Digital Strategy:
How to Leverage Social Media

​​Kirsten WyattFellow
Georgetown University
Beeck Center for Social Impact and Innovation

​Winter 2023 Forum in Review​Introduction​Plato’s Allegory of the Cave​How to Leverage Social Media​AI for the Public Sector​State of the State Budgets​Budget Roundtable​Nationalism Revived

Social media is a powerful tool for humanizing government and building trust with the people you serve, Kirsten Wyatt of Georgetown University’s Beeck Center told the Forum. Constituents need to understand that their state legislators are reliable people doing important work. Social media can help grow connections to the community, democratize the political process, and help restore integrity and honor in politics, she continued.

​Social Media Usage

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Sources: Pew; Hootsuite

Best Practices for Social Media

Using examples from the Forum participants’ social media posts, Ms. Wyatt illustrated best practices for effective social media.

Avoid the use of jargon and acronyms. Use plain language and communicate in an authentic voice, she advised. Use images that tell a story, especially images that are of familiar places where the state is engaged in projects for the community’s benefit. Faces also are valuable as they personalize the messages and show people that constituents can relate to. Connection is made when social media content has interest and relevance to the reader.

Consistency in the branding of social media posts is crucial, and a brand template should be adopted with a defined palette of colors and fonts. Showing yourself in action as a leader at work helps constituents realize that you are working hard for them. Reducing complicated details of a process to a brief, accessible social communication — with links for more information — will engage constituents to look further. The use of multimedia such as video engages attention. Use hashtags to provide links to useful resources and this will encourage constituents to watch for your social media posts.

​Best Practices for Effective Social Media• Use plain language• Show places (such as project sites)• Humanize (include people’s faces)• Connect (feature favorite books, hikes or local diners)• Be consistent (develop a brand)• Provide details• Represent community• Offer multimedia and external resources• Show yourself at work

​Free Resources for Social Media Support• Digital Service Network (https://beeckcenter.georgetown.edu/projects/digital-service-network/)• U.S. Digital Response (USDR) (https://www.usdigitalresponse.org/about)• Tech Talent Project (https://techtalentproject.org/)• Code for America (https://codeforamerica.org/)• Coding it Forward (https://www.codingitforward.com/)

Three Steps to a Powerful Social Media Presence

1. Begin with user research to find the language that resonates with your constituents and to determine their connectivity capability. Ms. Wyatt suggested asking local partners what works for them digitally, and she recommended that legislators access both the Beeck Center’s Digital Service Network — an open, collaborative, and nimble network of government leaders who use technology, data, and design to improve and innovate public services, and provides assistance in navigating social media — as well as the U.S. Digital Response (USDR), which is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that helps governments, nonprofits, and public entities respond quickly to critical public needs.

2. Articulate a social media strategy and adopt a policy that will protect you and your staff and ensure confidentiality, set standards for appropriate posts, and limit who has access to passwords. Use plain language and set consumer (constituent) service as the focus and goal of your posts. Update the strategy and the policy regularly, as social media is dynamic and currently in flux.

​It is important to retain records of your public/professional social media posts in the event that they are required for disclosure.

3. Set specific goals for the social media campaign such as the number of posts per month, or number of Twitter followers. Such metrics make it easy to assess performance and plan for improvement.

Discussion

Sen. Lee Schoenbeck (SD)
What is your recommendation about having public and private Facebook pages. Is it prudent to have both?

Ms. Wyatt
Different platforms can be used for different purposes. For example, I use Instagram for my family photos and personal items and limit access access to people I know personally. For professional matters I use Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

Sen. Beth Mizell (LA)
Social media becomes even more important for people in rural areas, where there may be no local newspaper. Legislators have a responsibility to keep people informed about local issues. What is the best way to meet that need?

Ms. Wyatt
Your digital strategy and policy can drive how your community gets local information. If you don’t fill the space, someone else will with their viewpoint.

Sen. Paul Newton (NC)
It’s important to protect your voice, so that social media posts really reflect your views.

Ms. Wyatt
The ability to communicate well in social media is a talent, and not everyone has it. It is a new muscle that you may need to flex. If you hand off the social media responsibility to someone on your team, your strategy and policy — where you assert what is important to you  and the goals you set — will maintain your voice in the posts.

Sen. Ann Millner (UT)
Many of us are social media averse. What’s the best practice for finding the right person to take on that responsibility and do it correctly to represent me?

Ms. Wyatt
There are a number of resources that can provide more sophisticated help than your local intern, including the Tech Talent Project [see sidebar]. There also are peer learning networks focused on public sector social media. And you may want to share a staff person with other colleagues to manage several social media accounts.

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For more information on our guest speaker’s organization, visit Georgetown University’s Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation.

Presenter Biography

Kirsten Wyatt

Fellow
Georgetown University
Beeck Center for Social Impact and Innovation

With the belief that government is the original open source network where great ideas, success stories, and connections should be freely shared, Kirsten co-leads the Digital Service Network at Georgetown University’s Beeck Center.

Kirsten served as the executive director and co-founder of ELGL, the Engaging Local Government Leaders network, a big-tent learning network for people who work for and with towns, cities, counties, and special districts. She hosts the GovLove podcast and serves as an elected school board member for the West Linn-Wilsonville, Oregon School District. Kirsten is on the editorial board for the State & Local Government Review (SLJR) academic journal and serves on the Board of Directors for Politisit, a national nonprofit providing child care cost reimbursement so parents can get involved in government.

Previously, Kirsten worked in state and local government in Oregon, Virginia, North Carolina, and Washington. She has a Bachelor of Science degree in Politics from Willamette University in Salem, Oregon; and a Master of Public Administration Degree from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

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