Social media top tips

To help you get started on social media, we've pulled together these top tips.


Take baby steps

As with most things, if you are new to social media it is best to take small steps and try using just one platform at a time until you build your confidence up. Twitter is a good place to begin as it is one of the simpler platforms.

Say hello

Don't worry about your first tweet, post or picture. The world isn't sat there waiting for your first endeavours on social media so just go for it, follow the guidance in this hub and have fun chatting to people and sharing.

Share and credit

It's nice to share and credit – the key to being effective on social media is to be a good ‘social citizen'. Share other people's content or causes and always, always credit other people for their efforts and activity.

Don't be afraid to ask for help

Your comms team will be happy to provide you with advice on your social media use. In fact, if you are thinking of setting up a work account you should talk to them first anyway – they will probably have a simple business case for you to complete just to make sure that what you are proposing makes sense, is sustainable, adds value and doesn't duplicate.

Post questions

You'll find that many people on social media are very happy to help if you post questions to your community or followers.

Build your community

It is important and takes time so be patient, spend a small amount of time every couple of days searching out a few people you would like to follow and engage with. Start off with friends or people you know at work in order to begin building your network. In time you'll become clearer on who you want to follow (and who you don't want to follow).

Follow @LGAComms

Make sure to follow @LGAcomms – we share lots of useful links and information on all things local government.

Have a plan

This should be a simple plan, it may just even be in your head, but a plan for what you want to achieve from social media is essential. Who do you want to engage with? Why do you want to do this? And what you want to get from your social experience?

Overcome the barriers – The three ‘T's

Once you are interested, opened your first social media account and keen to fly you might come up against some barriers. And the most common barriers are the three ‘T's: Training, technology and trust.

Talk to the LGA and your own comms team about training to see what they are able to offer.

In terms of technology, having a smart phone or tablet makes the social experience so much easier and quicker to participate –  you'll end up being more active on social media if you have good tools.

Trust can be a tougher nut to crack but it really shouldn't be a barrier. If a local authority trusts its staff to talk to residents face-to-face, to talk on the phone, to send out emails and letters, then why should social media be any different? Those authorities who use social media most effectively are those who trust their staff and don't block access to social media. Take a look at Coventry City Council for best practice use of social media, for example – all of their staff are able to access social media.

Social media jargon busting and guide to platforms

One of the things that can off-putting about using social media is the jargon around the mass of platforms, tools and techniques. Try this useful social media A-Z to help you plot your way through.