sites then attributing sentiment (neutral, positive and negative) to each comment. Automatic sentiment tagging signiþcantly reduces the time needed to Þnd positive and negative comments and allows organisation to start auditable workßow for following up. Other features that social media experts use include analytics and reporting to help track campaign success and areas for improvement. 9

12 Social Media Management ebook Unlock the true power of Social Media download now Social media is here to stay. As people of all ages increasingly want to discuss and interact with brands in their own personal online spaces, making use of social media is a powerful way of improving their experience of your organisation. But with the number of online channels exploding, it's becoming a huge challenge to monitor and manage activity across the full range of sites and networks where your customers, employees and inßuencers congregate. Your brand is not just being talked about on Facebook and Twitter, but in blogs, comment threads, forums, online media, reviews sites and many more. Managing content and conversations across the whole of the web requires specialist skills and monitoring, Þltering and analysis tools that make sure you pick up and act on the relevant stuff while Þltering out the 'noise'. The good news is that this is not as big an investment (in time or money) as you might think - and getting it right can have an enormous impact on the success of your organisation. This comprehensive ebook sets out what Digital Marketing Professionals need to know about Social Media Management Ð download it now. Public Sector Social Media Infographic To illustrate the survey, GOSS Interactive have developed an eye-catching infographic. You can view the full infographic now. 10

13 Acknowledgements The survey team at igov Survey would like to take this opportunity to thank all of those who were kind enough to take part - and especially to those who found the time to offer additional insight through their extra comments. We would also like to thank our partner, Goss Interactive, for their assistance in compiling the survey questions, scrutinising the responses and analysing the results. The Social Media in the Public Sector Survey Report 2013 copyright Unless explicitly stated otherwise, all rights including those in copyright in the content of this publication are owned by or controlled for these purposes by igov Survey. Except as otherwise expressly permitted under copyright law or igov Survey s Terms of Use, the content of this publication may not be copied, repros written permission or that of the copyright owner. To contact the igov Survey team: dcross@ingenium-ids.org Tel: Address: FAO David Cross, Ingenium IDS Ltd, Mansion House, Wellington Road South, Stockport, Cheshire, SK1 3UA GOSS Interactive delivers digital strategy, guidance and software to manage online experience based around our powerful Web Content Management system and online efficiency solutions. Public Sector organisations are ideally placed to take advantages of the efficiencies offered by online solutions. The online channel, by far, offers the best value for delivering services and information. Streamlining the online efficiency of your organisation can significantly reduce administration costs.

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24