Don’t post and ghost: how to build meaningful connections through community engagement

Like other forms of social interaction, social media centres around connection through conversation. Millions, if not billions, of users log in each day to message friends and family, make plans, sell items, stay updated with their favourite celebrities and influencers, and to scroll and share. Interactions with public sector organisations naturally make up part of this activity, and they expect the conversation to flow two ways. In the early days of social, broadcasting information was the norm and community engagement was less important.

However, in the current landscape, people expect replies, either to comments or through DMs. This may sound simple enough, until the negative comments start flooding in.

In these situations, it can feel tempting to ignore or delete the more critical posts. And this pressure can intensify further when you factor in the views of leadership, stakeholders and local businesses who may find public criticism uncomfortable. 

The trouble is, when an organisation uses social media as a one-way broadcast tool, they’re sending a clear message that they’re not interested in people’s real opinions.

However, when a public sector organisation takes the time to listen to individuals’ concerns, and respond thoughtfully, they’re paving the way for a relationship based on mutual respect and trust. 

We know that building and maintaining meaningful engagement is far from simple. Here are our top tips for individual conversations and how to build meaningful community engagement for public sector organisations.

Just like in any other social situation, public sector organisations must make sure that they know who they’re talking to on social media. You wouldn’t walk into a room and launch into a monologue without taking the time to find out who you’re talking to. You’d likely ask some questions first to get to know your crowd. 

Similarly, by carrying out audience research, running focus groups, and engaging in social media listening, organisations can get to grips with exactly who their social media audiences are and what they care about.

Armed with this knowledge, public sector teams can create audience personas and relevant content that sparks genuine interest. By tailoring your comms to suit your community’s needs, you’ll eventually forge stronger connections and start to build genuine engagement and trust.

On social media, tensions can run high. People may have legitimate concerns or complaints in the course of their daily lives, especially given the UK’s continuing cost of living crisis and current period of political transition.

They’re likely to turn to relevant public sector’s social media accounts to share their challenges, which can prove difficult for comms teams who may not have all the answers.

As much as possible, honesty and transparency is always the best policy. When you empathise, show that you’re listening, and respond in an authentic way, you start to build the foundation for trust. 

It’s also important to bear in mind that right now, misinformation and disinformation are rife on social media. You can read more about our thoughts on this in our report, Comms Trends in the Public Sector. 

It’s therefore no surprise that people are craving authentic, honest, and truthful communications. For Gen Z, this is particularly key.

So, be clear. Speak honestly and plainly. If you don’t have an answer, explain that and why. This will go a long way to building trust with your audiences.

Measuring your engagement rate, along with other metrics, allows you to figure out what’s working in terms of fostering meaningful engagement. It enables you to identify where your strategy is successful and where it’s falling short.

Consider what success looks like for your organisation and create goals that factor in the nuances of each channel.

Also, not all engagement metrics are created equal. ‘Likes’ are nice to have, but someone leaving a comment signals a deeper engagement with your content and organisation. And while positive comments are preferable compared to negative posts, any interaction presents an opportunity for you to listen to communities, act on their feedback, and build trust.

In fact, unhappy people are more likely to help you to shape your strategy and services. Showing that you’ve listened is a surefire way to build trust long-term.

Engaging with the public should never be a case of “once and done”.

When audiences share their feedback, this should be logged and tracked for the organisation to monitor trends over time. By monitoring these interactions, public sector organisations can gain valuable insights to inform their future campaigns and content, and make sure that they resonate with their audience.

This engagement data also allows social media teams to anticipate how their communities will react to specific types of posts, allowing them to prepare their responses in advance and manage potential crises proactively.

For example, if previous council tax posts have tended to generate negativity, any future content on this subject can be monitored closely by the social team ready with pre-agreed responses to potential questions.

However, it’s important to note that you should avoid cutting and pasting the same replies as this comes across as inauthentic and robot-like.

At Orlo, we’ve taken advantage of the latest AI tech and developed a helpful tool for our customers to spark some creativity. This helps people come up with new and engaging ways for how they approach replying to the same questions time and time again.

There’s understandably some caution across the sector regarding the use of AI, but also a huge amount of opportunity; it’s important to consider AI’s potential benefits for community engagement.

While it should never replace real, human interaction entirely, deploying AI effectively can ensure that people get their basic questions answered quickly while saving the organisation precious time and resources.

As an example, let’s say a hospital typically receives nine posts per day with queries about parking fees. The organisation can use AI to easily and efficiently respond to these routine queries, and free up its comms team for addressing community members with more complex issues. 

Take our AI-powered chatbot, for example. It has been designed to allow you to use the power of AI to deflect over 50% of conversations across your Live Chat, Facebook Messenger, and X (Twitter) DMs, solve queries quickly, at scale, and save a few pounds too!

And on that note, don’t assume that your audience prefers human contact. Some people definitely do, but 85% of Gen Zs would opt for chat or automated customer service interactions over phone calls.

There’s a time and a place for AI and if you’re considering using it, it’s important to get your relevant policies and protocols in place. There’s more advice about this in our trends report. 

At Orlo, we’re often approached by customers across the sectors about grappling with effective handling of negative comments.

Often, teams can feel tempted to ignore or delete negative comments, out of fear that they may cause the organisation harm. However, ghosting people because you don’t like their opinion will only serve to break their trust.

Here are some guidelines for handling negative comments effectively:

Don’t ghost 

Even though negative comments gaining momentum on social media is every comms team’s nightmare, ignoring the issue will not make it go away. Don’t be scared to handle the issue proactively, and reply to negative comments acknowledging the facts of the situation with the right amount of empathy.

Even a simple message to state that you’re looking into the issue will reassure the poster, and therefore the wider community, that you take their feedback seriously. Of course, you must remember to follow up later once you have more information. 

Take the issue offline 

Once you’ve acknowledged the negative comment publicly, the best way to handle the situation is out of the public eye. Initially, we recommend taking the conversation to DM, however you may decide that a follow up email or call is necessary depending on the nature of the issue.

Taking the interaction out of the public sphere not only ensures the security of the poster’s personal information and spares your community the full details, but it also allows you the time and space to investigate it fully. And it limits the potential damage caused to your organisation. 

Show that you’re listening

You may decide to change something as a result of a negative comment, and in that case it’s always a good idea to show that you’ve listened to feedback. It sends a clear signal that you’re open to criticism and that you’re flexible, which will encourage people to open up further. 

Create a separate plan for offensive content and trolls 

If you receive comments that are offensive, illegal, or break your community guidelines, you must take the appropriate action. This may involve deleting harmful posts and blocking individual accounts, as it’s important to protect other community members and your team.

However, according to the Government’s guidance, blocking or banning should always be a last resort.

You should also develop brief guidelines for identifying and managing trolls – users who deliberately and repeatedly post inflammatory content simply to provoke a reaction. Once you’ve responded to any legitimate concerns, you may choose to step back from engaging with trolls as sometimes this has the effect of further fueling the fire.

As with any relationship, meaningful engagement takes time and effort. Showing up every day for consistent social media engagement demonstrates that you truly value people’s opinions.

Over time, people will start to know what to expect from your organisation and they will feel more inclined to share their real opinions. Engaging day in, day out, serves to demonstrate your reliability and forge trust. 

For your organisation, making a strategic commitment to engagement may require getting your operational house in order to ensure that there’s always enough time and resources for social media engagement.

And given that your community may choose to get in touch with you at any time, and on any of your channels, you must be set up to manage all of your inbound queries effectively and ensure that they reach the right people in a timely manner.

Rest assured that there are partners available to support you through this process, and to create systems that allow you to manage engagement alongside your other tasks. If you’d like some help, we’d love to hear from you.