Should corporate accounts avoid some conversations?

I am all about police using social media channels to show the public that there are real people behind the accounts that have interests, likes and dislikes just like everyone else.

Whether you call this being personable, personal or relatable doesn’t really matter.  What does matter is to what extent and how far you want to go with it.  For example, giving away personal details about your life that can risk personal or family safeties are simple to deal with; You DON’T do it…ever.

But what about the information that just makes you more real and more approachable?  There are arguments that can be made to suggest that it is perfectly ok to do and in fact can have some great benefits.

• May increase social circles (friends, follows, likes, RTs)
• Can create bonds built around similarities
• Raise awareness of your channels

I’ve never been a big fan of using tricks or teasers to gain followers or increase your social presence.  In the long run I don’t believe they work for creating a strong and deep following or voice.  If you go down the road of using things like “Tweet-a-longs”, “Tweet the calls”, or any similar short-lived, resource intensive gimmicks, I would suggest that you do it with a plan of action, a reason and a strategy for why you are doing it.  To do it just because “you can” will probably result in a confused public and a very short-lived and shallow response.

Speaking of just because you can, here was one that caught my eye yesterday…

Police force tweets England football commentary

I get it.  The country is engrossed (was engrossed) in Euro2012 but is it the function of the Staffordshire Police to give a run down of the match or is their job to talk about crime and disorder management, goals and initiatives of the agency, safety and security issues of the area.

Those populating the account were simply showing their love for the game and reflecting the entire countries interest.  I don’t suppose there were any other people tweeting about the match, which may have been more qualified to do it or possibly even have it in their mandate to do it.

I would think that individual neighbourhood officers or those with personal accounts as opposed to the official voice of the agency would better serve this kind of engagement.

Although, I do have to admit, some of the commentary was very good…

While some should have definitely been saved to the, ‘maybe I shouldn’t’ vault.

In the end, it will always be your public to decide if they agree with your tactics or they don’t.  No matter what you do, some will love it while others will loathe it.

I might suggest that the Staffs Police might have been better served to have retweeted others commentary or replied to tweets their following may have made.

What’s the message you want to send on behalf of your agency?

Related:

British Police Send Cheeky Euro 2012 Live-Tweets

Staffordshire police take Twitter by storm with Euro 2012 England v Italy Tweets

Police force tweets England football commentary