Last week I sat in on a webinar sponsored by HootSuite entitled, “Social Media in Government: 5 Key Considerations.” The speaker for this online event was Beverly Macy. Macy teaches social media and global marketing and branding at the UCLA Extension.

Sajji Hussein, a HootSuite government specialist, shared real-world examples of government use cases for social media. Those areas included:

• Protecting government-branded accounts and employees on social media
• Safely creating transparent and open communications with the public
• Understanding the net impact of your efforts through social media measurement

Five Key Considerations:

1. Objectives: How does social media use support the organizational mission and overall communication strategy?
2. Privacy and Security: What are key issues and concerns?
3. Transparency and Collaboration: How can social media tools create a more coordinated environment?
4. Engaging the Public: How has social media changed the way government engages with citizens?
5. Analytics and Metrics: Ensuring accurate, targeted performance analysis

Macy provided valuable information and useful links that governments can use in their social media activities.