The 11th Social Media in Government Conference: A Twitter bird's-eye view

The Social Media for Government conference provided a platform for social media managers to share an array of information for us to both take in as well as disseminate. As you would expect from a conference about social media, attendees hit the many channels of their social media accounts to engage with one another. Twitter in particular.

So here is my review of the event - with a bit of help from the Twitter bird.

I'm not sure if the conference turned out so wild that people were swinging from the chandeliers, however, thanks to Akolade Australia, the 11th Social Media in Government conference was a joy to be a part of. With many people sharing their experience and knowledge to the over 100 delegates that attended the two day event.

I really enjoyed delivering a presentation about the importance of Archiving Social Media, covering facts and information that may have been overlooked by the audience beforehand, not anymore. Covering items that included the responsibilities social media users in government hold, especially when deleting a post. Items such as, "does your social media policy allow it?" or "Does legislation allow it?" These are all questions that specified government bodies must think about before making a rash decisions in the form of deleting content. We need to learn from mistakes made in the past, and there have been quite a few to learn from.

Throughout the two-day conference there was a total of 20 speakers, of which most spoke about how government bodies can best engage with their communities on social media. There were many interesting strategies different organisations used that was displayed through case studies.

Jessica Ryan from Australian Securities and Investments Commission gave some useful insights on how to get the whole organisation behind the social media effort. From how to convey your ideas to other teams who aren’t across social media, to reporting to those both up and across the chain in order to engage the audience.

Ryan Vanderhorst from Vic Emergency delivered a very popular presentation in which he explained to the audience how social media can connect those in need with those who can help. Key takeouts highlighted how social media is the quickest way to disseminate information these days, and thus can be a lifesaver when unexpected emergencies hit. Did you know that Emergency Management Victoria can get from 20,000 to 30,000 messages on a weekend when emergencies hit. Talk about a twitter storm. And yes, we too joined in on the twitter party…

The conference also held its fair share of international speakers, notably the keynote, Dirk Von Holleben, a Social Media manager from the German Ministry of Defence was the international keynote speaker. He has done a great job with engaging with his audience through their very active social media channels. YouTube was his main topic of interest, as he found great success in using it to engage with the younger generation.

And as always, the conference had guest speakers from Facebook and Twitter. Talking about what's new and upcoming on their platforms. Sharing some trivia that you may not have heard of. Did you know that the average Facebook user scrolls through more than 100 meters of feed per day. That's higher than the statue of liberty. So how do you get them to stop and read your post? Luckily, that was something that Kylie Mackey, Senior Events & Marketing Officer, City of Greater Geelong covered.

All in all, the 11th Social Media for Government left us all with a lot to think of.

Jay Batten posted a tweet that I think summarised the event perfectly.

If you missed the event but would like to have a discussion around social media in Government, we’re happy to have a coffee and conversation as one thing is certain; social media is here to stay and increasing in complexity and importance so we need to be across the management of it!

Written by: Damian Martina, Sales Manager at Brolly

An accomplished executive-level sales professional offering 15 + years’ experience analysing current and potential business processes to identify clear opportunities for improvement, meeting business objectives, ensuring client satisfaction and increasing employee productivity.