Welcome to the the next installment in my series of social media tips. These are aimed primarily at a police audience, but hopefully applicable to a wider group of people too, especially those in the public sector. This series of posts will aim to identify some good practice and useful hints and tips for police officers and staff to consider when using social media.

Part 5:

What to do when things go wrong

Everyone makes mistakes. Mistakes are a part of life, and can be valuable lessons for how to do things better next time. There is often a concern that mistakes on social media sites are somehow worse, somehow bigger than mistakes in the ‘real’ world. Yes there is the potential for mistakes to be copied and pasted around the world, or easily picked up by the media…but this is becoming increasingly true in the real world as well, with mobile phone video cameras, hidden recorders etc.

Here are my tips on what to do if you screw up.

Firstly apologise! Same as in the offline world, you make a mistake, say sorry. It often goes a long way to diffuse an awkward situation.

Secondly make amends – if the mistake can be corrected do so…but do it in such a way that it is obvious you have corrected it. Note that a post has been corrected or replaced, or even better strike through the error and place the corrected text next to it. In the worst case scenario this will preserve the exact wording of a post if needed to respond to a formal complaint etc.

Thirdly be clear why something has been deleted. Deletion should only be a last resort, as there is every chance that copies of your post will already be out there somewhere, and the internet will gleefully copy an embarrassing post many times over. Personally I would only delete something that is illegal, offensive or prejudicial to an investigation.

Fourthly laugh at yourself. You make an error, be self deprecating. It goes a long way to show your human side.

Finally move on. It’s the Internet, millions of posts are made every day. You are not a major celebrity and an error you make is unlikely to mean the end of the world as you know it. Continually responding to posts about an error just means that the issue will carry on.

Photo by elycefeliz on Flick’r

This post was previously published on Partrdigej’s blog.

Previous posts from the Social Media Handbook Series:

Part 1: What Social Media networks should I use?

Part 2: How do I get followers / friends ???

Part 3: Policies / Strategies / Guidance??

Part 4: Ten things to have on your page to drive up interest??

Justin Partridge

Justin Partridge is a senior manager for Lincolnshire Police in England. He also works on Local Policing and Partnerships for the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO).

Justin is passionate about making a difference to people, and see social media and new technologies having a major role in this – especially in policing and the wider public sector. He blogs on a variety of issues, predominantly around police and technology, and can be found on Twitter talking about much the same.

Welcome to the the next installment in my series of social media tips. These are aimed primarily at a police audience, but hopefully applicable to a wider group of people too, especially those in the public sector. This series of posts will aim to identify some good practice and useful hints and tips for police officers and staff to consider when using social media.

Part 4: Ten things to have on your page to drive up interest??

These are the 10 essential things (plus a bonus 11th tip) that you should have on your Facebook Page, or use in your Twitter feed if you want to drive up interest in your posts in a positive way that promotes the policing message you want to get across. Of course there are other ways of getting lots of interest in your posts, but I suggest that you don’t want to aim for scandal, legal actions or nudity in order to make your point!

At number 10 is events and engagements. Post up what is happening, and where, and allow some conversation to develop around events if possible. You should promote your own events, and community events even if these are very local (and perhaps it is more important if they are) Promote your activities in the local area, e.g., targeted foot patrols, meetings, and crime reduction events. This should be updated regularly with anything you are involved with that people will be interested in.

Number 9 is an obvious one, but one often overlooked. Make sure that somewhere on your page, or bio, are full contact details – phone email etc. If there is insufficient space on a Twitter bio (curse those 140 character limits), then link to your details on the force website. And while you are doing that, check that the force website, crime mapper etc have your Facebook, Twitter and any other relevant websites listed as well.

Number 8 is particularly relevant for neighbourhood teams, but can also be used for follow up on investigations and around public order accounts as well. An opportunity for people to propose and vote on priorities is a useful tool – it widens the consultation with the public on how they want to be policed, and offers an opportunity to invite local people to get more involved – informally by attending meetings, semi-formally by initiatives such as community speedwatch, and formally through volunteering or the special constabulary.

At number 7 are appeals – wanted persons / missing people / requests for intelligence etc. For time limited content like this is is probably better to link back to your main force site so this content is up to date. If the missing person is found for example, you may not want your Facebook page to still be reporting them missing 2 months later…

Number 6 – think about extending your reach. Social media is a great way of having a conversation, but why not consider a blog? The best policing blogs are ‘day in the life’ prose  created by any individual officer or member of staff to aid the public to better understand the police and the different roles in the policing service. In general they should be interesting, concise, informative accounts with positive information, and have a personalised manner – giving the reader an insight of being with the officer in question. And just because you are not a police officer don’t think that the public are uninterested in what you have to say – PCSOs, call takers, and other support staff have interesting roles too. I am still waiting for the first police finance blog, but you never know…

A couple of good blogs to start with include DCC Stuart Hyde from Cumbria, or for a blog targetted at a specific operation look at OpNova, where a student from Lincoln University blogged about going out in the city for a month without drinking, and her experience of being on patrol with the police and seeing the effects of drink on people.

Number 5 The best sites provide useful links to other sites – both local sites of interest and partners. Don’t be afraid of passing your visitors through to another website – both people and internet search engines like pages that link to other pages more than those that sit in isolation. On Twitter this is best done with a link to a topical page on a partners site – an event of press release for example. The sorts of sites that you can link to are Neighbourhood Watch, Crimestoppers, Partners such as your county, borough, town and district councils, Ringmaster, Police force Website(s), Immobilise.com…

Number 4 Pictures and videos – link from your main force website, or commission some basic ones yourself. Even mobile phone footage is good enough. Training and warrant execution videos give the public something back from the police. It allows them into places they would not normally get access. Snippets from behind the scenes gives an insight into all the training and hard work we do. Event videos allow our customers to see what activities we are getting involved with in the local area – attending the local youth club, diversionary activity or local summer fair for example. Use of video and photographs will make you and the force more approachable and more human. Check out this example from the Carholme NPT in my own force.

And the top 3…

Number 3 Start running online surgeries, or Q&A sessions – start small and keep going with them for a few months at least to build interest. Again this is often seen as just relevant to neighbourhood teams, but can also be used around specialist subjects such as roads policing, recruitment or firearms. You can use existing pages on Facebook, Twitter etc, but you may find it easier to use something that stores the content for people to refer back to, and allows pre-moderation of questions if desired (check out coveritlive.com for example).

Number 2 be very clear about how the content you post on your social media channel reflects force and local priorities, and explain what we along with our partners are doing to address local issues affecting local communities. Provide links to operations and success stories that are of interest and relevance to your readers.

And at number one, my very top tip for police use of social media – Make sure your page or status is regularly updated. ‘Regularly’ might mean hourly, daily weekly or even monthly, but if people expect to check back and find new content and don’t, they will stop checking back.

I know this was a top ten, but as a bonus tip, you may also want to consider putting up some FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) to address some of the common questions you will be asked.

Think I have missed something? Have a different set of things you feel police users of social media should focus on? Post up a comment here.

Top 10 image credit sam_churchill on Flick’r

This post was previously published on Partrdigej’s blog.

Previous posts from the Social Media Handbook Series:

Part 1: What Social Media networks should I use?

Part 2: How do I get followers / friends ???

Part 3: Policies / Strategies / Guidance??

Justin Partridge

Justin Partridge is a senior manager for Lincolnshire Police in England. He also works on Local Policing and Partnerships for the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO).

Justin is passionate about making a difference to people, and see social media and new technologies having a major role in this – especially in policing and the wider public sector. He blogs on a variety of issues, predominantly around police and technology, and can be found on Twitter talking about much the same.

Welcome to the third in a new series of social media tips aimed primarily at a police audience, but hopefully applicable to a wider group of people too, especially those in the public sector. This series of posts will aim to identify some good practice and useful hints and tips for police officers and staff to consider when using social media.

Part 3: Policies / Strategies / Guidance??

You will hear lots of people claiming that you need a whole raft of documents before starting using social media. After all we are the police, and we NEVER do anything without a massive written policy and guidance, and probably a week long training course too. Well, you may want to reconsider that approach, for a number of reasons:

Social media changes really fast. Don’t forget that Twitter is only 5 years old. 3 years ago we would have been discussing MySpace as the network of choice, and how to engage with the public on Friends Reunited. Any policy you write now will quickly be obsolete – as an example I expect location based services like Foursquare and Facebook Places to become more popular in the next 12 months, and after that something else again.

You already have policies about social interactions. They probably say something like we will give you a guide on what to say to the public, but generally trust you to get on with it. If there is a complaint we will deal with it. If you make an error, apologise and deal with it. Why would you want to write a new strategy covering exactly the same thing when done online? You already have a strategy for policing. Ours is centred on protecting the public, making communities safer and improving what we do. All of that translates well on to social media platforms – and best of all your staff will (or should) be already aware of the strategy, and already be implementing it is their community and their area. So am I saying that you should just say ‘get on with it, you are on your own!’ Well not quite (although the part about ‘get on with it’ is worth saying, and repeating a few times, but I digress…)

There are some pitfalls to social media, and a couple that are unique to policing. Copyright is an issue that a police force would not want to be caught out on, but one that many users of the Internet think does not apply to them. Find a good source of Creative Commons licensed photos (I use Flick’r). These can be used non-commercially with an acknowledgement of the source.

Images of the public – especially children – can be contentious. A good idea would be to make sure you have appropriate consent before using these on your social media site. (I did however read one social media policy that talked about getting written consent, countersigned by an inspector or above, and filed for 3 years with a copy sent to the communications department…)

Deleting posts is a sensitive subject. There will be occasions when users post offensive content, and this should be removed, especially if a page is intended for family consumption like most police pages. But what about comments that are not offensive, but not in agreement with your posts? What about those comments that could prejudice an investigation (“I know who did it, he lives at…”) or those that are simply pointless? Some consideration of these issues up front is worth the effort, before you get accused of censorship!

So do you need a stack of policies to start using social media? No. Should you just turn your people loose with no guidance? Also no. And if you want to see some example policies (some good some bad) then have a look here, or drop me a line in the comments and I will send you the guidance I wrote for Lincolnshire Police.

This post was previously published on Partrdigej’s blog.

Previous posts from the Social Media Handbook Series:

Part 1: What Social Media networks should I use?

Part 2: How do I get followers / friends ???

Justin Partridge

Justin Partridge is a senior manager for Lincolnshire Police in England. He also works on Local Policing and Partnerships for the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO).

Justin is passionate about making a difference to people, and see social media and new technologies having a major role in this – especially in policing and the wider public sector. He blogs on a variety of issues, predominantly around police and technology, and can be found on Twitter talking about much the same.