SMM strategy and Media Consumption of Political News: Official Internet Accounts of Government Agencies

The article examines current media consumption patterns regarding political news among Internet users that follow official government accounts (VKontakte social network, 2023–2025). The study analyzed the accounts of The Committee for External Relations of St. Petersburg, The Representative Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia in St. Petersburg, and The Interparliamentary Assembly of the CIS. An integrated approach combined qualitative and quantitative methods to evaluate content and audience engagement. It yielded several recommendations for optimizing content strategy: 1) expanding the range of discussion topics; 2) conducting a comprehensive analysis of user interests and behavioral patterns; 3) ensuring more timely responses to user inquiries; 4) adopting a more informal communication style. The proposed methodology for assessing social media activity is considered methodologically sound. However, its full-scale implementation requires a broader study of a larger number of domestic accounts involved in foreign policy activities.