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Social media. Should there just be one corporate account? And how much of the population should you be reaching to be a success? One member of the Public Sector Headspace Facebook group decided to map the larger authorities to see who was reaching most people. It's a great piece of work.
by Tom Jennings
Read moreSomeone online has said something critical. How do you respond? Here are some ideas.
by Emily Taylor
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We've come a long way, baby, as country singer Loretta Lynn once sang. Once, the idea of using social media in the public sector was bold and revolutionary. Now it is common place. Perhaps the greatest thing about this is that it puts a human face onto civil servants who are human too.
People often argue about the definition of what's a crisis and what's an emergency. That's maybe missing the point. This post highlights the really important thing - how it affects people.
Having been asked to be part of the judging panel for the UnAwards is a real honour for me. Seeing colleagues and fellow comms people work hard in the public sector is always heartening and I'm proud to count myself amongst their number.
The crisis comms category sits comfortably with me as it's where my experiences lie. For once, I want to be comfortable and not challenged - this is something I'm enjoying doing without running on adrenalin, squinting at a screen, getting wet whilst plastic tape flickers in the background and I'm trying desperately to get reception on my mobile. I've had sleep, I've eaten a meal that consists more of a soggy sandwich and countless donuts and I'm ready to go.
However, this made me wonder what a crisis really is and seeing the entrants has done exactly the opposite of what I was looking forward to - challenge me. Or rather, challenge my perceptions of what a crisis is.
Media law. For years it felt largely like an ever constant. But along came social media and all of a sudden things felt dangerously different. Add some law changes and the landscape has tilted somewhat. One issue? Your staff's social media accounts. With media law consultant David Banks we're running workshops. This is a flavour of why.
by David Banks
Just so we're clear, the following are my views alone and do not reflect those of comms2point0.
That's fine then, anything I say on this platform they've given me is my responsibility alone and the good folks at comms2point0 should bear no responsibility for anything I write here.
Here goes. I don't like cake. Not only do I not like cake, I don't like people who like cake. They symbolise all that is wrong with our country, sitting there eating cake when they could be doing something much more useful.
Some communications tasks are straight forward. Others need careful handling. So, how do you communicate the memory of an event whose darkness musn't be forgotten?
by Tony Moran
Humanity has lived through the darkest of times, but few events have stained our collective soul more than the Srebrenica genocide. Over 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were systematically murdered in July 1995 during the Balkans conflict – just because of who they were.
The UN described Srebrenica as ‘the worst crime on European soil since the Second World War’.
Lessons learned from the genocide demonstrate how hatred and intolerance can flourish if left unchallenged - even in a country such as Bosnia and Herzegovina where people of different faiths had lived peacefully together for many years, yet an integrated society disintegrated.
Plenty of folks have switched sectors in their careers, and many more follow. In this fascinating post we learn all about the differences, and similarities, in communications in local government and the NHS from one of the best comms pros around.
By GUEST EDITOR Ross Wigham
Hello and welcome from your friend in the North.
I’ve been a long time reader and occasional contributor to comms2point0 so it’s a real treat to be guest editing and a genuine honour to be asked.
Having moved to work in a hospital, after spending the last seven years at various councils the thing I’m most commonly asked is what’s the biggest difference? Clearly, that’s about as boring as asking how many times Newcastle United will concede more than four goals this season, but I do see some interesting parallels between the NHS as a whole and the average public sector comms team.
There are launches and there are launches. The launch of the UK Government's Communications Plan is worth a look. The Government Communications Service has set some high standards in recent years and how they go about their business should be of interest to everyone involved in the field.
by Alex Aiken
This is our communications plan for the year ahead. It sets out the main campaigns that are designed to help deliver the priorities of the Government and the ways by which we are going to improve our professional practice.
The Government’s One Nation narrative provides a clear focus for our work, providing the framework for Government policies and programmes to help working people, spread opportunity, bring our country together and secure Britain’s place in the world. There will be major campaigns to improve public health, get young people into apprenticeships, encourage the right to buy, recruit to our armed forces and explain pension provision. In total this plan contains 77 communication campaigns, from encouraging blood donation to reducing tax avoidance.
CommsCamp has been the source of many an idea and plan. But one vision, for a new NHS comms initiative, was sparked before-hand and road-tested at the event for communicators instead. Good thinking.
by Amanda Nash
I’ve never felt so naked in a room full of hundreds of strangers. I don’t want to put women off pitching at conferences, in fact Emma Rodgers’ blog inspired me to get up off my seat.
But the reality is, you’re up front alone, with just your idea for a session and a microphone in hand. It could be a great idea, if could be a really bad one. At the point when you see everyone out front staring at you expectantly, that’s the moment you think it’s probably the latter … but it’s too late. You have 30 seconds to sell it.
The #prstack project is something we've blogged about. It's a crowdsourced review of apps and tools that are available for comms people. There has been an ebook published on it. It's worth a look. Here's how one person got involved.
by David Sawyer
I met Stephen Waddington in October last year.
He was speaking at a CIPR event in Glasgow about his 10 pledges to modernise the public relations industry in the UK.
Here was a man speaking my language. New PR.
It wasn't always the case.
Five years ago, like many senior PR pros, I had the digital fear.
But through a combination of sheer hard work and determination, I grasped the digital nettle.
I grappled with a bewildering array of online tools. Trying and testing them in a bid to make my "new PR" life easier.
Social media can be great. You reach residents you don't normally connect with. Of course, the flipside of social media is that can you get shouted at in your own time as this heartfelt blog says.
by A Local Government Officer
It’s a Sunday afternoon and I’m working. It’s raining – fair enough – but I still probably shouldn’t be working. I’ve got a toddler who is demanding attention (and some housework that could do with some, too), but instead I’m at my laptop.
I’m working because I’m part of a tiny (reduced) communications team for a council. I am working on a Sunday because if I don’t, I won’t get everything done that needs to be done during a working week. I think this type of working is known as ‘doing more with less’, but I digress.
While I wait to be allowed into the IT system, I pick up my iPhone to check the council’s Twitter account We don’t officially monitor Twitter out of office hours, but in reality, we do. We all check in from home so we can stay on top of any evolving issues and keep in touch with what’s being said to us/about us, at evenings and weekends.
I am met wit
When he’s not leading on social media at the University of Warwick, Dave Musson is a photographer and an avid and active Instagramer, with over 60,000 followers. As Instagram is becoming an increasingly important tool in the 21st century comms pro’s arsenal, we asked Dave to share a few Instatips – here’s part one, which focuses on self-improvement.
By Dave Musson
Unlike pets, children or colleagues, there’s no shame to be had or relationships to destroy in declaring your favourite social network. For me, it’s Instagram and has been for a long time – it’s incredibly social, it’s made with mobile in mind and it’s a daily source of inspirational photography.
Like many people I was sad to hear of the death of cricket commentator Richie Benaud on Friday.
Richie Benaud defined cricket commentary for my generation and I’ll always remember his rich words during that iconic summer of 1981 and the greatest test series I think ever took place - Botham’s Ashes.
But it was Richie Benaud’s articulate, measured, soothing descriptions of events taking place on the pitch that elevated the games from brilliant to unforgettable.
And it spawned my favourite piece of sporting commentary ever when he described a huge six from Ian ‘Beefy’ Botham against a flagging Australian side:
“Don’t even bother looking for that, let alone chasing it. It’s gone straight into the confectionery stall – and out again.”
It’s been a much repeated quote since his passing but those who were around at the time didn’t need a reminder, it was tucked away in the memory bank for life. A truly brilliant and totally unplanned line.
To me he was just an incredible communicator and storyteller.
You're all maximising your use of YouTube, right? If not, this post is a must read...
by Matt Bond
In which I argue that for too long You Tube has been thought of as the ‘bolt on’ communications channel, that place where you chuck your films without a care and perhaps link via your ‘more popular’ Facebook and Twitter accounts.
Could a Twitter account passed between local government people help tell the story of their sector? One switched-on comms person thinks it could.
In December 2011, Sweden launched what it called 'the world's most democratic Twitter experiment' when the Twitter account @Sweden was born.
If you're not already a follower I can highly recommend that you check it out.
Basically, a new Swede takes over the country's official Twitter account @sweden every week, sharing their daily experiences and opinions and generally celebrating their nation.
Thunderclap? What's that? It's a social platform for making a bigger bang. Here in a case study is what it is and how it works.
by Anna Warren
I first heard of a Thunderclap when our friends at Fire and Rescue asked us to join theirs for the ‘Tick Tock Test’ campaign. Being a social media intern I felt a bit embarrassed that I had never heard of a one before. Luckily, when I looked around the team I realised no one else seemed sure either.
It was clear: we needed to get our hands on this tool and do some experimenting.
We've always liked the cut of the jib of those folks down in Norfolk. And this post and idea sums them up nicely.
by GUEST EDITOR Susie Lockwood 
It’s crucial to lead on things sometimes; come up with new ideas, be brave, be innovative, make stuff happen. But leaders don’t get very far without followers, people who can recognise a good idea when they see one and can make it happen much more effectively.
So it follows (sorry, couldn’t resist) that it’s important to follow as well as lead, support as well as take the starring role.
Sometimes with social media things go a bit wrong. Something happens that is unplanned and leaves you with egg on your face. So, you're in a hole. How do you get yourself out of it? Honesty and humour, it seems.
The Mission: promote the grand work of Charnwood Borough Council’s CCTV service.
The Tactic: tweet live from the camera control centre on a busy Saturday night in Loughborough.
Northumberland is one of the most beautiful corners of Britain. But it suffers from being far away from population centres and a lack of exposure. Go there and you'll fall in love with the place. So, bright people who look after the promotion of tourism have got active during a TV show that showcases it.
by Ross Wigham
It’s not often that I’m nervously tuned into ITV right before Coronation Street, furtively waiting for a middle aged TV star and former hit-maker to wax lyrical about my patch.
A new white paper, called 'Best by West Midlands', which highlights best practice use of social media across local government in the West Midlands, is being launched today.
We’re a smidge biased but we happen to think that West Midlands’ local authorities are pretty hot when it comes to their use of social media.
So when those nice people at Improvement and Efficiency West Midlands gave us the opportunity to back that statement up with a white paper on best practice we leapt at the chance.
