Epic social media for public services Scotland

 

Wednesday 28th September 2011, Thistle Hotel Glasgow
9.30am to 4.30pm

Social Media has a significant part to play in the Public Sector’s drive to make themselves more relevant to the citizens that they deliver services to and also provide channels of communication that are commonplace within their citizens lives.

Local Authorities are:

• using Twitter to alert parents to school closures, citizens of adverse weather conditions and subsequent logistical problems
• Communications & Marketing departments are using FaceBook to promote festivals, community safety programmes and other localised services and activities
• Flickr is being used by tourism departments to promote their region to potential tourists who will provide additional revenue to the area.

The main issues when approaching the use of social media within public sector organisations is the culture change of using technologies associated with recreation time and knowing where to start, what social media platform to use and how, how to deal with negative feedback etc. etc.

Further to the Introduction to Public Sector Social Media and Developing Social Media Policies & Strategies for the Public Sector workshops that we have run in Glasgow in the last 12 months, we are going to be running a very special event on 28th September in Glasgow where delegates will hear from and pick up skills and tips from 6 Local Government Social Media All Stars, each responsible for running exceptional social media campaigns that in some instances have been recognised nationally and globally.

If you are looking at using social media within your organisation, this event is a must attend for you.

Our Local Government Social Media A-Team consists of:

• Chair: Dave Briggs, Director, Kind of Digital, @davebriggs
• Sarah Lay, e-Content Officer, Derbyshire CC, @sarahlay
• Dan Slee, Senior Press & PR Officer, Walsall MBC, @danslee
• Jo Smith, Communications Manager, Argyll & Bute Council, @geordiejo_jo
  
• Corrinne Douglas, Senior Communications Adviser, Stirling Council, @corrinnedouglas
  
• Stuart Harrison, Web Manager, Lichfield District Council, @pezholio
  

The event will look at 6 exemplar case studies in the morning session and then in the afternoon, delegates will get the chance to attend 3 x Masterclasses on specific topics such as:

• How to Facebook Masterclass
• How to Flickr Masterclass
• How to Twitter Masterclass
• How to Blog Masterclass
• How to get Buy-In Masterclass
• Policy/Strategy Masterclass

Delegates will choose their Masterclasses a month prior to the event and will be encouraged to mail in questions and scenarios that they need answering to make their attendence a successful one.

Cost & early bird rates: Delegate places will be available online from Monday 4th July 2011 and there will be an initial early bird rate of £200 + VAT for the 1st 50 delegates after which the delegate rate will be £250 + VAT.

If you would like to book a place, please email nick@publicsectorforums.co.uk.

Sponsors:

 

Jadu is a leading global provider of web experience software, specialising in the implementation of enterprise wide websites, intranets and extranets. Jadu content management and forms technology powers hundreds of government and private sector organisations across the world and is a leading innovator in providing customers with the tools needed to simplify and empower the web publishing and create rich and engaging online experiences for their customers.

Jadu is a market leader in the development of web content management, enterprise online forms, powerful enterprise search and mobile web technology.
Jadu’s customers include; The City of Edinburgh Council, Directgov, Manchester City Council, Newport City Council, Southwark Council, Midlothian Council, East Lothian Council, South Lanarkshire Council & Scottish Borders Council.

Squiz create effective and usable web solutions, enabling organisations to manage and optimise online engagement with their users. The solutions are built with the Squiz Suite, a powerful web experience management platform which incorporates CMS, search, analytics and integration tools. Squiz’s professional services team provide analysis, consulting, design, implementation, training, hosting and 24/7 global support services, tailored to suit each client’s unique requirements.

Squiz work with their clients to determine and deliver their online strategy, ensuring that they excel online and meet their business objectives. They work with some of the world’s leading organisations including the University of Oxford, Emap, The Electoral Commission, Digital UK and the Australian Federal Government.

Squiz Services:

Squiz’s professional services team provide tailored services to suit each client’s unique requirements. Together with the Squiz Suite, the services team deliver usable web solutions which enable clients to harness the opportunities of the web, including mobile, social media, online collaboration, content targeting and optimisation solutions.

The Squiz Suite:

The Squiz Suite is an open source web experience management suite which incorporates a revolutionary content management system, innovative analytics capabilities, highly effective search and a robust platform for integrating applications and data. These elements together are a powerful platform for the creation, management and optimisation of compelling online experiences. The Squiz Suite is underpinned by a 24/7 global support framework, automatic updates, professional services and flexible deployment options including hosting on Squiz’s fully managed private cloud.

RepKnight is a reputation management tool monitoring the web and social networks 24/7, enabling organisations to track conversations and trends in realtime and coordinate teams to respond.

Morning Agenda Items

“Social media for public services: the story so far”
Dave Briggs, Director, Kind of Digital Ltd.

 

The public sector has been innovating with social media for the last few years, and the use of this technology to engage with communities and citizens is now widely accepted. Introducing the day, various examples of good practice will be discussed.

 

• What works well and not so well in public service use of social media
• Approaches to tackling some of the common barriers and issues
• Where social media fits into wider communications and web strategies

 

Social media experience

Dave Briggs is a prolific and popular advocate for the use of digital engagement techniques across public services. He has advised organisations across government, from district councils to 10 Downing Street. He now runs
Kind of Digital, supporting public services to be more open and collaborative using online tools. @davebriggs

 

Derbyshire Votes – reporting local elections 2009
Sarah Lay, eContent Officer, Derbyshire County Council

An overview of the digital delivery of local election information and results reporting including website content and interactive graphics, using social media (a first for the organisation), evaluating the impact and media coverage.

• Content strategy for evolving information
• Integrating social media, pleasing the org, the people and evaluating the result
• Council’s digital output becoming first point of contact for citizens and media
• Convincing the organisation and candidates of the need for digital election information
• Next steps – digital engagement etc

Social media experience
In 2009 Derbyshire County Council was due to have all 64 elected members face the vote and the eContent team devised a new section of the website and digital delivery of real-time results using the council’s own website and social networks. On the day the website received 25,000 unique visitors in a 24 hour period and was featured on several national news channels. This experiment with the social web pushed the organisation toward its current ethos of Digital First. @sarahlay

How real time social media campaigns can make routine tasks sexy.
Dan Slee, Senior Press & PR Officer, WalsallMBC
The award-winning Walsall 24 saw a cross section of what a council does posted to Twitter and the wider web. Why? To build a picture of everything a council does but rarely shouts about. This will be a chance to learn how it was stage so you can adapt the How real time social media campaigns can make routine tasks sexy. The award-winning Walsall 24 saw a cross section of what a council does posted to Twitter and the wider web. Why? To build a picture of everything a council does but rarely shouts about. This will be a chance to learn how it was staged so you can adapt the approach – small or large scale – for your organisation. It will also map other similar events including the international Water Aid 24 event and other local government events.

• How to use social media and other web tools to build an event.
• Mapping the impact of large scale events.
• How to stage your own online event.
• How others have innovated with the ‘24’ approach.

Social media experience:

Dan Slee has helped shape social media policy and delivery at Walsall Council since 2008 and set up @walsallcouncil one of the top 15 most followed UK streams and one of the first hundred local government Twitter streams to be set-up in the world. The Walsall 24 experiment won the gold award in the LGComms Reputation Awards 2011 and attracted an audience of 116,000. He has advised more than a dozen councils and public sector organisations and co-organised Hyperlocal Govcamp West Midlands as well as Brewcamp in Birmingham.  @danslee

 

Feel the social media fear – and do it anyway
Jo Smith, Communications Manager, Argyll and Bute Council

A case study of how a council is improving its relationship with residents using social media.

The presentation will focus on:

• Preparing a business case to show the benefits of embracing social media
• One step at a time – the small things that make a big difference
• Overcoming bad experiences
• Tips to persuade the cautious

 

Social media experience
Argyll and Bute Councils covers 9% of total land area in Scotland and 27% of the population live on one of 25 islands. A dispersed population, combined with shrinking budgets, means the council wants to find better ways to interact with residents but has been uncertain how to make this work. The council is now overcoming some negative experiences with social media and finding ways to use social media to its advantage. @geordiejo_jo

 

Engagement, Engagement, Engagement – How to make the most of your social media presence
Corrinne Douglas, Senior Communications Adviser, Stirling Council

 

Corrinne has been behind the Stirling Council Facebook and Twitter accounts since last year. During this time followers have increased from under 100 to over 6000 across both channels and numbers continue to grow.  She’ll advise on extending your offline campaigns to online and how to use them to increase interaction and engagement with a range of audiences.

• Integrating your campaign on social media
• WasteWed – an online campaign to promote recycling
• Bag it and Bin it – a viral campaign with offline activity
• Social Care  – how to use a closed facebook group to reduce isolation
• Reaching targeted audiences – Countryside lovers, Skatepark consultation
• Evolving your presence – YouTube, Linked In, Four Square

 

Social media experience

Corrinne has been leading the social media activity at Stirling Council since 2010 and in that time has delivered a social media strategy and has grown the follower base to become the 7th most followed local government Facebook page in the UK. She has advised other public sector organisations in Scotland on using social media and developing their social media presence and has established an internal team of champions who share her passion for digital engagement @corrinnedouglas