Busy UK housing communications professionals rarely get time to meet other comms teams to compare teams and work experiences. So in early 2018, I asked… Read More »2018 survey: Comms in the UK housing sector
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… Read More »Dealing with negative social media comments – dos and don’ts
Public engagement is something all public services do, and many do badly. This is an opinion piece on crap apps, and what makes useful public… Read More »Public engagement: crap apps, Lego, conversation and politicians
Posting text and video bilingually to social media sites is possible, but not simple! This is a practical post on posting to social media for audiences that… Read More »Posting text and video bilingually to Facebook and YouTube
Communicators often confide in me that they don’t really like using Facebook (and other social media) for their organisations because people will probably post snarky things… Read More »Is your fear stopping your social media comms from saying anything?
I’ve been developing a course on social media evaluation, and one metric stands out to me as most important. I call it the ‘ex-haters story’:… Read More »The most important social media measure? The ‘ex-haters’ number.
Have you ever wandered over to your head of finance and told them how they should interpret the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill of… Read More »Standing up for the skills of the expert communicator
Most are not serial killers – in fact psychopaths are more likely to find their way into politics, boardrooms or media organisations than be jailed… Read More »Just how social is your social media?
Facebook can be a hard place for brands. It’s a lot like a wedding: friends and family gather to have fun, catch up and talk… Read More »Seven tips for using Facebook if you work in the public sector
A great report from business advisory and accountancy firm BDO, Direct Message, has been released this week, showing results of councils reported use of social media. According to… Read More »Council social media: forget about the price tag
Broadcasting meetings to residents live on the Internet needn’t cost the earth, as Monmouthshire County Council has demonstrated in recent weeks. The council has bypassed… Read More »Livestreaming council meetings on YouTube
* 09/01/21 Social media response flow chart – updated for 2021! When I first posted this chart 7 years ago (and more than 52,000 downloads… Read More »Social media response flowchart for comms pros
‘Rumour Cascades‘, a joint study from Stanford University and Facebook, provides some fascinating insights that can serve as advice for public bodies on halting the spread of misinformation. This… Read More »How to respond when rumours start to spread on Facebook
This article was first published in the Guardian, you can read the original on their website here. We are in an era where we get… Read More »Five interesting ways councils are using infographics
I noticed on Twitter last week that in Granada* the police officers have the force Twitter handle sewn into their uniforms and it’s also on… Read More »Police in Granada have Twitter handles on their uniforms – three reasons why it’s a great idea
Digital agency Coup Media asked to interview me this month for their blog – they’re doing very cool things so I was honoured to chat… Read More »Interview: six social media ‘dos and don’ts’ and the role of the social media manager
Lots of councils experience just how important social media is when the weather gets extreme. A week or so ago, Monmouthshire people received and shared… Read More »Twitter and Facebook to the rescue during heavy snow
Blogging can sometimes be a bit of a daunting task. Sometimes it’s helpful to think of some the things good bloggers do so our posts… Read More »Five things that good bloggers do
I work in digital communications. In the public sector. If there’s one obsession both disciplines share, it’s the quest for ‘engagement’. It’s often said about… Read More »Organisations need to learn how to party: why digital engagement needs to be more social
This month, our elections team in Monmouthshire Council asked me along to Chepstow Comprehensive to talk to students about how people can get involved in… Read More »Lessons in democracy and social media from 112 fifteen-year-olds
A year ago in 2011, I blogged about an inspiring guy I work with, 20 year-old youth worker Dan Davies, and how he uses Facebook for… Read More »How to do Facebook REALLY well in local government (part two)
I’m just going to come straight out with it: I’m pretty interested in online influence scoring tools like Klout and Peerindex. I think they might… Read More »The future of Klout: how can we use online influence scorers like Klout and Kred?
On the whole, UK councils are doing a nice job of using social media – possibly we caught on early because we’re used to making… Read More »Influence, not ROI, matters for local government social media
Some very clever people I’ve learned lots from over the past few years have let me publish guest posts on their blogs. They are all… Read More »Making mistakes and giving staff access to social media
For public sector types starting to tweet, it can be a bit daunting making a start. So here are some basic tips for getting started… Read More »Beginners’ tips for the new public sector tweeter
I’ve noticed a bit of Twitter debate on what the return on investment (ROI) is for social media in the public sector. Unfortunately this isn’t… Read More »ROI of social media in public service
There are still a load of people out there who dismiss social media sites like Twitter as being where young people LOL and ROFL and… Read More »Twitter: more than talking about your breakfast
Anyone who works in PR has probably come across unflattering assumptions that our job is to cover up bad stuff and pump out good news.… Read More »Public sector people – do you want a place to talk social media?
Here’s a summary of how/why we do our live Q&A Twitter session with cabinet members. I would love any suggestions on how we can improve… Read More »Live Q&As – getting people talking to their council on Twitter
One of the hundreds of things that are great about using social media is the capacity to build communities – it’s one of the useful… Read More »To follow or not to follow on Twitter? Are you part of a community or are you aloof?
Here’s a guide to responding to customers or stakeholders in social media for corporate use. Essentially, these are just principles that make good PR… Read More »Someone’s talking to my organisation using social media – what do I say back?
I’m aware this might make me sound like a very grumpy woman, but is there any need for anyone to tell someone to ‘go away’? … Read More »‘Go away’ and social media