ANNOUNCEMENT: Join new training dates for Summer and Autumn

Take a scroll, I’ve announced dates for my Summer and Autumn training.

I’m having to make an increase of 4.4 per cent with the cost of one place on a session moves from £225 + VAT to £235 + VAT.

So, a tip-off… to beat that rise get ahead and book before May 1.

Why is it worthwhile?

Well, for the past decade, I’ve delivered thousands of hours of training and advice for 1,056 organisations.

In a changing landscape the learning will see you impress your boss, impress your bosses’ boss and a wow potential new boss.

All the training sessions are based on a mix of experience, data, best practice and analysis. In a changing world that’s handy.  

Scroll down to see the dates and times for…

• ESSENTIAL COMMS SKILLS BOOSTER
• ESSENTIAL VIDEO SKILLS FOR COMMS REBOOTED.
• ESSENTIAL MEDIA RELATIONS
• ESSENTIAL TIKTOK & REELS
• ESSENTIAL SOCIAL MEDIA FOR CANDIDATES OR ELECTED MEMBERS

Book a space on a public session OR drop me a line to arrange an in-house session.

To book a space on a public session or to enquire about in-house training for the team use the form on the bottom of the page.

ESSENTIAL VIDEO SKILLS REBOOTED

This is the workshop that helps you plan, shoot, edit and post effective video.

If you’ve some experience of shooting video or none, this workshop is for you. Developed by Dan with the help of filmmaker Julia Higginbottom this will take you through what you need to know.

We’ll look at the ingredients needed to make effective short form video, TikTok, Reels and live video.

Updated in 2024 to reflect incoming moves towards vertical video that Facebook are introducing as well as how to shoot vertical video.

We’ll look at staying legally safe with GDPR and copyright laws.

What: Online four two hour long sessions.

Who: Anyone looking to develop their skills and knowledge of creating content.

Programme #30 starts 23.5.24

Programme #31 starts 12.6.24

Programme #32 starts 12.9.24

MORE HERE

To book a space on a public session or to enquire about in-house training for the team use the form on the bottom of the page.

ESSENTIAL COMMS SKILLS BOOSTER

There has been more change in the last 12-months than the last 12-years with communications.

This workshop was drawn-up in answer to the cry from a colleague ‘can’t someone just run a course that shows me all I need to know?’

This will show you everything you need to know from media landscape, how to create content and up-to-date steers on what content algorithms reward and penalise. The knowledge will give you the ability to create more effective content.

You’ll also go through new channels like Nextdoor, Instagram Broadcasts, Threads and WhatsApp Channels as well as ChatGP, how to connect with Facebook groups. You’ll also know how to use LinkedIn as well as hope to deal with comment, criticism and abuse.

What: Online five sessions up to 90 minutes.

Who: Anyone looking to refresh or build their skills.

Programme #55 starts 28.5.24

Programme #56 starts 19.9.24

MORE HERE.

To book a space on a public session or to enquire about in-house training for the team use the form on the bottom of the page.

ESSENTIAL MEDIA RELATIONS

Dealing with a journalist can be stressful whether you’re pitching a story or answering a question.

In this three part session we’ll go through how to be proactive as well as reactive by following a series of easy to follow steps. You’ll understand what makes a reporter tick and how to handle the trickiest media query.  

You’ll understand how journalism in the UK is changing as it moves away from print to online as well as the new generation of email first news organisations. By doing so we can better see what content would work.

What: Three online sessions.

Who is this for: Anyone who may need to pitch a story or pick up the phone or answer an email to a journalist with a question.

Programme #20 starts 13.5.24

Programme #21 starts 16.9.24

MORE HERE

To book a space on a public session or to enquire about in-house training for the team use the form on the bottom of the page.

ESSENTIAL TIKTOK & REELS

This is the specialist training for vertical video which looks at techniques for TikTok & Reels.

We’ll look at the differences between vertical video and how to plan, shoot and edit for this rising platform. We’ll look at how to make content using BBC approaches as well as more creative filmmaking and trends.

We’ll look at staying legally safe with GDPR and copyright laws.

What: Online four two hour sessions.

Who: For people who are looking to learn how to make vertical video.

Programme #13 starts 9.5.24

MORE HERE.

To book a space on a public session or to enquire about in-house training for the team use the form on the bottom of the page.

SOCIAL MEDIA FOR ELECTED MEMBERS & CANDIDATES

This is how an elected member can choose which social media channel to use as well as how to use it effectively.

From the 2014 Scottish Independence referendum onwards social media has helped more voters make their minds up than traditional media. In this session we’ll look at how a candidate or councillor can first choose which social media channels to select.

You’ll then look at how best to use social media, to avoid pitfalls and to stay legally safe.

Dan drew-up the first social media guidance for Councillors for the Local Government Association for England & Wales as well as Scotland through the Scottish Government’s Improvement Service.  

To arrange an in-house delivery for your team use the webform below.

What: Sound advice for Councillors and candidates to use social media while staying on the right side of the law.  

Who:  Councillors and candidates looking to use social media.

MORE HERE.

To enquire about in-house training for the team use the form on the bottom of the page.

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LOCAL NEWS: How to use the Nextdoor platform in the public sector

If you are public sector comms you need to know about the strengths and weaknesses to Nextdoor. 

Yes, I know you’re busy. That’s why I’ve written a brief post to explain the platform with the help of some nice people from the Public Sector Comms Headspace. 

Firstly, here’s three key things you need to know about this platform.

Three key Nextdoor facts 

Nextdoor’s audience is over 55s

The first key Nextdoor fact is that it’s mainly used by over 55s. If you’re in the public sector these may well be a key audience. They tend to vote and also be service users. 

Nextdoor is arranged into neighbourhoods

Fact number two is that Nextdoor operates rather like a rigid community Facebook group. Want to join as an individual? You need to put your name, address and postcode. This way you are assigned into a specific area Nextdoor. 

However, you can only be in one Nextdoor. So, no glancing over the fence to see what a neighbouring area is up to. This is a strength and weakness. A strength because you get local content but a weakness if you are interested in more than one area.

This is a pain as I’m in the Brierley Hill Nextdoor. Can I see if there’s a plumber recommended in the Halesowen Nextdoor three miles away? No, I can’t. That’s annoying.

Nextdoor really likes the public sector

When I say Nextdoor really likes the public sector it really, really likes the public sector. You can get a free partnership agreement as a public sector organisation. This means your content is automatically sent to ALL Nextdoor members in a geographic area. So, none of this messing around with a Facebook page and begging for likes.

A chum Lucy Salvage ran some A/BNextdoor v Facebook testing a while back which showed almost 4,000 had seen a Nextdoor post a couple of weeks after it was adopted by their council compared to 5,500 seeing it on the Facebook page which had been established for more than a decade. 

This is a really big deal. 

On the Nextdoor website, they are keen to push testimonials from the Metropolitan Police in London as well as the Police Service of Northern Ireland amongst ‘hundreds’ of public sector users. 

One suggestion is to post as the council rather than the council comms team. 

The size of the Nextdoor audience

Irritatingly, Ofcom does not have data in their social media release.

This is where it gets a bit opaque. Globally, there are 88 million Nextdoor users which is small fry compared to the two billion who are using Facebook. But its a 13 per cent increase in users represents growth compared to X, formerly Twitter’s apparent 20 per cent decline in the US. 

Digging around for UK stats is tricky. The platform’s UK pages talk of one in four households being registered. Indications from other sources are that 8.1 million people have used Nextdoor in the previous month. That’s 11.9 per cent of the population. 

This is not the strongest set of figures available but the public sector partnership agreement approach really puts a rocket under those numbers. 

The hyperlocal approach 

Where Nextdoor does well is that it taps into the broad approach of hyperlocal walled gardens which reflects where the internet has been heading. Facebook groups are now a cornerstone of effective public sector comms. 

Nextdoor also reflects the need for the public sector to go to where the eyeballs are. Just posting on a site and then expecting people to read it is no approach. 

Content in Nextdoor works best when it is hyperlocal. For some, this can be cloying. The discussion around what the police helicopter was doing last night or the bad parking in your street may not be everyone’s cup of tea but there would appear to be value in it.

A public sector partnership with the platform allows the council, fire and rescue and police comms team to post to their entire borough, city, district, town or county and also if required to target a specific ward. This is huge. 

NHS can also use it, from what I can gather, if they ask nicely. Health is a private thing in the US where Nextdoor is based so it isn’t promoted on their website but anecdotally NHS Trusts in the UK have successfully signed up.  

Facebook groups v Nextdoor 

This is where things look less rosy for Nextdoor. Ofcom data for local government information puts Facebook groups as the dominant place in a crowded field as the place where people get the most council information. 

However, Nextdoor does perform ahead of radio, newspapers, email bulletins and Reach plc news sites for 25 to 64-year-olds.

What content works well

Hyperlocal content works well. The ability to pinpoint a ward with roadworks, consultation or other issues appears richly valuable. If it is tailored to a community the community will listen. 

So too, apparently, is flooding and extreme weather comms. So, expected snow fall will work well. 

Feedback is that the platform needs a longer run up than say, X, formerly Twitter has been in the past. Post your news in advance for routine updates. 

Is this a place to put all your content? No. Be choosy. 

Councillors

Bright elected members have been using Nextdoor to tap into the hyperlocal nature of the platform.

Snark

Do expect some online snark in Nextdoor. The internet can be a rowdy place these days and post-pandemic the conversation that includes the public sector can often be tetchy. Have a set of social media house rules in place would be my general recommendation for Nextdoor as well as every other platform.

Thanks to Public Sector Comms Headspace members who contributed to this blog including Annwen Bates, Fraser Serle, Isabella Gamble, Katie Jane, Sian Williams, Will Lodge, Kulbinder Mann Cara Marchant, Jade Mizen and Helen Chater-Franks. 

I help deliver the ESSENTIAL COMMS SKILLS BOOSTER workshop which helps PR and communications people communicate.

HANDY NUMBERS: UK social media use in 2024

WhatsApp is the most used social media platform in the UK, according to Ofcom data.

The messaging app is now used by 79 per cent of the population – one per cent in front of YouTube which lies in second place and 10 per cent ahead of Facebook in third.

Elsewhere, Instagram remains in 4th with just over half the population using it in the previous month. 

TikTok consolidates its climb to 5th in the UK league tables with 34 per cent of the population users overtaking X, formerly Twitter now used by just less than 30 per cent.

Snapchat is level with younger demographics with 26 per cent, Pinterest 19 per cent and LinkedIn 18 per cent.

For the first time Reddit has found itself in the top 10 with 12 per cent using it. 
The figures were revealed in the Ofcom Adults Media Literacy report.

I help deliver the ESSENTIAL COMMS SKILLS BOOSTER workshop which helps PR and communications people communicate.

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.

GUEST POST: How an NHS Trust harnessed video through telling people stories

One of their TikTok clips has chalked-up 1.4 million views alone. How is Sandwell & West Birmingham NHS Trust using video effectively? By focussing on people. Anuji Evans lifts the lid.

I’ve always loved storytelling – just ask my nine-year-old kid. In his home made Mother’s Day card recently he wrote a list of things to thank me for. You know, the usual, like tidying his room and making his dinner. But he signed off with “telling me crazy stories”. 

How I do love a good tale – even he recognises that. And so, it’s only fitting that this is what I’ve continued to do throughout my career as a journalist and communications professional. Of course, they’re true stories which I hope will make a difference. 

So how do me and the team at Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust do this? Primarily through our social media channels using photographs of real people and/or capturing them on video. Whether that’s a member of staff, or a patient, it’s important to us that our comms content is fronted by faces that people can relate to.

And we are there to guide and support them in telling their stories. 

As cliche as it sounds, the three hospitals, GP and community services run by the Trust is our patch and we build contacts constantly, working with them to raise awareness of services that will benefit patients, change the way the NHS works and save lives. 

The Bowel Screening Service is a great example. The team have a giant inflatable bowel. And why wouldn’t that be a great opportunity to create video tour of the bouncy back end? Yes, the bowel was impressive, but even more so was Anna, an enthusiastic bowel screening practitioner who took us on the journey, explaining the importance of the test. The video was a hit – worldwide.

Millions on TikTok

It’s currently at 1.4 million views on our TikTok channel with more than 1,100 comments such as “She’s (Anna) wonderful at explaining”, “I have a kit at home, I’m definitely going to use it” and “bowel screening saved my mum. If you have this kit use it.” Anna is originally from Ghana and we saw a sharp rise in views and comments from her motherland.

TikTok: ‘Welcome to our giant inflatable bowel.’

Content to us is about spotting an opportunity to tell a story and seizing it. We’ve been doing that for a while now, just in different forms so that we continue to move with the times. 

We began with filming our videos in landscape – but when TikTok suddenly started to soar, it was the boss who pushed us towards the portrait platform. Yes, it came with challenges. Would we have film the video twice, in landscape and portrait? Would the content have to change completely for the different audiences? How much extra work would it involve for our small team?

A hit in Bengali

But we made it work without too much extra graft. After some careful scrutiny of the data, it soon became apparent that audiences on our other channels liked the snappier and shorter films. The inflatable bowel video enjoyed a higher than usual engagement figure on our Facebook page, as did our measles symptoms explainer videos in English and Bengali. Both are doing well on all platforms and there are many others.  

Reels: Measles advice in Bengali.

We now post our TikTok vids as reels on Facebook and Instagram and change the aspect ratio to square for X (formerly known as Twitter) and LinkedIn. So yes, we do two different versions but only with minor edits. And yes, it still takes time, but it’s worth it for the results we see.

Not all our videos go across all channels. And it’s not all about the reels. We use static imagery of our people and patients on Facebook, Instagram, X and LinkedIn. The accompanying posts explain the narrative and the engagement continues to grow as do our followers.

Our latest campaign incorporating our Trust values and strategy is all about the different characters working within our organisation. We share a photograph each week of someone who has made a difference and give our audience a snapshot into their working life. It’s simple yet effective, as the data again is showing us.

Storytelling can be done in many different forms. Generic campaign material, with assets using text does have its place somewhere, but for us we must never lose sight of the most important part of our content – the people.

You can follow Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust on Facebook here and on TikTok here.

Anuji Evans is external communications manager at Sandwell & West Birmingham NHS Trust.

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.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by 🏥 Alder Hey 🌳 (@alderhey)

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. 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by 🏥 Alder Hey 🌳 (@alderhey)

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.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Leeds+ (@leedsplussocial)

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

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Leeds+ (@leedsplussocial)

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.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Yorkshire Dales National Park (@yorkshiredales)

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.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Yorkshire Dales National Park (@yorkshiredales)

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. 

[RESEARCH] What content works on Instagram? Here’s the numbers

Well, it used to be pics of landscapes back in the day, didn’t it? But what works well on Instagram today? 

It’s true that square pics of fashion, landscapes and pics of your dinner were ‘Gram staples when it was bought by Meta for a billion dollars in 2012. But the platform has evolved into a channel where the Meta portrait-shaped video format Reels now dominates.

A short while ago I went through public sector Facebook content to work out what had the best engagement. It surprised a few people. I thought I’d do the same for Instagram.

What good looks like

A yardstick of four per cent engagement is what Adobe says good looks like. So, if you have 100 followers on your channel then four interactions would be a sign that the content is working.

What content looks like

Instagram has long evolved away from being just pics. You can just post pictures but also, you can post a carousel of pictures which means multiple pictures in the same post for people to browse through. You can also post conventional video as well as Reels video.

In this piece of research I’ve also added artwork and toolkit as a format. Basically, toolkit content is that made by an organisation and then shared across a number of organisations with a request to share. An NHS Scotland Measles campaign shared with NHS organisations across the country would be an example of that. In addition, artwork is something designed in-house for a specific reason. Like a Happy Easter image, for example with a shot of an egg, text and a logo.

What the results show

Reels video is head and shoulders the most successful format of posting for the public sector, the survey showed. It’s not even close. 

The engagement rate for Reels was a bumper 3.37 per cent well ahead of any other format. 

The second most engaging format is a carousel of photographs at 1.3 per cent engagement with a standard single picture third at 0.82 engagement. 

Artwork engaged 0.2 per cent and toolkit content connected with just 0.12 per cent.

What was potentially surprising was that conventional video performed particularly poorly. Just 0.03 per cent were engaging with this type of content. However, this option is being phased out.

Conclusions

The drive to Reels video is absolutely reflected in the numbers. While the Kardashians may not be happy at the drift to the video format the data doesn’t lie. The popularity of carousels isn’t surprising when you stop and think about it. Formats that mean people spend longer on the platform are almost always rewarded because time spent is such an important metric for social media companies.   

About the survey 

For the survey, 14 public sector channels and 135 posts were selected at random. 

Content elected included NHS Highland, NHS Lothian, London Ambulance Service, Swansea University Health Board NHS, Belfast City Council, Manchester City Council, Lewisham Council, Essex County Council, Police Service Northern Ireland, Merseyside Police, Scottish Fire & Rescue and Devon & Somerset Fire & Rescue. 
If you found that useful, I run social media reviews as well training to give you the skills to create better content through ESSENTIAL COMMS SKILLS BOOSTER training. 

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.

TARGET NICHE: The Daily Mail multi-channel approach could be the way forward for public sector WhatsApp Channels

There’s no question that the launch of WhatsApp Channels is a huge shift on the public sector comms radar.

WhatsApp is used in the UK by around 80 per cent of people aged between 18 and 64, according to Ofcom. That’s as close as you can get to a universal soc ial app.

The platform also chimes with the trend away from shouty public squares to quieter walled gardens where groups of people can chat.

But how to use this new channel?

In the early weeks of WhatsApp Channels it became clear that text on images was the way forward for tactics. 

But how about the big picture? 

Using WhatsApp Channels strategically 

The big strategic picture is how to use them as an organisation. One channel to rule them all? Or multiple? In many ways we’re repeating the head scratching of the early years of social media. Should we have just one Facebook channel for everything? Or should there be multiple channels?

For me, one channel with multiple audiences never really works. I’m always reminded of the council I worked with in quite a tourist-friendly area. They recruited loads of German tourists to follow their page in the summer. Then in the autumn they drove them away with dog mess messaging. If you live in Hannover, this is not the messaging that you signed up for.

But multiple channels only works when there are audiences and a willingness to create content.

The Daily Mail approach of multiple channels

As WhatsApp Channels use begins to solidify an interesting use is emerging. The Daily Mail.

Daily Mail has 265,000 followers on WhatsApp for the Match of the Day highlights package of a broad spread of content.

But also…

Daily Mail I’m A Celebrity 19,000

Daily Mail Royals 17,000

Daily Mail Australia 3,000

Daily Mail US Sport  18,000

Daily Mail Strictly News 5,000

Daily Mail Politics 6,000

Daily Mail Mr Beast News 12,000

Daily Mail Harry Styles News 7,000

Daily Mail Best Shopping 6,000

Daily Mail Kate Middleton News 6,000

Daily Mail Black Friday Deals 3,000

Daily Mail Kardashians News 3.8 million

Daily Mail Netflix News 39,000

Daily Mail Britney Spears News 11,000

Daily Mail Taylor Swift 303,000

Daily Mail Bravo TV 13,000

Daily Mail Australia MAFS 7,000

Daily Mail Australia Cricket 3,000

Daily Mail Australia Politics 1,000

Daily Mail Jake and Logan 5,000

Daily Mail Ukraine – Russia War 26,000

So, multi-channel approach sees the Daily Mail with 20 channels with more than 200,000 followers between them, one of 300,000 and one of 3.8 million. That’s serious numbers.

It also makes sense. If the Ukraine war is your bag you may not be wanting the Kardashians. If you’re all about Harry Styles you may not be so keen on Australian cricket. That’s fine. Back in the days of print you simply opened the paper up on the back page for sport or the gossip pages for celeb news. I think we forget this sometimes and think people will wear an everything channel. I’m not so convinced they will.

How a public sector organisation can use it 

Now, you could be looking at that list and be thinking that you’re not a purveyor of celeb gossip and you’d be right. But the 1,100 services that local government does has multiple audiences, for example.

So, would there be an audience for events? And a separate one for families? Or for parks and countryside? Or news? Or emergency planning?

This cuts to the heart of the insoluble public sector issue. They have lots of things to tell people the thing is people don’t want to hear it all.

I can certainly see this working with emergency planning with partners, Councillors and community leaders signed-up for a specific public-facing emergency channel. In an emergency, they can all be useful players in getting the warning and informing message out, for example.

The Daily Mail approach shows that multiple WhatsApp Channels can be used for multiple audiences. 

I’m looking forward to seeing who will experiment with this approach in the public sector.