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Every year SOCITM publish their Better Connected report into how local government websites are faring. Spending all your effort on your homepage?
by John Fox
The way that website visitors are led to the tasks they require is fundamental to achieving a successful website design. Better connected 2015, published today by Socitm Insight, includes an analysis of the effectiveness of council website home and landing pages.
To mark St David's Day we thought that it would be rather good to have a Welsh post and a Welsh guest editor. Over to you, Nat Corney...
by GUEST EDITOR Natalie Corney 
Please indulge me here, I wrote this for St David’s Day. Yes, there is some stereotyping, yes, it could apply to other countries and areas etc., but go with it – I think it has some important points...
1.Be proud
Welsh people are incredibly proud of where they come from – and not just the country – their actual town or village. There is a great affinity to home. Whether people still live there or whether they’ve moved somewhere else in the world, Wales is still home. It doesn’t matter if it’s the smallest village or the biggest city.
It was a book that many people were a bit intrigued by. It then became a film that many people were intrigued by. Fifty Shades of Grey promised to be a rather racy film that could lead to some people experimenting with handcuffs and all sorts. So, what better place for a fearless fire service comms team to cut loose.
by Rob McTaggart
Should you jump into bed with Fifty Shades of Grey? That’s what lots of PRs will have wondered ahead of the world launch of the film - how can we get involved?
We’ve a good track record for newsjacking and thought we could successfully resurface our #FiftyShadesofRed campaign.
Every sector has challenges that it needs to overcome. Housing is no different.
I’ve worked in communications for Community Housing Cymru for seven years, ever since I was a fresh faced graduate. Although my role has developed and progressed significantly during this time, some challenges have remained the same throughout.
Comms2point0 recently asked me to blog about six challenges faced by housing comms people. Let me know if you agree.
It's often the most badly handled part of PR. The phone call to sell-in a story to a journalist. Done badly it ends with the phone slammed down. Done well and it can help you hit the bullseye. Here are some thoughts from a master of the craft.
Call me old fashioned, but I still love the cut and thrust of the ‘pitch’ to journalists.
Admittedly, I seem to be a rather shrinking breed if recent articles and twitter conjecture is anything to go by.
And I know from experience, a lot of younger PRs view picking up the phone as appealing a prospect as relying on a London Midland train to get you to your appointment on time.
Don’t get me wrong I can understand the apprehension. I’ve been given many a ‘short shrift’ by experienced hacks, been embroiled in heated exchanges when an embargo has been broken and been left exasperated at the choice of photo the picture editor chose to be a bit ‘different’.
Campaigning. It’ll be one of the most talked about comms activities over the next few months in the run up to the general election. Battle lines will be drawn and those with the smartest, best executed campaign stand a chance of coming out on top in what is a tight and hard to call contest. Mastering the art of delivering great campaigns is a key skill in the armoury of any communicator.
No matter how much digital has changed the comms and media landscape, the importance of a well-planned and effectively targeted campaign is still hugely important to communicators across all sectors.
That is why we are really rather excited to be hosting our first ever Campaigns Masterclass this month so that we can learn more – first hand – from six organisations who have deliver memorable and effective campaigns which have changed behaviours, created an impact and won some awards along the way.
If you’re in comms, PR, or marketing, you shouldn’t be asking that question...
By Rachel Moss
The media landscape is changing. It’s something I blogged about last year in a post called ‘Regional News is Dead’. And, as a former TV news broadcaster, turned PR pro, I find it absolutely fascinating.
Well established local newspapers, radio stations and TV newsrooms, are being axed or cut right back to the bone.
Meanwhile, 100’s of nubile little hyper-locals are springing up all over the place, eagerly plugging the gaps to give local communities the info they so desperately need and want.
It’s a riptide of cross currents that, as comms professionals, we really need to dive into.
Adding digital skills to the comms team is the long term ambition of many. But one authority is making it a reality.
by Clare Yau
Considering what digital skills and types of digital roles we needed was a key issue in both planning and delivering our ambitious Digital First project, to transform our website, online customer journeys, use of social media, staff intranet and more.
From the outset, we knew that the critical issue – after getting organisational approval and backing for the project - was ensuring we had the right people with the right mix of skills.
So, we set about researching what types of digital expertise and roles were out there. We found some interesting results.
Our research included participating in a Digital Leaders webinar on digital talent, reading Smart Insights information on structuring a digital team and considering Government Digital Service’s range of digital job descriptions.
Some people and things in life just punch way above their weight. Orkney Islands are one. They never ceases to amaze with their greatness - like the Spartans of the comms world. Here's another example to show why...
Coming from a remote island community you get used to the good humoured “League of Gentlemen” comparisons – this is a local shop, for local people and all that. But from a local government communications perspective, how much truth is there in that kind of statement? Is local best?
In late 2013, local councils across the UK were in the midst of encouraging their residents to nominate their community heroes to be ‘baton bearers’ for the Commonwealth Games Queen’s Baton Relay. It was a challenge, not least in Orkney where Orcadians, although renowned for their immense community spirit and pride, are notoriously reticent to put themselves in the limelight. This coupled with a tendency towards a laid-back last-minute attitude to these processes led to a worried phone call from the Glasgow 2014 relay team concerned over the lack of nominations coming in from Orkney.
A well-meaning PR bod from the relay team ‘doon sooth’ suggested that perhaps they could send us a nice picture of Clyde, the Games mascot, standing (over 300 miles away) next to the Clyde in Glasgow for distribution to our local media.
Thanks, but no thanks.
Mobile, mobile, mobile. It's on all the smart people's lists of things that are getting big in 2015. But what does that mean for comms people?
by Dave Briggs
The growth in popularity of messaging applications, such as Whatsapp, Snapchat, Facebook Messenger, Kik and others have caused a few communicators to start thinking about what the impact of these new channels might have on the way we engage with our communities.
However, it turns out that messaging is, in fact, the least interesting thing about messaging apps. You see, it’s all about the platform. To find out more, we must look east, and to the incredible rise of WeChat in China.
So much more than places for coffee lovers and wedding planners these two picture-led platforms often fly under the radar. Try them. Do. Here's a few ideas how.
Remember the days when we used to laboriously take photographs on our disposable cameras, take them to the shop to develop, wait a few days, go back to collect them, sigh because half your auntie’s head has been cut off, put them in a box and never look at them again?
January can be such a long month. You may have been paid early in December. You may still be waiting to get paid for January. But it needn't all be bleak. And not being flush needn't be a block to creativity. Far from it.
Being paid early in December is great isn’t it?
It’s less great when you reach around about now. It’s late January, it’s been nearly a month, we spent a fortune on Christmas and for some people it’s still a few days until payday.
Managing budgets is a way of life at home - just as it is at work too.
As enthusiastic communicators who want to do the very best in our roles at all times, a lack of resources can be pretty frustrating. When the pressure’s on to find exciting, cutting edge ways to get our messages across, encouraging, inspiring and influencing our colleagues to ensure business objectives are delivered, the Finance Gods say ‘no chance’.
Communications planning for the Nottingham University fire where more than 60 firefighters spent the weekend battling a huge blaze started 10 months in advance.
By Bridget Aherne
That's not a glib, insensitive or plain wacky statement but a genuine sentiment that is testament to the hard work of the Corporate Communications team and all staff in the organisation in changing its approach to engaging with the communities they serve.
Of course, we didn't plan for a fire to devastate a £20m iconic building or for our firefighters and officers to spend three days working tirelessly and professionally to stop the fire from spreading to other buildings and put it out - but we have been planning how we will inform people and discuss matters properly with them when the worst does happen.
Foster carers are hard to recruit. It's a demanding but rewarding job. Each one can save an authority thousands of pounds. But how to find them? One forward-thinking council has turned to targeted TV ads.
We had been looking for innovative ways to recruit more foster carers, so when Sky TV approached us to use their new targeted advertising system we had to give it a go.
Like many authorities we are struggling to recruit more carers for teenagers. We currently have around 430 children in care in Buckinghamshire, with the majority being of teenage age. Currently over 50% of our children are placed outside of the county, as we don’t have enough in-house foster carers.
When Sport England launched a campaign 'This Girl Can' aimed at women some loved it. Some hated it. But what do comms people think? We asked a volleyballing head of comms.
by Emma Rodgers
A new Sport England campaign called ‘This girl can’ was launched last week. The campaign claims to be the first of its kind to feature all shapes, sizes and sporting abilities that sweat and jiggle as they exercise.
As Sport England sets out “It seeks to tell the real story of women who exercise and play sport by using images that are the complete opposite of the idealised and stylised images of women we are now used to seeing.”
When Dan asked me if I’d write a blog post on it, I was more than happy to. As a woman who has always exercised or played sport, I was keen to really have a think about what it meant to me both as a comms professional and as an individual who is far from the stick thin woman that is often portrayed doing sport in the media. I’d also watched the video, which has had over 6 million views online already, as it had been shared by many of my female friends on social media before I even knew it was part of a specific campaign. If you haven’t seen the advert yet, you can check it out here.
Social media plays a massive role in communicating major incidents. But it can also play a role by those on the frontline to tell their story as this post from a senior West Midlands Fire Service officer shows.
Thinking back to about 2007 (I really can’t even remember the year), I was a huge Facebook fan and posted almost hourly... I loved it.
Then @philliploach, who’s now our Chief Fire Officer, introduced me to Twitter. In those days, Twitter was still a small thing compared to Facebook. I can hear the “Facebookers” now: I’m never going to use Twitter… You can only type 140 characters… It’s rubbish. That was, indeed, my first impression. However, I pursued it and I found even early on it allowed you to reach different demographics to Facebook, MySpace, etc if you let it.
What makes creativity tick in the field of internal comms? Fab agency Alive With Ideas decided to ask a few questions to see. They produced a survey and there's a stack of learning in it. The survey results have been collated and there’s a nice juicy report available for your enjoyment.
Not that many moons ago, we sent our global survey out into the stratosphere, to investigate the levels of creativity in the big wide world of internal comms. With over 160 respondents offering their unique insight into creativity in their organisation, we gathered a magnitude of constructive comments to share with you.
As well as private sector and multinational organisations, we received responses from internal communicators in local government, government departments, NHS, police, fire and housing. Seasoned comms pros, sharing their thoughts, opinions and advice about how they see creativity in the workplace and how they would like it to be encouraged.
Thinking of moving into a career in PR? Here are some tips from a master.
Whenever I recruit graduates for the Taylor Bennett Foundation it is always at the front of my mind that at the end of the ten weeks of PR training we expect our alumni to embark on careers in the industry, so there are certain raw ingredients I'm always on the lookout for. PR employers tell us that these are the basic skills they’re looking for in entry-level hires.
Likeability
This is difficult to quantify but it’s still really important. Keep in mind that your colleagues will spend more time with you than with their own families so it's important that you're easy to get along with. This includes being enthusiastic, willing and keen to learn. A positive attitude goes a long way to making you easy to hire. Whiners are never popular and the ability to build good relationships is really vital.
LinkedIn is getting more useful and more popular. Indeed we have a comms2point0 company page here. Here's a few thoughts on how images can work best on your profile to make yourself eyecatching to a potential recruiter. There's the head and shoulders, sure. But what about the cover image?
by John Fox
Most people are using the cover photo facility provided by Facebook and Twitter to personalise their profiles, but how many are using the same facility available on Linked In, and is the image appropriate?
Christmas and New Year 2014 will be remembered for many things. Presents. Mince pies. And in many households a battle with a non-loading hacked Playstation Network with minimal information. Here's what one comms person had to say.
“Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house, the men-folk were moaning, starting to complain and grouse.”
Late on Christmas Eve and into Christmas Day Sony’s Playstation Network (PSN) suffered a catastrophic failure. The online service which enables people from all corners of the globe to play against each other on a variety of games was suddenly unavailable due to an attack by a hackers’ collective known as the Lizard Squad.
