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Councillors are natural leaders in their local communities and they go where communities gather.  Festivals. Events at churches, synagogues and mosques. Social clubs. Pubs. You name it.

Councillors are increasingly found online, too. They may be blogging. They may be be using Facebook or Twitter. Or they might be engaging with the growing number of local social networks. Not for the sake of it, but because that’s where people are. Online. Talking about their lives, their concerns and where they live.

Some councillors are naturals at social media.  They may have backgrounds in in tech or the web or like many just enjoy communicating that way.  Others may be want a little bit of help or explanation to help them kick start their community leadership online.

That’s why the Local Government Group has recently published an updated version of Councillors Connected: a guide to using social media to support local leadership.  Originally published last year, the guide has been updated and refreshed with new case studies from Kirklees and Walsall.  Ingrid Koehler who recently joined FutureGov and wrote the guide for LG Group explains:

“This is a fast moving area. Over the past year, we’ve seen tools like Twitter and Facebook become even more important. Many councillors are now using social media as a mainstream communications tool with local people.  Councils are using social media much more, too – so councillors need to learn how to lead digital organisations effectively.  So the LG Group wanted to update and highlight the guidance as part of a wider new online offer to local government.”

The guide contains a summary of social media tools, ways to build engagement, ways to stay out of trouble online and how councils can use these tools to support more effective, efficient services.  It can be downloaded free of charge from the the LG Group website.