There is something about the festive season that gives comms people free licence to be more creative.
The season’s cheer means that people are a bit more relaxed about the content they put out. As a result there’s been a slew of engaging content.
Some of it has a call-to-action while other content is a more relaxed human approach. A timely reminder that the people who work there are human too.
So, in the style of the Radio Times Christmas edition, here’s a quick run-down of some of the may clips that caught my eye.
Sussex Police’s domestic violence drama
Police would steer clear of domestic violence a few years ago. That’s changed. This video focusses on a child getting ready for Christmas under the shadow of warring adults. A call to the police leads them to come around.
Staffordshire Police’s Carpool Karaoke
A few years ago, Dover Police captured a singing cop while on patrol. It showed a human side. This Staffordshire Police video updates that. There’s carols. There’s also a conversation about the dangers of cybercrime. Why does it work? Because it’s just people talking. It’s brilliant.
West Sussex Council’s 12 days of Christmas
Christmas comes but once a year but grittimng can be four times in a 24-hour window. This light hearted clip shows the 12 days of Christmas with recycling and other messages. Excellent.
Bath & North East Somerset Council’s recycling singing
Mountains of wrapping follows Christmas and it’s always as well to get the message in quickly.
The is unusually affecting. The transcript of a potential road traffic collision is played out by children’s voiceover and toys. ‘Stay with me, stay with me,’ one child shouts as the victim loses consciousness. Drive safer is the message.
New Forest District Council’s location lyrics
Everyone loves a Christmas carol. The singing plays as council staff point to different parts of their district to pick out the key words. Merry Christmas.
Dorset Police’s Christmas pop hit
Taking inspiration from Carpool Karaoke is Dorset Police’s singing staff who make the clips on their lunchbreaks. There’s even a dog joining in.
West Midlands Ambulance Service’s epic fail
In amongst the more light-hearted clip is this excellent short clip from an ambulance service that flags the perils of driving with snow and ice on the roof. A block of ice falls froim a car in front and spins crashing into the windscreen of the following car.
You’ve probably seen what can happen if you don’t clear the snow off the roof of your car before you set off. If you haven’t been out since the snow came, make sure you leave time to clear snow off all of your car #safety#thelawpic.twitter.com/7lQtSSa113
Proving that firefighters are not that great at singing but very good at joining in the seasonal cheer are is this example. Happy Christmas. And switch off your fairy lights.
This is good work. The trick now is to take this creativity into the New Year to shoot warm human footage that engages then too.
Full disclosure: I’ve helped train people in video skills from Durham and Darlington Fire & Rescue Service, New Forest District Council, Bath & North East Somserset Council and West Sussex Council.
Anyone who has ever run a social media account for the public sector knows that from time to time people will post comments.
This ranges from the the helpful and questioning to the hostile and abusive. Abusive content, for my money, should never be engaged with. Have a swear filter on your Facebook page. Have a statement setting out what you’ll stand for and what you won’t.
This post from Dorset Police is perfectly judged. Someone complains that speed camera fines at Christmas go into the police’s pockets to spend on their Christmas party. It’s fake news and it is good to challenge it.
The point is made that the government get the fines money, the police enjoy letting their hair down. But most importantly, the fines may help reduce some of the 27 deaths on the road across Dorset.
The level of likes in support of the comment show this was a well-received approach.
When I started on a whim to blog #30daysofhumancomms it was to collect together some examples of human content that worked for me.
There were about half a dozen that had stuck in my memory and I’d hoped with a prevailing wind this could stretch to 30. Maybe.
But as I added more I spotted more and more people – thank you – came up with alternatives.
Over the course of the month a staggering 10,000 unique users came and read the content. Thank you for stopping by, for sharing and for coming up with suggestions.
I’ll continue the series
Not every day but because I keep finding things I’ll continue. Because they keep cropping up.
Why human comms?
The best content is the right thing in the right place at the right time. Yes, I get the need for evaluated calls to action. It’s not how many people see it. It’s what people did as a result of seeing it. So important. But if you don’t have an audience in the first place you’ve got nothing. If all your audience get are calls to actions you are not social. You are a pizza delivery company stuffing leaflets through the digital door. This is where the Paretto principle comms in in social media. If 80 per cent of your content is human and engaging this earns the right 20 per cent of the time to ask them to do something. It’s something I strongly believe in.
What have I learned blogging human comms for 30 days
Examples don’t take long to blog.
People respond to them.
They are the secret sauce that makes social media accounts work.
You know them when you see them.
They don’t just exist as a snappy tweet but can be a poster, a media comment, an interview or can be on Facebook too. Often they are not things thought up by comms at all.
What is striking seeing them together is seeing so many on Twitter and in the coming series I’ll look out for other channels, too.
31 days of human comms listed by subject area
Twitter update
Hampshire Fire & Rescue’s rescued bench tweet. See here.
Doncaster Council’s thread for their gritter World Cup. See here.
London Fire Brigade remember the Kings Cross Fire. See here.
The health bible the BMJ kicked things off with an earnest piece about whether or not Peppa Pig was encouraging the waste of GP’s resources. You can read the piece here.
Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Trust contributed to the debate with this tweet:
Following today’s article in the @bmj_latest, we can confirm that Dr Brown Bear no longer locums with the Trust, and is subject to the outcome of a fitness to practise investigation…and he’s a fictional bear https://t.co/kQwO10HoEApic.twitter.com/uZj5aFhkOB
Why is this good? The debate around Peppa Pig was a slightly tongue-in-cheek discussion on when and when not to use a GP. For an NHS Trust to remind people that they were human too isn’t such a bad idea. There was no significant event that would have overshadowed the jest.
It’s unplanned and ironic that the 30th post in this series is one from a railway company I’ve often despaired at.
London Midland were a train company that operated through the North West, Midlands and London. The trains I largely travelled on in the Black Country had no wifi, no plug sockets, no coffee and no tables. They also used to have their drivers poached.
But as a company their social media was superb. Human. Engaging. Real time. This company set standards their trains rarely did. If you were sat outside New Street station and wondering why you were not moving along the tracks their Twitter would tell you in good humour.
So, their sign-off when their franchise came to an end was no surprise:
This is our stop. A different rail company takes over from tomorrow. It’s been a pleasure! You can find all your travel information over at @LNRailway or @WestMidRailway. All change please. pic.twitter.com/IeuEouFKd8
Oh, the weather outside is frightful… and its the time to baton down the hatches.
If local government can get icy weather comms right they can keep people happy.
Here is a round-up of some content that worked well:
The myth-busting web page
There is a regular set of moans. You weren’t out. You didn’t grit. You didn’t grit enough. Having a web page like this is an excellent resource to have at your finger-tips. You can see it here.
The video from the cab of the gritter
It’s a video that is the perfect length to work on Twitter. Less than 20 seconds and shoots down the allegation that there were no gritters out. Great work.
Ever wondered what it’s like inside the cab of a gritter? The little monitor shows the driver the salt spreading at the back. Gritters out now in Wolverhampton #wmgritpic.twitter.com/BtF3hbbwdg
This post from the Mayor of Walsall asks people to chip in with their snowmen pics. It prompted people to respond with images from across the borough.
The video of the gritters heading out
This is perfect. Gritters loaded up and heading for the exit at the gritting depot. Evidence that the work is taking place.
The shared hashtag and the conversational response
The #wmgrit hashtag works in the West Midlands as a 20 minute journey can cut through two or three council areas. So 10 councils have joined together to share the searchable hashtag.
A few people are asking if we can restock grit bins – we will get to these as soon as we can, but at the moment our priority is to treat main roads and keep these as clear as possible #wmgrit
Ahead of the Merseyside derby Liverpool Council were telling people of the work that is going to take place to keep the game running smoothly. It fills a vacuum and was well shared.
There’s an easy target when the snow falls. It’s the council’s fault that the roads were not gritted fast enough, thickly enough or enough times.
On the very pointy part of the sharp end are the gritter drivers who have to be up and out.
This tweet and GIF from Kirklees Council is a reminder that those at the wheel are human too:
Please spare a thought for our gritter drivers, 4am alarm call, sneaking out the house without waking the family, driving to the depot to get the gritters, filling them with grit and driving a laden HGV in bad weather on the 5am run – while most people are tucked up warm in bed. pic.twitter.com/RXe9dleRDq
