Leveraging Your Social Media Skills (in government)

Leveraging Social Media SkillsJuly 26, 2012

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1. The Value of Digital Communications2. The End Result = Meet Key Objectives3. Top Uses and Mega Trends of Social Media in

Government4. 3 Quick Tips to make social media work for you5. 3 More Things to Know6. Discussion: Article title “Should all social media

managers be under 25?”

Agenda

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Population: 140 millionIt would be bigger than Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan

If Twitter was a country

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Population: 1 billion active usersIt would be the world’s 3rd largest country

Bigger than North and South America combined

If Facebook was a country

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It Covers ContinentsIt would be an empire: 2.9 Billion users

If Email Was a Country

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Improved communication can have an incredible impact on a public sector organization’s ability to achieve its mission.

To be successful, most organizations must be able to reach large and relevant audiences quickly with new information.

Digital communication channels create new ways to address the age-old problem of improved communication with the public as well as higher expectations and new complexities.

What is the Value of Digital Communications

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Mission Objectives + Digital Strategy

“I want us to ask ourselves every day, how are we using technology to make a real difference in people’s lives.”

– President Barack Obama: Digital Government Strategy, May 2012.

PURPOSE = Give people useful information to make a difference in their daily life, around topics such as:

• Employment• Housing• Health• Safety• Recreation

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1. Choosing to get a flu shot2. Adopting a pet3. Converting to a digital service4. Applying for a grant5. Commenting on a regulation6. Creating an app from a government dataset

What are we really trying to accomplish?

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Digital Services Innovation Center• Improve services to the American People through

improved Web Services and Mobile Applications

• Goal = Digital services and government information anywhere, anytime and on any device.

• Identify and provide performance and customer service satisfaction measurement tools to improve service delivery

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2010: 55% of respondents said their agencies were blocking access to Social Media channels

2011: 19% of respondents said their agencies were blocking access to Social Media channels

Source:Market Connections 2011 Social Media in the Public Sector Study, Oct. 2011http://www.marketconnectionsinc.com/Reports/social-media-in-the-public-sector-2011.html

Agencies are now allowing access

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Informed Decision Making

Communicate with Citizens and Other Agencies

Internal Collaboration

Research/Information Gathering

Marketing and Promotion

Source:Market Connections 2011 Social Media in the Public Sector Study, Oct. 2011http://www.marketconnectionsinc.com/Reports/social-media-in-the-public-sector-2011.html

Top 5 Federal Uses of Social Media

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5 Mega Trendswith Social Media and

Government*

*Source: http://www.businessesgrow.com/2011/04/04/five-mega-trends-how-social-media-is-transforming-government/com

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“This is a terrible time to be a control freak” – Hillary Clinton, U.S. Secretary of State

• Broad recognition that government information belongs to the people • Technology is enabling a new wave of sharing• Best practice: U.S. Government Printing Office site

o volumes of documents now available at visitor finger tips

1. The Cry for Transparency

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“The opportunity of social media and government is not economic or technological. It’s emotional.”

— Aneesh Chopra, Former CTO of the U.S. Government

• Challenge.gov rewards citizens with cash prizes and other non-monetary incentives for solving government problems

• Data hackathons• NASA has a range of programs encouraging active participation in agency

project – customize your own NASA project page

2. Citizen Engagement

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“Social media is not a second website, it’s a community.”

— Tristram Perry, U.S. State Department

• People are people, brands are building an emotional connection• Citizens are expecting government to do the same• NavyForMoms.com • U.S. Embassy, Jakarta = (502,927 likes) more Facebook likes than all embassies

combined

3. Humanizing Government

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4. Crisis Management

While the networks rushed from the big cities and Joplin's local news media found themselves overstretched, local would-be journalists stepped into the lurch.

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*Source: http://www.businessesgrow.com/2011/04/04/five-mega-trends-how-social-media-is-transforming-government/ç

• In private sector, there are many case studies about companies using social media as an effective tool to solve problems in real-time

• These practices are being adopted by state and city (and federal) governments. • With a tweet or text (or an app) — potholes, broken street lights and other issues

are being reported and fixed. • 311-Twitter service in San Francisco, for example, has answered over 7 million calls

and thousands of more requests online.

Why wouldn’t citizens expect national governments to do the same?

5. Real-time Response (and Mobile)

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4 Quick TipsTo aid you when implementing social

media in your organization

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1. Aim for an integrated approach

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Test => Learn => Iterate

2. You don’t have to do it all

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3. Leverage existing resources

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4. Learn from GovLoop

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3 Things to Know Want to Create a Facebook page?

Want to learn from others doing social media?Want to start a challenge on Challenge.gov?

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COPE in Action1. Creating a Social Media Account

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Goal: not to say “No” to social media and block access completely, but to say “Yes, following security guidance,” with effective and appropriate information assurance security and privacy controls.

Don’t say “No,” Part 1

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Provide periodic awareness and training of policy, guidance, and best practices:

what information to share, with whom they can share it, and what not to share.

mindful of blurring their personal and professional life - don’t establish relationships with working groups or affiliations that may reveal sensitive information about their job responsibilities.

See what’s available Work with your agency POC Set up an account Put accounts in the Social Media Registry

Don’t say “No,” Part 2

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COPE in Action How to Be Successful

• Spark discussion and give people a reason to belong.• Customize your information for your audience.• Develop unique, engaging content.• Post regularly.• Set goals and reassess them periodically.

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COPE in Action Avoid the Pitfalls

• Do NOT unintentionally (or intentionally) violate the Anti-deficiency Act

• Do NOT unintentionally (or intentionally) violate the Hatch Act

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2. Join Communities of Practice

Government social media professionals are encouraged to join one of the HowTo.gov communities of practice especially if you have expertise in a particular area you want to share including:• Social Media • Challenges and Contests• Mobile Gov • Social Media Metrics

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3. Challenge.gov

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3. Facts about Challenge.gov• Today: 198 Challenges from 46 agencies

• 1.5 million+ visits this year• Audience from 194 countries &

territories• Median prize purse: $8,500• 103k supporters• 51 data-focused, 24 apps challenges

• Free to all federal agencies• Full end-to-end platform

Follow @ChallengeGov and Facebook.com/ChallengeGov

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Want more tips on citizen engagement? Visit www.HowTo.gov or www.ReachThePublic.com

Clients, you can also join the GovDelivery group on GovLoop - - - www.govloop.com/group/thegovdeliveryusergroup

Join GovLoop.com the knowledge network for Government

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Betsy Steele@betsyasteeleCenter for Excellence in Digital Governmentbetsy.steele@gsa.gov

Joseph Porcelli, @JosephPorcelliDirector, Engagement Servicesjoseph.porcelli@govdelivery.com202-407-7461

Lauren Modeen, @ExilaurenEngagement Strategistlauren.modeen@govdelivery.com

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