Two days on, I still have a lovely warm glow from the 8th annual UnAwards.
by Darren Caveney
Read moreup for the cup: november's top posts
It's that time again when we award the prestigious, shiny £1 comms2point0 cup for the month's most read post. It was a close, close call this month. But a winner we have...
November saw in our landmark 200th post as well as some brilliant case studies on everything from social media best practice, strategic communications, industry surveys, life as a press officer and a whole lot more. But the most read posts came from the archive and one in particular holds a special place.
In at number one...
I'm delighted to say that last month's top post was a Google+ case study, which is a really interesting development. Thanks to Shane Dillon for teaching many of us a thing or two about this platform.
the business of cliches
Business clichés. You really can't beat them can you? Actually, I'd gladly beat upon them.
You know the kind of annoying phrases I'm referring to - business buzzwords. Those thrown in by people in meetings often trying to show off, or, more likely, to cover up a lack of understanding.
Here's my top five most loathed business clichés, in reverse order...
the view is everything
I don't know about you but I think that one of the easiest (bad) habits to fall into as a comms person is that of jumping both feet first into the next project without taking adequate time out to 'think it through.'
Yes, we all know the theory and yes we all know the importance and yes when it really matters of course we think it through. But with busy workloads, greater demands and the need to pull comms rabbits out of problematic organisational hats it's extremely easy to underplay thinking and planning time. And worse still, it's easy not to ask the customer what they actually want.
And so this week, when I attended my first LGcommunications national executive meeting in Blackpool, I was asked to pull together a seminar on digital engagement I immediately began pulling together ideas and scribbling notes about the format and content of the event.
a date with the easter bunny
I’d lay a bet with you all right now: You work longer hours now that you did five and 10 years ago (and for our older followers I double guarantee than you work more hours now than you did 20 years ago)
Some of you will recall the very real process of ‘winding down’ at work before going on holiday (and I was working in the private sector at the time, before anyone pipes up about the cushy public sector)
Did you ever have to produce lengthy ‘handover’ notes for colleagues to pick up your projects whilst away?
And at the risk of sounding like a martyr, how many of you regularly take a proper lunch break? (a rushed sandwich at your PC whilst clearing your email inbox doesn’t count)
birds in the nest
My dear old Dad used to say he was always happiest when “all of his birds were in the nest”.
His birds were, of course, his kids. He’d have done – and did – anything for those little birds. Right or wrong, he’d protect, support, help and nurture them and he’d flap and flutter whenever one of those birds left his well-kept nest.
I used to think that this was really funny, especially given he was a pretty tough cookie, unnervingly street-wise and the youngest of six kids from one of Birmingham’s harsher neighbourhoods.
reasons to be cheerful - one, two, three...
Several things hung around in my head in the days after the successful ‘facebook in the public sector’ (#fbps12) event held at my beloved St. Andrews.
First, the sheer positivity with which colleagues from 40 organisations are embracing the opportunity to communicate and engage better with their customers.
Second, a reminder that all organisations have their own individual strengths and weaknesses, things they do well, and things they could improve upon.
winds of change …
I’ve been lucky enough to attend and participate in a couple of excellent events this past week or so. The first UKGovCamp in London and the second an LGComms seminar on social media in Cardiff.
A key theme running through both events was that of the shifting nature of the communications landscape, and the differing ways in which organisations are reacting and redifining activity. The sands are certainly shifting at speed for some, for others they're moving at a far gentler pace.
carry on camping
knowing your ABC's
The world has never been more full of stats, figures and data. Bank losses, Facebook numbers, job cuts – the list is virtually endless and the transparency agenda has only increased the numbers maze.
Closer to home, our working world’s are also all about metrics, ROI’s, sales figures...
And our home lives are stacked full of numbers too – bank balances, school league tables, weather forecasts, mortgage rates, the price of fish.
is it time to change the way comms teams work?
Let's assume, just for a minute, that the accepted norm is that all organisations have Twitter feeds, Facebook pages and a website or two. How does that area of work stack up against the daily churn of media enquiries, press releases and marketing & communications plans?
And how do we manage the growth in demand for all of this work against a backdrop – for many - of cuts and reduced resources?
map yourself a comms plan
if you're looking to create a simple straightforward comms plan, then you might find this comms planning pack a useful starting point.
using a mind mapping technique, this pack walks you through the key planning stages.
the end result being a great outline comms plan guaranteed to get your project off on the right foot.
