Years ago when I worked in local government I had a chance conversation with an amateur photographer.
“If only we could have access,” he said, “Maybe a group of us, to the museum, we could take some great pictures.”
So we did and eight photographers took more than 150 images of the town museum’s which was in a converted industrial workshop.
We ended up using some of them on council channels and the response was overwhelmingly positive. Local people taking pictures of local things posted to the local council channel.
This has now evolved. Amateur photographers now congregate on Instagram but the idea of asking to use amateur pictures and share them with credit to a council channel still stands.
It was Argyll & Bute Council who I first noticed using this. Local government’s Sarah Lay, a regular visitor, had flagged this up.
They searched hashtags like #argyll #bute and #abplace2b which gathers images together that celebrate the place.
It remains a great idea.
And here’s the image…
But can other people do it? Of course.
Here’s Dartmoor National Park.
Look at that engagement…
And look at the picture…
But is this just a technique that can be used by visually attractive areas?
Not at all. It works in urban areas, too.
Would you look at that?
I particularly like how multiple pictures are gathered together as a carousel. A carousel is a form of content that algorithms will like.
You are also going to get engagement from the original photographer and their network.
Here’s another…
And a picture of early Spring in Bristol…
If it can work in visually beautiful places like the west coast of Scotland it can also work in urban areas too. In many ways, the photography in built-up places is even more creative.
How to do it
Approach people on Instagram itself.
Always ask permission.
Always give credit to the person whio took it if they agree for you to use it.
First, I’d like to show you some and then I’d like to weigh-up the pros and cons.
Example 1: a Tokyo street
In this clip, the prompt is quite detailed.
Prompt: A stylish woman walks down a Tokyo street filled with warm glowing neon and animated city signage. She wears a black leather jacket, a long red dress, and black boots, and carries a black purse. She wears sunglasses and red lipstick. She walks confidently and casually. The street is damp and reflective, creating a mirror effect of the colorful lights. Many pedestrians walk about.
It’s amazing isn’t it?
Example 2: A spaceman in a knitted motorbike helmet
While the first example hung back from the subject the second goes close in.
Prompt: A movie trailer featuring the adventures of the 30 year old space man wearing a red wool knitted motorcycle helmet, blue sky, salt desert, cinematic style, shot on 35mm film, vivid colors.
Again, astounding.
Example 3: Reflections in a train window
I’m sure that some things are easier to produce than not. The difficult of replicating reflections in a window I’d imagine is towards the top of the hardest list.
Prompt: Reflections in the window of a train traveling through the Tokyo suburbs.
And it achieves the look beautifully.
Example 4: Grandma’s birthday
While the other examples have dealt with people in different ways this looks at a group.
Prompt: A grandmother with neatly combed grey hair stands behind a colorful birthday cake with numerous candles at a wood dining room table, expression is one of pure joy and happiness, with a happy glow in her eye. She leans forward and blows out the candles with a gentle puff, the cake has pink frosting and sprinkles and the candles cease to flicker, the grandmother wears a light blue blouse adorned with floral patterns, several happy friends and family sitting at the table can be seen celebrating, out of focus. The scene is beautifully captured, cinematic, showing a 3/4 view of the grandmother and the dining room. Warm color tones and soft lighting enhance the mood..Prompt: A grandmother with neatly combed grey hair stands behind a colorful birthday cake with numerous candles at a wood dining room table, expression is one of pure joy and happiness, with a happy glow in her eye. She leans forward and blows out the candles with a gentle puff, the cake has pink frosting and sprinkles and the candles cease to flicker, the grandmother wears a light blue blouse adorned with floral patterns, several happy friends and family sitting at the table can be seen celebrating, out of focus. The scene is beautifully captured, cinematic, showing a 3/4 view of the grandmother and the dining room. Warm color tones and soft lighting enhance the mood.
Weakness: Simulating complex interactions between objects and multiple characters is often challenging for the model, sometimes resulting in humorous generations.
Interestingly, OpenAI have also set out the weaknesses of such an approach.
Conclusion
The quality of the images are astounding in their quality. They look like video wheras previous tools didn’t quite ring true.
The visual clues you may look for, like reflections on windows, easily confound the brain.
That’s real, isn’t it?
Only, it isn’t.
Right now OpenAI are pulling a blinder by teasing amazing content but regulating the use of the product. People are talking but not able to use it right now but this will change.
As we can’t use it we can’t see how hard it is to experiment with good content.
The pitfalls of Sora AI video
For the public sector, the flaw isn’t yet cost or even a pathway to start using it. UK Government have released some guidelines to encourage the use of it.
I feel like looking a gifthorse in the mouth when I say this but the issue for the public sector maybe that right now the content is too generic.
A campaign for a commercial could do something enlightening. Filmmakers I suspect will make something useful with this.
I’ve seen an AI how to video made by a council neasr me with a generic English accent and I hated it for its insincerity. I was left feeling played.
One issue with web content for a council, NHS Trust, police force or fire and rescue is that generic content doesn’t do so well. As I’ve blogged this week people pictures work really well. They are both real and of people. They also capture the area. So, generic shots of Tokyo, yes. Shots of Dudley in the West Midlands, probably not.
Right now, shooting your own content of people and landmarks tops it. But can AI-made content be used to supplement it? We wear futuristic artist impressions of new developments. Will we go for AI-made content of a new town centre development? Or what a new hospital ward would look like? I’m guessing yes.
Of course, such is the onward pace of AI this hurdle may well become surmountable. What I’ve just written may seen laughable quite quickly, I accept that. An interface with Google Street View and Google Photos could be one way to do that, I’m speculating. But wouldn’t Google be building their own equivalent?
Last week I blogged some data which showed how pictures worked out best on public sector Facebook pages.
Images, especially those with people, outperformed everything and were more than 30 times more effective than toolkit content with artwork or in-house designed artwork. Video is close behind.
They’re a mix of police, council, NHS and fire and rescue and show how images with people can cut through and get people to react, comment and share. These actions are a tried and tested way of seeing how well content performs.
Content like this also is good for the health of the page as it leads to a greater reach, more followers and a greater pool of people to recieve that all-important message that’s just around the corner.
As a former journo, I know the value of people pictures. I’m just pleasantly surprised that the numbers also show the value on Facebook. Back when I worked on newspapers it was to generate sales from people buying extra copies as well as looking visually engaging. Now people lead to clicks and engagement. Why? Because they have Facebook accounts and their own networks who will connect with it.
There has been more change in the past 12-months with social media than the last 12 years. Adapting what you do is mission critical.
Celebrating cute
Oh, all right, then. This isn’t a person at all. It’s a cute dog.
I’ve often found police comms people as being quite open about their deployment of dogs and horses on Facebook.
People like them so there’s more chance of reaching them when there’s a missing person report or something vital.
In this South Wales Police Special Constable recruitment campaign real officers put a human face on the force.
Celebrating people in an emergency
Toddbrook Reservoir in Derbyshire almost collapsed flooding hundreds of homes below. That it didn’t was because of police, fire and rescue, RAF, mountain rescue, ambulance and council staff.
Praisimg staff, and here a member of staff shortsted for an award, shows the human face.
Dartmoor National Park is a beautiful wilderness that is a balance between residents, business, the environment and visitors.
Here a travel writer raising money is celebrated.
Celebrating everyday staff
The #BlackCountryHealth247 initative saw NHS in the Black Country celebrate frontline staff. This is one of several from Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust.
People love old pictures. In Walsall, the leather industry has employed people for 250 years and the heritage is part of the town. Here’s people from the past.
Language matters. We all use it and getting it right can unlock doors to reach communities we can unwittingly lock out. Bradford District & Craven Healthcare Partnership have published a superb resource on accessible language that can work across the public sector. Sophie DiMauro and Shak Rafiq explain why and what it does.
As communicators we have a crucial role to play in fostering a culture of inclusion and belonging, this starts with understanding the power of language and making sure we are the conscience for our organisations and the wider systems we work in.
As communicators our outputs should be outcome focused and this means focusing on getting people to think or act differently based on the messages we craft and the way we get these to our audiences. In an increasingly volatile and, at times, polarised world we have a duty to get it right especially for those groups where assumptions and stereotypes lead to marginalisation and disempowerment.
Language matters and by using inclusive and empowering language we can help to tackle conscious and unconscious biases.
Language can build trust
There is power in words and language. In any organisation, it is crucial that the language and words we use reflect our values, beliefs and work as a system. Language and the way we communicate is an important aspect in building trust and connection, helping to empower and include people if we get it right.
“Inclusive language has the power to bring underrepresented voices to the forefront while making people feel included and valued.”
– Emily Lennon, King’s Fund.
Inclusive language teaches us to value other people for who they are, more than this it is about understanding our audiences and talking to them in a way that builds credibility and trust. The language we use has an impact, and we need to move beyond simply thinking about a list of acceptable words and communicating with sensitivity, accurately and celebrating the differences that defines us as humans.
As communicators we are driven by purpose and we as professionals provide corporate conscience. Inclusive language is everyone’s business but as the strategic function responsible for setting the tone and developing narratives it starts with us, and we must lead the way…
Learning the impact of words
As communication professionals, it’s important to understand the impact of the words and phrases we use and how, when used incorrectly or in the wrong context, they can exclude groups and individuals. How people chose to identify is a personal choice and always needs to be respected. We have a responsibility for the language we use and we must be deliberate in eliminating words that oppress people.
Language matters, but we also recognise that it is complex and ever-changing. There is a wealth of information out there that can advise us on the right language to use but it can be overwhelming and difficult to know where to start. That’s why, together with partners, representatives and allies specialising in race, gender, LGBTQ+ and disability, we codesigned our ‘Inclusive language – your reference guide’.
We wanted something specific for the public sector and wanted to start locally. Our inspiration came from a fantastic guide developed by Oxfam as well as our own conscience as communicators telling us that we can and must do more. Across West Yorkshire we are committed to being anti-racist as signalled by our Root Out Racism movement but we knew we must do more for other groups and communities that can be excluded, marginalised and be misrepresented – often starting with language that excludes. Our individual values aligned with our partnership’s vision of creating a fair society for all, was the catalyst to make this happen.
A need for a national document
Having circulated the guide, it is clear from colleagues across many organisations locally but also nationally, that there was a strong need for a document like this. When people have no guidance or support, they can say the wrong things and marginalise others. For any marketeers out there, this could be seen as spotting a gap in the market, albeit through the lens of inclusion, belonging and corporate (and personal) conscience
The inclusive language guide is primarily for communications and involvement professionals but can be used by wider workforce colleagues. It may be helpful to use this guide when onboarding new staff, or as a reference point when communicating with our diverse audiences and communities, with a focus on inclusion and belonging.
The power of words can change lives, let’s make sure this is for the better and change the way we, and the people we are communicating with, view the world. Inclusivity starts with language – is inclusive language part of your communications?
Sophie DiMauro is communications manager at NHS Bradford Districts Clinical Commissioning Group and Shak Rafiq is strategic communications and stakeholder engagement lead – Act as One programme at Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
Well, firstly, there’s a few work-arounds. Post the link in the comments, tell the story on the platform, take out an ad, cross-post to a Facebook group or using a different channel can all work.
But beyond that, what content works best as a post?
I decided to take a look to the a snapshot. I looked at 197 posts from public sector pages in the Midlands. Some rural and some urban to give it a mix.
The findings when I crunched the data were pretty clear cut.
Some kinds of content like artwork and toolkit content just don’t work.
The basic numbers are that pictures came out top engaging 0.81 on average of overall followers. Reels came second on 0.65 per cent, video on 0.60 per cent and toolkit content – that’s the generic national messages – reached a paltry 0.05 per cent. Locally generated artwork reached 0.02 per cent.
That’s poor.
Content with artwork doesn’t work
Chief amongst the failing content in 2024 is artwork. This is content often with logo, dates, times and a key message. It’s starting point is print and it often applies the rules of print to the social web. It’s often not accessible without ALT text.
It’s easy to see why this is done. It is branded-up. It ticks a marketing box but the level of engagement in the study at just 0.02 per cent against an Adobe yardstick of two per cent for what makes this ‘good’ tells a story. It ticks a box.
It is social media as bus shelter and I’d love to see some evidence that it works.
Here’s an example. I’ve anonymised the example.
Content with pictures works especially if they tell a human story
What does work is unbranded pictures. They’re often of real people such as staff and they can be celebratory.
This taps straight into the heart of the tried and tested rule that news is people that served newspapers well for more than a century. People like people. On social media people really like people.
On average there is 0.81 per cent engagement the healthiest in the survey.
Reels video can work
Next to Reels video which is Meta’s portrait-shaped reply to the powerful rise of TikTok.
This is used far less in the study. No doubt it takes longer to create. But at 0.65 per cent it is 32 times more effective than the disappointing numbers for artwork updates.
Reels is also content that is strongly rewarded by the algorithm.
Video also works
Half of all time spent on Facebook is spent watching video so it’s highly likely you need to be doing more with video.
In the study, this reached 0.6 per cent measured against a benchmark of good being two per cent. It’s neck-and-neck with Reels as the most effective content.
But you do need to be creative and hook people from the opening second and you do need subtitles to make it accessible.
Toolkit content really doesn’t work
I’ve been noticing for some time the worst performing content of all is toolkit content. Nationally-generated very often these missives are posted without local colour or flavour.
Engagement is poor and here they reached 0.05 per cent.
Often when I’m talking in a social media review people will roll their eyes and admit they know it doesn’t work but are pressed to do it. Often they’d be better off not bothering posting the toolkit content. It is a false economy. It swaps the reward of speed for poorly performing content that does not connect. This harms the algorithm for the next pieces of content that are posted so it is in the page admin’s interest to be a gatekeeper by and large for this.
If the campaign in question is worth doing make your own with a local voice to deliver it.
Conclusion
In short, the content that is posted can make or break the message.
This data is a snapshot and I’d ask everyone looking at delivering their own to look closely how their own is performing. The numbers don’t lie. Use that data to insist on high standards.
Toolkit content and its near neighbour artwork don’t work. It is a relic of a bygone age. Worse than anything it gives the illusion of having worked when the numbers would suggest it is not connecting with people.
You have a national campaign aimed at encouraging people to visit their pharmacy? Get someone on video telling why this is important, Better still a pharmacist from your area. The lessons learnt during the worst of COVID were hard won and easily forgotten. For it to work, it takes work. The Afro Caribbean GP addressing the Afro Caribbean community connected. The national poster did not.
Of course, time is precious and resources are scarce. I suspect the answer is less is more when it comes to pumping out Facebook – and other – content.
When I started as a press officer in local government I used to think that I needed to protect the good name of the council at all times… and then I met councillors.
Now, I don’t mean this as disparagingly as this may sound. Let me explain.
Councillors are people who get elected to make decisions on behalf of their community. Some of them are great, some average and some poor. If you are poor there’s a strong chance you won’t get re-elected.
I had a moment of clarity a few years into that local government comms job. In short it was this: ‘I can give advice but if they want to ignore it that’s on them.’
It was a real transformational moment. So, when Councillors made poor decisions after advice that was on them.
As a result of this moment of understanding, when live streaming meetings became a thing in local government I was intensely relaxed. ‘What if Councillor X speaks? I was asked. ‘He can come over as an idiot. And Councillor Y? She’s even worse.’
Well, maybe democracy is better served by seeing just how much of an idiot they are.
And so, we come to Warwickshire County Council. Or rather certain Warwickshire County Councillors at the January 25 children and young person’s scrutiny committee. The issue of the spiralling costs of special needs help in schools was brought up.
As a country, we are better at diagnosing children and we have a better idea of what tools are needed. It’s just austerity has cut budgets to the bone so the help desperately needed isn’t readily available. Lockdown has also caused a tsunami of mental health problems for UK school children.
The BBC have covered the news story of the out-of-touch Councillors here. Step forward Cllr Jeff Morgan who wondered if this was just children ‘behaving badly’. Councillor Brian Hammersley wondered if there was ‘something in the water’ while Councillor Clare Golby noticed darkly when she went online that parents were ‘swapping notes on how to get their children diagnosed’ as if this was some kind of tax fraud.
‘There must have been better ways of dealing with them back them,’ was another quote.
As others have said, we didn’t see them when we were at school because they were often locked up elsewhere and out of sight. There’s always been special needs.
As the parent of a child who has special needs my hand hit my forehead in despair. The laziness and reckless lack of curiosity here is reckless. For elected members who are making decisions it is dangerous bordering on malfeasance. It is causing real harm.
To answer those questions: No, it’s probably not. No, it definitely isn’t and yes, parents do swap notes to help them jump through hoops because the hoops are made deliberately difficult to put parents off. In the UK, the wait for an autism diagnosis is 10 months just to be seen. That’s the first meeting in a long process that takes years to complete. Without the diagnosis there is often little help and the child suffers.
Other parents with children have also felt this with fury. On TikTok, a creator who is from the West Midlands but now lives in the US, launched a broadside:
Elsewhere, on the internet the reaction from parents was similarly marked.
Where this plays out
In the olden days, this may have been a newspaper letters column. Today, it is Facebook groups for parents whose children with special needs online and in traditional media.
It’s also TikTok and in large numbers. There is a community of parents with children with special needs who came to the fore during this story.
But it only gets taken seriously when it leaks through to the traditional media as it did here. BBC news picking this up made it a story. Other news organisations followed.
So, is this a reputational disaster for the council?
This is where it gets interesting because it depends.
Having the three Councillors show their ignorance on it’s own is a great service to the community. The community can then act accordingly at the ballot box. Democracy dies in darkness, as the Washington Post says.
If this stimulates a debate that shows the harm that kids are suffering then maybe some good will come out of it.
I’m not going to go into a critique of what Warwickshire County Council does next. No shade to their comms team. It’s a hard enough job and they have some good people.
Most organisations set-up social media in and around 2010 and haven’t really gone back to look at what they’re doing since then.
There’s been more change in the last 12-months than the last 12 years and now high time to polish how you are delivering your communications.
Here’s 10 questions for you to reflect on
1. X, formerly Twitter, has announced that its a video first platform. How are you fixed for this?
2. Facebook has crippled posts from a page with a link. What six ways can you combat this?
3. Video accounts for half of all time spent on Facebook. How are you fixed with this?
4. Reels accounts for half of al, time spent on Instagram. How are you fixed with this?
5. In a crisis, people turn to traditional media. How can your team handle a media query?
6. Good comms planning is timeless and can make a huge difference. How is your comms planning skills?
7. What do you have in place to support staff who are dealing with online abuse every week?
8. The first couple of seconds of a TikTok can make or break your content. How can you stop people scrolling?
9. How can you use WhatsApp Channels more effectively?
10. How do you know when to engage online and when to monitor?
Here’s some training I offer.
ESSENTIAL COMMS SKILLS BOOSTER. This is the all rounder that looks at media landscape, comms planning and evaluation, creating content, new channels, Facebook groups, LinkedIn and dealing with online comment,. Criticism and abuse.
ESSENTIAL VIDEO SKILLS REBOOTED. This is the all rounder that gives you the basics for planning, shooting, editing and posting effective content.
ESSENTIAL TIKTOK AND REELS. This looks at making effective content for these portrait-shaped video channels.
ESSENTIAL MEDIA RELATIONS. This looks at how to pitch ideas to journalists as well as dealing with media queries.
There’s been a real awakening of late that Toto, we are not in Kansas anymore.
Social media is changing and evolving almost by the day.
But your to do list isn’t getting any shorter but the need for a social media review is getting more pressing.
Here’s 10 questions for you to reflect on
There’s only so many hours in the day. Are you wasting time doing the wrong thing?
There has been more change in the last 12 months than the last 12 years. When was the last time you took a step back and took a hard look at what you do?
Twitter isn’t Twitter anymore. It’s reach is declining. How are you tackling that?
What’s your most important audience and what channels do they use now?
Facebook groups are now the most important channels for people to find out what their council is doing. How many do you have in your area and how are you connecting with them?
Would channels like TikTok, WhatsApp Channels or Mastodon reach your audiences?
How are you now going to communicate in an emergency?
Have you communicated confidently the changes to the rest of the organisation?
How is your local media using social media?
What can AI do to me and for me and how can I understand what’s coming over the hill?
Now, if you can ask all these questions and run your own review that’s fantastic. We are entering a cycle of likely political change and having some answers ready in relatively calmer times would be astute. All of those questions are ones to consider right now.
X is now a video-first platform, with people watching video in 8 out of 10 user sessions.
We launched a new surface: Immersive Video, which now has over 100 million daily users – more than half of whom are Gen Z, the fastest growing audience on X.
We enabled long-form video uploads. In December alone, people watched 130 years’ worth of videos 30 minutes or longer.
X, formerly Twitter, blog post
Now, as an advocate of video as a driver of traffic, this has piqued my interest.
But I’m not totally sold that this will change the platform for the better.
What this does mean, aside that I’m updating my training slides, is that video has become even more important as a wider communications tool.
I’m always interested to see the stats when I post something. If its a hands on practical thing for today people love it. Write something you need to know soon and people hesitate.
Mustafa Suleyman in ‘The Coming Wave’ talked about pessimism avoidance. In other words if it sounds big and scary people will avoid it.
With that in mind, here’s a post you’ll find useful. I’d encourage you to read it and have a play around.
The best ideas are human + AI
Here’s the good news. Academic research has shown that the best ideas are not from sitting back and letting AI do all the work. It’s humans plus AI.
Well, the research showed the best ideas come from a human using then refining the questions they ask the AI tool.
THis means you can let out a sigh of relief. There is still a role for you.
In simple terms, the questions asked of AI tools like Chatr GPT are called ‘prompts’. It’s the prompts that generate the ideas.
Am I allowed to get good at prompts?
The good news if you are working in the UK public sector is that the UK Government have set out a set of guidelines on how they expect people to use AI. They are unusually helpful. They’re especially helpful because they encourage people in the public sector to practice and learn. Just be careful not to be practising with personal idea or anything that can identify people.
How can I get good at prompts?
You get good at prompts by practicing within UK Government’s safe parameters using a generative AI tool like Chat GPT, Google’s Bard, Microsoft’s Copilot or several other tools.
There’s a lot out there on writing better prompts and I’m loath to link to a lot of it for you.
All I can say is that you know your patch well. Use the tools available and see what questions you can ask to see if the ideas come back with a bit more inspiration.
The bottom line
The bottom line for me is that AI won’t replace a comms person but a comms person with AI skills will be replacing comms people with no skills. The same happened when social media emerged. Those that started to use it thrived and those that didn’t by and large have either left or can’t get another job.
