Social media is the collective term for various sites and applications that enable people to collaborate, network and share content online: thoughts, opinions, ideas, knowledge, experience and analysis, photos, videos etc. This includes social networks, collaboration tools, blogs and messaging services.
Social media is everywhere – it’s central to people’s lives and integral to how many of us communicate with each other. Social media is therefore an essential part of the parliament’s external communications function in supporting parliamentary business, public engagement and marketing. Good use of social media can help Scottish Parliament Staff (SPS) better understand, respond to, and engage with a wider audience and specific stakeholders. Whilst it has a role to play in raising awareness and dissemination of information, it’s also about the social connections and conversations we have with our stakeholders and colleagues. It enables two-way communications with people in places where they are already engaging, can improve scrutiny and law-making by widening the consultation process, and provides a cost effective way of targeting specific audiences and marketing the Parliament as a place to visit. The purpose of this policy is to set out how the SPS manages the use of social media on behalf of the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body (SPCB).
We want staff to:
This policy applies to all use of social media for parliamentary business and public engagement purposes, and for internal collaboration. Use of internal tools (such as blogs or content sharing and discussion forums on Sharepoint) do not require the same consultation process as set out below for external communication purposes (these can be set up at the discretion of site owners), whilst personal responsibilities and our rules of use are the same. The policy does not apply to individuals’ personal social media channels and use of these. This is covered by the personal use of social media policy. It applies to all SPCB staff, staff on secondment and contractors who are authorised to use the SPCB’s internet, e-mail and other business communications systems.
Social media is integral to the successful delivery of the public engagement strategy. We use it to:
However we cannot achieve this by simply being active on social media. Launching a Twitter account or a Facebook page is not a shortcut to a mass audience; neither is it seen as being particularly innovative. Users expect more than a simple news feed; they expect to be able to connect and interact, and we need to be able to commit to that.
Successful engagement requires us to be clear about what we are trying to achieve, and understand how use of a particular channel or social media campaign will help us do so. This involves an ongoing cycle of content planning, monitoring and responding, planning content, and measuring and evaluating. We also need to understand what the resource requirement is to sustain this activity and commit to that.
All this requires responsible use of social media within an agreed strategic framework. Any requests for new accounts or channels will be considered against our public engagement priorities. This will ensure that any agreed new activities will support and help deliver these. There should be a strong business case for each new proposal – any new activity needs to add value rather than just adding to our existing offerings. Social media is not an alternative to using the website, which remains our primary external communications tool and information resource.
Too many channels, accounts and voices creates noise which can detract from our key messages, dilute our brand and confuse our stakeholders. When planning engagement campaigns the existing corporate channels should be used, unless there is a distinct or niche audience that we cannot reach on these. We need to strike a balance between effectively targeting stakeholders and saturating them with options.
The Parliament’s content strategy applies to social content as well as what is published on our websites. The needs and expectations of our target audiences should always be the starting point rather than an office or team wanting to do something different. We encourage innovation but this needs to meet a known user need.
Even when there is evidence that a different or emerging channel is where a target audience is active, we need to consider if we have appropriate content as well as the capacity and resource to manage. It is not enough, and potentially reputationally damaging, to simply be on a channel. We need to ensure that we have engaging content for the intended audience, and can plan and sustain activity.
Susan Duffy is the owner of the social media policy and responsible for ensuring it is adhered to. This us in line with her responsibilities for delivering the Public Engagement Strategy, and Service Owner of the content strategy.
Day-to-day implementation and resolution of operational issues is the responsibility of the Parliament Communications Office (PCO). In practice the Head of Engagement and Communication will only be involved in discussions or decision making when something cannot be agreed between PCO and the office or team in question.
DCCT is part of PCO. It is responsible for the management and development of our web and social media channels. As well as the day to day running of the main corporate channels it oversees activity across the organisation, and uses performance data and user insight to drive improvements This includes working with offices to ensure that the policy is understood and applied, and that staff with responsibilities for creating and posting content have access to the right tools and are given appropriate levels of up to date training and guidance.
If you use social media in your SPS role your responsibilities are to:
Advice on any of this is available from DCCT.
All staff proposals to set up a new account or use a new social media channel under the terms of this policy must be approved in principle with your Office Head, before discussing your proposal with DCCT.
Your proposal should address:
DCCT will assess the request and discuss the best way of using social media to help you achieve your objectives. This may simply be an endorsement of your proposal, or it may involve advising you against your initial proposal and working with you to develop an alternative plan that would be a better way of achieving your aims. Where there are disagreements between DCCT and the business area about the merits of a new account, how it should be managed, or how it will be evaluated, DCCT will escalate to the Head of Engagement and Communications who will be asked to make a decision.
Whatever approach is taken, DCCT will help with the set-up and provide advice and training, as well as ongoing support.
Not all our activities will prove to be effective. Given the speed at which the digital landscape changes, we need to monitor and adapt our services. What is effective at one time may well just not work at all before too long. Learning from experiences (both good and bad) and ongoing evaluation and analysis is key to success.
If an account does not prove to be effective despite best efforts or because it cannot be adequately resourced, then it should be closed. This would be discussed between the business area and DCCT in the first instance, and an exit strategy should be developed. If agreement on this cannot be reached then DCCT will again the Head of Engagement and Communications, who will be asked to make a decision.