Social Media Savings for Cash Strapped Councils

Any private sector business would struggle to budget for a 40% cut in funding. This sum, equating to £20Bn across the UK (Source: Local Government Association) is the reduction from central government (2011/12-2016/17) faced by Councils and Local Authorities, i.e the UK Public Sector. And , as their fixed costs have risen simultaneously, this has left them with an unenviable task of making tough, and sometimes unpopular decisions around the delivery of services. This means that although there has been a huge culture change already, even more radical thinking is needed in the future.

Social media usage is wipespread across the UK with over 30miliion (Source: UK Social Media Statistics, Jan 2016) registered for Facebook alone. New platforms such as Vine, Snapchat and Pinterest, means this area is evolving continuously, and at pace. And it is being used seriously by the majority of private sector businesses as an integral part of their marketing mix.

However what is worrying is that currently 57% of UK Councils have not yet invested in a proper social media strategy. This means a lack of proper integration of social media to the rest of the local authority plan and limited value on offer to the consumer. From my experience of working and collaborating with, local authorities both at senior management and officer level, although technology advances have led to a channel shift already. there is a lot more that can be done. A proactive channel shift equals improved communication, engagement and collaboration and all at a reduced cost.

The Top-Level Buy-In Test

Review the level of social media activity used by your Chief Executive, Leader and Mayor. Research indicates that there is a direct correlation between social media success for a local authority and the level of social media usage of these 3 key stakeholders.

Please let us know if this figure tallies for your Council/Local Authority by commenting below or emailing info@zgriffiths.uk

Current challenge

Only 150 local authorities in the UK have a social media strategy at the moment. That’s not to say that the remainder don’t use social media in some form, virtually all of them do – it’s just that there is limited coherent strategic direction covering:

• Their overall goals (e.g. laid out in Town Centre Area Action Plans, SPDs etc.) and how social media is needed to achieve these

• Which social media platforms to use Frequently only the most common, Facebook and Twitter, are used, and this is based on officer skillset primarily rather than actual customer preference or usage

• How to plan and manage activity

• Clear metrics to measure outcomes and review against goals

• Service level agreements i.e. acceptable response times in a 24/7 culture

• Ownership/accountability

With a wide and diverse key stakeholders including Members and County Councils as well as getting internal management buy-in, this is a huge challenge. Whenever I advise on a social media strategy, even in smaller, more flexible businesses, there has always been some resistance to change. Engagement through communication and empowerment are key to addressing this.

What are the Benefits of a Social Media Strategy for Local Authorities?

• Cost sa

vings maximised due to reconfiguring services to reduce face-to-face contacts for standard processes such as development of online forms or customer accounts (e.g. registering for Council Tax or Housing Benefit).

• Increased effectiveness at reaching out to all communities particularly traditionally harder-to-reach minorities

• Improved customer satisfaction as people can self-select their preferred way of communicating with their local authority (a great example is Kirklees Council who focus on “Listen, Participate and Transform”)

• Automation of processes leading to more self-service and self-reliance of individuals

• Positive perception of town centre management (and local government) due to promotion of local events and which might lead to income generation opportunities. We ran a social media teaser campaign recently to launch an innovative evening event on top of a council car park- not a the most salubrious location in a town centre! The campaign led to the event being sold-out within days. The paid-for part of the promotion plan (a 3 week radio advert and press) was cancelled with no financial penalties meaning the sell-out event had been delivered at nil cost! As an added extra, we were approached by a national chain offering sponsorship.

• Better-informed residents: a great example of how this is used was by Torfaen County Borough Council “In the Depot” campaign for when it snowed; their video went viral on YouTube.

The Pitfalls of Not Having a Social Media Strategy…..

• Reduced or stoppage of services in order to meet reduced budgets such as bin collections.

• Using up reserves unnecessarily this year in particular due to an accumulation of continuous funding reductions and expenditure pressures over the past few years.

• Ineffective and ad-hoc communications internally as well as externally with limited linkage to achieving overall longer term aims.

• More dissatisfied and less well-informed customers leading to increased complaints/queries meaning more staff time required to resolve.

• Frustrated communities, who will still use social media, just probably more to complain than to engage with and promote you and your area.

• Higher risk of staff suspensions due to breach of social media guidelines. This month (following a FOI request made by BBC Radio 5 Live) it was reported that in 2015, councils saw a 19% increase in the number of suspensions of their staff. Whilst still a small minority, the risk of inappropriate use of these platforms, including via official accounts, is a factor which increases unless there is a clear social media strategy understood by all staff.

Next Steps: Questions to be asked by Councils

• Do we have a social media strategy? This should cover a minimum of a 5-year period and the annual social media plan feeds out of this.

• Who are our audiences that we want to engage, communicate and collaborate with? And which social media platforms do they prefer to use?

• What best practices are there – both in local authorities and elsewhere in the private sector?

• Is there buy-in from all key stakeholders

• Are there any skills gaps internally to a) develop a robust strategy b) implement and manage it?

A well-thought out social media strategy is no longer a “nice-to-have” for councils in 2016, but a vital too.. It can help move customers to more cost effective channels whilst actually improving their experience, and improving engagement – a win-win for everyone!

Zoe Griffiths Consultancy Ltd offer a bespoke strategic marketing service for the public sector, bringing expertise in social media marketing combined with town centre management delivery.

Go to www.zoegriffithsconsultancy.com for more information, or email us on info@zgriffiths.uk.