Can the public sector GET social?

At a great workshop teaching people in the public sector about new marketing, new ideas and social marketing I got to thinking...

Can the public sector GET social?

They will need to. As the money is cut. As the old ways of marketing, the expensive brand led, non guerrilla ways of marketing get pushed out…

They will need to. And they know it. But they fear it. As organisations with massive cultural bagagge. They often fear change.

Their members are mainly risk averse and proud of it. Or a little work shy, more shirkers than workers (said by one of their own not me..)

The point is that this change has already happened in the private sector, it has already happened in real life, it is just that councils and public sector organisations fear it.

They fear giving the people the power. One chap said he feared having to do more work, listening to people moan about the service he provided.

He said this without even realising the irony of what he was saying!

Seth Godin put it beautifully when he observed that the problem with big organisational change was that the…

“People who fear they will be hurt by a change speak up immediately, loudly and without regard for the odds or reality.

People who will benefit from a change don’t believe it (until it happens), so they sit quietly.”

Can the public sector GET social? YES - check out the UKti and their simply wonderful work.
Across all channels - engaging, clever, sensible and on brand. And business led. #greatmarketing…

So perhaps the questions isn’t can the public sector get social….. It’s:

Will everyone in the public sector DARE to get social?