When recording studios started to use filters and effects pedals musicians rose up in outrage.
This was not music, they said. People were being tricked, they warned withan air of indignation.
Right now, we’re at the stage of new tools being made available and needing to think about they’re used while they’re already being used by comms people.
When I first sketched this blog post, I pulled together some big picture resources to get you started with AI. There’s some good strategic stuff from UK Government and the CIPR I’ve gone through.
But there’s also a slew of announcements by big tech companies that mean AI tools will be even further into the day-to-day.
So, this is less about needing sign-off to employ banks of boffins in labcoats to come up with great ideas. Although having the big picture covered is sensible you’ll be using AI even without thinking about it too much.
What it also is looking at the announcements by Facebook and Google is that AI is being integrated right into the heart of their social channels.
The good news is that if you use AI this will be flagged up. So, adjust the background and people will be able to see which tool you’ve used. Less Government health warning and more helpful tip to try out the tool too.
This is a good move.
YouTube and AI
And Google are following suit with AI tools around their YouTube Shorts platform. Not everyone is using their TikTok rival right now but you can be sure if it works well in one area it’ll be pushed through into other areas.
How should public sector communicators use AI? The first question might be: “should public sector communicators use AI at all?” The short answer is “yes”. In a few years, asking this question may seem as ridiculous as asking whether we should use the internet.
I’m very much of the opinion that AI won’t replace the whole of comms. But comms people who can use AI will replace those who can’t. Fifteen years ago I was at an LGComms conference on a panel to discuss social media. We were introduced with the words ‘there’s only two things wrong with social media, it’s not social and it’s not media.’ This was at the time a ridiculous thing to say and that individual left the sector not long after.
It’s interesting that GCS are looking to develop their own version of ChatGPT. In other words, a large language model that when asked for a comms plan will use GCS’s own version of a comms plan.
Personally, I’ve found that GCS’s comms planning tool may work for Government but its too unwieldy for a lot of what local government, NHS, police, fire and rescue do. Government departments may think of a dozen campaigns a month. In local government, that can be a dozen issues a week easily.
WhatsApp Channels is poised to become a truly game changing tool.
For the first time organisations can use Channels to use WhatsApp at scale to reach an audience.
This isn’t private messaging it’s provate broadcasting.
Given that more than 50 per cent of the UK population uses the messaging app this opens up a new vista of communication.
Yes, there’s an audience on WhatsApp
WhatsApp chugs on in the background being an entirely effective way of talking to a small group of people. It’s also widely used by everyone from families, work colleagues, professional networks and other communities.
It’s also not just young people or older people. It’s all demographics as Ofcom data shows.
Table 1. UK WhatsApp by demographic 2023 (source: Ofcom)
What WhatsApp Channels is
Basically, Channels is a new piece of functionality in a new area of WhatsApp. You’ll find it in updates.
With UK Government now joining WhatsApp Channels this gives a green light for other public sector organisations.
WhatsApp describes their Channels as:
“Channels are a one-way broadcast tool for admins to send text, photos, videos, stickers, and polls. Channels can be found in a new tab called Updates on WhatsApp – where you’ll find Status and channels you choose to follow – separate from your chats with family, friends, and communities.”
WhatsApp blog
It’s also one way and yes, its GDPR compliant
If you’re an admin fed-up of getting abused when you post something then this will be a pleasant change. It’s broadcast. It’s one way. So there’s no replies that others can see and nobody else can see the names and phone numbers like you can in a standard WhatsAp group chat.
So, it’s not going to offend GDPR.
Result.
Updates can be forwarded on
One part of the WhatsApp Channels functionality that hasn’t been highlighted is the ability for people to forward on a message. For me, this misses much of the point of Channels. An update about recycling really should have a call to action to forward to people who live in that area. This can hugely amplify the reach of a message.
There’s a layer of privacy
Interestingly, Meta have made great play about the privacy element. Updates stay on servers for 30 days and then disappear. Admins can stop people from taking screenshots directly from users phones.
This absolutely follows the trend of walled gardens
At first, social media was all about the town square where different voices could be brought together. Then people started shouting and people got a bit fed up of that. The trend has been towards walled gardens where people are happier to be. So, messaging tools have been part of this trend. For Meta to now launch Channels really puts the accelerator down on the walled garden idea. If they could move Facebook pages into a private space maybe they would. This is the next best alternative.
But how are brands using WhatsApp Channels?
Firstly, WhatsApp Channels is being limited to big brands right now so there’s no real public sector use.
The first few weeks has been a time of experimentation and I’ve taken a snapshot of football teams, news providers, arms of the UN and Meta themselves have been using the platform.
Name
Posts
Followers
Text
Meme
Pic
Video
Links
UNICEF Supply
1
231k
–
–
–
0.1
–
Newsweek
44
822k
–
–
–
–
0.02
UNICEF Parenting
2
723k
–
–
–
–
0.19
Politics Joe
2
3.5k
–
–
–
–
0.19
Real Madrid
13
14.1 million
0.3
7.03
–
–
–
Lad Bible
15
89k
0.8
4.7
0.3
0.7
–
BBC News
6
542k
–
–
–
–
0.3
Manchester City
8
7.7 million
–
–
0.4
–
0.2
LBC Radio
2
18.3
–
–
–
0.2
–
Sunderland
11
11.2
–
1.7
–
–
1.4
WhatsApp
1
22.3 million
–
–
–
0.001
–
Mark Zuckerburg
4
8.8 million
0.6
–
–
–
–
Take a bow Real Madrid who have been acing it so far.
What works for them are images with text. I’ve used this as a definition of a meme. It’s quite loose, I know. But images with a message on have been working really well for them with an engagement rate of more than seven per cent. That’s an astounding figure and one that I think we can all learn from.
The images have set out starting XIs, celebrated a moment from the game or an achievement.
What’s striking for me is that clearly, Real Madrid seethis as a global channel. So, there are kick off times posted on an image that go around the world.
I’ve never seen that before.
What’s not effective… links aren’t effective
Newsweek have absolutely gone link crazy. There’s 44 posts over a four day period and a breakneck 10 or more a day on average.
That feels way too much.
While links can be posted onto the platform which ia real shift in approach from WhatsApp it’s clear that this strategy of volume and links isn’t working at all. There’s an engagement rate of 0.02 per cent.
Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.
It will be interesting to see how the platform evolves.
Using WhatsApp Channel as the public sector
As far as what type of channel tro create the jury is out.
The organisations currently using Channels are established and are using Channels in the same way they’d maybe use other channels.
I wonder if the public sector may fall into a bear trap if they use their corporate name. I live in Dudley. Do I want Dudley Council on my WhatsApp? Hmmmm. Local government with its 1,200 services struggles to get all residents in all what it does.
Besides, councils are pretty unpopular organisations.
So, to use the Dudley example, I’m not sure if I want all updates, thanks.
But Yorkshire Dales National Park, for example, I may sign-up for updates for visitors. Places to go, images, short video clips and events that’s maybe something I’d be interested in.
Do I want the date and time of the next national park meeting? Do I heck.
Permission to create a WhatsApp Channel is being rolled out.
As a general tip, I’d find and join some WhatsApp Channels to see how they work.
You can do this on WhatsApp by scrolling from Chats to Updates and hitting the plus next to the Channels header. You can search for keywords or for the most popular Channels in your country. You can also create a channel from this point, too.
For content, you can add an image, text or a URL but as we’ve seen elsewhere the URL is least effective. Mainly because WhatsApp by habit isn’t a URL kind of place. We’re not used to it. You can also create a poll on your WhatsApp Channel. There is also the functionality to share voice notes as you would using your own WhatsApp account with friends and family.
Content
When you post something to your WhatsApp Channel you will go to the top of the list of Channels people have, when they open their updates. However, for people to read your update they still have to open up your Channel and scroll through.
One thing you may consider doing is to restrict what emoji people can use as a reaction to your post. You can change in your Channel settings from any to default only. This gives a thumbs up, heart, laugh, shock, crying emoji and praying reaction.
For what works best, take a look at the research towards the top of the blog. Links? Not really. Images and text on images? Yes.
Right now, the direct route is for people to find your channel via their own WhatsApp with them navigating to updates and then searching.
That’s not the most obvious way for people to find you.
Interestingly, Real Madrid while they are kings of Channels don’t have a single link, follow button or reference to their Channel on their website.
The Daily Mail, who have a sport WhatsApp Channel, are promoting sign-ups via a link through a story which takes you through to the WhatsApp site.
Having a link feels like the way WhatsApp for Business generated followers with its link, QR code and the ability to synch a Facebook page to WhatsApp.
Earlier this year Meta announced plans for this tool and was launched as a trial in two countries in Asia.
They’ve now rolled this out to the UK.
What’s WhatsApp Channels? Basically, it will allow organisations to be able to use WhatsApp itself as a way to reach people on the platform.
This is huge, huge news given that around 80 per cent of 18 to 64-year-olds use the platform (source: Ofcom).
Previously, using WhatsApp was limited to WhatsApp for Business with a limit of 256 subscribers.
Now?
The sky is literally the limit. We talk about Threads as a competitor for X (formerly Twitter). I wonder if its WhatsApp Channels may fill part of this role in an emergency given the existing interconnectedness of existing WhatsApp.
The ability to use WhatsApp Channels and the ability to create is being rolled out as of September 2023.
We’ve appreciated all the positive feedback from our initial start in ten countries. As we expand Channels globally, we’re introducing the following updates:
Enhanced Directory – you can now find channels to follow that are automatically filtered based on your country. You can also view channels that are new, most active, and popular based on number of followers.
Reactions – you can react using emojis to give feedback and see a count of total reactions. How you react will not be shown to followers.
Editing – soon, admins will be able to make changes to their Updates for up to 30 days, when we automatically delete them from our servers.
Forwarding – whenever you forward an Update to chats or groups it will include a link back to the channel so people can find out more.
A quick look at channels so far
Taking a look at what’s available in the first days
BBC News 79,000 subscribers
Manchester City Football Club 3.7 million subscribers
Liverpool Football Club 3.3 million subscribers
LadBible 6,8k follow
Content so far
I’ve taken a look at the limited pool that’s out there.
The big observation is that there are links in content.
That in itself is huge as links were discouraged in version 1.0 of WhatsApp.
For me, the LinkedIn corporate page is that unexplored bit of the internet is ripe for a fresh look.
Years ago the channel was lazily dismissed as ‘Facebook for Accountants’ but in recent years it’s really come to the fore. It’s a safer space compared to other platforms. It’s also where a lot of professional discussion now is.
LinkedIn now has 10.9 million monthly users in the UK.
I’ve updated the training I run to take on more of LinkedIn and thought I’d share some things you may well be missing.
So what of it?
Simple ways to improve your corporate LinkedIn page
Have a LinkedIn page in the first place
Pages on LinkedIn used to be pretty dull corners of the internet that HR took over back in the mists of time as a place to pimp jobs. Thankfully they’ve improved a heck of a lot.
Have more than one admin
LinkedIn give a number of levels of admin to allow the smooth running of the page. The super admin is top of the tree with the content admin the next rung down having around 80 per cent of the permissions. Below that is the curator who can create and edit content. Below that in permissions is the analyst who can see the backend and that’s it. Use the admin levels rather than just have one person.
On your LinkedIn page know your audience
This feels absurdly obvious but I’ve come to realise that not everyone in your organisation will realise that LinkedIn is for professionals. Post content that is likely to land with your audience.
Push back on the request from the middle manager for the table top sale to be posted on LinkedIn as well as every other available channel. This blunderbuss approach to communication last worked in 1973. You are only going to irritate people if you use that approach.
Age demographics are remarkably consistent for LinkedIn. Around 20 per cent of all age groups to 65 use it but you’ll see your own audience in your page insights. If you are starting your career or maintaining it a LinkedIn profile is really important.
So have a LinkedIn page content strategy
You have a page and so you’ll get insights so you’ll see your audience. Experiment with content but do come at it from a professional perspective. If you’re a company in public transport you may want to talk about journey times, safety figures and big picture announcements. But you should also focus on staff. The long serving employee, the HR person who has done something really interesting in HR and wants to share it by writing a blog on his or her own profile that the page can share.
It’s maybe about posting a pdf guide to how farmers can apply for a certain grant and what help is available if you’re a rural council. Or maybe there’s a meet the buyer day where a house builder wants to connect with electricians, plumbers or safety equipment suppliers. That’s the value.
For me, there’s a mix of staff to make people want to join that company and also some innovative work that can help so the other part of your audience can plug in.
This is a really usnderused tool. The retweet back in the day was a powerful resharing of content. The reshare button does the same on LinkedIn. Maybe its a post from an organisation you are sharing or maybe its from an individual.
Use LinkedIn groups and encourage your staff to too
LinkedIn groups are an underused tool and it maybe there is a group you can set-up for a specific reason. Have a look first to see if there’s a group that you’d want to plug into as an organisation. But I’d recommend doing so via the people in your organisation who need to talk to professional people.
But this is also where you want to encourage people to use their own LinkedIn profiles.
When I worked in local government, the deputy leader who was cabinet member for regeneration used to go to the Chamber of Trade business breakfast to talk about town centre redevelopment. He’d go along with some senior officers. Of course they were the right people. Think of LinkedIn groups as the same.
I was born in Staffordshire, and a quick search of LinkedIn shows more than 200 groups. So, if there’s things in the offing in Uttoxeter in Staffordshire, the 520 people of the Uttoxeter Business Network would be the space to go to.
Happily, LinkedIn is a space that more people are happy to use in their own name. Yes, there is a problem with women being sent unsolicited messages but there are tools to clamp-down on that.
Aside from campaigns, the HR person talking about HR to their network of HR people is good karma for a place where people would want to work.
Experiment with LinkedIn Newsletters
The platform has been pushing LinkedIn newsletters as a tool for LinkedIn. To work this would need to be tailored for a specific audience rather than be a receptacle for every piece of content.
Your new chief executive is likely to be found via LinkedIn. So is that niche senior post. There’s really good functionality with LinkedIn for jobs. Other jobs where you’ll need fewer qualifications maybe more successful with a post to Facebook.
Experiment with LinkedIn live video
You can find live video either on a page you are following or through the events page. Live video can create more comment and engagement than a standard video. Basically you creator an event and then you add a date and time for people to sign-up to. You can run it through a third party tool like Streamyard or your own URL which can point at something like Teams.
As a summary
As with anything, this is about investing time and effort for the medium to long run. If you’re worried about being locked into a channel that you maybe don;’t want to be wedded to that’s fine. Call it a three month trial. At the end of the trial and it;s not worked just say thanks and dial back. If its worked then what do you know, you’re listening to the public and keeping on LinkedIn use.
One of the thing. The arc of conversation on LinkedIn has always been longer than other channels. Post something to X (formerly Twitter) back in the day and within 20 minutes you’ll know if that content worked. For LinkedIn, its around a week for the discussion to take hold and for there to be a back and forth.
National Trust A well resourced membership organisation that uses a variety of content.
English Heritage The organisation that looks after historic buildings in England has a good range of content.
Counter Terrorism Policing is a niche area of policing with more than 80,000 followers on LinkedIn through their content mix.
Cheltenham Borough Council This council doesn’t have the resources of larger orgabnisations but is using its page and content wisely to reach an audience.
Out of sight out of mind, Voter ID sits on the list of things to do but is buried below a pile of other things for local government comms people, I know.
But rather like Christmas shopping, it’ll soon swing round and the trick is not to be in the 24-hour garage on Christmas Eve looking for the last box chocolates.
With that in mind, I commend local government think tank LGiU’s ‘The Impact of Voter ID’ which I suggest you read or at the very least favourite for later.
While the document is aimed at election office administrators there’s plenty for communications people, too.
Whether we like it or not, its legislation that needs to be communicated because it’s about the absolute building block of democracy and that’s the ability to vote.
Bottom line: if you’re English, Welsh or Scottish local government you need to unederstand these lessons well ahead of the next general election which is only just over the horizon.
Yes, Voter ID comms is difficult
First, there’s no surprise in the feedback. Around 83 per cent of people said that communicating Voter ID was slightly or much harder than in previous years, the LGiU findings showed..
Key findings
Election administrators are split on what impact Voter IDS had on turnout. The body of evidence from one election doesn’t conclusively prove that it had any significant impact on sections of the population.
A strong local campaign is needed. A national message with a local accent is my take on this. Yes, there’s central resources but giving that a local flavour would be useful.
Innovative comms is needed. Do the usual but think of all the ways that you can additionally get the message out. Putting the message on paper bags in pharamacies was done along with on the side of bin lorries.
Don’t look to the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities for all the help. Less than 50 per cent of election administrators said the UK Government department were helpful while around three quarters pointed to the Electoral Commission and more than 90 per cent praised the Association of Electoral Administrators. Comms people should make friends with the elections team who are members of this group.
People were confusion on the what ID they needed. What’s also striking is that feedback from people at polling station was that often people knew they needed ID but were confused about what kind to have with them.
General Elections will be a flashpoint. There is an expectation that while local elections will be tricky the real problem will be when Westminster goes to the polls.
Now, make a note to talk in the New Year with your elections team about communicating Voter ID.
Ever since the riots of 2011, Twitter – now known as X – has been the place where news and hot topics have broken but 12 years on… is it still?
Since the Elon Musk takeover, the platform has renamed as X and placed a limit on the number of updates that can be seen. That’s blunted the key advantage of the platform in an unfolding drama.
But what now? Is it Threads? Or still X? Or Facebook? It’s a regular question I’m being asked and there’;s a sense of confusion.
The simple answer is that the dice are still up in the air and its only really when a major incident unfolds that we’ll see where they come down.
In September 2023, days before the start of term more than 100 schools were told they had dangerous concrete on their premises at risk of collapse. Overnight, ‘RAAC’ or ‘Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete’ became a hot search term on Google.
Google Trends: The search term RAAC over the last 30 days
But where did people go to debate and discuss?
To find out, I chose seven schools at random and ran searches on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook and the new challenger Threads.
I measured posts and reshares giving them both equal weight. So, an update on Facebook shared 10 times has a score of 11.
Here’s what I found out.
Overall, there were 505 countable updates.
Facebook saw 82.4 of the updates
X (formerly Twitter) saw 17.4 per cent of the updates
Threads saw 0.0 per cent of the updates
Now, nobody should tear up their emergency plan based on just this.
But what we can draw from this is that for a slow burning running story, schools matter Facebook is where debate may well play out.
X (formerly Twitter) has less than 20 per cent and there was not a single post on Threads.
It’s important to remember that this is a snapshot of one national news story in late 2023. But what this does indicate is that Facebook isn’t going away any time soon. If X (formerly Twitter) can take any comfort is that It also shows Threads has yet to take root.
We are in an environment of constant change and evolution. It pays to pay close attention when the next crisis takes shape where the activity will be.
Raw data
Wood Green Academy, Wednesbury, Sandwell (all face to face teaching)
On X (formerly known as Twitter) 11 individual tweets with 32 retweets.
On Facebook, 9 public updates with 310 reshares.
No updates on Threads.
St Andrew’s Junior School, Hatfield Peverel, Essex (Start of term delayed)
On X, two individual tweets with two retweets.
On Facebook, no updates.
No updates on Threads.
Abbey Lane School, Sheffield (all face to face teaching) with a kitchen closed
On X, 13 tweets with 10 retweets including Hallam FM and Sheffield City Council.
On Facebook, 7 posts including the MP with 4 reshares.
A good social media policy like reinforced does the heavy lifting out of sight and can be juist as useful.
I’ve been involved with several and know they can be a bit of a devil to draw-up, agree, get signed off and then stick to.
So, I thought it useful to blog some examples which date from the last few years.
A good social media policy sets out how staff can use it and also how the organisation will use it.
You want iyt to be simple, clear and easy to follow. You also want it publsihed so people can see it. I’m puzzled at how so often people will bury theirs like an unwanted Christmas jumper.
Reading through the examples – and there are some fine examples for 2023 it struck me that there are a couple of things a robust policy needs to include.
Set out how the organisation will broadly use social media
You want this to be some clear basic principles.
So, we’ll use the best platform to reach the right audience is good.
We’ll use MySpace for the kids and Twitter for BeBo for customer services will really hem you in.
Set out how staff can use it and not use it
Again , broad principles are good. For the most part linking your code of conduct to also include social media does most of what’s needed.
The General Medical Council’s policy is aimed at how doctors can use it, for example, and they pull in existing good medical practice guidance before adding some other things around confidentiality and boundaries.
I also like University Hospitals Dorset’s policy as it covers how the organisation will use it but also staff out-of-hours too. They quote human rights legislation to defend their right to a voice but also spell out what will get them into trouble with codes of practice.
Beefing up the support
One thing I did see missing from some of the polocies was robust support for those using social media for the organisation.
Now, for the avoidance of doubt there is no suggestion whatsoever the hospital’s communications team were involved in this decision making process. Instead, the phrase was highlighted as a broad management concern.
Secondly, this reminded me of the words of Dr Bill Kirkup whose report into deaths at East Kent maternity hospital singled out fear of reputational damage as a negative factor. I’ve blogged before on his warning to the public sector to rethink reputation management.
To once again quote his report:
Unfortunately, these problems are far from restricted to East Kent. Indeed, reputation management could be said to be the default response of any organisation that is challenged publicly. When the end result is that patient safety is being damaged, unrecognised and uncorrected, however, it is especially problematic. At present, the benefits of inappropriate and aggressive reputation management outweigh the meagre risks to an organisation of behaving in this way. This balance must be addressed.
The problems of organisational behaviour that place reputation management above honesty and openness are both pervasive and extremely damaging to public confidence in health services. A legal duty of truthfulness placed on public bodies has been proposed as one of the responses to the Hillsborough disaster. It seems that NHS regulation alone is unable to curtail the denial, deflection and concealment that all too often become subsequently clear, and more stringent measures are overdue.
Dr Bill Kirkup, Reading the signals: Maternity and neonatal services in East Kent – the Report of the Independent Investigation
The block tool until now enabled users to stop abusive users of the platform from targeting them. In the absence of moderation the piece of functionality is nigh-on essential to weed out the worst offenders from abusing the staff who monitor them.
The effect of removing the block function is that whoever wants to stand there abusing staff is free to do so. In other words, if this was a post office staff would effectively have to stand there taking abuse.
If Elon Musk backs down and agrees to keep the block button then public sector people who can still set out a business case for the platform can realistically keep using it. If he doesn’t, any employer insisting that the former blue bird platform is used is asking its staff to break Health and Safety at Work legislation. Breaking this legislation can lead to a £20,000 fine and six months in prison.
This particular piece of Elon Musk posturing has high stakes for those who monitor social media accounts and their employers.
The photo call was once the mainstay of the communications’ repertoire. Arrange a time and a place and tell the local paper’s photographer to come along. Job done. Now, as photographers are far scarcer Alan Woods says this should evolve to a live streaming opportunity. It’s a great ideathat is delivering results.
The ‘photo call’ in its tried and tested format is dead.
But the concept remains relevant, and it is a concept that can be used by any organisation wishing to reach a local digital audience, particularly through social media.
After all, that is the niche that all local media outlets have an army of local or at least locally interested followers on the most popular social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.
This audience is, naturally, of value to any organisation whose target audience is geographical. I cannot emphasise enough how important a solid understanding of your local media title or titles is.
You should read as much of the content they publish as possible, follow their brand accounts on all social media platforms, and watch the videos they post or broadcast. The more you know, the easier you will find it to tailor your content to their style and objectives.
You should endeavour to understand what metrics are driving the newsroom – and why not just ask? Is it page views? Is it social media engagement? Is it newsletter sign ups? Or do they still prioritise print? You should also know how many ‘local’ – on patch – journalists are working for that title. If the answer is zero, you’re in a difficult position. If there’s a handful of reporters working on the ground you’re in with a good shot and need to figure out what is likely to get them out of their offices, bedrooms, kitchens and creating content that will benefit you.
A quick look through the title’s social channels will give you a good steer as to whether the title is digitally driven. Many titles rightly understand that a healthy engagement rate on Facebook will offer their link posts greater prominence in the Facebook algorithm (and subsequently on their followers’ feeds), so social engagement is a key metric in many newsrooms.
So now back to the ‘photo call’ concept – what can you offer journalists who are encouraged to find and generate digital content that drives engagement?
If you have a local title with a Facebook page posting regularly, could you create an opportunity for a journalist to broadcast via Facebook Live? This would secure you direct access to the local audience the brand has established on Facebook, and Facebook naturally prioritises live video on its own platform in its algorithm.
Of course there is risk when broadcasting live video – and please, please encourage the journalist to come along with a proper mic to avoid a lack of sound disaster – but you prepare your speakers for broadcast interviews, so why is this any different?
Good local examples of live streaming
Here are a few examples I have seen of this done well recently:
The Bristol Light Festivalwas broadcast live by Bristol Live for nearly 35 minutes, attracting 108 ‘likes’ and over 40 comments. I’m sure the picture spread of stills looked awesome in print, but it wouldn’t have been delivered the same level of engagement as the Facebook Live online.
An EssexLive journalist joined Essex Police for the latest Passing Out Parade and broadcast this video, which has been watched 4,400 times. What a great way of telling more than 4,000 people that there are more officers on the beat to keep them safe.
Similarly if your local brand tells stories through short-form video on social media such as Facebook Stories or Instagram Reels, how can you match your content to this format?
You can tell from a quick look at a brand’s Facebook page how seriously they take video content in their newsroom.
The same can be said for Tingley Garden Centre near Leeds, who invited The Yorkshire Post along to film inside. Was it a free advert that should have been paid for content? Maybe. That’s one for another day.
Merseyside Police nailed this video with the Liverpool Echo, offering up Inspector Katie Wilkinson from the dog unit to launch their ‘Take The Lead’ campaign this summer. It has been watched over 4,000 times.
Check your local landscape
I could go on, as there are hundreds of examples out there across local media titles. Take a look at your local titles and you will see for yourself. Developing a concept that will work for your organisation may take some time, but the impact you can have when you get it right makes it worthwhile.
What’s more, if you ask the journalist how the video performed on their Facebook page, I’m sure they’ll tell you – some stats ideal for your evaluation.
Depleted news teams make it harder than ever for any organisation to encourage a journalist out for a ‘call’ of any type. If you pull it off, make the most of the opportunity. Find out all that you can about the newsroom and what drives it, and make a note so you can feed this into future pitches. And use the opportunity to tell the journalist more about what your organisation is doing and trying to achieve.
You would be silly to not try and land the next pitch whilst you’re with the journalist in person too – it is so much harder for them to say no when you’re face to face.
Alan Woods is the head of media and public affairs at the National Police Chiefs’ Council.
