Whitehorse News - November 2022

Working for Whitehorse series

Being a social media expert takes a bit more than getting a lot of likes on your Instagram pic or perfecting the latest Tiktok dance.

Just ask Georgia Paterakis, Council’s Social Media Lead, who manages all of Whitehorse’s social media accounts and curates their content.

Georgia has a background in paid social media marketing and has worked in local government for five years.

“When I finished uni, social media was a very new space and only just becoming a career path for communications professionals. There were new roles in the field and opportunities for tech-savvy marketers to establish social media for organisations who would communicate in traditional marketing platforms like print, media and public relations,” said Georgia.

“This fast-paced and rapidly changing digital space is such an exciting field to work in, and no day is like the last.”

A typical day for Georgia involves responding to customer enquiries, informing the community about what’s happening, creating engaging content educating on the services and benefits Council delivers and collaborating on strategic communications initiatives.

In October, she represented Whitehorse at the Local Government Professionals (LGPro Vic) Social Media Conference as a contributor and presenter.

“At Whitehorse, our social media community is over 40,000 strong, and our combined social media reach averages over 4 million impressions per year,” said Georgia.

“We have a dedicated network of social media administrators at Whitehorse, who manage our 14 social media accounts across Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube. It’s a real team effort!”

Georgia’s role has given her a unique perspective on how our community has evolved over time and how this is reflected in social media activity.

“Community expectations and online behaviours have changed significantly over the past three years, and particularly during COVID. We saw our community connecting online in ways they never did before, and we’ve adapted our channels and content to service their expectations. We value community discussion, ideas and feedback on social media and we love to engage with our community, building connection and trust.”

This connection is what makes social media so much more important than how it may seem on the surface.

“Our social media goal is to facilitate spaces for valuable community exchanges,” said Georgia.

“We don’t measure success on the number of likes; it’s about the impact that post, comment or reply has on our followers and community."