why knowing your people pays off

Continuing our spotlight on internal communications, one senior communications professional shares six key tips aimed at better knowing your colleagues...

by Emma Rodgers

The tide is turning and communicating with employees is now being placed more front and centre than ever before. And while in my view, we’re still not able to shed that perception of internal communications as the Cinderella service, the case continues to be proven for why it’s critical that everyone who works in your organisation is clear on how they contribute (see here and here).

As comms2point recently launched their dedicated internal comms resource, I thought it would be timely to contribute some thoughts, particularly on one of the areas which I think can so often be underrated, yet can prove so important for successful internal communications.

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the problem with open data is open data people

For comms people the message 'look at the data' is important to shape what you do, what you say and who you say it to. The open data movement and communications people should be best friends. The trouble is, they are not. Is it time they told their story better?

by Dan Slee

There is a movement that many people haven’t heard of that in theory has the power to re-shape the world you live in.

It can expose fraud, save lives and give new insight into the London blitz.

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the great universal sticky 'do they get it?' problem and the three types in your team

It's a problem we all face. How do we get everyone motivated, creative and innovating? Sometimes, it's not you. Or the idea. 

by Dan Slee

Twice in the past couple of weeks I've been reminded about about the great universal sticky problem and what to do about it.

The problem that almost dare not speak it's name is how much your team are keen to change, innovate, be creative and explore new ways of communicating. Do they see an infographic or Snapchat and want to know more? Or do they roll their eyes and look at the clock?

In short, do they 'get it'?

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what’s your best work?

Wow, 20-years. 20 years working in the comms and marketing industry. That’s a good time to reflect on the best bits of work you’ve ever delivered.

By Darren Caveney

Yesterday I had the opportunity to present some day job work to a panel of awards judges. And it got me thinking about what I thought had been my best work ever. The projects which I’d enjoyed most, had delivered the best results, or just given a sense of satisfaction and achievement.

A few sprang to mind...

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why you should go to bluelightcamp

An annual free event that has grown to be an essential event for public sector comms people who may be involved with emergencies of any description.

by Ben Proctor 

comms2point0 sits at the heart of a fantastic community of people who want to make communications better, want to innovate with digital tools and want to drive change in organisations, especially public sector organisations.

We need that community to turn that energy and focus to emergency situations. Organisations are already doing great work to communicate with the public in emergencies but we can do more and one thing we know is: emergencies are always different.

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fearless filmmaking: taking the plunge with video

Our first video workshop was a success. So we asked our man just how he got good and advice for people wanting to experiment but might be a bit wary.

by Steven Davies

I’ve made films for as long as I can remember. Honestly - I can't think of a time when I didn't shoot something for fun. I was lucky that there was always a camera in our house growing up and I was always allowed to play with it.

I was never afraid. I did forward rolls and pretended I was a stuntman, I burned train sets and pretended that melting plastic on the patio was a special effect, I even Duck Taped the camera to cars and got away with it.

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the #prstack book: a guide to digital tools

The #prstack project is something we've blogged about. It's a crowdsourced review of apps and tools that are available for comms people. There has been an ebook published on it. It's worth a look. Here's how one person got involved.

by David Sawyer

I met Stephen Waddington in October last year.

He was speaking at a CIPR event in Glasgow about his 10 pledges to modernise the public relations industry in the UK.

Here was a man speaking my language. New PR.

It wasn't always the case.

Five years ago, like many senior PR pros, I had the digital fear.

But through a combination of sheer hard work and determination, I grasped the digital nettle. 

I grappled with a bewildering array of online tools. Trying and testing them in a bid to make my "new PR" life easier. 

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Instatips: 10 tips to make you better at Instagram pt 2

Ace photographer Dave Musson looked at how to get more out of Instagram in a popular post. This time he shifts his focus to helping you make the most of the photo-sharing network as an organisation.

by Dave Musson

So, your organisation wants in on Instagram?

 I’m not surprised it’s a great community to tap into and you actually still get pretty good engagement rates – at the University of Warwick our Instagram followers are by far the most likely of our social media crowds to do something with our content.

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40 skills for a comms team: how to swim against the tide

There are a list of skills that are needed for a comms team. But how do you start the work in transforming the team, bringing people along and making the changes?

by Dan Slee

Just recently I blogged about the 40 skills a comms team needs to have but something kept on troubling me.

A few years ago, I would have sat back happy. That’s the future. Anybody in their right mind can see that makes sense. Job done. Form a line.

But, no actually. It’s one thing to have an idea of what the future looks like. It’s another thing entirely to bring others along with you. The thing is, all people aren’t keen to bin the press release and run arms out stretched to embrace the digital future. Besides, it’s not all about digital hoverboards or inky press releases. There’s somewhere in between. That’s where most teams are.

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why we are proud of the digital councils resource

We've worked with the Local Government Association on improving social media skills for local government. They're available online. We think you'll like them.

by Dan Slee

One of the great things about technology is a relentless pace of change.

If you're at the bow wave you are always looking ever forward anticipating the next steps.

It would be a huge mistake to think that everyone is at the same place.

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general election emails: how they did and seven pearls of wisdom

While all the attention was on social media, the newspapers and the TV news one battleground was overlooked. And yet the email war has been vital to the impact of a campaign. Here's some things we learned.

by Dan Slee

Email can be the Cinderalla of communications. Unseen, unheard and quietly getting on with it.

Yet the 2015 General Election campaign provided a free masterclass in how to use medium.

For six weeks my inbox rattled with messages that made me smile, frown, and plain indifferent. 

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seven things you always wanted to know about the general election but were afraid to ask

You may have heard, there's an election on. Since we're into the closing stages, comms2point0's resident political nerd Will Mapplebeck does some myth-busting and fact-finding about the big day.

by GUEST EDITOR Will Mapplebeck

What are we likely to wake up with on 8^th of May?

It's probably coalition time again, but this time it may take more than two to tango. Labour and Conservatives may get between 270 and 290 seats each so it's likely to take a number of parties to get over the magic mark of around 326 which gives you a majority even though, in practice, you'll probably need fewer seats to function as a Government. Remember, just because if either Conservative or Labour get the largest number of seats, that doesn't necessarily mean that they will go on to form a Government.

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why internal comms needs more love

Over the past five-years, through comms2point0, we’ve had a unique and rather privileged opportunity to watch the world of communications evolve.

We’ve seen first-hand how digital has become the dominant area of growth for many organisations.

We've also watched as internal comms has failed to keep pace. And for some it is languishing.

by Darren Caveney

This view is backed up by our own research and anecdotally through chats with comms colleagues across the UK.  Internal communications is regularly cited as the area of communications causing most concern.

Of course, this isn’t true of all organisations but it does appear to be the case for many.

How does your organisation measure up?

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whatsapp for elections

A few years ago it was considered revolutionary to use Facebook to tell people election results and now its expected. Now it is experimenting with messaging app WhatsApp that is the latest frontier for one intrepid council.

by Geoff Coleman

At the risk of incurring your wrath, can I mention the election? I know, I know... we're all probably getting a little fed-up with what feels like the longest campaign in history. Personally I'm taking the opportunity to experiment.

I work at Birmingham City Council and in recent years we've gradually built-up our election coverage and the combination of web updates, tweets, videos and more always attracts a decent audience.

My boss Janet Priestley is always encouraging us to experiment with new platforms and channels and recently challenged me to build on our previous election coverage. So this year we're sharing voter information, candidate lists results and other election news via mobile messaging service WhatsApp.

In part this was inspired by Shropshire Council's experiment with WhatsApp late last year.

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digital councils - new advice and tips for local government

We've worked with the Local Government Association to produce guidance on how to use social media more effectively. There's advice for organisations, elected members and staff. It's transferrable stuff and it's brilliant...

by Laurence Meehan

For many social media is now an everyday part of their lives; something as natural as a phone call or a face-to-face conversation. Twitter, Facebook and the many other digital tools available are now employed to conduct a plethora of tasks: from complaining to utility companies to sharing ideas; from ordering shopping to building networks.

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