how a cloud burst took facebook by storm

What works on social media is good content. Sometimes that content isn't about key messages and campaigns as almost 13,000 likes on a weather storm clip in Wolverhampton shows.

by Tim Clark

I was out on a site visit recently and at one point was using my smartphone to update some pictures to the council’s social media sites.

A non-communications colleague who had accompanied me quipped: “It must be nice having a job where you can mess about on Facebook all day!”

It got me thinking. She was right on one level, it is pretty amazing being paid to use new and evolving technologies to communicate instantly with thousands of people every day. However, she was wrong to suggest – even if in jest – that we are just “messing about." 

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'if you're not skilling-up the whole of your organisation you're failing...'

There's some brilliant work taking shape in charity communications. But no matter how good the cutting edge work the organisation needs to be pulled along too.

 

Hello I'm Laila and I'm a digital-aholic.  

 

But I've got a bit of a confession to make – despite being a digital geek with a degree in Computer Science and Art I've never worked in a start-up, I've always worked in the charity sector. 

Of the many things that keep me in charities, a big one is the change I've been able to contribute to and drive. I'm not alone, digital staff across the sector are making waves.

This became really clear when I presented recently on the digital transformation work I've been leading at UNICEF UK (see my presentation on my blog here.) 

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the olympic opening ceremony, story telling and internal comms

 

Brilliant, wasn't it? It won over cynics and galvanised supporters. The 2012 Olympic Games opening ceremony won over the nation. How can you have some of that to tell your story?

by Kate Hughes

I woke up as high as a kite after watching the epic, awesome Olympic opening ceremony. 

It was an extraordinary display; a great love letter to our country. For me the thing that really elevated it from spectacular to oh-my-god-so-bloody-uber-amazingly-spectacular was the rich storytelling.

Danny Boyle crafted a story that is familiar to us (about our modern history) but told it in such a beautiful way that you couldn't help but be captivated.

From the first scene change, the rolling green hills disappearing under the satanic mills of the industrial revolution, the audience could anticipate the story arc; but that only added to the sense of drama.

The tiny details - the poppies swaying in the breeze, the torch under the bed covers - contrasted with the big bang moments, enhancing the story further. 

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fun and games

by Darren Caveney

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.

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a brilliant internal comms case study

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...

by Stuart Mackintosh

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.

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content creation and the power of stories

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.

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facebook... don't go for big numbers... go for the right numbers

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.

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internal communications – it’s not rocket science

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.

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what the k-hub can do for comms people

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.

by Leah Lockhart

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.

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using pinterest as a comms channel

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.

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shifty shellshock

by Carolyne Mitchell

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.

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a recipe for comms success?

by Rachel Miller

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?

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on taking the plunge with twitter

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.

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pr is the engine of content marketing

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. 

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using linkedin to super-connect

Think LinkedIn is just social networking for grey people or just a glorified address book? Think again.

By Dan Carins

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.

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