Reaching the hard-to engage with social media

• Michele Ide-Smith, Web Strategy Manager, Cambridgeshire County Council

November 2010

A case study covering…

1. Background and aims

2. Approach

3. Solution

4. What we learnt

Background and aims

Challenges in Wisbech

Socio-economic, rural deprivationLarge migrant worker populationDigital exclusion – IT skills and accessHard-to-engage groups (migrant workers,

youth, older people, disabled people, time pressured 25-40’s)

And engagement challenges

Poor attendance at Neighbourhood Panel meetings

Attendees not representative of the wider community

No way to record results of engagement activity and make them visible

Project objective

Improving community engagement using social media tools

Helping improve community cohesion

“It’s another tool in our community engagement toolbox”

Dan Horn, Fenland District Council

Approach

Strong partnership working

Use existing networks

Use existing networks

Do your research

Who are your users? What do they want?What social media are they using? How do they behave online?

8 focus groups, 2 surveys, 3 rounds of user testing

Everyone heard of it and one regular

user

Only use Facebook for

communicating with family

Don’t log in so can’t see it being useful

Don’t belong to any fan pages or groups

Could have an anonymous Facebook for complaining

except for topics like school crossings which

wouldn’t need to be anonymous. Well used, but not

for complaints

Use it for everything chat, games, forum

Favourite site on the net

Nacro Urban 25-40 Older people

Perceptions of social media

Get stakeholders on board

Use fun, participatory games e.g. the social media game (Wilcox and Kanter)

Define clear processes, but be open to regular review and change

Enthusiasm can get you a long way!

(Hat-tip to @davidwilcox

and the Social Media Game)

Solution

Encourage participation

Top down or bottom up?

No existing hyperlocal sites or groupsPeople can be uncomfortable discussing

civic issues on social networks like Facebook (preferring anonymity)

Co-production and moderation by community centre volunteers

Share feeds with hyperlocal sites

Reaching the hard-to-engage

Use community networks and volunteersVideo can be more accessible when

literacy is a problemTie-in with offline engagement methodsSchemes to help build community skills

and capacityAuto-translation features on the website

What we learnt (so far)

Lessons learnt

Involve Councillors / practitioners early on

Use familiar terms e.g. ‘Facebook’ not ‘social network site’

Moderators need CRB checksUnexpected issues will arise after go liveUpdate content frequently Identify a lead partner to respond Keep it simple!

Website links

ShapeYourPlace:http://wisbech.shapeyourplace.org

Project blog:http://fenland.worktogether.org.uk

For more information

Michele Ide-SmithWeb Strategy ManagerCambridgeshire County CouncilPhone: 01223 699710Twitter: @micheleidesmithBlog: http://www.ide-smith.co.uk

michele.ide-smith@cambridgeshire.gov.uk