A social media success framework for local governments

With lean teams focused on optimizing the use of taxpayer dollars, it’s no surprise that local governments struggle with social media. The story we often hear from communication directors, managers and officers is that social media activity began with one or two corporate city channels. Then things became unwieldly as different divisions opened their own social channels with their own goals, branding and content angles.

Being strategic takes time, effort and resources, and this is especially true for larger municipalities with more accounts. So how can a corporation with multiple departments effectively and efficiently manage a co-ordinated social media presence? Contrary to popular belief, there is a simple solution—the only caveat is that this structured approach requires a coordinated effort across the corporation, which is often easier said than done.

Savvy communication and marketing professionals can connect social media performance to their organization’s objectives and assess if residents’ needs are being met. The first step towards strategic social media is to develop a solid social media foundation by conducting an independent audit that will help teams make informed decisions regarding next steps.

A strategic foundation begins with research, which informs strategy, which in turn determines the appropriate tactics or actions that staff need to implement. This article provides the key starter questions to ask your team so that all the available resources are used appropriately.

The framework
Based on years of listening to the challenges of multiple government departments, a social media success framework highlights seven areas. Critically analyzing your teams’ performance in each of these focus areas will help them change the focus from metrics that merely highlight activity to indicators that unlock tangible business value for their departments and the corporation as a whole.

1. Operations
   Perhaps your team originally followed a prescriptive plan. Over the years, however, chances are that teams have grown, social media roles have expanded to other departments and the resulting confusion has been confounded by the loss of institutional memory as staff move on. To combat this increasing complexity, the first step in assessing the current situation of social media across all channels is not to look at the social platforms themselves, but rather to review the underlying operations. This means documenting exactly who does what, why they do it, when they do it and how they do it. Asking these probing questions will uncover powerful insights and guide where to focus subsequent lines of questioning.
2. Governance
   Often overlooked in superficial audits that only focus on content, uncovering the value placed on governance will help define a strong foundation for social media excellence. Operations and governance must be aligned to ensure a smooth social media structure. Interview staff to explore if and how existing inter- and intra-department policies and guidelines effectively govern current social media activities.

   Once the foundation of operations and governance has been addressed, you then move on to understanding the rest of the seven critical focus areas of social media excellence.

3. Strategy
   Before jumping into the tactical side of social media, you first need to address the strategy or the lack thereof. Social media has a low cost to entry, but an outsized role as a critical channel to communicate with the public and partners. Although social media may be free, it’s free like a “free puppy.” It may be free to open an account, but it still needs to be fed, maintained and nurtured. Approaching social media from a strategic standpoint will save staff time and resources while increasing the benefit to all stakeholders.

   The following three key questions should help kick off this conversation. (1) Is the social strategy documented, approved, shared and understood? (2) Are smart objectives in place for both permanent accounts and short-term campaigns? (3) Are social media activities integrated into broader communication and marketing initiatives?

   Spending time in the strategy zone may generate insights that will enable the team to make small adjustments that will have significant positive implications.

4. Audience
   Understanding the target audience will help determine if and where they reside on social media as well as the specific language and visuals that will resonate with them. It means diving deeper than simply defining the audience as “residents.”

   When defining your audiences, keep these three questions top of mind. (1) Are target audiences described by detailed personas? (2) Do audience characteristics include demographics, psychographics, attitudes, preferences and motivations? (3) Are audience insights based on formal or informal research?

5. Content
   When it comes to content, focusing on the consumption of your content versus the act of creating and disseminating it pays dividends. This audience-centric mindset helps you focus on the most important goal: defining the value provided to residents and local businesses. Here are three questions to spur the conversation. (1) Are teams basing content creation on audience personas? (2) Does the content reflect best practices for driving engagement? (3) What content performs best and why?
6. Community
   Following this audience-centric mindset, social media is, well, social. So, the first question should be, is listening in place so any insights gleaned can inform future content strategy? Are organic posts focused on two-way communication like a conversation? And if budget is spent on paid campaigns, are they configured correctly and yielding positive outcomes instead of low-value vanity metrics?
7. Evaluation
   The last key area of focus of the social media success framework is evaluation. An audit is the perfect tool to fuel continuous improvement because of its rigorous measurement and evaluation. Here are some key questions to ask to ensure your review delivers valuable insights. Are your KPIs appropriate for social media objectives? Is the measurement framework consistent across the organization so leadership is comparing apples to apples?

Undertaking a formal audit always produces deep insights that help organizations transform their practices and the related outcomes, but even probing with the right questions will give you insights to help make your social media program more effective.

Cyrus Mavalwala, ABC, MC is a sought-after social media strategist, trainer, university instructor and speaker. The founding partner of Advantis Communications, Mavalwala and his team integrate social media, video and digital communication strategies and tactics that support communication objectives for municipalities, associations and B2B organizations. A frequent judge of industry awards, he has also received awards for digital communication at the local, national and international levels.