ICMA’s global engagement team presented a webinar, Strategic Management of Social Media in Local Government with Solace in the United Kingdom, and the Canadian Association of Municipal Administrators (CAMA). Local government practitioners from ICMA and from both strategic alliance organizations participated as panelists and answered a series of questions moderated by Chris Teale, managing editor for Route Fifty.

Laying the Groundwork: Discussing Communications Strategies

The webinar began with the panelists providing an overview of their respective local government’s communications strategies. Two unwavering themes were the importance of humanizing local government leaders and remaining transparent when communicating with the public. Kara Roberson, strategic communications officer, Wentzville, Missouri, USA, stressed her community’s focus on communicating in digestible and quick ways while also earning the public’s trust. Remaining consistent in messaging across social channels reinforces trust between the governing body and the community.

Alison Mckenzie-Folan, chief executive, Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council, Greater Manchester, England, and Solace spokesperson for digital leadership, emphasized how her council’s strategy focuses on being “human-centered” and how public servants and their communities may best interact with one another. She also described how her council takes a proactive approach to online engagement, which involves a constant state of innovation and creativity to discover how to best engage. Brenda Orchard, chief administrative officer, Lennox and Addington County, Ontario, Canada, and first vice-president, representative for Ontario, CAMA, not only spoke of the opportunity to build trust with her residents through her council’s use of social media, but also of the need to remain selective when deciding how to engage online, being cautious of unproductive communication styles.

Key Insights and Takeaways

Four themes emerged from the conversation: online trolling and misinformation, the use of different social media platforms for different purposes, upholding the well-being of local government employees as they navigate social media, and the modern-day growth of artificial intelligence.

Handling Trolling and Misinformation

While social media can be beneficial for a community, it is important to effectively manage online trolling and negative comments and posts that are directed at a municipality or its staff. To manage this, Orchard noted Lennox and Addington County has adopted the phrase, “take the cue not the bait.” She emphasized that her organization balances listening to its community and identifying any needs that may appear through negative online commentary while remaining cautious of how the situation may be worsened by an unproductive response. Mckenzie-Folan highlighted a significant problem faced by governing bodies across the United Kingdom, which is the spreading of misinformation and how it may incite fear among citizens. Wigan Council focuses on working alongside law enforcement and surrounding councils to standardize messaging when correcting misinformation, ensuring consistency and helping to build public trust.

In the United States, municipalities are faced with the dilemma of whether or not to delete negative comments on social media since they can be viewed as free speech with protection under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Roberson explained Wentzville’s strategy that allows for parameters to be built while also honoring citizens’ right to free speech. This strategy offers three concrete principles to combat negative online commentary:

• Respond to the question directly.
• Correct the misinformation.
• Provide contact information to direct the person’s question or comment to the proper resource.

This strategy allows for parameters to be built while also honoring the right to free speech, she says. Roberson also mentioned that Wentzville has created Communication Ambassadors Groups. This group of stakeholders (ranging from business owners to homeowners' association trustees and community residents) act as advocates for the municipality, helping to bridge the gap between employees and residents. Other participants shared similar success stories and noted community groups have been successful in sharing relevant community news and in mitigating misinformation and negativity across the community. 

Leveraging Different Social Platforms for Different Causes

Overall, all three panelists reported frequent use of Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, X, Nextdoor, Threads, BlueSky, WhatsApp, and LinkedIn. Each panelist elaborated on how the need to use one platform over the other involves analyzing audiences and developing social media trends. Discovering trends across social media can be a daunting task, but Mckenzie-Folan highlights how assessing the market for new trends and channels is an important step to staying innovative in the field. Wigan Council often leverages the creativity and innovation of its internal public relations team alongside specific working groups that focus on developing engaging content to stay relevant and alert about new developments in social media. They observe how public authorities may gravitate toward the use of one platform over another across the United Kingdom. and adjust their strategy accordingly. Each panelist spoke of the importance of being willing to try new ideas and pilot new programs as social platforms evolve over time, and how this can be balanced with observing trends and seeing which platforms take off in the market.

Roberson shared how Wentzville uses a layered communications strategy by implementing other forms of engagement that run in parallel to the city’s social media efforts. From e-newsletters to phone and text alerts, she mentioned the power of “playing to whatever the channel wants,” or rather, understanding what it takes to make the most impact from platform to platform.

Employee Social Media Use and Well-Being

Another important takeaway from the webinar conversation relates to how local government professionals are trained by their employers on the use of social media. All panelists emphasized the importance of requiring social media training as an employee is onboarded, so they are equipped with the right tools and resources to spread accurate information online while complying with policies. Mckenzie-Folan highlights how Wigan Council takes precautionary measures to ensure its employees have the tools and proper knowledge to uphold policies relating to the apolitical nature of the council’s work, especially during pivotal election periods in the United Kingdom. Orchard spoke of the role of integrity commissioners in Canada that assist in upholding a code of conduct. If someone is not following the code of conduct, they can be reported to the relevant integrity commissioner. Training for Lennox and Addington County includes awareness and education around the code of conduct in an effort to protect and educate its employees on social media use. 

Beyond training, panelists emphasized the importance of safeguarding employees and addressed the real-world impacts of social media on individuals who might become targets online. Orchard highlighted the priority that Lennox and Addington County places on watching for signs of stress within its staff.

Artificial Intelligence

Discussions about social media management inevitably lead to addressing the growing significance of artificial intelligence (AI). Mckenzie-Folan described how Wigan Council approaches AI as an opportunity for development while remaining cautious of ethical and risk considerations, and how the adaptation of AI use may impact council staff. They generally approach AI use as a way to complement the work of the council.  Wentzville considers itself an early-adopter of AI and places high value on embracing new technologies head-first. While regularly providing training to staff on AI usage and AI policy, Wentzville frequently uses AI to communicate city-wide. Roberson highlights one of the benefits of AI as a “time-saver” for employees, as a method for increasing productivity and assisting with time management. Lennox and Addington County follows an approach of, “be on the cutting edge but not the bleeding edge.” 

Success Stories: Applying Best Practices to Real-World Scenarios

Love Is Not Abuse (LINA) is a campaign run by Wigan Council that aims to bring awareness and prevention around domestic violence to the public. The campaign was co-produced in collaboration with residents of Wigan Metropolitan Borough themselves whose experiences with domestic abuse, and willingness to share their voices, helped drive the movement forward. The council considers this an example of success in that it was able to uniquely collaborate with its residents to deliver a personable, moving, and effective campaign. By offering the council’s in-house marketing and design teams, the campaign—fully designed by the volunteer residents themselves—leveraged the power and reach of social media to deliver a critically important message to a community that struggles from high rates of domestic abuse. This collaboration also offered an opportunity for the council to promote their newly established domestic abuse support services. After the campaign, there was a 72% increase in calls to the council’s domestic abuse hotline.

Wentzville created an anti-bullying campaign with the city’s police department in reaction to conversations on an online community group page that reflected a real challenge of the community. This led to increased connections between the city and its residents, as well as local school districts and families who were directly affected. 

Orchard spoke of Lennox and Addington County’s success in recruiting nurses and support workers for local nursing homes (a major need of the county) by targeting youth through the use of engaging and "fun" recruitment and advertisement methods. The county was not only successful in hiring for those positions, but also innovated its job recruitment processes. 

Each panelist credits much of the success of their stories to the best practices that they have implemented in their jurisdiction and the insights learned through their experiences, which they shared throughout the webinar. 

Stay Connected!

If you missed the webinar, you can enjoy a complimentary viewing on ICMA’s Global playlist on YouTube. Check out the LinkedIn group and collaborative Google Document that were initiated by audience members in an effort to remain connected to one another and to continue the conversation. (Note that these resources have developed independently from ICMA).

Stay tuned for an upcoming global engagement webinar on mobility best practices in local government. Questions about involvement with ICMA’s global engagement efforts can be directed to global@icma.org.