When social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter were created, the purpose was simple. The purpose was to allow friends to communicate with each other. While that is still a large part of the social media landscape, businesses and even towns and cities are utilizing social media to communicate with their customers or residents.
Social media is a wonderfully inexpensive way for municipalities to communicate with its residents. The most obvious use for social media for towns and cities would be for announcements of upcoming events such as sporting events, art shows, appearances by the mayor and so on. Some municipalities take it even further and use social media to announce road work, service interruptions and public meetings.
Some municipalities are also webcasting their council meetings and having “state of the city” addresses using webcasts. These webcasts allow residents to interact by asking questions and having the city official answer them live. A Jacksonville, Florida webcast on the state of the city drew over 200 viewers which led to a series of such webcasts.
Another way municipalities can use social media is for reputation management. Imagine this scenario. A resident of a city takes to Twitter or Facebook to complain about a certain city service or department. Within minutes a representative of the city responds and allays the citizen’s concerns. Even if the resolution of the problem is not immediate the citizen ends up feeling like he or she has been heard and their problem is being dealt with.
Municipalities are taking steps to hire staffers or social media consultants to monitor and manage their social media presence. This allows the municipality to stay on top of conversations and topics that effect them. It is also important to carefully plan a strategy for communicating via social media as there are many issues both legal and from a best practices standpoint that need to be addressed.
Whether you are part of a business, non-profit organization or municipality, people are going to talk about you on social media platforms regardless if you are part of the conversation or not. By engaging in social media it allows you to at least be part of the discussion and most likely be the leader of the discussion.
The most important thing in a social media campaign is the ability to listen. Monitor social media sites to see what others are saying about you before you start saying anything yourself. Capture the mood of the citizens and see what they are talking about. Once you have a finger on the pulse of the community you can better decide how to engage and interact with them.
It isn’t enough to just put up a website these days. Social media allows much more immediate interaction and dialogue. The community will feel more engaged and like they are being heard. Investment in social media is most definitely an investment in your community.
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