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I have watched with fascination the trials and tribulations over the past few months of the LOCOG team charged with ensuring that an incredibly rigid set of Olympic guidelines are enforced at all costs.
Don't get me wrong, I absolutely understand the importance to the official Games sponsors of having exclusive access to the London 2012 logo. This is pure, hard-nosed sponsorship - for commercial gain -not altruism and anyone who thinks otherwise should go and enter the long jump.
You know that line about staff are your greatest asset? Wouldn't it be great if you actually listened to them when shaping your internal comms? Someone here has...
We all love a bit of value, right? At Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council, we love a bit of valuing, too.
The internal challenge was the most significant facing a new-look comms team installed in 2010.
We knew what we needed, that wasn’t rocket science – an army of well-informed and motivated advocates and ambassadors for an authority with plenty on its plate.
If you’ve not heard of us, we’re a borough of extraordinary contrasts up here on the North-East coast. We’re a genuine industrial powerhouse, from Europe’s deepest mine at Cleveland Potash to one of the largest deep sea ports in the UK, handling more than 40 million tonnes of cargo each year.
Storytelling. One of many brilliant sessions at the recent Birmingham localgovcamp event demonstrated the need for us all to tell better stories. Are you sitting comfortably? Then Matt will begin ...*
by Matt Bond
I’ve been left pretty, nay, very inspired recently as I’ve begun to delve deeper into the world of content creation and in particular the role of stories in our lives both personally and as professional communicators.
Storytelling is one of the oldest forms of communication known to man - it is at the centre of all families, communities and cultures – and so it really shouldn’t come as any great surprise that the art of the story should be at the very centre of all our communications.
There's always pressure to generate higher Facebook numbers. But what do you want? An army of the disinterested or a battalion of the engaged?
By Dan Harris
It's the question I'm asked most frequently by friends, businesses and colleagues..."how do I get more likes on Facebook?"
My answer is always the same "why do you want more?"
The number of likes a page has on Facebook is arbitrary.
Internal comms can often be the Cinderella channel. But to get things right outside you need to get things right inside.
by Hannah Rees
When Cornwall Council was first formed three years ago, there were no real internal communications channels to speak of. An organisation going through major change, with seven councils merging, a total of 22,000 employees and a huge geographical spread, it needed some serious TLC.
We had several failing services, financial problems, a new Chief Executive, 123 new elected Members, a new political hue, Leader and Cabinet and a very strong new approach to our direction of travel.
Why you should join the growing trend for business blogging and how to find your blogging rythmn.
Across all sectors, from SMEs to newspapers, from think tanks to universities, blogging is becoming big business.
As a result, increasing pressure is being placed on comms teams to create and deliver fresh blog content on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. Not just any old content, but content capable of demonstrating expertise, building awareness, sharing values and, most importantly, building stronger connections with customers.
GUEST EDITOR: Ben Proctor of the Likeaword consultancy.
What should press offices do when the printing presses go quiet? In this post a plan for revolution is drafted. But there's still a role to play for communications people if they adapt.
You've watched. You've listened. You'd like to dive in and really get to grips with social media. Here's how.
by Emma Rodgers
When I was asked to write a blog for Comms2point0, I was excited but then the reality struck. What could I write that would be interesting enough to post on a creative, knowledge filled web site targeted at comms professionals?
And that in a way sums up my recent social media journey – am I interesting enough? Don’t get me wrong – I’m not a complete Luddite.
I’ve had a Facebook account since 2007 and a Twitter account since 2009 but it’s true to say I’ve been a sporadic watcher and definitely not a commentator.
And I’ve never been convinced by people who feel they need to tell the world their inside leg measurement or the full ‘ins’ and ‘outs’ of how they’re dealing with breastfeeding on-line.
The Knowledge Hub is a platform for people in the public sector to share best practice. It can also be a place for comms people to start dipping their toe in the digital water.
The Knowledge Hub is a web based communication and collaboration platform built specifically for people in and around local government.
It’s secure, free to use, it’s not blocked by local authority IT security and it provides users with both basic and more advanced functionality as seen in popular social media platforms.
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.
Pinterest is a platform that is sweeping all before it. Stats are amazing. In fact, in March 2012 the site served up 2.3 billion page impressions to over 4 million unique visitors a day. Can comms teams use them? Of course they can.
by Ross Wigham
Watching the Euro2012 football over the past few weeks I’ve found a really useful innovation on the BBC that enables you to switch between a range of different commentary options.
If you press the red button you can even select the option to have no commentary at all, immersing yourself in just the background noise of the stadium. I’ve nothing against Martin Keown but for me football is generally a more visual experience.
I don’t really want or need people telling me what’s happening during the game because I can already see it with my own eyes - I just want to watch the action unfold.
When I started out working on council web content eight years ago I didn’t realise that making our content and processes as easy-to-use as possible to tempt people onto the web would be called channel shift.
Five years ago I attended the National Digital Inclusion Conference and alarm bells started ringing. It was the first time anyone had pointed out to me that 1/3 three people in the UK didn’t have a computer (at that time).
It was also the first time I heard about the broadband lottery. Maybe I was naïve but I’d just assumed everyone was like me and my family and friends.
This week I came across the phrase ‘corporate blancmange’ and it got me thinking. It was used by the Head of the BBC’s Olympic coverage, Roger Mosey, who was quoted in The Sun as saying he wanted to “try things” rather than let the opening ceremony “become some corporate blancmange that no one likes at all.”
That phrase set my mind whirring about the language we use within organisations and its effect on our audiences. I’m sure at some point we’ve all continued with something e.g. a newsletter or employee event simply because ‘it’s the way it’s always been.’
But when did you last stop to consider if it’s still adding value and is distinctly un-blancmange-like? Be honest. When did you last ask your audience what they think of what the Comms team is producing, and not just through the annual employee survey?
You don't have to have been on Twitter for years to get something out of it. As this comms officer says, once you take the plunge you'll find unexpected rewards and an ability to connect over comms ideas... and moon walking.
by Lisa Green
There's an art to being interesting in 140 characters - I'm still trying to master it. 33 days and 232 tweets, I am a twitter newbie.
I first heard of twitter way back in 2009 when Stephen Fry tweeted about being stuck in a lift at centre point. A friend was involved in the PR for the day and was excited that lots of people were instantly talking about centre point.
Three years on and I've finally set up my own twitter account. Don’t get me wrong, I’m no technophobe, I have Facebook, I Skype my husband when he's away and I tweet for work.
As the idea of content marketing grows so must understanding. Never come across it? You will and here's a starting point.
by Bill Penn
Everybody is talking about content marketing.
According to a new survey by Econsultancy, 90 per cent of B2B marketing professionals say they are aware of it. But how many really understand what it’s all about?
Another quick look at the statistics tells you that only around a quarter of them are actually implementing content marketing programmes. Draw your own conclusions. The blaggers still rule OK would be mine.
This year I've been fortunate enough to visit Cardiff, Shropshire, Norfolk and now Glasgow to share our learning and experiences and to soak up some fresh ideas and challenges.
Our comms2point0/Public Sector Forums event in Glasgow was a really enjoyable adventure and I was struck by the enthusiasm and professionalism of a bunch of comms people keep to learn more, create more, deliver more.
One thing is clear from the cross-UK visits I've made and that is this - yes there are demographic and geographic differences to understand but actually the same broad issues and opportunities exist for us all in the public sector across whether in Scotland, Wales or England. And one of the very biggest challenges for us right now is how we remain effective and relevant across multiple new AND traditional platforms.
Think LinkedIn is just social networking for grey people or just a glorified address book? Think again.
I bought my brother a CD for his birthday this week, King released in 1995 by Belly, featuring Tanya Donelly of The Breeders and Throwing Muses fame. After a sneaky nostalgia-inducing listen, I came across a song featuring the lyric “are you super-connected?”
Maybe Ms Donelly was talking about the new economy, about how networking looks remarkably similar to the way the brain works as it sparks new ideas and potential, and about LinkedIn – but equally this might be far fetched given that the internet in 1995 was pretty much information on clunky websites and a few people using email.
How the world of work and of local government has changed – but thankfully not the voice of Tanya, who's still rocking on.
How do you ensure your organisation embraces social media by more than just a token Facebook and Twitter account? By having your comms person share good ideas, for one.
by Jon King
The tipping point for social media in local government was reached a while back. In terms of adoption, councils have either done it, are about to do it or are asking someone else how they did it so that they can do it too.
But the adoption of social media is only the beginning. Facebook pages and Twitter accounts alone do not a social business make.
Be sensitive to the fact that some people in your organisation are accepting social media only grudgingly. It’s now about ‘hearts & minds’.
by Phil Jewitt
One of my early posts suggested that to be truly influential, you need to be effective, in both word and deed. I suggested that merely being popular doesn’t necessarily mean you are effective or influential.
I’d also suggest that to be constructively influential you need to have the respect of and respect for others and be trusted to say and do the right thing. On occasions, and as recently highlighted, this also means to not do or say things that don’t help. And we‘ve all done that and regretted it to some extent, haven’t we?
As social media becomes mainstream there is a debate about how best an organisation can do it. Wiltshire Council have a dedicated officer and this is her story.
I’ve been working for Wiltshire Council for four years and out of uni for six. Since I signed up to MySpace and Facebook back in 2005 I’ve been intrigued by the power and potential of social networking.
