The work that government agencies do is important to its constituents, and using social media will facilitate communication and promote important issues of public policy. Earlier this month, I moderated a panel at the California Special Districts Association’s Annual Conference that explored new and innovative social media strategies for these agencies. The work that special districts, and any local agency, does is tremendously powerful and integral to people’s lives. So these agencies need to ensure that their customers know who they are and what they do. This transparency and communication grows the bonds of trust and understanding.

Panelist Teresa Warren of TW2 Marketing shared an example of how she incorporated social media, still very much in its infancy just five years ago, into a land use issue she was working on for the City of Santee in San Diego County. The City was working against the expansion of a women’s jail, located in its newly renovated commercial city center. At the beginning of the educational campaign, in 2007, the strategy focused solely on traditional public relations strategies, such as news releases, press conferences and bylined articles. But, two years later, email communication was added to the campaign, as well as a website and the social media networks Facebook and Twitter.

“We wanted a dialogue with citizens for new message points,” Warren said. “Social media allowed us to quickly spread information.”

From the comments online, Warren’s team was able to create a database of citizens’ thoughts and ideas, which were incorporated into the messaging. It wasn’t long before county officials and the media joined in the discussion. She notes that it’s important to leave both positive and negative comments to allow citizens to be the voice of the campaign, have a conversation and keep the dialogue going. Track the comments — including those mentioned on other sites — and don’t become emotional in your responses, she said.

Panelist Greg Morrison of the Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District advised to “know your audience” by examining the socio-economic demographics of your constituency to understand who you’re targeting. (The U.S. Census Bureau is a source for that information.) By knowing that 60 percent of the agency’s constituents are Hispanic, Morrison said by way of example, he is able to tailor his message to a group that has historically and statistically shown a mistrust for public water supplies. Also knowing how different racial and age groups use technology and social media will help ensure that a social media strategy hits the right targets.

Morrison advised that social media postings should be timely — especially in an emergency situation. He also said connecting to other water and government agencies via Twitter and Facebook helps EVMWD foster partnerships in sharing and promoting policy messages. In addition, his agency has adopted a “face” for the EVMWD in “Elsinore Eddie,” who constituents interact with on social media.

Jennifer Poland of the Hi-Desert Water District said her agency is using social media to share information about a large, $146 million wastewater reclamation project assessment district formation as well as drought restrictions. It’s cost effective because it’s free, she notes, and has resulted in greater engagement with citizens.

Learn more about both the benefits and challenges to social media use by government agencies in “Citizen Engagement: New Uses of Social Media and the Body Politic,” which ran in the July/August 2014 edition of California Special District magazine.

To see a copy of the PowerPoint that accompanied the presentation, click here.