by Gemma Warren | Aug 15, 2022 | Social Media, Social media strategy
If there’s one thing we all know about comms professionals – there’s just not enough time! You have a list as long as your arm, deadlines for yesterday and the time you did block in your calendar for some personal development, well… that got eaten up. So rather...
by Hel Reynolds | Jan 24, 2018 | Community Management, Facebook, PR, Social Media, Twitter
The subject of dealing with negative social media comments crops up in almost every social media training course I run, so I thought I’d share my simple dos and don’ts to make things easier. So, this is how to handle unfavourable posts people might tweet your...
by Hel Reynolds | May 29, 2014 | Community Management, Facebook, Linkedin, Social Media, Twitter, YouTube
* 09/01/21 Social media flow chart – updated for 2021! When I first posted this chart 7 years ago (and more than 52,000 downloads ago!), I had no idea how popular it would be. People have sent me tweets showing photos of it pinned on office walls, and still...
by Gemma Warren | Sep 30, 2022 | Blog post, Social Media
Increasingly communications pros ask us how to create a podcast – and comes as no surprise. It’s safe to say the popularity of podcasts isn’t dipping any time soon. According to Statista, podcast listeners in the UK in 2021 was 19.2 million. By 2024 listener...
by Gemma Warren | Sep 16, 2022 | Comms life, Social Media
If there’s one thing we know for certain here at Comms Creatives HQ it’s that social media managers are hugely talented. Whether it’s your full time day job, part of your responsibilities as a communications or marketing professional, or a little side hustle –...
by Hel Reynolds | Sep 9, 2022 | Blog post
How and why do brands respond to the Queen’s death on social media? What goes on behind the scenes? A few , let’s say ‘unexpected’ brands have shared condolences in the past 24 hours. I went to Tiktok to share a few thoughts – but...
by Jack Grasby | Aug 31, 2022 | Social media strategy, Tiktok
Five TikTok tips for communications and marketing professionals… Anyone who’s active on TikTok may have noticed that Kevin De Bruyne, the Manchester City and Belgium footballer, recently joined the platform. Within a matter of hours of launching his account back...
by Hel Reynolds | Aug 25, 2022 | creativity
What do you call two llamas standing next to a bell? Llama llama ding dong. Why the corny joke? Well, we hired a real llama is for one of our Comms Creatives Academy creative experiences. And we also invited ex-Disney expert animator Noeline Cassettari to teach us to...
by Hel Reynolds | Aug 19, 2022 | Content of the week, creativity, Social Media, Social media strategy, Tiktok
A lesson here from university comms that is inspiring for us all – and once again we’re talking Tiktok and Reels! Content of the week goes to the University of Hertfordshire. This post hasn’t not gone hugely viral (though the numbers are good), and...
by Zander Mills | Aug 10, 2022 | creativity, Social Media, Social media strategy
TikTok recently surpassed 3 billion downloads around the world- the only app not owned by the artist-formerly-known as Facebook to achieve this feat. Its UK audience is estimated to be more than 13 million and with 67% of TikTok’s audience over 25s, it’s become far...
by Hel Reynolds | Jul 25, 2022 | Content of the week, creativity, Social Media, Social media strategy
I couldn’t choose just one content of the week, so we have three this week. What they all have in common is they’re fun. Some people can’t see the point of light-hearted posts. They’ll say “the job of comms and marketing is to sell – services, products or ideas....
by Hel Reynolds | Jul 7, 2022 | Content of the week
A COUNCIL has stormed TikTok, with CORPORATE NEWS! Who would have thought?!So this week we’re handing the content of the week medal to Redbridge Council. They’ve announced a new Chief Executive in a hugely effective way, complete with Love Island reference....
by Hel Reynolds | Apr 27, 2022 | Comms GOATs, Social media strategy
If you want to be inspired and learn loads about how a comms team can blow up on TIkTok, you’ll love this interview. @helreynolds Full TikTok chat with Jack and Zander from @southyorkshirefire comms team is up on our website now #comms #publicrelations...
by Hel Reynolds | Apr 20, 2022 | Comms GOATs
Who are the people in comms pioneering creative approaches in their work? You may not even know who the comms greats out there are, as they aren’t always very visible while they work away in an in-house job, or behind the scenes working with clients. We are going to...
by Hel Reynolds | Mar 16, 2022 | Comms life
There’s no right way to have a comms career. You don’t have to feel stuck on a particular path. I did sales, press, comms strategy, social media, websites – before I found social media training, which I love. And maybe my career will turn into something else one...
by Hel Reynolds | Mar 12, 2022 | social media courses
If you work in corporate communication or marketing, social media training will help you learn new techniques and strategies to improve reach and social media engagement, Our inspiring and practical Social Media Expert Programme is the leading course for transforming...
by Hel Reynolds | Feb 13, 2022 | Comms life
This #CommsAds idea was a fun way to show off our new brand style – hope it makes you smile more than you groan! (More about this mini-campaign below). If you would like amazing support and community to go with your creative social media training, head over to...
by Hel Reynolds | Feb 8, 2022 | Comms life
This is a list of some cracking comms communities online, that offer support, inspiration and chat about comms issues we have in common. We all need a gang of people who ‘get it’ to belong to – especially if you work in a small team on on your own as...
by Hel Reynolds | Aug 21, 2021 | Blog post, Social media strategy
We all know we need a social media strategy for our organisations. But when you’re a busy communications professional juggling all the work, it’s hard to set aside time for strategising. However, investing effort now to plan your brand’s social media...
by Hel Reynolds | Aug 13, 2021 | Blog post
These three Twitter tips for comms pros may seem simple, but they make a big difference. We comms professionals are often bonkers busy, so we can be tempted to just share a link to a story with the headline as the text of the tweet. But this isn’t the best way...
by Hel Reynolds | Aug 3, 2021 | Comms Cartoons, Comms life, Social Media, Social media strategy
16 Social media interview questions: prepare to land that dream job Here are some social media interview questions – so you can prepare for before you go in and get that dream job. I asked some of my wonderful network of comms and social media professionals...
by Hel Reynolds | Jul 12, 2021 | Comms Cartoons, Comms life, creativity, PR, Productivity, Social Media
If you’ve been through the comms approval process a few times, you’ll know: the pain is real.Getting through layers of people to edit and sign-off a piece of content – whether it’s a video, a design, a press release or other copy – it...
by Hel Reynolds | Jul 8, 2021 | Comms Cartoons, Comms life, creativity, Social Media
The comms unicorn exists!This comms unicorn is often the cartoon people remember me for. I drew it because I can’t count the number of times people have said to me ‘do your comms magic on this’, or ‘sprinkle some stardust on that’. Maybe...
by Hel Reynolds | Jul 8, 2021 | Content of the week, creativity, Social media strategy, Twitter
People don’t expect funny tweets from nonprofit brands. They think serious, solemn communications is all that’s appropriate when our mission is for social good. But as I wrote a few weeks back, humour should be part of your social media strategy, no mater...
by Hel Reynolds | Jul 5, 2021 | Comms Cartoons, Comms life, Social media strategy
Building your confidence is as important as developing skills, if you really want to get maximum impact. I can often be found researching and testing ways to build confidence in comms professionals, as part of my work delivering social media training. At a CommsHero...
by Hel Reynolds | Jul 1, 2021 | Comms Cartoons, Comms life, Social Media, Social media strategy
Going viral – it’s the dream of attention and love for our brand. But we comms pros are not miracle workers. If the content is important to your colleague/boss/client, but utterly irrelevant to the audience, it won’t fly. You can help them solve...
by Hel Reynolds | Jun 14, 2021 | Social Media, Social media strategy
People tell me that they can’t do humour on social media, or any fun content, because their comms is for an organisation that does important work. “It’s very serious indeed, the tone would be way off if we were to get all jokey” “We...
by Hel Reynolds | Jun 10, 2021 | Community Management, Content of the week, Facebook
Housing associations on Facebook often have a tough time engaging residents.We work with comms pros who manage Facebook pages that are either:• A negative space where people moan about the organisation’s shortcomings• An absolute ghost town, where you struggle...
by Hel Reynolds | Jun 7, 2021 | Content of the week, Instagram
Comms professionals often ask us how to be more authentic on social media. This desire to be more human and less corporate is great, but people often don’t know where to start. Specifically how can you be authentic on social media? I’ll take you through...
by Hel Reynolds | May 11, 2021 | creativity
LIVE WORKSHOP FOR COMMS PROS: TUESDAY, 1ST JUNE AT 12.30PM Based on the science of creativity, we set you tasks to get you feeling happy, productive and inspired. After the success of our #31DaysOfCreativity challenge, we thought it’s time we run another...
by Hel Reynolds | Apr 14, 2021 | Comms Cartoons, Comms life
I’ve heard a few people say that communications is common sense. It’s not. #comms is not common sense pic.twitter.com/QRamhaW8ys — Comms Creatives (@commscreatives) February 24, 2021 It could apply to lots of jobs I suppose, but it’s...
by Hel Reynolds | Apr 8, 2021 | Comms Cartoons, Comms life
Ever wonder how to deal with procrastination? Me too*. Here’s how procrastinating shows up in my work: I get stuff done. But this is the only way I know how. Just me? pic.twitter.com/ZoAsTlbpK4 — Hel Reynolds (@HelReynolds) September 25, 2020 Lots of...
by Hel Reynolds | Feb 26, 2021 | Content of the week, Instagram
Storytelling on social media, like the kind we teach on the Social Media Expert Course,is a special secret weapon for the comms pro. Here’s a brilliant example of it in this fab Instagram post from Herts Police. Herts Police actually have amazing Instagram...
by Hel Reynolds | Feb 19, 2021 | Content of the week, Instagram, Social Media
You can learn a lots from the best church social media, no matter what kind of organisation you work for. I’ve noticed a lot of church-type content in my homefeeds lately, like this sign in a cathedral that got shared all over social media. Social Media Comms...
by Hel Reynolds | Feb 12, 2021 | Content of the week, creativity, Social Media
I expect you have seen the Weetabix and beans tweet this week, and all the brand reactions to it. And maybe you’ve guessed it: content of the week goes to all the fabulous comms pros from all sorts of brands who got stuck in with a little bit of cheeky humour...
by Hel Reynolds | Jan 21, 2021 | Content of the week, Social Media
We admire cool stuff from brands of all sorts. We’ve noticed: local government has been nailing it lately! So content of the week goes to THREE different local authorities doing COVID comms. But it’s not your ordinary safe stuff, this week, we can look at...
by Hel Reynolds | Jan 20, 2021 | creativity, Social Media
Empathy is one of the core elements to getting your social media content and tone of voice spot on. First off, knowing who your audience is: (it’s not everyone!) – then getting their attention by demonstrating that you know just how they feel. When you...
by Hel Reynolds | Jan 15, 2021 | Content of the week, Facebook
Storytelling on Facebook is one of the most effective skills you can have in your comms bag of talents. And I’m getting my best Miley Cyrus singing ready to tell you that our content of the week came in like a Wrekin ball….. Well a Telford and Wrekin...
by Hel Reynolds | Dec 10, 2020 | Content of the week, creativity, Social Media
Winner of content of the week is a Christmas message video: Our Social Media Academy members, Manchester Council, have knocked this out of the park. The Christmas message video is sweet and touching and beautifully animated. What I love most is the text that...
by Hel Reynolds | Dec 4, 2020 | Content of the week, Social Media
This week we’re celebrating a cheeky and fun Facebook post from South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue (SYFR)! If it seems familiar, but you can’t put your finger on it, it’s a parody of the Burger King tweet that went viral a few weeks ago. The Burger...
by Hel Reynolds | Nov 26, 2020 | Content of the week, creativity
I want to talk about social media illustration and cartoons in your comms. It seems relatively rare! We see so many social media graphics that are kind of like mini-posters. Designed in something like Canva, or as requested of your fab graphic design team if...
by Hel Reynolds | Nov 23, 2020 | Comms Cartoons, Comms life, PR, Social Media
I made up a word: “commsplanation’. Have you ever been commsplained? It’s where someone who is less qualified than you, or less experienced, explains something to you. They get hold of the tiniest amount of knowledge, and suddenly they’re...
by Hel Reynolds | Nov 19, 2020 | creativity, Facebook, Social Media
Getting a celebrity to promote your brand has long been a desirable but costly way to get your audience’s attention. Some charities could rely on a patron who believed in their cause, but often celebrities have wanted tens of thousands of pounds for an...
by Hel Reynolds | Oct 29, 2020 | creativity
Creative thinking is not just something we do at work when we’re designing campaigns. We can apply creative thinking to all parts of life and work. I encourage our students in comms teams to spend ten minutes every now and then practicing creative thinking, to...
by Hel Reynolds | Sep 17, 2020 | Social Media
You might imagine that the phrases social media managers hate to hear would be “we’re out of coffee”, or “there’s nowhere to charge your phone”. But there are phrases that strike even more fear into social media managers. To...
by Hel Reynolds | Sep 10, 2020 | Comms Cartoons, Social Media, strategy
I hope you know that you’re not alone if you find your comms strategy dream does not always match the reality. I drew a doodle to illustrate this. If you’re a comms pro, social media manager, or marketing person, you might think, ‘How do other...
by Hel Reynolds | Jun 16, 2020 | Social Media
A day in the life of a social media...
by Hel Reynolds | Mar 25, 2020 | creativity, crisis comms, Social Media
This is a practical guide to maintaining creative social media during the coronavirus crisis. Actually, all of the advice here is relevant at any time, but it’s pretty vital now. There’s loads more I want to tell you, but I’ve brutally edited it down to 5 areas...
by Hel Reynolds | Dec 31, 2019 | creativity, PR, Social media strategy, strategy
As a creative PR and comms trainer, I’m often asked, ‘What is the future of PR and communications?’ It’s a fun and daunting topic to explore. Will tech advances change the industry completely? Will robots steal our jobs? How can we change to future-proof our careers...
by Hel Reynolds | Dec 19, 2019 | Social Media
Developing an interesting and engaging social media tone of voice is a hot topic for lots of us who look after social media for brands. It’s all very well saying we should be less corporate and more human – but what kind of human do we want to be? Because...
by Hel Reynolds | Dec 17, 2019 | Comms life
If you’re anything like me, you do your shopping at the very last minute. And maybe you save time by wrapping your gifts in scrunched tinfoil… just me?! Anyway, if you want to get a little something for your comms colleagues, here are are a few ideas. Make creative...
by Hel Reynolds | Dec 17, 2019 | creativity
Take The 31 Days Of Creativity Challenge Unleash your creative side in under 15 minutes a day Our gift to you: an easy programme with 31 quick tasks that will boost your creativity. A lot of people think creativity is just for people like artists, graphic designers...
