Council splurge on social media gets a ‘dislike’

Local councils are being criticised for spending nearly half a million dollars on social media posts, but they say it’s the best way to stay in touch with the locals.

The council-funded promotions and advertising on Facebook and LinkedIn has been labelled ‘‘propaganda branding’’.

Figures obtained by the Taxpayers’ Union under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act reveal councils spent at least $446,000 advertising on the two major networks in the 12 months to June 30.

The survey did not include the country’s 11 regional councils and some regional councils did not supply figures.

The largest council, Auckland, was the biggest spender, forking out $164,287 to Facebook and $23,583 to LinkedIn.

Taxpayers’ Union executive director Jordan Williams said while Facebook had a role to play in getting information to the public ‘‘these figures make it clear that councils are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on propaganda branding exercises. Ratepayers get absolutely no value for that.’’

Williams said councils should be more concerned with delivering essential services in a cost-effective manner rather than spending money increasing their their Facebook ‘‘reach’’ and ‘‘promoting pictures of politicians’’.

But Auckland Council defended its use of Facebook as ‘‘an important, cost effective way for us to communicate with Aucklanders about the range of services we provide at council and important community news’’.

‘‘It also allows us to encourage more Aucklanders to have their say and participate in specific council consultations which impact upon their communities.’’

In the 2014-15 financial year Auckland council’s communication and engagement department spent $9.8 million and employed 104 fulltime equivalent staff.

It said advertising council job vacancies on professional networking site LinkedIn ’’allows us to connect and attract critical talent for our organisation’’.

The second highest spending territorial authority, Dunedin City Council, reported spending $65,293 on Facebook. However the council said the bulk of the money – $55,693 – was spent by its tourism and economic development unit, Enterprise Dunedin, on promotional campaigns. A ‘‘large proportion’’ of that money would be recovered through contributions from local businesses including tourism operators.

The other $9600 was spent by the council’s communications department on public consultation and to promote a range of council events and festivals.

Social media marketing strategist Michael Carney said Facebook advertising was generally costefficient. ‘‘In an era where people expect to express their opinions and be heard, the councils are successfully tapping into the social networks to connect with their constituents.’’