how newcastle city council has used social media | louise reeve
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Listening Digitally…How Newcastle City Council has used social media
…and some thoughts for the future
Louise ReevePolicy and Communications Business Partner
Introduction
Digital by Choice
Listening Digitally
#Toonflood
Principle 1
Consultations and YouTube
Principle 2
Principle 3
“Sweary signs”
Principle 4
Not everyone agrees…
ConclusionNewcastle City Council
Facebook: 4,250 likesTwitter: 26,400 followers
Principles: Not so much “official Newcastle City Council” principles, more my own reflections on what has worked for us
Part of our budget proposals are to, where possible, move our customers’ interactions with us online:
Digital by choice
To inform this “channel shift” work, we commissioned the Social and Local research agency
They did some “digital listening”:
Assessing our digital assets and activities
Looked to see where our residents went when they go online.
Map out how many social media users are in the local area
Listening digitally
940,000 people within 40km of the city centre are on
Facebook.
Probably the most famous Newcastle City Council use of social media.
28 June 2012: A supercell thunderstorm passes over Newcastle just before the rush hour
One month’s rainfall in 2 hours
Web and digital team established appropriate hashtag: #toonflood
Quick and effective response
#Toonflood
http://ceg-morpethflood.ncl.ac.uk/toonflood/
#Toonflood was effective because:
We had already established ourselves online
Principle: Prepare in advance
Staff trained in use of social media monitoring: Monitter, addictomatic, trendmap, tweetreach, twitonomy, hootsuite…
Built good working relationships – so able to get partners to agree on one hashtag for all flood-related tweets
Now asking residents to tweet us with news of flooding, so that we can map and respond to events
Consultations and YouTube
Our budget consultations and other major policy initiatives are accompanied by YouTube videos.
Here’s one for recent proposed road changes… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2FI_lVLKuk
What people want to know is “what will the road look like?”
YouTube is used to give them an idea…
…alongside older formats of consultation, such as a display in the city library
…and online discussions on our consultation portal, Let’s talk
For short bursts of information, we use Twitter and Facebook
Principle: What they want, how they want it
www.letstalknewcastle.co.uk
Everyday Principle: Listen & Engage
We respond to our residents’ views on Facebook and Twitter
Example
Everyday, ongoing conversation
Need to be aware of what people value.
In Newcastle, our heritage!
Our Newcastle libraries Flickr account has had 7.6million views since 2009. https://www.facebook.com/NewcastleCityCouncil
The “sweary signs”
Initiative to tackle dog fouling, littering and fly-tipping
(They don’t actually have swearwords in!)
9 comments on our Facebook page…
…60 comments and shares on the Chronicle’s Facebook page
http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/newcastle-city-council-sweary-sign-8413773
Principle: Know who else uses social media!
Digital Listening
Know where people you are interested in like to hang out online
It may not be the channels you own!
How to use this knowledge?
Official name for the campaign: “Keep It Clean Newcastle” Our own webpages:
http://www.newcastle.gov.uk/news-story/council-launches-hard-hitting-poster-campaign
http://www.newcastle.gov.uk/environment-and-waste/keep-it-clean-newcastle
Chronicle articles: http://www.newcastle.gov.uk/environment-and-waste/keep-it-clean-
newcastle http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/newcastle-city-
council-sweary-sign-8413773
Facebook page debates: https://www.facebook.com/itvtynetees/posts/920813564605913 https://www.facebook.com/NewcastleChronicle
More about the Keep It Clean Newcastle signs…
Not everyone agrees…
Note: The “£147,480” figure quoted is since 2010/11 (so, around £49,160 a year, out of a revenue budget of £263.8million)
Our response:“Social media is a cost-effective and innovative way to reach people as they go about their daily lives. Our
customer service staff use social media to receive and respond to a
wide range of service requests from our customers every day. Many people in the city now prefer to
contact us in this way.”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2528501/Revealed-Councils-spent-3million-updating-social-media-accounts-cutting-public-services.html
Prepare in advance
What they want, how they want it
Listen and engage
Know who else uses social media, and where people like to go
Prepare for negative reactions, but don’t let them put you off
Summary
More information
Shah Amin’s excellent presentations on how we communicate digitally:
Social media in an emergency:
https://prezi.com/1za7vyd2k0eq/social-media-in-an-emergency/
A communicating council:
https://prezi.com/ngpecyeqg7if/a-communicating-council/
Moving to Digital by Default:
https://prezi.com/sraenzng9gyu/moving-to-digital-by-default/
Why social media is important:
https://prezi.com/tuos4nalxdbu/why-is-social-media-important/
Council website(s) – newcastle.gov.uk, newcastleyouthelections.co.uk, godigitalnewcastle.co.uk, Letstalknewcastle.co.uk
Twitter: @NewcastleCC Facebook: facebook.com/
newcastlecitycouncil YouTube: newcastleCCUK Blog: newcastlecitycouncil.wordpress.com Flickr:
flickr.com/photos/newcastlecitycouncil Pinterest: pinterest.com/newcastlecc LinkedIn: linkedin.com/newcastle-city-
council