Tag Archives: Public Relations

FACE THE SKILLS: A rough guide to getting the most out of video on Facebook 

In the early days of video training I helped deliver we’d have a clip that showed how landscape was the right way to shoot footage and upright video was plain wrong. 

“People have eyes side by side,” the video joked, “not above each other.” 

How we laughed.

It’s an example of how things have changed that Facebook have announced plans to move ALL their video to upright video. That includes Reels, live video and what they describe as other longer video. 

It’s a huge shake-up but I’m here to tell you it needn’t be daunting. 

Why are they doing this? Because more people watch video on a mobile phone holding their phone in one hand upright scrolling with the other. 

When will this take shape? This transformation is taking place in USA and Canada first before being rolled out globally. 

This huge shift in approach and demands we all take a fresh look at how video is created.  A key part of this is to look at what the recommendations Meta themselves are making.

Here’s some help with making sense of video. 

Types of video on Facebook 

There’s three types of video you can post to Facebook. Each one has a role to play. 

Short-form video 

Firstly, you can still post longer video to Facebook. Soon, you’ll have to do this as portrait-shaped as opposed to landscape-shaped. Facebook have said that you can re-purpose existing content for this but it is unclear as to how this will take shape.

Landscape footage can still be posted with a button to convert the clip from a portrait viewing experience to landscape.

Optimum length: Ten years ago, Facebook went from 16 seconds to two minutes for optimum video to encourage ads popping up mid-way through clips. Now, more than 90 seconds is the new optimum length for shortform.

Reels

This is where I’d be putting time and effort. Reels is Meta’s TikTok equivalent that they are pushing strongly. 

Recent research on public sector content put Reels head and shoulders above other content. When Reels was first launched it came as a laboured version of something that should be fun. You could see what they were trying to do but it was limited spark. That’s got better although the search algorithm still has some way to catch up with TikTok.

Be creative. Start with a hook so a teasing intriguing question or arresting footage. Keep it short. People work best because people connect with people.

If you are not creating Reels then start now is Meta’s advice.

Optimum length: Between 15 and 20 seconds is best.  

Live video 

Live video has pulled in huge numbers but often the public sector is a little hesitant. 

Upright live video may be challenging but it’ll be interesting to see how tools like the landscape video tool Streamyard can sync with it. This tool that takes people’s webcams and adds them to a desktop studio where they can give guests name titles, add banners to the screen with questions and add the title of the discussion. I’m a huge fan. 

Alternatively, you can take the Spudman or Max Out in the Lake District approach and go live direct from your mobile device.

Optimum length: 20 to 30 minutes.  

Facebook’s tips on creating video

There’s aa few pointers that Meta have made to give people a steer. This is so much better than the earlier days of Facebook where people were left pretty much to guess. 

If you’re making video then pay attention. 

Record in vertical video 9:16

The 9:16 format is portrait-shaped. This content will be rewarded. 

Engagement

This is a big one. 

In their update, Facebook have been keen to stress engagement. That means comments likes and shares as well as eyeballs where people are watching. So, the question to ask yourself is how you can encourage this. Is it asking a question or maybe questions? 

“Focus on engagement: Our recommendation systems favour videos that have a lot of engagement,” is the guidance. 

“Beyond plays and watch time, this also includes interactions such as reactions, comments and shares.”

This on its own should encourage people to play around with live video.

Storytelling

Being able to tell a story with a who, what, when, where and why. Meta’s own guidance is that authentic storytelling is more likely to perform well, regardless of whether it’s a Reel, medium length or long video.

Authentic 

Meta still want you to be authentic. If you think you need special effects, slow motion, drone footage and exploding space rockets then you can relax a touch. Rough around the edges has a place on Facebook. 

Use Meta’s editing tools

The advice with Reels is to still finish off using the tools that Meta provide. So, use their music and their text on screen. If you use the Reels editing tools on Instagram you can add subtitles that use the AI tool to make a stab as to what they say. You still need to check that out to avoid inaccurate subtitles. 


If you’ve found this useful you’ll like ESSENTIAL VIDEO SKILLS REBOOTED training to help you plan, shoot, edit and post effective comms and PR video.

CLICK POST: What good Instagram content looks like in 2024

Instagram has often baffled the public sector yet with some fresh thinking it could work well for you.

The worst examples I’ve seen of corporate Instagram are a receptacle for every piece of artwork or campaign regardless. The sense of box ticking is as strong as the tumbleweed, frankly. Just because something been posted doesn’t mean it’s worked.

So what does work?

Well, firstly, it’s creating a filter around who your audience is. Who is likely to follow you? Who is following you? Instagram is most popular amongst under 30s. It’s visual and increasingly video. Half of all time spent on Instagram is spent watching video, so how can you tailor something?

The days of Instagram being a place solely for landscape pics, fashion pics or shots of your breakfast have long gone.

Here’s three examples of good Instagram use to inspire you.  

Alderhey Children’s Hospital 

A few years ago, this children’s hospital on Merseyside was involved in a high profile court case involving a baby and medical advice that pointed to switching off the life support machine. The case was traumatic for all concerned and led to a rethink by the hospital on how they use social media.

Instead of using Instagram as a general bulletin board they asked a simple question: ‘What are we about?’ The answer was they were a place that had inspiring staff doing amazing things for amazing child patience. So, they decided to use Instagram as a place to posting inspiring stories of staff and patients and nothing else. 

This remarkable approach has generated some truly magnificent content that has been picked up by news outlets across the globe. 

For example, here’s 13-year-old Ellie who appears in this video ringing the end of treatment bell.

It’s an emotional video that shows video ringing the symbolic bell then hugging her Mum. It’s beautiful.

Then there’s this which is a quick staff profile of Linda a catering assistant. 

Both build a picture of a hospital with real people doing a fantastic job. 

Leeds Plus Social 

This isn’t public sector but its absolutely a channel to learn from. Leeds Plus is a news outlet that exists on social media that focuses on the positive. 

Scroll through and you’ll see stories from across the city with more than 100,000 followers on Instagram. That’s an impressive number. 

The platform divides its content into seven nicely curated categories including news to food & drink, new venues, local heroes, back in time and events. Want more food & drink? Hit the category at  the top of the channel. The lesson here is to focus on what people want and curate it for them.

As you scroll down the timeline you get a layer which gives the title of the video. Click through and it uses subtitles to run through the story. Here a £250m tram proposal is being explained in the caption but also the video which tells the story in text on cutaways of Leeds streets.

Or this which tells the story of the Mr Whippy Vans departing the city park.

It’s clear that news stories can be covered on Instagram if they are created for uniquely for Instagram and from the ground-up.  

Yorkshire Dales 

While video is a driver there’s still room for good photography. Every area has its share of people who celebrate the area with good pics. The trick is to ask them for permission to share them and then credit them.

Here, a shot taken by amateur photographer Andy Kay is used to celebrate the view. What I also love about this are the comments. One person recognises it as his father-in-law’s land where he first started to dry stone wall. So, connections with the community in an unexpected way.

From a more day-to-day call to action perspective this shot of the museum flags up the museum as a place to go for events.

What good looks like

Anton Mosseri, head of Instagram, recently posted that follower numbers were less important than likes and views per post. This makes loads of sense and navigates around the legacy impact of previous ways Instagram were used. An account may have 20,000 people, for example, but if the content is poor this week it’ll lead to limited engagement. A couple of likes for this is not a great look. 

The other good thing about this is that it can be understood with a basic grasp of maths rather than buying an external tool. Adobe put ‘good’ at four per cent engagement. So, two likes amongst 20,000 followers at 0.01 per cent is demonstrably poor. To reach four per cent for 20,000 followers would need 800 engagements. 

Summary

Instagram is its own channel with its own filter needed to weed out the content topics that won’t work. Will it appeal to under 30s? Is it visual? Can it be video? 

Consistently, what doesn’t work are pieces of graphic design messaging. The numbers for these are consistently poor. 

TRUST WARS: Yes, the public sector should be clear on how they use AI

When I was a kid I’m sure I was delivered a lecture on how a reputation was so hard to build and so easy to lose. 

Maybe it was for something pretty minor although – full disclosure – me and eight of my mates were suspended for a day in the VI form for drinking alcohol on Cannock Chase while we were running an orienteering checkpoint. 

I told my kids this a few years ago and they were both – again, full disclosure – ASTOUNDED. 

Reputation and trust also applies to public sector institutions. In the UK, trust in the pillar of Government is sparse with the Edelman Trust Barometer running a 12-year low with just 31 per cent of people in the UK having trust in Government institutions.  

Trust is also easy to lose and hard to build. Look at the Kate Middleton’s photoshopped Mother’s Day picture issue.

Never mind misleading photoshop, AI can demolish trust in an institution overnight.   

What made me reflect on the issue of identifying AI content was Scottish Government’s bold announcement that all public sector bodies north of the border will be required to register their use of AI for projects. Importantly, this logs projects rather than all AI use. At the moment, the register is voluntary but is the first in the UK to become mandatory.

What’s on the Scottish AI Registry now? 

A quick look at the AI Register shows just three projects. Included in this list is a tool that shows how vulnerable children may be to exploitation and a virtual concierge assistant to help you choose the right tool for blind or deaf people to take part in civic society. 

The benefit of being transparent

Back in the day, Tom Watson MP was a junior Minister responsible for the Civil Service (full disclosure: Tom was a very approachable contact when I was assistant chief reporter in the Express & Star’s Sandwell office). 

One weekend, Tom crowdsourced what should be in the first draft of the civil service social media guidance. This included a suggestion to declare your connection to the Civil Service as you used social media in connection with a civil service matter. I’ve always thought this broad approach was a good idea.

If you’re declaring how you are using AI this can only build trust. There is no ‘gotcha’ moment but there may be a debate about the methods you use. But if you can’t justify it then should you even be using it? 

Why setting out how you use AI is a good idea

For me, yes a comms team should set out how AI is used. 

Indeed, Meta has already required that content created with AI are labelled. So, images and video created with AI tools need to be identified. But so too must text that’s been shaped with a tool like ChatGPT and posted to a Meta platform such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads or Instagram.

Not only this but in the UK, uploading deepfakes without the owners’ consent is already a crime. I cannot sensibly think of a time when a public sector comms team would create such a deepfake without the subject’s permission. However, the state of political campaigning in America is another thing entirely.  

I’d be interested to hear what others think. 

SCHEDULE QUESTIONS: Questions to ask if you’re thinking about using a social media management tool

A couple of months back I was invited to become a partner of a social media management tool. After brief reflection I declined in part because I didn’t want to be hobbled in the independent advice I give.

Are social media management tools a good idea? For me, maybe. But never always. There are some tough questions to ask first before you sit through the sales pitch and commit to the dotted line.

Q: Will posting from your social media management tool inhibit my reach?

At a time when algorithms are making life hard it’s important to squeeze every ounce of advantage. Back in 2011 Meta confirmed that third party tools would harm social media reach. However, the picture today is far less clear. You can find posts from several social media management tools assuring people that’s not the case anymore. But there is a real lack of independent academic research in this area. A trawl of Google Scholar which searches academic papers draws a blank.

Q: Will the social media management tool have access to all of the new tools and functionality the platform develops?

Famously, Facebook as a platform is in permanent Beta. This is a geek way of saying that it is never ever finished. It will always evolve. New tools are constantly emerging. Some are tested in a handful of key territories, refined, rolled out or dropped. 

There’s no realistic way that every tool is passported through to every social media management platform. After a successful trial Meta, X, Google or whoever are likely to attach a price tag on the latest must-have tool. Meta’s social media tool Business Manager on Meta doesn’t have every available tool so why would third parties? 

This is a key question because platforms want new tools to work. Therefore, using new tools is often likely to be rewarded. Posting natively using them is likely to have the advantage.

Q: Will the social media management tool monitor who is posting from the account? 

This is something the tool can usually do well. An integration with the platform means that certain people can post and some can’t. When those people can post they leave a trail behind them. You can see who did it. This can be useful. Business Manager on Meta can also grant and restrict access centrally to Meta tools. LinkedIn as a similar approach. It may be worth comparing and contrasting what the social media management tool can do against what is freely available. Is this valuable to you?   

Q: Does the social media management tool have AI skills?

This is a new front in the battle. Many platforms say they use AI to help you write content. Whether or not using AI to create content is a good idea is one for you to reflect on. The research would urge you not to blindly rely on it. A clumsily-written post can undo plenty of hard work. However, using AI to create content can make the most of limited time so long as checks and balances are in place. Dilemma time.

If you are in the public sector the issue of trust and AI is very much one you need to be aware of. Scottish Government have taken the lead by requiring every public sector organisation to register how they are using AI. So, north of the border, for transparency if you are using AI tools on social media you need to declare it.    

Q: Will the social media management tool evaluate everything?

Often, social media management tools are really good at producing a report on demand with pie charts, numbers and other useful things. There’s no doubt these can look visually attractive. But are they the complete answer? For me, they’re part of the journey. Clicks, reach and numbers are useful as a broad metric. They can help you refine and learn from content. But will it tell you how many clicked on the job ad? How many ended up applying and how many are still engaged in the process? No. You need HR for that. Their data is the acid test as to whether or not your recruitment campaign is a success. There is no substitute for this.

In football terms, looking at individual metric data alone will tell you how far the player ran and how many passes were completed. It won’t tell you the final score. That’s the bigger picture.

Q: Will the social media management tool encourage corner cutting?

One thing I’ve learned from the last few years closely researching algorithms and effectiveness is that social media is changing and evolving. All social media algorithms penalise links. Why? Because the longer you spend on the platform the more attractive you are to advertisers. Does ITV tell people to go to the BBC mid-way through a peaktime drama? The heck it does. 

The most effective content is created bespoke for a specific platform and tells the story on the platform. On Facebook, it can also be posting a link into the comments or on X, formerly Twitter, build a thread of tweets to tell the whole story.

With that in mind, I’ve lost count of the times people guiltily admit to cutting and pasting the same thing just to get the thing out of the door. We’ve all done it. I have in the past. 

Posting the same content is also a bad idea. The most I’ve seen is 17 identical posts in a 24-hour period. Reader, the algorithm did not reward them. Fewer crafted posts are more effective than repetition.  

Q: Can you use the social media platform on a mobile phone?

If you’re out and about and some news breaks can you use your mobile to post an update? 

Q: Can you hit pause on the social media platform in an emergency? 

Or if a key piece of news happens, can you quickly pause what you are about to send?     

Q:  How much will the social media management tool cost? 

This is a big one.

How much? 

If the questions you ask lead to answers you are prepared to pay for then knock yourself out. 

But balance the figure you have against the free tools the platforms already provide.   

Good luck.

VERIFIED BIRD: Should the public sector pay for social media verification? Yes, and no

Public sector comms people in the next few days will have to make a decision over Twitter… to pay or not to pay?

The question is being forced on people by a move to scrap verified blue ticks and replace them with a paid for version. 

The blue ticks have long been a Twitter-verified hard won badge of trust that singles public sector organisations out as being trusted. 

Twitter’s model 

Under the new model, organisations can apply for Twitter Verified Organisations at $1,000 dollars (£810) a pop. It also charges $50 dollars (£40.50) a month for further affiliate accounts. So, an organisation with 10 Twitter accounts will be paying $500 (£405) a month.

The advantage, Twitter says, is longer tweets, longer video and your content in the Twitter For You page which Twitter has quietly introduced as a landing page which you’re served when you you navigate to the page. This serves what Twitter’s algorithm wants you to see rather than your friends and followers as happened in the earlier days of Twitter.

Individuals can take out Twitter Blue at £84 a year. You get longer tweets and tweets shown to more people. 

Meta’s model

Over at Meta in the UK a verified programme has also been launched. It gives a verified badge for Instagram and Facebook and access to support at $15 a month for an account.  You also get proactive account protection. 

To pay or not to pay? Yes and no

And here’s the rub. Yes and no. 

Twitter feels increasingly like a broken platform whose every decision is framed around irritating existing users. Elon Musk has clearly overpaid in a moment of hubris and is frantically trying to wring cash out of the platform. Blue ticks gave an element of trust to the platform. It’s tempting to think you’re paying for what you had with these moves but the reality is that you won’t be. When anyone can pay for it, including potential bad actors, the trust is devalued.

The wider issue is Twitter as a platform. As the recent BBC Panorama investigation showed, it is no longer a platform that can guarantee people’s safety. The question should be not should you pay for it but should you even be on it?

As a strategy, a gradual easing away from Twitter is the sensible way forward. Twitter was always useful for reaching journalists and for a crisis. WhatsApp may be a better way of messaging a hack. So too is a newsroom on the website. For an emergency? It will be interesting to see what channels are used in the next terror incident. In the Manchester Arena attack, Greater Manchester Police established a trusted voice within minutes and then filled in the blanks. Would people be looking at something like Facebook if something like that happened? I’m tempted to think so. The pandemic certainly showed us that other ways of reaching people exist. 

Which leads to paying for Meta. Frankly, Facebook’s own customer service offering is so bad and so opaque that paying something a month for the ability to reach them represents value for money.   

We’ve sometimes thought of social media as a free channel for some time. The truth is it’s never been free. It takes time and resources to produce organic content that works. It costs to boost a post to make sure it reaches people. These moves to pay for verification just brings the cash-hungry nature of social platforms into the open.

GUEST POST: Social media engagement, how to measure it and not care about anyone else

You’ve posted your content, but how well is it working? What can you measure and how does that compare? Lucy Salvage takes a look at what numbers to look at.

When we talk about measuring data, KPIs, benchmarks and the like, one thing that can be useful is knowing what other people are doing and how well they are doing it.

Sure, in a lot of cases, particularly in business, competitor analysis is key to formulating an effective marketing strategy. But what about Local Government? In particular social media? I would argue that when it comes to social media engagement, you should only be concerned with numero uno. 

“Try telling the Big Boss that!” I hear you cry into your gin – and so the next time your Big Boss wants to know how you are doing on social alongside neighbouring councils, here is your argument for why that’s a bit of a silly question.  

It’s a one-horse race

The main reason why it’s more or less impossible to benchmark social engagement against other authorities is simple. We’re not in competition with them. We’re not trying to sell an identical product to the same target market. Thanks to local democracy and the Boundary Commission, you have your territory and they have theirs. Think The Hunger Games but without military rule or a fight to the death, everybody has their own district (or borough). For this reason alone, there is little if any value in regularly spending time analysing what other LAs are doing on social, unless that is they are doing something really spectacular and you want some of that action. 

Too many variables

Benchmarking social engagement against other local authorities is tricky because of the many different variables that make up each authority. If we break it down in the simplest of terms, most of it comes down to the diversity of our audiences – not one will be an identical match for another. Here are a few variables that make it hard to compare one authority’s social media engagement with another:

  • Geography – some are more rural/urban than others and with that comes varying needs and challenges. For example, a densely rural district may have poor broadband coverage resulting in a higher number of residents unable to access the internet compared to a densely populated urban borough with greater coverage. 
  • Age – areas with a higher percentage of an ageing population will have differing service needs to those areas with a more active younger audience. Age will also determine which social platform is the most effective home for your messaging and if you even use social media at all. Ofcom’s Adults Media Use and Attitudes Report (2022) shows that the percentage of people using social media varies considerably by age, as we would expect. 
  • Gender – each social media platform will have a differing split of male versus female followers. In my experience, audiences tend to mirror the national trend of having a higher proportion of female followers on each platform. This will impact how you position content, and therefore the results you get from it. 
  • Regional ethnic diversity – this will impact content as varying needs and traditions within the community are catered for. For example, content produced by the London Borough of Newham, named as the most diverse local authority in England and Wales, will produce different content to that of the least diverse authority, Allerdale District. 

Each of these variables means that whilst we might be offering similar services to our publics, the way they are communicated and presented will be very different, rendering it a pretty pointless task to try and make social media engagement comparisons between authorities. I realise, even if your Big Boss does not, that you have far better things to be doing with your time. 

How you should be benchmarking your social media engagement 

If you’re accessing your social analytics natively (i.e. for free via Twitter, Meta, or LinkedIn) then it’s likely you’re going to be limited in terms of what data you can collect.

If you pay for analytics via your management system, then you’ll have a lot more at your disposal. The key to utilising this data by whichever means is to be sure of your purpose. What will help you improve your content? What do you want to know? For monthly KPI reporting, I’d choose no more than four metrics to focus on. My top four:

  • Number of followers
  • Engagement (all)
  • Engagement rate 
  • Reach

Whilst the number of followers might appear to be somewhat of a vanity metric, it is still nice to see your following increase each month and confirm that actually, you’re doing something right. It’s also the quickest indicator of things going wrong if suddenly a large number of people abandon ship. 

There are some metrics that I personally find provide little value. These are: 

  • Brand awareness – just because someone doesn’t @mention you doesn’t mean they aren’t engaging with your content in other ways, and if you’ve ever tried to accurately @mention a company in a post you’ll know it takes FOREVER. Nobody has time for that)
  • Best time of day to post – this changes all the dang time day by day, week on week. It’s impossible to keep on top of and a waste of time to even try to. Just use your noodle. You know when your audience is most likely to be online.
  • Impressions – they’re just big numbers that lull you into a false sense of security – always best to choose reach over impressions IMHO.  

Sentiment analysis doesn’t get British humour

I include all engagements in my monthly reporting as I don’t trust sentiment analysis. Whilst management systems such as Sprout Social and Hootsuite offer sentiment analysis as part of their higher-tier paid packages, the technology isn’t as reliable as it could be. The last time I checked, artificial intelligence (AI) is yet to get to grips with British humour, particularly sarcasm.

I got fed up with having to manually check sentiment reports which were so far off the mark, that I stopped including them in my monthly reporting long ago. Until AI is better at recognising the context of a comment, then for me anyway, this data is meaningless. 

Don’t forget to add the context

What isn’t meaningless is YOU. You hold the power. You know your audiences and how they are likely to react to stuff. You are the one ‘in it’ so you are best placed to read the room when it comes to sentiment. Sometimes it is easy to lose sight of that when drowning in data. Don’t be afraid to include free text analysis of your observations in your reporting. You can give this context to supplement the inclusion of all engagements in your numerical reporting. 

Engagement is important

Engagement rate is one of the most valuable metrics as it gives you an overall indication of how you are doing and it’s the best way to benchmark against yourself. Only by regularly collecting data on a monthly basis (or more often if you are mad) will you come to know what an expected good engagement rate for you is. Remember, no one else matters. You are only in competition with yourself.

Setting benchmarks by platform

Here’s how I set social media benchmarks (by platform) for 2023. This was following the collection of a year’s worth of data in 2022:

  • I used the data over the twelve-month period to calculate averages for each metric (such as reach, engagement, and engagement rate.)
  • I then used these averages to create my benchmarks for 2023. For example, for LinkedIn I have a benchmark engagement rate of 12 per cent, and for Twitter it’s 4 per cent. This is reflective of the popularity of each of these platforms with my organisation’s audience. 

Your bad is someone else’s good 

To further reinforce the point that comparing your social media performance to that of others is a mug’s game, a bad engagement rate for you may be exceptionally good for someone else. Another reason why it is crucial you find your own ground when determining what is good and bad social media engagement. 

According to our feathered friends at Hootsuite, a good engagement rate is between 1 – 5 per cent. So, if you are punching well above that anyway, happy days! Your challenge now is to maintain that. For those struggling to achieve 1 – 3 per cent, then I would advise that you need to revisit your strategy to try and get to the bottom of why your content isn’t landing. This is the point where looking at what your neighbours are doing may come in helpful. 

Hootsuite lists six engagement rate formulas (oh look, another variable!). The one I use is ‘engagement rate by posts’. This will tell you the rate at which followers are engaging with your content, however, it won’t take into account anything that goes viral given that reach is not considered. Here is the magic formula you need for the engagement rate by posts calculation:

No. of engagements / no. of followers * 100

This blog from Hootsuite lists some other engagement rate types, such as by reach, by impressions, and by paid-for, which may work better for you (because only you matter remember!). 

You can be flexible with KPIs

Another thing to remember is that you can always tweak your KPIs as you move through the year. It isn’t cheating. It’s not fiddling the books. It’s progress and the best way for you to compete with yourself is by setting realistic and achievable targets that are bespoke to your organisation. 

Only then will you be able to accurately report your brilliantness to the Big Boss. It might be dog-eat-dog out there, but you’re always number one when it comes to reporting on social media engagement. 

Lucy Salvage MCIPR is Digital Content Creator, Chartered Institute of Environmental Health and previously worked as Media and Communications Officer at Wealden District Council.

GUEST POST: Seven lessons on handling broadcast interviews on Ukraine from a media trainer turned pundit

Cormac Smith was known to many through his career in local and central government. He’d also been communications advisor for Ukraine government. So when Russia invaded the country he looked for a way to make his experience count… in TV studios.

In early December 2021 I was visiting friends and former colleagues in Kyiv.  Between 2016 – 2018 I had served as special advisor to the country’s Foreign Minister.  Over lunch one day, a number of those present including Ukrainian diplomats suggested I should be speaking about their country on the media back in the UK, because in their words, I understood them.

Storm clouds were already gathering, they knew what was coming, so I said I would see what I could do.  Long story short, I returned to the UK, hit the phones and began pitching myself as an expert on the region.

Over the next 13 months to date I have carried out in the in the region of 150 TV and Radio interviews across nine countries. As a seasoned media trainer and public speaker, the following is a summary of the lessons learned or in some cases, simply confirmed.

1. Media relations can be tough

Despite a strong resume, buckets of determination and over 30 years’ experience of selling in stories and placing interviews it took me over a month after my return from Kyiv to get my first gig.  But I had made a promise to my friends; what was I going to do, except keep buggering on as Churchill once said. Finally, around mid-January, with Putin’s further invasion still over a month away I got my first interview

2. Honest tough feedback is critical

I am fortunate to have a number of professional friends and colleagues, both in the UK and in Ukraine who can be relied on to give honest feedback.  Getting this feedback and acting on it to make improvements, especially in the early days was very helpful.

3. Do your research

Find out as far as possible what the interviewer wants to talk about, then prepare meticulously. Nothing will lose credibility quicker than not knowing your subject. Having said that know when to say; I don’t know.

4. Key messages are critical

Having done your research decide what you want to get across.  Expect the unexpected, always answer or at least address the question but learn how to bridge back to your key messages, and bridge back as often as necessary. This takes skill and practice if you are to keep interviewer and audience happy and not antagonise them.

5. It’s not just what you say, its how you say it

As little as 10% of what we communicate is verbal. Body language and tone of voice are critical if we are to grab attention, be trusted and gain traction. Assess posture, eye contact, hand movements and facial expressions.  And analyse tone of voice and pace as well as strength of delivery.  All of these things combine to make you either likeable and credible, or get them wrong – and you lose your audience.

6. Find the full stop

Despite coaching others for years to be concise and economical with words this was the biggest lesson I needed to learn early on. Prime time opportunities with the likes of Nick Ferrari on LBC will generally see you get between three and four minutes.  Their clock is running and if you talk too much you will be cut off and fail to get your key messages across.  It was when two trusted friends and colleagues, one a Brit and one a Ukrainian diplomat, told me on the same day that I had to learn to find the full stop, that the lesson finally sunk in.

7. Develop relationships with producers and interviewers

As an interviewee part of your job is to add value to producers and interviewers lives by being easy and pleasant to deal with and guaranteeing quality content every time. The other part of your job is to get your message across consistently, credibly and memorably. Be prepared to be strong and hold your ground from time to time, but don’t get confrontational.

Summary

I have been placing stories and setting up interviews for 30 years.  I did my first interview on national television almost 24 years ago.  I have also been coaching others to go on TV or radio, formally or informally, for 20 years. Nothing I had done compared to the intensity or importance of what I have done for the last year.  Never assume you know it all or can turn up and wing it.  Preparation is key and hubris comes before many a fall.  On the other hand, humility and a little bit of fear will serve you well and keep you honest. 

Cormac Smith is a freelance communications consultant who specialises in a range odf areas including public speaking and media training.

PEACE SPEAK: Nine pointers for public sector social media when dealing with online snark or abuse 

Back in the olden days – 2008 – people didn’t shout so much on social media.

Heck, they were just amazed their council or wherever was using it. 

Then people got a bit testy and then during the pandemic they got full on sweary and abusive. I’ve a feeling that when the inflated gas and electric bills land it’ll get even worse. 

Here’s a round-up of some of the points made in the Public Sector Comms Headspace session on dealing with online snark. Thanks everyone who came or contributed.  

Have a set of social media house rules

Yes, this is the ditch I’ll die in. You need something to say what’s acceptable and what’s not. A line in the sand. Then you need to enforce it and tell people why you’ve enforced it. Give them a warning first if you like but don’t tolerate abuse, hate or racist comments. 

If you want a world-beating set of house rules than I commend the Glasgow City Council version. I also recommend you take a look at Wirral Council’s social media house rules too. For North East Ambulance Serrvice NHS Trust’s rules look here.

Don’t delete or hide comments without explanation

Once you’ve got your rules then use them. But explain how they are being used.

People eventually twig that they’ve had their views removed and can get even more testy. What’s more helpful if you explain the action taken and also the reason why. Having seen that done I’ve certainly seen the burst of warm feelings when it is done.

Support your staff because it’s the law

Support your staff. It’s a nice thing to do. They’ll come back to work again next day and anyway it’s the law.

The Health and Safety Executive guidance on this can be found here which covers violence in the workplace. In particular, the advice on verbal abuse which is classed as verbal abuse is particularly useful to quote verbatim. The HSE download on this is here. 

It’s okay for someone to have an opinion

There’s a difference between comment, criticism and abuse. It’s fine for people to criticise policy. We live in a democracy. I’ve blogged before on how putting reputation management before listening can be damaging. Care providers are now obliged to offer a duty of candour after problems at Mid Staffordshire Hospital were not spotted. This duty may be extended to the entire public sector.  

People not liking a policy is fine. People hurling abuse isn’t. 

It’s always worth challenging

The origin story for many of public sector media was the riots in 2011. An analysis of Twitter at the time showed how some key tweets ebbed and flowed. It also showed the importance of challenging misinformation through a trusted account. The Guardian and LSE produced some landmark research ‘Reading the Riots’ that showed that challenging them in public saw the impact diminish.

Post something contentious when you’re around

Several years ago I remember Aly from Coventry City Council saying that posting about the Pope’s visit at 5pm on a Friday and then going home maybe wasn’t the best idea. When she returned on Monday morning was hundreds of comments playing out a religious flamewar better suited to the 17th century.

Someone made the point in the Headspace session. Don’t post something that you know may be contentious without you being around to keep an eye on the comments. 

It’s always worth challenging over and over 

Every year the urban myth gets repeated that Cadbury’s have banned the word ‘Easter’ from their eggs for fear of offending muslims. They haven’t. But someone challenges this about 350 times a day. If they haven’t, they’d be 35,000 false comments.

People don’t tend to shout at real people

It’s a good tip. A real person – a resident – talking about something doesn’t attract the same attention as a bland corporate announcement. So, include real people in your content. Employes talking about their job also works, too.  

You don’t have to put up with someone swearing at you

Loop back to the social media guidelines. If you’re telling people that you’ll not tolerate racism or being sworn at then after a warning ban them. Just as you’d be banned if up behaved like that in my local Post Office. You deserve to be able to do your job without being the target of abuse. 

SHOT LIST: How to draw-up your own video style guide

The argument for shooting, editing and posting your own content is well and truly won. But how should it look? 

There’s a few things to consider when you are drawing up a video strategy for your organisation. Content would be one. A style guide would be another once you’ve got some confidence.

This would dictate things like the typeface you’d use and maybe where your logo sits.

You are probably used to using brand guidelines in marketing and print. What you do with video needn’t feel as onerous but some basic pointers will make your collective output look much better.

Here are some things to think about. You can use as much or as little as you like with this. Certainly, as an extra task it’s going to add some time onto the end of your workflow but you need to ask yourself if the process adds any or takes away.

Certainly, there’s sometimes where speed is of the essence.In that case maybe it can all go to the wall. It’s up to you. 

The steps here aren’t that hard and can be replicated using a smartphone and an editing app. I’ve used Kinemaster here.  

I’ve editing some editing points in italics showing you the steps I took. 

Video isn’t print

First things first. Breaking news: video isn’t print. The idea of picking up your brand guidelines and dropping them lock stock and barrel into video is a really, really bad one for me. What’s been developed for print works best in print.

The NHS brand, for example, is a thing of wonder with a clear typeface that directs people around the hospital. It immediately reassures people that they’re getting health information. But a sign isn’t video.

For me, the starting point may be your brand guidelines but you’ll need to start with a spirit of flexibility. BBC News on TikTok, for example, has some broad pointers that identify it as BBC but it doesn’t drop in the opening music of a news bulletin, for example.   

A typeface

Video editing tools give a variety of different typefaces. If you’re using something like Kinemaster you’ll get some free. If you upgrade to Pro you’ll get access to plenty more which is where the value of Pro pays dividends.  

If you’ve got a font you use but you’re maybe not clear on what the font is called there’s a great website called whatthefontis.com. Drag and drop a piece of content and it’ll tell you what the font is and a number of close matches. Then look for the matching font that’s available to you in the video editing app.

Making your typeface work

Once you’ve got your typeface you’ll need to think of a size for the title, maybe you’ll need to use the editing tool to create an outline for the title to make it stand out. 

A title

You’ll maybe think of how you’d like titles to appear and depart the screen. Using an editing app it’s very easy to create an in-animation and an out-animation. Fade is a pretty standard one but having one makes your content look that bit better.

Here’s a title created using Kinemaster Pro and uses Plus Jakarta Sans Bold downloaded from the shop. 

Text on screen 

This is the part where you want to tell the story using text on the screen maybe with some supporting footage. 

This uses Plus Jakarta Sans Bold.

A caption 

This is the additional information that maybe shows the name and the job title of the individual in question. It’s sometimes know as a lower third. What would you like your template to look like? You may want this to be part of the family of typefaces you’re using for the title. 

I’ve created two separate lines. For the first one, the name, I’ve created a text layer, enabled background colour, changed the colour to red, changed opacity to 100 per cent. This creates a solid block of colour. If I wanted it to be really opaque as a background I may knock this down to something like 30 per cent.  I’ve used Plus Jakarta Sans Extra Bold. The default text colour is white. I’ve then duplicated this to create a second text box. I’cve switched the typeface to Plus Jakarta Sans Light. I’ve changed the colour of this second textbox to red and I’ve changed the background to white. In other words I’ve flipped it round entirely.  

A sub-title

This is the accessibility-friendly part of the video where you’re adding the what the person on screen or voice is saying.  

There’s two ways of doing this. Yes, you can do this on Kinemaster. Yes, you have to do it letter by letter. No, there’s no shortcut. I’ve changed the typeface here to Plus Jakarta Sans Extra Light. It’s part of the Plus Jakarta family of fonts I’ve downloaded but it’s lighter so more suited to a sub-titling role.  

A logo

You may be watching something like Al Jazeera English and you’ll see a logo in the top left or maybe top right corner of the screen. This is really useful as it reminds the viewer the source of the information. It plays a supporting but helpful role.  

Here I’ve emailed myself the logo and I’ve added it as a media layer. I’ve changed opacity to 75 per cent. Feel free to experiment with your own. My own logo is white text on an orange background. You may feel that white is less obtrusive. Go with what works for you.  

A style guide

All of this builds up a style guide. Mine may look like this…

Title: Plus Jakarta Bold with fade for in and out animations.

Caption: Plus Jakarta Sans Extra Bold for the name and Plus Jakarta Sans Light for the job title.

Sub-title: Plus Jakarta Sans Extra Light 

Logo: Orange logo top left corner at 75 per cent opacity. 

You may want to add to it as you go along using this as a starting point. Maybe your style guide may include something like resolves – how each clips bleeds into each other – or other things. That’s all fine.

Remember that all these things are part of the language of film. It’s fine to play around with them from time to time.

The bottom line is with a bit of teaching being able to do this isn’t hard. The results outweigh the effort you put in. 
For more on video, I deliver ESSENTIAL VIDEO SKILLS REBOOTED on planning, editing, and posting video. You can find out more here. I also deliver ESSENTIAL PORTRAIT VIDEO FOR TIKTOK & REELS. More on that here.