Social Media Strategy for the Canadian Government

Social Media Strategy for the Canadian Government

Abstract

The social media strategy for the Canadian Government needs to be developed in order to achieve maximum effectiveness in policy implementation and growth of the economy. The social media is used for public relations, loyalty-building, support and service, collaboration and feedback. The social media strategy is based upon the concept of using special media to attract citizens towards challenging government jobs, create mass awareness regarding global issues, enhance citizen engagement and create a two-way communication network via social media. There are five major trends that need to be considered in the study for understanding the social media strategy for the Canadian Government. There is first of all the demand for transparency which is met through social media where it can provide constant and up-to-date flow of information to the citizens. For instance, during elections social media strategy should be made highly effective. Then, the citizen engagement can be enhanced through social media strategy where citizens are involved in solving government problems and given rewards. This way they become part of the government strategies and public support increases. Thirdly, humanizing government can be developed where the President and Consulates can take part in social media websites to create an emotional impact on the citizens. Then, effective crisis management can be achieved like U.S. FEMA which is highly active on social media websites. Lastly, real-time response can be achieved by making the government emergency rooms more active on social media websites to resolve citizens' complaints. In order to develop and implement an effective social media strategy, there are several factors such as socio-cultural factors, technological factors, economical factors and legal factors which determine how the social media strategy should be designed and implemented by the government.

Social/Cultural Factors

Today, we live in a multi-cultural world due to the increasing rate of globalization. Governments have to be highly concerned regarding the different socio-cultural forces. People belonging to different experiences, religion, culture and experience live and work together in Canada as both residents and expatriates. These socio-cultural factors need to be kept in mind while developing the social media strategy. A learning social culture needs to be developed on the social media websites where mutual long term relationships develop between expatriates and as well as residents so that biases and hate crime does not take place. The cultural differences and cultural ethnocentrism needs to be minimized so that people are more adaptable with each other. This can be done through the social media websites, blogging, E-newsletters and publications and interactive social forums. The clash of interests due to different cultures and religions in the Canadian society needs to be kept in mind when developing a social media strategy so that it does not hurt the sentiments of any permanent or non-permanent citizen.

The youth is more into the social media networks and tech savvy, but the older generation is not so much familiar so this is a major social ...