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Is RMP's social media strategy a hit?

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The Royal Malaysian Police (RMP) recently chose Facebook to assuage the negative perception among the general public, which prompted A+M to ask experts if the move is fruitful in the long run.The RMP put out a competition for its Facebook fans to submit slogans about the police, top 100 of who were invited to a ‘get together’ held recently.Inspector-general of police Tan Sri Ismail Omar told local media that the Facebook page acts to ‘bridge the communication gap and reduce the negative perception of the public towards (the police)'.According to Alex Ooi, director of reputation management and digital, Roots Asia Pacific the move is a good one from the perspective of innovation, however, from a performance standpoint, RMP still needs to prove that they walk the talk by making steadfast improvements toward serving the citizens.“I believe this is a good start by the RMP to take advantage of the social movement. Perhaps what they can also do is to create a page whereby fans of RMP can post videos of corrupt police practice in action? That'll be pretty interesting to see,” he added.The police force's image has been under scrutiny in the public eyes with fingers being pointed for using unnecessary force during the recent Bersih mass rally, which called for electoral reforms in Malaysia. Last year it copped flak when a police officer was sent to jail for five years for shooting dead a 15-year-old boy who was driving late at night near his home.According to Peter Pek, chief operating officer of Reputation Mercatus Malaysia while any engagement by the police force is a good thing for its image, branding is much more than just social media and PR cosmetics.The force has had a particularly bad image and any effort on their part to improve this should be welcomed. However, it needs to look at its internal processes and its staff attitudes when it comes to dealing with its ‘customers’ - the general public, Pek said.“These processes have come under enormous criticism and no social media exercise can help until these change. Till then the brand will continue to suffer from reputation issues.”The force's Facebook account is reported to be managed by some 30 police personnel who also update the force's website and, the newly launched twitter Twitter account.The Facebook page is now one year old and has over 86,000 fans, and carries press statements, missing persons reports, and provides tip-offs to fight crime.

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