Contrary to popular belief, teenagers are not the only ones posting pictures and content on social media platforms. Federal, state, and local government agencies have been implementing commercially provided media technologies to promote their services and support their missions. The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) highlighted several distinct methods that 23 of 24 major agencies are using to increase citizen engagement through social media platforms. Such activities include reposting information available on official agency websites, posting information not available on agency websites, soliciting comments from the public, responding to comments on content, and providing links to non-government websites.
Today, the methods of citizen interaction are constantly changing, and becoming socially enabled is a priority for large and small agencies. A socially enabled agency is an organization with social proficiencies ingrained into the foundation of its practice. “By weaving social capabilities into the fabric of their daily business operations, [agencies] can achieve significant improvements in areas ranging from marketing and sales, to customer service and [citizen] collaboration,” said Meg Bear, Group Vice President of Oracle Social Cloud Platform.
To illustrate how organizations are leveraging social media practices, Oracle partnered with Social Media Today and Leader Networks to conduct a survey of more than 900 executives from around the world. The results were compelling, revealing that 97 percent see becoming a socially enabled enterprise as a top priority. The survey also revealed that 60 percent of respondents plan to integrate social business metrics into their customer care initiatives in the next year. That 60 percent also stated that without proper support it could take more than a year to truly leverage social media throughout their organization. However, with multiple technology solutions available from the private sector, agency media platforms could be operational much sooner.
To learn more about how your organization can become socially enabled and the benefits of doing so, download the entire report and survey results.