South Lanarkshire Council’s Information Officer, Carolyne Mitchell, will be sharing her experience of using social media and digital tools to remain responsive to the needs of local people. Carolyne will be exploring the various channels the local authority employ and some of the real challenges involved. All the slides from #CommEng13: http://engagingcommunitiesscotland.wordpress.com/2013/10/08/all-the-slides-from-commeng13/

1. South Lanarkshire Council
gets social
Using social media for engagement

2. Who I am
 Social media lead for SLC
 Also do web and comms
 Specialise in social media use in
emergencies
 Sit on various emergency planning
groups as a social media advisor
 Social media slave

3. Life before Google

4. Internet revolution

7.  Corporate Comms can’t be
everywhere at once
 Organisation shouldn’t be
everywhere
 Go where people are
 But only if they want you there

8. SLC socmed timeline
 YouTube channel started June 2008
 Opened @SouthLanCouncil March
2010
 Opened @SLCRoads August 2010
 Opened Banqueting Facebook page
July 2012

9. Our biggest community

10. The day that changed it all
 Website down
 Snow falling
 Twitter only option
 Word spread virally
 400% increase in followers in one
week
 Blueprint for process created

11. Two weeks later

12. Why social media matters
 Social media part of everyday life
 Public expect us to monitor it
 Public expect us to use it
 Public expect us to engage
 Social & Digital Media Revolution Stats

13. Improving broadcast information

14. Weather forecast
 Tailored for South Lanarkshire
 Accurate/detailed
 Used to plan gritting/ploughing
actions
 Forecast valuable to public
 Gritting action valuable to public
 Together - invaluable to public

15. Forecast on the web
 Meteo, Roads & web team work on
presentation of information

16. Forecast on the web
 Extensive weather information on
SLC website

17. Socialising the forecast
 RSS feed used to tweet gritting
action automatically on @SLCRoads
and @SouthLanCouncil

18. Socialising the forecast
 Gritting action is switched off in May
 Plan to continue with rain forecast
and flooding action in 2014

19. The social media good
 It’s free
 People can engage with you directly
 People can alert you quickly
 Real time information with context

20. The social media good
 Tweet asking about tailback in
Rutherglen
 No roadworks
 Tweeted link to moby film of lights
out of sync
 Passed to roads engineer
 Fixed the same day

21. The social media bad
 It’s free
 People can engage with you directly
 People can alert you quickly
 Real time misinformation without
context

22. BUT
 The bad can be turned around to
good by engaging
 This is much easier on social media
than traditional media

23. The social media bad made good
 Bad language warning. Those of a
delicate disposition should cover
their ears and look away now!

24. Meet Skelpt Arse

25. Our telling off

28. Our response
 Retrospective road opening
 BT say they started at 10.15am
 Skelpt Arse tweets start at 8am
 Tweets and website taken as
evidence
 BT issued a fine
 Direct message to Skelpt Arse to
explain

29. All’s well that ends well
 Skelpt Arse aka Claire is now on our
list of website testers

30. The social media ugly
 Learn early when to engage, when
to monitor and when to ignore
 Sometimes a situation can be made
worse when entering the
conversation
 When is a rant a request for service
 When is a rant a complaint

32. Fragmented communities
New Roots:
Neilsland and
Earnock Heritage
Group

33. New Roots
 Facebook Group
 Set up by countryside ranger
 Apply to join
 Physical group already existed
 Self-regulating
 Comms officer also a member

34. Fragmented communities
Almada Suite conferencing and
banqueting

35. Almada Suite
 Facebook business page
 Set up by Corporate Comms
 Maintained by facilities officer
 Comms officer also an admin

36. Fragmented communities
Get Active Lanarkshire

37. Get Active Lanarkshire
 Website, Twitter account, Facebook
page
 Maintained by comms people from
each partner organisation
 Digital job being created for duration
of the project
 Attempts to bring other fitness
communities on board

38. Fragmented communities
Pits, ponies, people and stories

39. Pits, ponies, people and stories
 Facebook page set up by Comms
 Maintained by Cultural Co-ordinator
 Comms Officer also an admin
 Aims to bring together fragmented
physical communities into one online
community

40. Twitter surgeries
 Alcohol licensing
 Buy With Confidence
 Taxi licensing
 General/food recycling
 Planning

41. Homelessness project
 Website – content produced by
young homeless people
 Forum moderated housing officers
 CMS training and project experience
will help with skills and employment
prospects
 Aims to give an existing physical
community an online presence and a
place for others to find relevant
information

42. Things to consider
 Does the community exist already
 Do they want to do business with
you there
 Can you join the existing group,
either as an officer or as the
organisation

43. Things to consider
 Do you need to start a community
 Which platform is the target
audience using
 Do you understand the platform
 Do you have the resources to create
content
 Do you have the resources to
monitor the account

44. Things to consider
 Is your skin thick enough to run the
account
 Is the organisation’s skin thick
enough
 Do you have management buy-in
 Do you have a social media
policy/strategy
 Do you have social media guidance

45. www.readyscotland.org/my-community/

46. Community Emergency Plans
 Google Docs
 Closed, non-searchable Facebook
group
 Google+
 Evernote
 Secure, private, living documents
 Accessible on mobile phones

48.  carolyne.mitchell@southlanarkshire
 @Cal444
 Facebook
 LinkedIn
 Pinterest
 Instagram