As the use of social media grows by organizations so do the number of people who contribute to the social space by those organizations. Corporations, not-for-profits, government and NGO’s are all putting more people into their social presence. The reasons vary, the motives are unique to the industry and the objectives are diverse.
The most common incentive to join the social space is really quite simple:
“To connect with our community on a greater scale.”
That’s the easy part. Open an account and post, tweet, upload, check-in and talk till your little hearts content! Oh, and while doing so, make sure you stay in line with the Corporate or Management vision, objectives, goals and acceptable use. That is of course there is one and that someone is actually watching for that to occur. You know, monitoring and measuring…you do that right?
Every single action in the social space from a corporate level has to have some sort of goal oriented objective…if it doesn’t, then the natural question must be asked; “Why are you doing it?”
Your social users might answer with, “I’m letting our follows know that I’m just a person…just like them!”
Your social managers might answer with, “Every interaction with the public raises awareness about our program and offers the community an opportunity to interact.”
Your community manager might answer with, “We provide direction and guidance, but in the end our account holders their own entity and given the freedom to be professional yet relatable.”
The CFO will say, “Garbage. They are a hard cost that appears to be doing nothing more than playing around and wasting money.”
The CAO will say, “Let them do that twittering and faceposting on their own time. We are paying them, they will do what their job description is.”
The Chief will say, “How in the world does what the officer had for lunch impact the safety and security of the community one bit? What has that officer done to promote the Service priorities, goals, objectives. How has the officer changed behaviour or influenced attitudes at all?”
Very honest and understandable questions Chief. I suppose if the officer knows what they are doing, they will be able to explain how it has all worked to exactly that end. If the social manager has any clue, the question would never get to the officer since the manager would know how to answer it. But like many, they will have no idea and in today’s day and age…you can’t justify it??? It’s got to go.
It doesn’t take very long to look at “official” police officer pages, profiles, accounts and find a few, that other than their picture and bio, you would have no idea that they are an officer since NOTHING has anything to do with their job or their profession.
It’s not nearly enough to open up social and think you can be just like everyone else. You can’t just talk like everyone else. You can’t like the same things. You can’t share the same information. You join the same groups. This just isn’t for police, but for fire personnel, EMS, emergency workers of all kinds…
You are different. You are held to a higher standard and you are judged differently. And with very good reason. You do what very few are willing, able or inclined to do and with that comes the added responsibility of actually making a difference and living above what other’s expect or are willing to do.
Don’t just BE social. Build relationships.
Don’t just DO social. Make a difference in someone’s life.
Don’t just share fluff. Offer information that is great. That influences behaviour. That secures your community. That protects your citizens….that makes a difference.
