Addressing the top pain points in government with social solutions

As the need for digital services boomed during pandemic restrictions and lockdowns, the government agencies that successfully revamped their digital strategies were better positioned to address this shift in the short-term. But as restrictions declined, many government agencies have pulled back on focusing on digital services — including constituent experiences on social media — and citizens’ expectations are now digital first. While in-person services have come back, the way in which constituents engage government agencies has changed, and predominantly begins online. The expectation for agencies to meet them there in a timely, responsive, citizen-first approach is here to stay.

In fact, according to a study by Pew Research Center, 71% of U.S. adult internet users believe that it’s important for government officials to listen to citizens’ views and opinions on social media, and 55% of the respondents agreed that social media engagement by government agencies gave them a better understanding of their citizens’ needs. Despite this, social media use by government institutions continues to pose its own unique challenges. As a highly regulated space, diving into social comes with pain points that many government communicators are still in a process of overcoming; recognizing a strong digital presence is increasingly important for engaging with constituents. Here, we will explore the top pain points government agencies face when using social media — and tips to help overcome these challenges.

Bring order to the chaos

One of the biggest pain points for government institutions when using social media is balancing transparency with security. Government institutions need to strike a balance between transparency and security to maintain the public’s trust while safeguarding the government’s confidential information.

Government institutions need to manage public records when using social. Social accounts and posts are considered public records, and government institutions must comply with public records laws when managing their social media accounts. This can be challenging, as social media is a constantly changing and evolving landscape. Social media platforms are a prime target for cyberattacks, and government institutions must also take measures to protect their accounts and sensitive information from hackers and other security threats.

Use technology that plugs into existing compliance checks. To solve for this pain point, governance and secure publishing is needed to protect the integrity of your agency, and serve the public while meeting the stringent cybersecurity capabilities and processes required to handle federal data and constituent information. Seek out FedRAMP-authorized social media management solutions to strengthen constituent relationships.

Service delivery: Advancing a constituent centric approach

Social media can be a double-edged sword for government institutions. While it provides an opportunity to engage with constituents, it can also be an open platform for negative comments and feedback — and managing them can be a challenge.

According to Accenture, 85% of people say they expect the same or higher quality from government digital services as they do from commercial organizations. But governments rank third to last for social service delivery — only 8% of those surveyed had received a response from their agency.

Engage in two-way communication: Agencies can use social media to answer questions, respond to comments, and address concerns from the public. This helps to build trust and credibility with the community. To keep track of all the messages and to respond effectively to expected service level agreements (SLAs), governments can use social media management tools to simplify how they reach their constituents on the social channels they frequent.

Measure response times, engagement, volume and visibility: Track, test and iterate on citizen experience methods using analytics on response times, engagement, volume and visibility. It’s a great way to check the constant pulse on how conversations are tracking and develop ways to improve these metrics.

The City of New York is a good example of a government agency that leveraged social media to manage over 300 social channels and serve its citizens. They were faced with the challenge of creating a healthier civil society and stronger democracy through the use of technology that engages, serves and connects New Yorkers. The goal of their social campaign was to expand their digital reach, maintain a consistent voice, share information in multiple languages and provide information in emergency situations.

To help tackle these challenges, the City of New York worked to centralize social governance, policy and strategy while empowering many teams to operate autonomously. They provided training days and worked to drive cultural change in government organizations across the city by taking a collaborative but decentralized approach, creating an effective user experience by filtering and responding to questions, and leveraging social listening to measure sentiment and deliver proactive services.

Keeping citizens informed and combating misinformation

Another challenge for government institutions when using social media is ensuring the accuracy and timeliness of the information they share. Government institutions must ensure that the information they share is accurate, timely, and up-to-date, while also verifying the source of information to prevent the spread of misinformation or disinformation. Here are some ways to address these challenges:

Establish an online presence: By creating social media accounts on platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn, agencies can reach a wider audience and provide real-time updates to the public that are informative, accurate and compelling.

Adopt social listening: To combat misinformation, government agencies can leverage social listening across social media channels — particularly Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn to discover crises before they happen. Government social media managers can track millions of conversations happening across social media to identify misinformation and respond efficiently.

Effective measurement and analysis: Improving how to keep citizens informed and combat misinformation is aided by clear, measurable data. Establishing goals and objectives, using data analytics tools, and evaluating, then iterating on which factors and objectives to measure is a key strategy in understanding a government agency’s digital impact.

Collaborate with Influencers: Government agencies can collaborate with social media influencers to help spread accurate information. Influencers with large followings can help to amplify government agency messages and reach a wider audience. There are ways to engage your employees and your network to spread factual information. Employee advocacy tools allow government agencies to share approved messaging with their content council/influencers while ensuring that any edits to personalize the message are compliant and can go through quick approval workflows.

Social media provides government agencies with a powerful tool to keep citizens informed and combat crises through channels that will reach the modern constituent. By unlocking solutions for the pain points government communicators face on social, government agencies can build trust within their communities and ensure that accurate digital information is accessible to everyone.

Mark Rybchuk is director of public sector at Hootsuite.

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