The support from the organization

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Support for social media from within the organization
33 of the 38 respondents indicate that they are active on social media with their organization. 33 respondents also indicate that they use and maintain a website. The most used social media channel among our respondents is Facebook (33 organizations). 25 respondents indicate that they are active on LinkedIn with their organization and 20 respondents are active on Instagram with their organization.

According to the respondents, the pages are maintained well. The popular platform Facebook in particular is maintained well. At Instagram, a fast-growing medium, it appears that six respondents have a page but do not actively maintain it. At LinkedIn, this is also only five.

So the sending seems to be going well, but what about conducting an actual dialogue and the possibility for citizens to contact a public organization? Only 21 respondents offer the option for residents to contact the municipality via direct messaging on social media channels . This is still more than half of the respondents, but this result is relatively disappointing. With 33 respondents, e-mail is a popular means of contact.

Most respondents feel that they receive enough information from the organization about new technologies and developments. However, 14 respondents believe that the organization does not provide enough information about this.

What seems to be going better is the increase in the knowledge of employees and management about social media. Many respondents not only have the idea that their colleagues have sufficient knowledge, but also that they are willing to support social media within the online communication policy. Although this number of people is growing, it is still not self-evident for everyone.

What is also striking is that it is indicated that once the support is created, employees also get energy telegram data from it. It is noticeable within an organization that people are easy to reach and that a dialogue with the target group becomes easier via social media. This is not only known to a number of communication advisors, but also to their manager(s).

Needs
A major pitfall in integrating social media appears to be freeing up budget. Social media still appear to require a lot of time, which translates into labor costs. To this day, many organizations still do not devote enough time and attention to it. Social media are quickly pushed aside and seen as a lower priority.

In addition, some respondents indicate that many people, despite an increase in knowledge, are wary of social media within their organization and still do not have the right knowledge. Terms that were used were 'not online-oriented' and 'ignorance'. One reason for this is that colleagues do not yet know the necessity and value of social media and do not realize that many customers or residents can be reached via social media channels. The need for providing information and expanding knowledge was therefore present among a large number of respondents.