Seven Social Media Engagement Tips for Government

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Online public consultation will benefit immensely when integrated with a broader social media strategy. Here are 7 quick tips from Government Technology on how organizations, and particularly governments can improve their social media performance and engagement with residents.

1. Make your social media page social — Let people post to your Facebook wall and foster two-way dialog and interact!
2. Monitor and post daily with fresh content — Whether posting yourself or taking advantage of automated feeds from your website content, keep your social media pages active.
3. Take negativity in stride — Negative comments will happen. Be patient, and use it as an opportunity to present facts and improve services.
4. Pilot first, policy later — Once you have permission to start a social media page, roll with it on a trial basis. Develop policies later, after you see what works best.
5. Assemble key players — When working on policies, make sure to have your city or county’s attorney involved, along with key decision-makers.
6. Revisit security settings — Security settings can change often. Make it a point to regularly check them.
7. Multimedia is a must — Use photos and videos as much as possible to ensure your social media content is dynamic.

Be sure to click through to the original Government Technology article as it provides a lot more useful advice.  To us, the most important piece of advice came from Susan Guthrie, managing director of external relations for Tyler, Texas, who said:

It’s vital at the outset to encourage interaction, and embrace what social media is — a two-way dialog between government and constituents. This way, platforms like Facebook can be viewed as a communications asset, rather than a potential loss of control.