Social media strategy - Redhouse Lane Communications

Department for Education: Social media strategy

The DfE has become part of the online education community

The DfE has become part of the online education community

How the Department for Education is placing social media at the heart of government

Challenge

The Department for Education (DfE) needed a social media strategy that would allow them to join the conversation without crashing the party. They saw it as a chance to increase access, adjust messages and counter inaccurate media coverage at speed, get fast feedback and reduce dependence on old media channels.

Given the sophistication and, at the same time, vulnerability of its younger audiences in particular, the Department had to get its social media absolutely right.

Our response

Redhouse Lane alreadyhad a team of editors managing the Department’s website, perfectly placed tofind out where its target audiences congregate online.

Using this information, we devised a strategy involving:

timely, targeted updates via Twitter andFacebook
campaigns on Facebook
photos and videos of events on Flickr andYouTube, posted as they happen
using Twitter to draw attention to newDepartment activity and content
monitoring social platforms and discussionforums seven days a week to judge whether important information is beingunderstood
monitoring influential users to gauge whatissues are on people’s minds.

Results

27,000 followers on Twitter
3 million photo views on Flickr
280,000 video views on YouTube

We gained the trust of some of the Department's harshestcritics by responding to them promptly, politely and accurately on Twitter, andintervened in dangerously misleading discussions on specialist forums, quashingrumours before they spread.