Social media checklist
A few months ago the number of people asking for advice about Facebook, Twitter etc was starting to alarm me. I mean, at least they were asking questions and not plunging headfirst into their own online campaigns but still, talking people down from their big ideas was taking up a lot of time.
I would have to explain what the council’s stance was on social media, why we’d chosen that route and then ask a whole heap of questions about what they wanted to achieve, when, why, who etc.
Fortunately I work in a good comms team which plans the council’s communications and marketing work around campaigns that have to have clear objectives, and the rest of the council seems to be coming round to the idea of planning. Radical I know 
So, I pulled together some background research, examples of good practice (and bad) and now when someone comes aknocking I pass them:
1. An introduction – what is social media and how can it benefit the council
2. Some guidelines – outlining the council’s policy of corporate communications and a reminder that the same protocols about confidentiality etc still apply in social media
Then, if they’re not put off I give them
3. A social media checklist which follows the ROSIE rules: Research -> Objectives -> Strategy -> Implementation, -> Evaluation.
Anyone who wants to invest time and money in a campaign should be able to answer all these questions:
Research
What are people saying about us already?
Before you can take part in these conversations you need to know what people are already talking about, who they’re talking to, and where they’re having these conversations.
There are lots of places you can find out:
- The council’s online forums
- Local community forums
- Councillor blogs
- Facebook – including the council’s own wall and discussion topics
- Twitter – including responses to council’s twitter, cllr tweets
What do you already know about your target audience?
- Where do they go for their information? Local radio, local newspapers, forums?
- Do you know if they use particular social media i.e. Facebook or YouTube?
Look at the demographics of the group you’re trying to reach e.g. age/gender. You have to go to them – where will you find them?
Objectives
What are you trying to achieve?
- Improvements to a specific service? E.g. finding out what people want and giving it to them
- Raising levels of awareness of a service
- Increasing uptake or involvement
- Increased value for money of a service. Will you be able to provide the same (or better) level of service for less money if you use social media?
For each of these points you need to have qualitative objectives that you can measure e.g.
- Increased participation in housing strategy consultation by 20%
- Decreased printing costs for events brochure by improving online search and providing an invite a friend facility
- Video of Leader’s vision for the borough viewed by at least 4,000 people
Strategy
What do you want to talk about?
- What do you want to talk about?
- Are the issues controversial?
- Any sensitive/ confidential/anonymity issues need to be considered carefully.
- Will there be events advertised?
- Will you post news?
- Is there a timeline for actions?
Timeframe
- For preparation
- Need to factor time in to build up momentum online
How will you let people know about your campaign?
- What offline/online publicity are you going to do?
- Will you want to engage with the media – send press releases, do radio interviews etc?
- Will you need to advertise your campaign through the council website – e.g. homepage news stories or the e-newsletter?
How will you deal with feedback?
- Are you ready for what people have to say – how will you deal with questions?
- What happens if you receive a torrent of negative comments?
How will you moderate people’s comments?
- Are there going to be online discussions involved? Will you be asking for people’s opinions?
- Who is going to moderate these comment?
- How much time can you allow for this?
- Do you know what our moderation policy is? E.g. when you should remove a post and how you go about it
Results
Before you start you need to know what you’re measuring
- Were you able to engage people in new conversations?
- Did you learn something about our residents/service/ etc that you didn’t know before?
- Did members of the public learn something about us?
We need to be monitoring these conversations and collecting data.
You can do so by setting up RSS feeds from blogs and forums (RSS in plain English YouTube video) as well as by the traditional method of reading newspaper cuttings.
You need to identify what keywords you’re interested in – just ‘Southwark Council’ or ‘Heygate’, ‘Aylesbury’ etc?
Evaluation
When will you decide whether you have achieved what you set out to do?
- Is there a specific deadline or climax of the campaign
You need to evaluate how you’re doing as you’re going along
- If you aim to engage 1,000 people over the course of three months then do you know where you need to be after the first two weeks? Or at the half-way point?
- Are people reacting positively to your presence on a social networking site?