On the heals of the Court PIO Conference in St. Paul, I was asked to help a number of courts explore the proper strategy for government use of social media channels. Of course, the use of Twitter, Facebook and other social media tools depends on the strategy. An organization wishing to develop a relationship and seek feedback, may wish to explore the use of a Facebook Page much like a blog. This tactic would involve the placement of Wall Posts and Discussions to develop a relationship with Fans or people willing to join and follow the page. But that’s just like our blog, why would we go to Facebook too? Because you may find that not as many people gravitate toward your blog, but a large number of people may be willing to explore your Facebook offerings, especially since they are already there. A YouTube channel might allow a court to post educational videos and share them. This tactic might even lead to a series of videos about the court, or a particular program or service.
Twitter is a useful news broadcast channel for courts with a need to reach out to the legal community. The @lvcourts channel is used to distribute news to the Clark County Bar, as well as the media and others interested in court services. This tactic joins the court website, blog and Facebook page to deliver news to various audiences. Certainly there is overlap among the channels and individuals likely receive the same news multiple times. However, this increases the frequency of the message and improves the reach of the message to multiple audiences. The message is sent to others and has a better chance of appearing in a legal blog or a media channel.
In addition, the addition of a distinct voice improves the ability to provide transparency. If the messages seem real and true, then the chances that the message will be heard, spread and responded to increase substantially. A static and bland feed quickly becomes ignored. A communication tactic with a human voice makes the entity real and personable. There may be limits to the amount of “humanness” allowed by a government social media channel, but erring on the side of more open and true than being closed and bland will improve the use of the tactic and lead to better results.
Finally, most of these decisions must be spelled out in a policy, which may further limit the use of the channels as tactics for communication. A useful model can be found in this Twitter Strategy for Government written for use in the United Kingdom.
