nudge nudge, think think

You've heard bits and pieces about nudge but what is it really all about and can it be a part of your communications solutions?

by GUEST EDITOR Carolyne Mitchell

Last month I was lucky enough to host a behavioural economics workshop for Scottish public sector comms teams. The day was run by Stephen Young, senior lecturer in Economics at Brighton University Business School and Viv Caisey a social marketer who's done fab stuff with health and food standards around the country.

Behavioural economics, better known as nudge is one of those tricky concepts that is just emerging from academia into the world for people to apply to their own causes.

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have you shared your best ideas? you should

Here's an idea that will spin your thinking upside down. Give your ideas away? For free? But what happens? You build a reputation. That's what. 

Have you read my book, Sharing Superheroes, yet? If you’re among the 8 who have, move on. You already know the one thing that’s holding many businesses back. And I trust you’ve used it to your advantage.

However I’m going to assume you’re one of the 6.9999999992 billion unfortunates who haven’t had their desks graced by that marketing playbook. Instead of chucking a copy at your face, I’ll give you what you came here for. I save postage, you save face.

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up for the cup: august's top posts

Well August is historically a quieter month for the old web traffic, with you good people disappearing to every corner of the globe, and Weston-Super-Mare. But actually last month was really busy. And we had a surprise number one in the comms2point0 hit parade.

by Darren Caveney

We like to think that we have a little something for everyone on the site these days. Last month's most read posts underlined that range of tidy little case studies and learning.

And competition for one of our prestigious little plastic cups remains high. You simply cannot buy one from eBay. No way. You have to write a belting little post which lots of folk read. Easy peasy.

So, the top five, in our usual reverse order...

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5 unexpected benefits of being a social organisation

Bromford Housing in Wolverhampton. If only every employer was like them. Why? Because they've embraced this digital stuff. And their world didn't end. It actually got better. Here's what they learned.

by GUEST EDITOR Paul Taylor

It’s little over two years since Bromford lifted any restrictions on social media and offered complete freedom to every single colleague. 

And it’s almost impossible to remember what life was like before the wall came down.

Hundreds of Bromford people have online profiles and blogs and membership of our internal Yammer covers almost all colleagues.

Truth be told we didn’t really know what we were unleashing. We didn’t know how it would change us or the organisation.

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a campaign to tweet realtime murders

The image of Victorian London is a strong one. Pea soupers, Dickens and Jack the Ripper. As part of a campaign to promote a book one publisher is using Twitter to post realtime updates.

by Jamie Wolfendale

It’s been 125 years since Jack the Ripper stalked the streets of Whitechapel, but his bloody legacy still looms large. This year The History Press is proud to announce its follow-up to the award-winning 2012 Titanic Real Time campaign with another social media campaign, Whitechapel Real Time – a digital exploration of Victorian London at the time of the Jack the Ripper murders.

Join The History Press on a historical journey through London in 1888’s ‘Autumn of Terror’, where the Jack the Ripper story will be told through Twitter using real-time tweets from characters both real and fictional.

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on measuring... and measuring profile

Sometimes experimenting without measuring is okay. But there's a school of thought that as comms is science you need to measure. Here's one thought on what we should be measuring: profile.

by Gavin Loader

I’m a measurement addict; there I said it, phew. I’m addicted to the iPhone/web app called Strava that turned me from a friendly runner and cyclist into a distance and speed enthusiast. I can recite every PB at every distance I’ve ever achieved, and the challenges and goals that left me a lactic acid induced mess.

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five lessons learned in campaigning on the right to film council meetings

Ridiculed in satirical publications such as Private Eye, caught on camera for YouTube viewers, slammed in the press by cabinet ministers and MPs alike, the issue of members of the public filming council meetings can provoke strong feelings. Here, campaigner and journalist Sarah Hartley from Talk About Local draws out five conclusions from recent events which could help councillors, comms professionals and campaigners find a way through the friction.

by Sarah Hartley

It’s an issue that’s not often been generating the sort of headlines most local authorities would like to see written about them.

Videos of people in ceremonial chains demanding that cameras be ‘dismantled’, meetings being dissolved rather than hearing important local issues and police having their time wasted on well-meaning citizen doesn’t present local authorities in a good light.

So how has it come to this point?

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up for the cup: july's top posts

As months go, July was a bit special for us. The launch of a new white paper, record web site visitors and a new job for one of us. But nothing quite compares to the announcement of the top post for July...

by Darren Caveney

With well over 300 posts on the site we like to think that we have a little something for everyone now. And the top five most read posts in July underline the mix of case studies and learning from across many sectors.

So, the top five, in our usual reverse order:

At five, was What would Basil Clarke the father of British PR make of today's industry? by Richard Evans.

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future leaders on tour

Future Leaders, now in its second year, is giving talented public sector comms people the chance to expand their leadership skills. In the days of zero training budgets this is a timely initiative by LGcomms.

by GUEST EDITOR Emma Rodgers

When was the last time you got time away from the office to think about how you spend your time at work, how effective your leadership style is and what to do to build your own personal credibility?

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why face-to-face conferences still matter in internal comms

With a shift to digital does an email from the top work as well as the traditional conference? There's a place for it. But there's a place for the traditional event too.

by Theresa Knight 

Picture the traditional staff conference - you know the one where the chief executive and senior managers engage with the workforce, give them key messages, put them into workshops and take questions from the floor.

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learning to build an online community

People under rate how hard it is to build an online community. It takes months and years of careful work. Yet, it's increasingly a task being asked of communications. Here's what one person learned from a course acknowledged as one of the best.

by Andrew Brightwell

When I was asked a while ago why I'd signed up for the Online Community Management course, run by Feverbee, it took me a moment to decide how to answer. Should I try to say something clever or be honest? In the end I plumped for honest: "I'm here because I am called an online community manager and I'd quite like it to mean something."

It got a laugh, but I'm guessing my flippancy also revealed a little about my own attitude t

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