Maryland State Government Social Handbook

Social Strategy for the State of Maryland

The advent and implementation of social media has provided state government with a highly public and powerful venue for connecting to our citizens.  The State of Maryland is committed to developing an open and comprehensive relationship with our constituents through the extensive use of social media marketing.  Social media thrives on conversation and interaction.  These two way dialogues provide citizens with a feeling of ownership of their Maryland state government and a portal through which they can gain information and express their thoughts in a targeted setting. While as a state we are committed to participating in the social media world, it is essential that our departments and agencies incorporate social media tools into their communication activities in a thoughtful and strategic manner and by applying best practices.  The guidelines presented are meant to assist the various departments as they move forward in their social media endeavors.  Each department must introduce policies specific to their needs to ensure successful integration of social media into their marketing efforts.

Strategic Social Business Plan

Social media is, by nature ever evolving and should be continuously updated and analyzed to ensure that organizational goals are met.  It requires a substantial commitment in time and human resources.  A “fire, ready, aim” approach will preempt a program’s ability to fully capitalize on the benefits of social media.  One common pitfall is the miscalculation of the time commitment required to maintain social media accounts. The initial excitement and enthusiasm for social media can quickly become a daily grind.  For social media to have value, steady monitoring and communication is essential and this is often not confined to regular business hours.  Inconsistency through poor rigor is instantly visible to followers and can demonstrate incompetence or insincerity.

Take The First Step

A solid, well articulated strategy from the onset will increase the odds of a successful social media program. Gain an awareness of the social media tools already being deployed and be sure that you are not overlapping or replicating an existing account.

• Develop a documented strategy that incorporates measurable goals and expect to update these often as new opportunities arise. Carefully consider consistent branding and representation on multiple social media platforms.  Each destination should have a unique presentation.  For example do not sync your Tweets to post on your Facebook page or otherwise automate all of your social media accounts to broadcast the same information simultaneously.
• Know the risks associated with your strategy. 
• Insist that others are knowledgeable about the processes involved and have access to the user identifications and passwords currently active.
• Be familiar with the guidelines posted on the social media web sites.
• Establish New Media Partners and continuously update and connect with emerging sources.

Hub and Spoke Social Business Plan

Our Maryland social strategic model is based on a hub and spoke business plan.  In this model, the Office of Communications is established as the coordinated, centralized hub which manages all social activity within the individual departments.

These responsibilities include but are not limited to:

• The development of a high level social strategy that incorporates steady monitoring and communication.
• Implementation of training and education programs.
• Crafting of policies that involve input from the departmental legal team.
• Continuous research of new initiatives.
• Development of measurement requirements.
• Provide support to the programs as needed.

The Office of Communications should begin by establishing department specific rules and procedures based on the provided best practices found on this website.  The departmental legal teams should be included in the crafting of all policies and procedures to mitigate any legal challenges that may arise from the use of social media. Once rules and procedures are in place, the hub should begin to incorporate extensive training and education programs to ensure that the social media managers have a solid understanding of the chosen social platforms and the expectations of leadership as well as concise measurement goals.  It is vitally important to remember that the people you are entrusting as your social media managers are the face of your organization.  Be sure that your social media managers have the character to professionally represent your department or program.

The Office of Communications acting as the hub in our business model should continuously research new initiatives, share their findings with the other social business units and establish cross promotional campaigns through regular meetings with the departmental account managers.  In this fast paced industry it is important to stay ahead of changes in the social media industry and to continuously share new information and innovations that will enable all of the individual units to work cohesively for a shared success.

Initiate A Team Approach

The daily responsibility to maintain the social presence of a department or program through multiple social sites can be an added burden to a single account manager, particular as, by its nature, social media is not confined to a traditional work day.  It is a good practice to establish a small team of managers for any given group of accounts so that no one person is constantly responsible for content, monitoring and response. This team approach requires three or four people to rotate the responsibility weekly.  The team should work under a common set of goals and meet regularly to share calendar events and campaigns.   The team approach keeps the social media accounts fresh and interesting to their followers and to the account managers themselves. It is a good idea to subscribe to our state social media newsletter, http://blogs.maryland.gov/socialmedia/  as well as register your social media programs on our state social media directory, Direct2U.  The newsletter provides you with a weekly update on the latest industry news and updated best practices on social media.

Website Integration

Social media, as a component of a department’s overall communication package offers a new and perhaps richer means of sharing information and addressing concerns on a platform that is already being utilized by stakeholders.

It offers many benefits over more traditional means of communication including:

• While it can be time consuming, social media is efficient and proven effective.
• Communication through social media is instantaneous and universally available.
• Concerns can be addressed to multiple people on a single platform.
• It is a one-to-one-to-many conversation.
• Information is unmediated.  Your intended message is relayed exactly as you chose without others interpretation or commentary.
• Instant Feedback is provided.  It is possible to gauge and respond to any comment or even criticism directly and immediately.
• Social media promotes trust.  As you responsively engage with your audience, a relationship is built and trust established adding to the value of your department or program in the eyes of your stakeholders.

By sharing and engaging with others through social media channels, you have the opportunity to establish yourself as a leader in your field.

Website integration with social media tools has many benefits and chief among them are search engine optimization, immediate link-based traffic and a greater awareness of your departmental activities and programs.  Social media sites should compliment and support your website but not be a substitute for it. It is essential that your departmental website be the definitive source for a deeper understanding of the information that you are presenting through social media.  The website must be updated continuously and the information available should be timely and relevant so that your followers can easily navigate from your post on a social platform to their area of interest on your website.  Your social posts should entice and lead your followers to learn more from the information presented on your website. The relationship between your website and social platforms should be a reciprocal one.  While your social posts direct followers to your website, your website should also prominently provide links to your social media accounts.  Follow the state website template for placement and click here for the suggested social platform buttons.

Measuring Social Engagement

Social media provides a significant advantage over more traditional forms of communication with its ability to provide data which measures and tracks the effectiveness of a given program.  The various social media platforms provide basic measurement statistics which should be your starting block for developing a monitoring strategy. Measures such as fan and follower counts are of limited value, however you should still manually collect this data from key channels, calculate it weekly or monthly, save the figures in a basic spreadsheet and produce graphs to depict trend lines to be sure that you are moving in the correct direction.  Steady growth within your social media account is important but you must understand your target audience and not always define success by the number of followers.  It is more important for you to have fewer highly engaged followers rather than a great many that remain neutral. Measuring engagement is the next level of social monitoring and it is defined as the way we connect and interact with our followers.  What is the take away value of our posts?  Were there resulting actions such as a tweet, retweet, share or like?  Did a like or retweet result in a click through to your website?  The social actions that result from a post will determine how successful you are in influencing and adding value to the conversation.  People are influenced most by those that are closest to them and this social connectivity will raise the value of your program in the eyes of their followers with every share.  Followers will tell the story you wish to convey if you first communicate it in a compelling manner.

There are a number of third party analytical tools available that are free of charge including www.48ers.com, www.socialmention.com, and www.google.com/alerts that will provide you with a deeper understanding of the effectiveness of your social program.  Blend the various tools for a more in depth look. All of these monitoring tools require that you determine the correct keywords that will provide the desired data.  Experiment with the different keywords and phrases until you hit on the ones that are the most accurate in reflecting your program and then establish a glossary of terms.  Be sure to embed the glossary keywords in your social media posts. Use URL shorteners such as www.bitly.com and www.tinyurl.com to shorten your posts and track click-throughs from the posts to the link provided.  This data is essential to tracking the level of engagement. Once you have a solid monitoring program established, you will be able to more effectively and expeditiously maintain your accounts and provide accurate data to defend the success of your program to leadership.

Selecting a Social Platform

The online conversation is a fluid and dynamic platform with many resources from which to communicate.  In addition to social networking sites, blogs, wikis, podcasts, video sharing and e-newsletters are valuable tools for connecting with stakeholders.  Each new resource that you deploy requires increased responsibility and regular attention. It is vital to reiterate that none of the following social media tools can successfully function without the support and synchronization of the department’s principle website.  Your website is the nucleus around which all social media platforms should lead.  Most, if not all of your informational posts should direct your audience to more in depth information found on your website.  Although many of the social media resources may garner real-time attention, they are by nature limited in scope and typically provide teasers to “learn more” on a department’s primary website.  To be of value, such interaction should drive visitors to the most specific, timely, and targeted news that arises out of their expressed interest.

Each social media program must determine their specific target audience.  Analyzing the most current demographic data as it corresponds to social media usage is the best way to select a social platform.  The most current data available was released by the Pew Research Center from their Internet & American Life Social Network Site survey conducted by landline and cell phone between October 20 and November 28, 2010. The Pew Research Center Study focused on the interesting and complex role that technology plays in the everyday lives of Americans; how we connect and how we communicate.  The demographic data is a rich resource when determining the best fit in social media platforms.

Crisis Communication

The use of established social sites to effectively communicate with our Maryland constituents during an emergency has proven to be a powerful tool.  Social media allows us to connect immediately, provide necessary and perhaps even life saving information while simultaneously quelling disinformation with a simple click.

It is vital that the channels of social communication are established prior to an emergency.  As you gain the confidence of your followers through disseminating value-added information on a day-to-day basis, you will gain their trust and they will look to you for reliable information, particularly when they need it the most.  Constantly remind your audience that should an emergency arise, you will be a source of official information.  Communication and power services may be interrupted, therefore they should remember to use their mobile devices to receive vital information. Before a crisis, plan for and train a number of account managers and have easy access to account passwords so communication can continue without relying on any single person.  Pre-load tweets and posts for each anticipated emergency so they are readily available at the onset of an emergency.  Identify critical keywords that should be used in communicating about your department and keep a glossary of terms available for use during the crisis.

During A Crisis

It is essential that you actively use all of your established social channels during an emergency so that you reach as many constituents as possible.  During an emergency, communicate only relevant and timely information.  It is important that the information that you convey be accurate. Your social media platforms should be a source of information gathering for your followers and a platform where you listen and respond to their needs and questions.  It is vital you provide useful information at this time and quell any rumors that may arise during a crisis.  Be sure to search keywords that pertain to the crisis and monitor other online conversations to ensure the accuracy of information.

After A Crisis

After a crisis has come to an end, spend a significant amount of time analyzing your performance and implement the necessary changes to your crisis plan.  Every emergency situation offers an opportunity to learn and grow so that we are better prepared for the next crisis. In all probability, your follower count will increase during an emergency.  Continue to provide compelling updates and information in order that you retain these followers and build your audience.  Use your posts after a crisis to thank your followers for helping you to spread the word during the emergency and remind them of the vital role they play in community communication.

Comments Policy

Each department deploying social media should develop and post a comments policy that may include but not be limited to the following:

Once posted, we reserve the right to delete submissions that may contain:

• Vulgar language
• Personal attacks of any kind
• Offensive comments that target or disparage any ethnic, racial or religious group
• Spam
• Clearly off topic
• Advocate illegal activities

It is important that social media managers refrain from deleting posts or comments unless there is a specific violation of the posted comments policy.  If a negative comment is posted, it opens the conversation and more times than not, your followers will respond in a defensive manner or address your concerns for you.  Taking down antagonistic comments may open your program up to backlash from your followers and you may lose credibility.

Security Considerations

The implementation of security measures similar to those currently in use which allow state employee’s access to other sites such as Google and Yahoo should be encouraged when participating on social networking sites.  Security threats could include account hijacking, phishing, and malware infection.

In order to minimize your risk to these threats and limit damage we recommend:

• Proper Training of Your Social Media Managers  All account managers should conduct official business only on their program accounts. Social games have the greatest risk for cyber attacks and they should never be played on state accounts.
• Use Strong Passwords.  When setting up your accounts, be sure that your password is 8 characters or greater and uses a combination of letters, numbers, and symbols.  Do not use the same password for multiple accounts and change your password often.
• Evaluate Links Before Clicking.  If you see a stand-alone link in a post, do not click through unless you are very familiar with the source of the post.

If your account is hacked, please change your password immediately.