Social media guidance

Contents

What is social media?

Why we need guidance

Who should use social media?

Business case

Responsibility

Disciplinary/recognition issues

Monitoring what people say about us

Implementation

What is social media?

What it is not is a panacea to cure all your communication problems.

Just by creating a facebook page, twitter account or other online presence does not mean you will suddenly be able to communicate effectively with customers you have never done before. That usually only works for the famous, the powerful or those who say inappropriate or stupid things.

Social media gives you a world without physical restrictions of print, deadlines, meetings and money. But as some have found it can also be a dangerous worldwith very little control[1]. Once you put your comment out there you cannot control what happens. Make a mistake and it can spread across the world in seconds and the consequences can be severe – staff sacked for facebook comments[i], nurses sacked after youtube post[ii], manfined for twitter bomb threat.[iii]

But it is also a powerful world. No filters, such as journalists, and you can engage in two-way conversations directly with people who can help you shape their services, need answers to questions or simply want to let you know how they feel.

It can be resource intensive in terms of staff time. Proper use of social media demands creation of sites, monitoring, frequent updating, time for dialogue, researching, responding and acting on responses as well as evaluation. There are loads of social media sites, such as Facebook, YouTube, MySpace and Twitter, plus thousands of blogs and websites. The common theme is they all have content generated by users. And they all have something to say.

But social media cannot replace other methods of talking and listening to people, including our website. It is one tool in the communications toolkit.

Why we need guidance

So many of us use it at home, some every day, so why do we need guidance?

Because social mediais quick, informal and quite simple to use, it is easy to make mistakes with potentially very serious impacts on the council’s reputation, or an individual’s career prospects. What you say cannot be retracted – even if you remove an item, it may have been forwarded around the world before you notice any mistake.

This guide will help you to:

  • identify if social media will help deliver your service;
  • decide whether you have the resources to do it properly;
  • judge the risks;
  • get help getting started.

It is a powerful communications tooland with care and guidance we can ensure we

  • reach people who do not use, or distrust, traditional or official communication methods;
  • have timely and efficient conversationswhich result in meaningful outcomes for those using our services;
  • enhance the reputation of the council - not damage it.

Who should use social media

We’re not a multi-national company needing to make ever-increasing profits through worldwide marketing.

We’re also not a county or unitary council providing education and social care and with massive communications resources.

We’re a fairly small council providing a limited range of services.

For us, social media is probably most useful when it’s time limited and used for specific projects or activities, such as consultations, events and activities.It can be very helpful for community engagement, although when used for specific communities it could be useful to plan how they could take over the sites themselves in the future.

Therefore the use of Facebook, or similar sites, is only for the promotion and consultation of discrete council projects. Twitter will be used by the corporate communications team to deliver appropriate news items with links to our website.

Decide what you want to achieve, create the business case (see below) and, if appropriate, plan your exit strategy. When you have done this there are two steps.

  1. Get approval for your business case from your head of service.
  2. Discuss content and get approval from the Communications Team.
  3. Business plan be submitted to Leadership Team for final approval

Business case

Think of the business case before setting up social media sites.Write a short business case based on the information below (and anything else relevant to your particular service).

  1. What do you want to achieve? List the ways you can improve your service to your customers through using social media. What value will it add?
  1. Who do you want to reach? Social media experts rave about its worldwide reach, viral marketing (reaching millions of people), instant access and so on. You don’t need to sell your wares worldwide.

Who uses or needs your service, who do you want to hear from or who do you want to get a message to?

  1. Who are you excluding by using social media? Not everyone has a computer, mobile phone with internet access or broadband, or chooses to engage through social media. Plan how you will reach those who don’t.
  1. Do you have sufficient staff resources? Most staff say how busy they are. Social mediademands fast responses. If you don’t have someone to monitor your sites daily, respond promptly and take responsibility for ensuring promised actions are done (if necessary by staff in other council teams) then don’t bother. You will damage your service’s reputation if you set something up but don’t sustain it.[iv] And what if you are ill, on holiday or leave – have you got cover from someone who shares access to the account.
  1. How will you deal with responses? There will be people who want to rant at the council for some reason and their comments will be in public for all to see and respond to, including the media. Some comments may be offensive, racist, even illegal. How will you deal with them, whether it’s legitimate or not? What procedures will you have in place to remove comments that break the law? Don’t assume the critics represent universal opinion, but criticism could help you improve your service.
  1. Are those using social media on behalf of your service good at communicating? Social media language is informal, but staff should still follow basic rules of grammar, spell correctly and not use jargon or acronyms because they need to be understood – and it’s a basic courtesy.[v]
  1. Identify the risks and plan to mitigate them. There is no such thing as ‘off the record’ in any electronic, including social, media. Don’t post anything until you have answered these very simple questions – ‘what would this look like if printed on the front page of a national newspaper?’ and ‘Would you be happy if this was used in evidence and read out in court?’ Always assume that any information you share will be available to the public.
  1. Work out your return on investment (ROI). Using social media can be addictive – there is always someone to talk to, a question to answer, a criticism to counteract, a thread to follow. But your clever use of social media won’t get you very far if it takes too much time away from the service you’re providing. Always monitor what you and your customers are getting from your time investment in social media.
  1. Have an exit strategy. If you are using social media for a specific project then plan what you will do when that project ends. For example, when your consultation is finished, post the results on your social media site and inform people you will no longer be updating that site. If your social media is time-limited make sure people know so they don’t waste their time trying to contact you through it.

Responsibility

Stafford Borough Council is liable for any material published by our staff, and that includes electronic communication through emails, websites and any form of social media.

As with all communication, it’s common sense:

  • treat people as you would like to be treated;
  • tell people who you are – name, service, council;
  • be honest – if you can answer then do so, if you can’t then explain why (and, if possible, give a time when you will be able to answer);
  • do not publish confidential or commercially sensitive information, including information in exempt (‘pink’) council reports;
  • respect copyright and fair use – check you have permission to use other people’s images or words before publication and always credit them;
  • make sure you know the rules and etiquette of the social media site you are using;
  • you have a certain amount of legal responsibility for the comments you make and content you generate;
  • don’t trash the organisation you work for.

NB: If you are contacted by a media organisation / journalist via social media you must refer this to the press office for advice before answering.

Disciplinary issues

You are an ambassador for the council. Your reputation depends on the council’s reputation and vice versa. The council takes breaches of security and inappropriate use of any media, including social networking sites, very seriously.

Do something stupid through using social media (see’ Responsibility’ above) and you could face disciplinary action in the same way as you would in any other part of your work if you act inappropriately.

Similarly, if you achieve something good (increased take-up of a service, high level of consultation responses, customer’s problem solved, for example) make sure you record it.

Monitoring what people say about us

People can write derogatory things about the council, or post images we’d rather not see. It may be justified – something they’ve complained about which hasn’t been sorted satisfactorily, for example – or it may simply be a rant on a bad day.

If you come across something on any site which portrays the council in a negative way please alert your Head of Service and the Communications Team and we can then work out a response, if one is appropriate. Apologies need to be made and wrong information corrected as quickly as possible, but there may be times when the best course is silence.

Implementation

  1. Research what social media sites are appropriate for you.
  2. Write your business case.
  3. Get approval from your Head of Service.
  4. Discuss your content and overall communications plans with the Communications Team
  5. Present business case for approval to Leadership Team
  6. Follow these simple rules:
  7. be honest;
  8. take care; and
  9. always be very professional.

[1] There have been plenty of reports about online abuse, defamation, bullying through social media channels and some high profile examples follow.

[i] Four staff at school in Barnsley fired for joking about pupil on facebook (The Sun 6.11.10)

[ii] Nurses at Stafford Hospital had clip of them messing around on Youtube. (Express and Star)

[iii] Paul Chambers said it was a joke because he was frustrated at airport being closed (Metro 12.11.10)

[iv] A front line service joined an online forum in September 09 unknown to Communications Team. It started a thread with one posting. There were 24 comments made over the next YEAR, with most being derogatory about the council / service, with none being replied to.

[v] Experienced member of staff replied to a question at a roadshow run by one of our services. It was picked up by a local journalist and made a front page story leaving the member of staff very upset and having to explain misinterpreted comments to cabinet member.