Carolyne Mitchell - Digital citizens: Lessons from a local authority - #CommEng13

South Lanarkshire Council gets social

Using social media for engagement

Who I am

Social media lead for SLC Also do web and comms Specialise in social media use in

emergencies Sit on various emergency planning

groups as a social media advisor Social media slave

Life before Google

Internet revolution

Corporate Comms can’t be everywhere at once

Organisation shouldn’t be everywhere

Go where people are But only if they want you there

SLC socmed timeline

YouTube channel started June 2008 Opened @SouthLanCouncil March

2010 Opened @SLCRoads August 2010 Opened Banqueting Facebook page

July 2012

Our biggest community

The day that changed it all

Website down Snow falling Twitter only option Word spread virally 400% increase in followers in one

week Blueprint for process created

Two weeks later

Why social media matters

Social media part of everyday life Public expect us to monitor it Public expect us to use it Public expect us to engage Social & Digital Media Revolution St

ats 2013

Improving broadcast information

Weather forecast

Tailored for South Lanarkshire Accurate/detailed Used to plan gritting/ploughing

actions Forecast valuable to public Gritting action valuable to public Together - invaluable to public

Forecast on the web

Meteo, Roads & web team work on presentation of information

Forecast on the web

Extensive weather information on SLC website

Socialising the forecast

RSS feed used to tweet gritting action automatically on @SLCRoads and @SouthLanCouncil

Socialising the forecast

Gritting action is switched off in May Plan to continue with rain forecast

and flooding action in 2014

The social media good

It’s free People can engage with you directly People can alert you quickly Real time information with context

The social media good

Tweet asking about tailback in Rutherglen

No roadworks Tweeted link to moby film of lights

out of sync Passed to roads engineer Fixed the same day

The social media bad

It’s free People can engage with you directly People can alert you quickly Real time misinformation without

context

BUT

The bad can be turned around to good by engaging

This is much easier on social media than traditional media

The social media bad made good

Bad language warning. Those of a delicate disposition should cover their ears and look away now!

Meet Skelpt Arse

Our telling off

Our response

Retrospective road opening BT say they started at 10.15am Skelpt Arse tweets start at 8am Tweets and website taken as

evidence BT issued a fine Direct message to Skelpt Arse to

explain

All’s well that ends well

Skelpt Arse aka Claire is now on our list of website testers

The social media ugly

Learn early when to engage, when to monitor and when to ignore

Sometimes a situation can be made worse when entering the conversation

When is a rant a request for service When is a rant a complaint

Fragmented communities

New Roots:

Neilsland and

Earnock Heritage

Group

New Roots

Facebook Group Set up by countryside ranger Apply to join Physical group already existed Self-regulating Comms officer also a member

Fragmented communities

Almada Suite conferencing and banqueting

Almada Suite

Facebook business page Set up by Corporate Comms Maintained by facilities officer Comms officer also an admin

Fragmented communities

Get Active Lanarkshire

Get Active Lanarkshire

Website, Twitter account, Facebook page

Maintained by comms people from each partner organisation

Digital job being created for duration of the project

Attempts to bring other fitness communities on board

Fragmented communities

Pits, ponies, people and stories

Pits, ponies, people and stories

Facebook page set up by Comms Maintained by Cultural Co-ordinator Comms Officer also an admin Aims to bring together fragmented

physical communities into one online community

Twitter surgeries

Alcohol licensing Buy With Confidence Taxi licensing General/food recycling Planning

Homelessness project

Website – content produced by young homeless people

Forum moderated housing officers CMS training and project experience

will help with skills and employment prospects

Aims to give an existing physical community an online presence and a place for others to find relevant information

Things to consider

Does the community exist already Do they want to do business with

you there Can you join the existing group,

either as an officer or as the organisation

Things to consider

Do you need to start a community Which platform is the target

audience using Do you understand the platform Do you have the resources to create

content Do you have the resources to

monitor the account

Things to consider

Is your skin thick enough to run the account

Is the organisation’s skin thick enough

Do you have management buy-in Do you have a social media

policy/strategy Do you have social media guidance

www.readyscotland.org/my-community/

Community Emergency Plans

Google Docs Closed, non-searchable Facebook

group Google+ Evernote Secure, private, living documents Accessible on mobile phones

carolyne.mitchell@southlanarkshire.gov.uk

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