think digital: 10 principles

Increasingly, we're hearing the word 'digital' being bandied about. But what in practice do comms teams need to know? And how should they be thinking differently? 

by Dave Briggs

At various events and in various meetings lately, I have found myself saying the same things.

It’s all about thinking digital, and not just doing digital. It’s acknowledging that the real benefits of digital ways of doing things lie not just in the tools we use, but how we use them, and the attitude we bring to our work.

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self-publishing tips by a dj turned comms pro

In the olden days you had to type a manuscript and send it round. Not any longer. You can self-publish. But how hard is it? Pretty straight forward as this comms professional shows.

by Andy Holmes

Let’s talk well-trodden paths.

Actor turned singer?

Player turned manager?

How about journalist turned PR turned author?

If I’m the only one, I’m a Dutchman, but perhaps my story will inspire those who have always wanted to write a book?

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using snapchat in charity comms

Snapchat is a growing social media platform beloved of young people. Snapchats are pictures with a line of text and are meant to be disposable. But how can PR and comms use it?

Snapchat, here today…gone in 10 seconds?

I recently wrote this article for @GuardianVoluntary about how charities can make use Snapchat to their advantage, alongside some of the things to look out for.

The article came about because of an opportunity we took when WalesOnline announced they had started using Snapchat. They have been developing Newsroom 3.1, and as part of that they are experimenting with the Snapchat app.

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trust me, pr is dead: welcome to the progressive corporate future

There is a lot of thinking right now about what the role of PR is in the future. In this guest post, one PR veteran explains why he has turned author to set out his ideas for the future as he re-thinks what the sector must look like. This may be uncomfortable reading for some.

by Robert Phillips 

My forthcoming book, “Trust Me, PR Is Dead” has attracted a lot of chatter in social media, since the first article appeared last summer. It charts the fall of Public Relations and the rise of Public Leadership: activist, co-produced, citizen-centric and society-first.

It calls for new measurement and accountability metrics, based on Public Value, which will be unique to every organisation that develops them.

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music2point0 - your essential summer playlist

by Darren Caveney

So there I was sourcing insightful comms links on a Thursday evening, when I put out a tweet asking for a cool summer tune for our Friday song of the day. What resulted was, in no time at all, a crowd-sourced list of not one but 22 summer tunes. Some of them absolute belters.

I'm considering re-branding to music2point0 and I figured that this should be an essential summer playlist.

So here’s the list.

Enjoy.

Summer Fun by The Barracudas for @sarahlay

The Night by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons for @Cal444

Summer Breeze by The Isley Brothers for @Gemma_Finnegan

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to strike or not strike? a comms dilemma

A strike is likely to take place on July 10 in local government and comms people will have some hard thinking to do. In this post one professional thinks aloud over the difficult choice they face.

by A Local Government Comms Person

Sitting at the heart of a local authority within a corporate comms team often brings about conflict between the decisions and policies of the organisation and your personal views. However, it is the job of the professional to separate the two, and to present the organisation in the best possible light, enhancing, preserving or defending its reputation. 

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barbie has joined linkedin... shouldn't you? shouldn't your daughter?

The size and reach of LinkedIn has reached a tipping point with Barbie now joining. Is this a positive message to girls? And to all of us? 

by Karen Steel

Barbie has joined LinkedIn. That’s right. The pneumatic blonde (or sometimes brunette) with the unlikely proportions has her own showcase page under the Mattel company account which details her 55-year career encompassing more than 150 jobs (currently she describes herself as ‘entrepreneur’ and the role is said to be inspired by Sheryl Sandberg).

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#HousingDay 12.11.14

Taking a leaf out of brands using ‘real life’ human stories, it’s time housing collectively hits back with some of its own...

Smashing perceptions - hitting back with real life stories

by Adrian Capon

Tackling negative stereotypes and perceptions is complex and long-term. Recent TV portrayal has seen stigma entrenched for people living in social and council housing. With so much media popularity focussed on this - what about creating a programme hearing from people who do amazing work?

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step back and look at the view

We're all so busy racing around trying to get good at the latest 'next big thing' that sometimes we forget to take a step back...

by GUEST EDITOR Nic Davies Uley

Working in communications, reading about communications, communicating about communications, it can all get a bit too much. If working for myself has taught me one thing, it’s to step back and look at the view.

But you can’t look at the view, unless you take the step back.

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don't worry about dumbing down, worry about dumbing up

Do we need to apologise for making things jargon-free and easy to understand...? One comms professional has just drawn a line in the sand.

by Jon Matthias

I’ve decided I’m not going to apologise any more for ‘dumbing down’. And I’m going to be less tolerant when people start ‘dumbing up’.

We have two challenges as communicators - to both be heard and be understood. Simplicity is the key to people understanding what we say. Clarity and brevity are our friends.

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survey launch: the death of organic reach on social media

If you work in digital comms you'll be aware of a storm coming down the path. It's about Facebook. What you post may not be seen unless you have an advertising budget to help promote it. We're launching a survey with the nice people at Deeson Creative on social media and advertising. We'd love you to take part in it. But first here's a take on where we are and where we are headed.

by Emily Turner 

How many people have told you that they’ve seen a tail off of engagement on Facebook and that fail-safe images no longer bring forth the plethora of likes, shares and comments they used to?

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using pinterest in the public sector

Pinterest? That's for weddings, isn't it? Not entirely. One bright comms person is experimenting in the public sector.

by Karen Jeal

There are more than 500,000 businesses using Pinterest. So at Lambeth Council are we behind the times or ahead of the game? Well there’s only a handful of councils using it so we’ve added ourselves to that small list and started pinning.   

In the three years since Pinterest launched, there are more than 70 million people using it. Wow. That’s impressive.

In Pinterest there are boards. You pin things on the boards. People follow you or your boards. You can like things without attaching it to a board. In short it’s a virtual inspiration board. Those already ‘pinning’ will know that it's far more than that, but at Lambeth we’re just settling in.

We’ve started using it to influence outcomes, engage with our community and encourage more collaboration.  

Things you can recycle is one of our boards. The idea – to create a range of things showing residents what you can be recycled and how to reuse different objects. The long-term outcome of this is to increase recycling rates and reduce waste.

We recently ran a parks challenge where residents tell us what they want to see in their parks. Pinterest is a great way of doing this too. Adding things that inspire us or to pin things others are doing to create a virtual mood board of which direction we want our parks to go in.

We’ve a board for each of our priorities to really drill down to what they mean and how we can fulfil them. We’re using it influence too – a board named ‘People of the borough’ basically showcases everyone who has an association with Lambeth.

Take a look http://www.pinterest.com/lambethcouncil/ you’ll see it’s still in its early stages but it’s going to be a great tool for taking our digital channels to the next level.

Karen Jeal is digital officer at London Borough of Lambeth.

 

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navigating internal comms? it’s plain sailing.

Remember when you didn’t work in comms? When you didn’t have access to every possible piece of information about your organisation? When you had no idea who the chief executive was and there was more chance of winning Euromillions than you ever meeting them in the flesh?

by Jo Smith

I have to go back 20 years to my graduate days to be ‘BC’ – Before Comms.  Back then people still used typewriters. Email was barely born, mobile phones were the size of suitcases and if you wanted news you read the paper.  Since then I’ve watched communications techniques evolve and have done my best to keep up with every exhausting and exciting step.

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the press release is dead theory...? here's the practical

Further evidence that the press release is not the first thing comms people reach for in the toolbox. 

 

We all know it. We’ve been told a million times. The news release is officially, well if not dead, then old news.

We’re still a bit sceptical about this though, aren’t we? Like a bad marriage, we just hang on in there, perhaps for old times’ sake.

But actions, as I always tell colleagues, do speak louder than words and our actions when we had our ‘crisis’ communication plans tested by a major incident recently, spoke volumes.

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