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Social media use has been on the rise for decades — a fact that hasn’t gone unnoticed by either the private sector or government agencies. However, no one could have predicted the acceleration brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, where social media became the number one communication platform that governments used to communicate with their constituents.
As businesses shuttered and public mobility became restricted, people had their eyes glued to their screens and looked to government social media profiles for information and updates. This resulted in unprecedented growth in terms of followership and engagement for these government agencies, which they continue to leverage today.
With the world opening again, government agencies need to compete with other entities for attention. With the volume of social media content that currently exists and the rate at which they are created, government social media managers will need creativity, strategy, and innovation to cut through the noise.
On March 1 to 3, government social media managers and content creators gathered for Comms Room’s 5th Annual Social Media for Gov NZ Summit to learn how to:
During the three-day summit, social media practitioners from all over the country exchanged different tips and best practices on how to best use social media to more effectively reach their constituents and serve their interests.
Among the speakers were Olivia Wix, communications manager for the Palmerston North City Council. Wix shared how their council’s use of social media platforms changed dramatically when the pandemic hit.
“Pre-COVID, our channels were really used as like a service announcement type thing. They weren’t creative, they weren’t fun. They were very telling people the information they needed to know,” Wix said.
“Our followers were about 10,000. Now, we’re sitting at about 30,000 so I hope that hopefully gives you some idea of growth in the last few years,” she said.
To achieve this growth, Wix said they studied their demographics and found ways to tailor their content to that.
“Almost half the people are married, a third of the people have children, 60% of people drive a car to work… and then access to the internet and cell phone is important. In terms of the languages, that’s quite something that we think about when we’re talking about visual imagery and stuff like that to make sure that all of our content can be as easy to understand for everyone,” Wix said.
Another pressing topic that the event addressed is how to handle negative and hostile comments online. Jessie Brown, a social media specialist working at the Iowa Department of Natural Resources in the US presented a case study on how they approached the topic in their organisation.
Brown talked about the many ways to distinguish legitimate and passionate concerns from what she designated as “trolls,” which are individuals who desire only to cause chaos online.
“Just because someone is unhappy, does not make them a troll,” Brown said.
“A troll doesn’t even go here. A troll doesn’t want to belong in this community. They are just there to stir things up, to incite chaos, to sort of light the comments section in fire. Sit back, relax, have some popcorn. They don’t care about the issue at hand that you’re discussing. They don’t care about the post. They don’t care about you as a person,” she said.
Instead, Brown advised social media managers to give people the benefit of the doubt. If the concern appears to be legitimate, it’s best t come from a place of humility and public service.
“Just remember not all angry people are bad people. We all have our moments, right? Don’t ignore any comments that come from a legitimate concern or maybe misunderstanding, something that you can easily respond to, or answer a question, or troubleshoot. Remember that some people just are very passionate, and they care very loudly,” she said.
In a separate session, Pranav Singh of the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) presented strategies to empower and engage stakeholders through social media. As the digital marketing manager of New Zealand’s no-fault accidental injury compensation scheme, Singh works to help ensure that claimants understand what to do and what they’re entitled to when they incur personal injuries.
SIngh’s work includes reaching out to New Zealand’s general public, but he also works to empower internal departments to do their separate mandates.
“We need to get their buy-in, we need to work with them. There are times that their information needs to go out to the right people. And we need to get out there quick and get that information out. To support learning and development, we need to get our stakeholders to understand what we do,” Singh said.
Singh also shared strategies about content creation that they use in ACC.
“When you’re looking at those big rocks, what we do is we actually work with each department and ask them what their big rock for the quarter is. What are they working on in general and reuse that information and break it into pebbles and make them social content, website content, or email content.”
All in all, the event was a success and garnered excellent feedback from the guests.
Charlotte Carter, the social media advisor for Kāinga Ora – Homes and Communities said the conference was a reat opportunity to learn from like-minded professionals working in the government space. “
“Often as social media experts we are isolated in our work and this conference helped validate my experiences and reminded me that we are all fighting the same battles – and provided resolutions to them,” Carter said.
Meanwhile, Grey District Council’s Megan Bourke said she would recommend the event to her peers.
“I thoroughly enjoyed the Summit; the speakers were very good they knew their stuff and their presentations were excellent and engaging. The topics were relevant, I learned heaps and came away with great ideas to improve our comms back home. It was wonderful to meet other council staff and to talk about things we have in common,” she said.
Comms Room is delighted to facilitate meaningful discussions and knowledge-sharing among Australia’s communication professionals. If you want to be a part of such events, learn more about your industry, and talk to like-minded professionals, don’t miss your chance to be part of the Public Sector Comm’s Week.
Paulo Rizal is a content producer for Comms Room. He writes content around popular media, journalism, social media, and more.
