5 Tips for Improving Social Media in the Public Sector

Tyler Podcast Episode 21, Transcript

Our Tyler Technologies podcast explores a wide range of complex, timely, and important issues facing communities and the public sector. Expect approachable tech talk mixed with insights from subject matter experts and a bit of fun. Host and Content Marketing Director Jeff Harrell – and other guest hosts – highlights the people, places, and technology making a difference. Give us listen today and subscribe.

Episode Summary

Gen Z wants information from their local government via social media. What does that mean for those in the public sector? Get 5 very practical tips on how to improve your social media from Heather Daniels, Tyler's Sr. Social Media Specialist. Heather spent several years in the public sector with cities like Los Angeles and Missouri City, Texas, and shares her insight with us.

Transcript

Heather Daniels: Everything is not for everybody. Don't feel compelled to be on every social media platform. Take the time to understand your intended audience's needs, and then determine the platform you need to be on to maximize your reach.

Jeff Harrell: From Tyler Technologies, it's the Tyler Tech Podcast, where we talk about issues facing communities today, and highlight the people, places, and technology, making a difference. I'm your host, Jeff Harrell. I'm the director of content marketing for Tyler, and I am so glad that you joined me. Social media. How important is it in the public sector? Well, according to the generational research that Tyler conducted with the Center for Generational Kinetics, more than half of Gen Z say they prefer to get their information from local government, via social media. If you want to connect and engage with this younger generation, who are now working and voting, you'd better understand social media.

Well, to help us understand it a little bit more is Heather Daniels. Heather is a marketing communications professional with seven plus years of experience in digital marketing, in the public sector. She has developed award-winning digital marketing campaigns with the City of Los Angeles, and Sunnyvale, in California, and Missouri City, in Texas. Heather is a senior social media specialist at Tyler. And before joining Tyler, she served as the Social Media Project Manager for the City of Los Angeles. Heather has an MS in Professional and Technical Communications from the New Jersey Institute of Technology, and a BA in Journalism from Rutgers. Heather is the perfect person to help us navigate the social media landscape, and has five tips for us today, to help us learn more about social media. She may even have a bonus tip for us. So without further ado, here's my conversation with Heather Daniels.

Well, Heather, welcome to the show.

Heather Daniels: Yeah. Great to be here, Jeff.

Jeff Harrell: And we're going to dive right into it. I know that when we did our generational research, Generation Z said that they prefer to receive information via social media, and that's even before a website. So knowing that, how important is social media for local government?

Heather Daniels: Gen Z, right? A generation with little to no memory of a world without smartphones, with its oldest members gearing up to vote. A generation that is well on its way to be the best educated generation. In our recent Gen research, 51% of Gen Z said they prefer to receive government information from social media. 61% of Gen Z'ers also said, they're more likely to trust social media than government.

Jeff Harrell: They said that they trust social media more than government. That's kind of an incredible stat.

Heather Daniels: What that says to me, and what that should say to anyone listening, is that social media's role in local government is changing. And it should be changing, to meet the expectation levels for civic engagement to be less impersonal, and bidirectional.

Jeff Harrell: And Heather, when you say bidirectional, what does that mean?

Heather Daniels: Yeah. So reciprocal in nature, a two-way form of communication.

Jeff Harrell: Oh, got it. So, basically having a conversation via social media.

Heather Daniels: Absolutely. There's this presumption that local governments can be tweeted, messaged, and DM, with an immediate response. So a PIO in incident command situation does not have time to wait until the next news briefing. Social media becomes this critical communication tool for quickly updating the masses on time sensitive, and life-saving information. Most importantly it's free. It is invaluable, in that, do more with the less environment, that public servants work out of every day.

Jeff Harrell: And Heather, you used a term, PIO, and I'm not sure exactly what that is. Some listeners may not as well. Could you define what that is?

Heather Daniels: Yeah. PIO is Public Information Officer, but it's not just in a time of an emergency it's anytime that you need to get pertinent information out, it's your central point of contact, is what a PIO is. While this is not to say local government should go and abandon the traditional forms of citizen communications. Newsletters, mailers, and even public notices, are still very much valued, especially by generations that prefer that tangible source of information. It is to suggest that local government should prioritize the use of social media in their efforts to reach citizens effectively.

Jeff Harrell: And that's awesome, and I love that definition. And Heather, I know you are now at Tyler Technologies running social media, but you've got a lot of experience in the public sector. Could you talk to us a little bit about that experience?

Heather Daniels: Yeah. So fun fact, I begin my career in local government, at a time when access to social media networking, i.e., Facebook and Twitter, was blocked, to prevent employees from wasting time at work. It's full circle for me to be in this moment, talking about social media in the public sector. I started with the City of Missouri City in Texas, actually as a web designer. I then segued into the role of social media manager, out of necessity. There was this overwhelming need to manage the City's information management presence on Twitter. And from there, it was just a natural progression for the City into social media policy, procedure, strategy, greater participation on different platforms, more buy-in from city leadership. And I'm just grateful to have had that opportunity to play such a large part in the city's social media evolution.

Jeff Harrell: And that's great, Heather, and I know you then moved on to do some other social media roles with some other local governments, as well.

Heather Daniels: Yeah, well, from there, I spent time in Northern California, with a brief stint with the City of Sunnyvale focusing on social media strategy. And then in Southern California with the City of Los Angeles, where I had the opportunity to engineer a social media strategy for the city's non-emergency service, Los Angeles 311.

Jeff Harrell: A little city, Los Angeles, and just a tiny little town.

Heather Daniels: Just a little one. Yeah.

Jeff Harrell: Well, that's awesome. And I know based on that experience and knowing, as you mentioned before, how important social media is to help citizens and governments connect. I believe Heather, you've got five tips for using social media in the public sector to share with us today.

Heather Daniels: I do, definitely invest in talent. Your social media manager needs to be prepared to wear many hats and to wear them well, a strategist, a storyteller, video editor, graphic designer, data analyst. You really need someone who understands your organizational bottom line, can translate that into bite-size content to be consumed digitally, with the know-how to transform data into actionable insights, that fuel future decisions.

Jeff Harrell: Well, that sounds like a really easy job, Heather. Are you saying that can't be just part of someone else's job? You really need to focus on getting the right skillset, and the right person, to fit that particular social media role.

Heather Daniels: Yeah. You know what, not only that, Jeff, a lot of times in the public sector, considering budget constraints, you don't all the time have the liberty of having extra staff that specializes in these areas. It becomes beneficial to have that one person, or two people, who are able to share the load, across all of these different disciplines that are required for successful social media management.

Jeff Harrell: That's awesome. I love that. So number one is, invest in talent. What's the second tip that you have for us?

Heather Daniels: Yeah. Define a social media strategy. That's easier said than done, but you definitely have to take the time to define why you are on social media to begin with. You want to outline the steps to achieve the objective, in the first place, of why you're there. And then focus on a plan that addresses content creation, crisis management, and social customer care. You also want to be sure to define what success looks like, and how it will be measured.

Jeff Harrell: And I think when people hear social media strategy, they get maybe a little bit intimidated. You just outlined some things that strategy could, and should, entail. What are some first steps for someone going, "Okay, we need to have a social media strategy. How do I start?" What's a couple of first steps? Do they need to define their target? What's some easy first steps, for people, as they think about a social media strategy?

Heather Daniels: I mean, you definitely want to start with a social media audit. A social media audit is really just an assessment of all of your social media networks, your users, where you are in terms of your content, what's doing well. What's not doing well. You may want to look at, are your hashtags performing well? Is there a way to incorporate other hashtags to broaden your social, share a voice? It's just a quick assessment of where you are, and where you'd like to be, and how you can get there.

Jeff Harrell: I'll be back with my conversation with Heather Daniels in just a moment. Did you know that Tyler has a podcast? Well, of course you did because you're listening to it right now. I highly recommend going back and listening to some of our early episodes. In fact, episode one is a special episode we did with generational research expert, Jason Dorsey, specifically looking at the data that we got back on Gen Z. You'll get a deeper dive into why they rely so heavily on social media, and why picking up the phone and talking to a person may not be an option. I think you'll find the information there very helpful. Now back to my conversation with Heather Daniels. That's great. Number one was, invest in talent. Second tip is define a social media strategy. Heather, what's number three. What's our third tip?

Heather Daniels: Oh yeah. Be intentional with social media usage. There's a saying that everything is not for everybody. Don't feel compelled to be on every social media platform. Take the time to understand your intended audience's needs, and then determine the platform you need to be on to maximize your reach.

 

Jeff Harrell: I love that one. In fact, I just read an article recently from Seth Godin, who was talking about, everyone tends to get into the, what's shiny and new syndrome. "We got to be on this thing. We got to be on that. Have you heard about this other thing?" And his point was, focus, and get really, really good at one, or maybe two. And I think that's what you're saying here. Where are your constituents, and really focus in on those one or two social media platforms that are going to have the biggest impact.

Heather Daniels: Absolutely.

Jeff Harrell: That's great. So number three was, be intentional with social media usage. What about number four? I'm excited to hear what number four is.

Heather Daniels: You always want to create relevant content. If you want to improve your brand reputation, build trust, increase transparency, then you need to develop content that provides value, and resonates with your community.

Jeff Harrell: So Heather, maybe give us an example, or define what you mean by relevant versus non-relevant.

Heather Daniels: Relevant content is something that is informative, engaging, helpful, entertaining. It tends to pertain to topics, issues, needs, or interests that are on the minds, and hearts, of your users.

Jeff Harrell: I guess non-relevant information would be things that maybe are interesting, but have no relevance to that particular city or town.

Heather Daniels: Right? There's just absolutely no attachment, no relation whatsoever.

Jeff Harrell: They could probably get that information elsewhere. They're not expecting to get it from their local government. Awesome. Thanks for helping us understand that. And then, we're at number five already. I can't believe it. What would your number five tip be, or your fifth tip?

Heather Daniels: Yeah. So number five is DEI work, is everyone's work. DEI, diversity, equity, and inclusion, prioritize the need to include diverse voices on your social platforms. Be present, be mindful of all of the narratives that make your community great.

Jeff Harrell: I love this one, Heather. And I think we often get into the mindset of a person that we're talking to and not really taking into considerations, as you pointed out, the fabric of your community, that's made up of so many different kinds of people. I think really being intentional with that, is really important. Would you agree?

Heather Daniels: Absolutely.

Jeff Harrell: Heather, I love this one. Is there any practical tips to make sure that we are including everyone?

Heather Daniels: I mean, honestly, Jeff, it's just really a thing of, you have to check in with yourself, what we call in our Tyler community, SSOE it, or second set of eyes, to see if it offends anyone in your community.

Jeff Harrell: Here's our five tips. This is awesome, Heather. Number one was invest in talent. Number two was define a social media strategy. Number three was be intentional with your social media usage. Four, always create relevant content. And number five, diversity, equity, and inclusion, is everyone's work. And you want to make sure you prioritize representation. Love that. We also here at Tyler love, and on this podcast, love to give listeners a little extra value. Would you have a bonus one for us today?

Heather Daniels: Yeah. Who doesn't love extra value? My bonus tip would be to utilize user-generated content, so UGC. It's the greatest source of social proof. It's like having a 5.0 on Google reviews. It's content that's created by your users, and it's an excellent way to build trust, increase engagement, and reach a wider audience.

Jeff Harrell: And Heather, do you have any examples? When you say user-generated content? What exactly does that mean?

Heather Daniels: When I was with the City of LA, there was one particular instance, dealing with palm tree fronds. There was a user that took to Twitter, on his own volition, to, kind of, create a how-to guide of how to report these falling fronds on the MyLA311 app. It was a great visual, great instruction, to address a situation that a lot of users did encounter at the time, based on the category of how to report it. And it was a fantastic opportunity. It was retweeted, and it went over very well. That was an excellent opportunity to repo some user-generated content.

Jeff Harrell: We're here in Texas. We don't have palm trees. Palm fronds would be the leaves that fall into the street and cause chaos, I'm picturing.

Heather Daniels: They can cause a lot of inconvenience, be it, if you're driving, or walking, on the sidewalk, it all depends on where they fall. So yeah, it's best to get those out of the way, especially after a heavy rain in LA.

Jeff Harrell: That's our version of the tumbleweed, I suppose.

Heather Daniels: Yeah, absolutely.

Jeff Harrell: It's really kind of making your users and followers, the hero, versus your particular company, or jurisdiction, or local government.

Heather Daniels: Yeah, absolutely. It's reciprocal in nature. They show you love, you show love back.

Jeff Harrell: And that goes back to that, kind of, that two-way or bidirectional conversation that you were talking about earlier. Love this, Heather, this is great information and content. I'm sure folks may have questions. If someone wanted to reach out to you, and connect with you, what's the best way for them to do that?

Heather Daniels: Yeah. I'm always looking for that creative exchange on LinkedIn. Word of caution though, there are a lot of Heather Daniels on LinkedIn. I think last time I checked, I got up to maybe page 15, but the Heather you're looking for is found at linkedin.com/n/HLDANIELS.

Jeff Harrell: Awesome. That's great. So Heather, thanks again for joining us. This is really great content, great information. I think it's really going to be helpful for our listeners.

Heather Daniels: I hope so. Happy to be here, and I'm looking forward to coming back.

Jeff Harrell: That sounds great. We'll talk to you soon.

Heather Daniels: Thank you.

Jeff Harrell: I just love Heather's very practical five tips, and of course the bonus tip, as well. I learned a bunch. Hope you took away some tidbits of knowledge also. I do have one request. If you enjoy the podcast, please subscribe. We drop a new episode every other Monday on a variety of topics that impact the public sector. Well again, this is Jeff Harrell for Tyler Technologies. Thanks so much for joining me and we'll talk to you again soon.