tips for using images on linkedin better

LinkedIn is getting more useful and more popular. Indeed we have a comms2point0 company page here. Here's a few thoughts on how images can work best on your profile to make yourself eyecatching to a potential recruiter. There's the head and shoulders, sure. But what about the cover image?

by John Fox

Most people are using the cover photo facility provided by Facebook and Twitter to personalise their profiles, but how many are using the same facility available on Linked In, and is the image appropriate?

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up for the cup: december's most popular posts

It never stops. Our award presenting. Although this time its a little more close to home with the popular posts of December.

by Dan Slee

December was a big month for us with the unawards and a load of other things... like Christmas, New Year and sorting out a new unoffice.

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hub brum: a new home for comms2point0 in 2015

We're looking forward to making a new home at Impact Hub Birmingham in 2015 and we hope to see you there. Here's why.

by Dan Slee

There is a real tangible mood of optimism sweeping Birmingham and the West Midlands as 2015 comes into view.

Lonely Planet named Brum as one of the 10 best cities in the world and there have been a raft of stories of the flow of 30-something entrepreneurs and tech people leaving London for Birmingham and finding life better there. It's nice to get external recognition. But in our corner of the world the West Midlands has been a bit great for a while. There's a community of digital people. Many first met at events like the long-running Birmingham Social Media Cafe or at coffee houses or unconferences where people collaborate and meet people.

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the psn hack: why sony needed to do crisis comms better

Christmas and New Year 2014 will be remembered for many things. Presents. Mince pies. And in many households a battle with a non-loading hacked Playstation Network with minimal information. Here's what one comms person had to say.

by Julie Waddicor 

“Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house, the men-folk were moaning, starting to complain and grouse.”

Late on Christmas Eve and into Christmas Day Sony’s Playstation Network (PSN) suffered a catastrophic failure. The online service which enables people from all corners of the globe to play against each other on a variety of games was suddenly unavailable due to an attack by a hackers’ collective known as the Lizard Squad.

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11 predictions for local government comms in 2015

A look at what comms may mean for local government in 2015.

by Dan Slee

A look at what comms may mean for local government in 2015.

For the last few years too stuffed with mince pies I’ve blogged some predictions on local government comms. It’s all about jet packs and Robot butlers.

Here’s a look at last year and what I got right and wrong.

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why the tyranny of public notices needs to end - and what to do about it

Almost £70 million must be handed over to newspapers with falling sales in a year for print ads. In 2015. That needs to change.

by Dan Slee

It’s an obscenity that even as libraries close and care is cut that there is a £67.85 million back-door subsidy paid by local government to newspapers.

A what? And how much? This is the true cost in 2015 of councils being forced by law to pay over-the-odds for public notices tucked away in the back of printed newspapers being read by fewer and fewer people.

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'question: 2014? what changed?'

We decided to crowdsource an end of year piece on how 2014 was for our community. Here are a few of what they said.

by Dan Slee

It was the deathknell was 2014 for pumping out stuff, doing comms for comms' sake and a whole load of other things.

Of course, it may take time for this to be eradicated entirely but on the boating lake of PR the man or woman in the white coat has blown their whistle and their number is now up.

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content marketing and comms people

What is content marketing? Does it have a place amongst the comms mix? Actually, yes, says one campaigns delivery manager.

by Soraya Mitchell

‘Content is king’ so say a lot of people without really knowing who first said it. Bill Gates apparently, so very prescient of him.

To prove the point  there is now a whole movement dedicated to the noble pursuit of  ‘content marketing’, which has spawned America’s Content Marketing Institute and the UK’s Content Marketing Association.

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help! take part in our 3rd annual state of comms survey

As 2014 heads towards the exit we're looking to take a snapshot of what our community think and do. Would you spare a few minutes?

by Dan Slee

We're launching a survey to take a look at where comms is and you can help.

We'd love it if you'd spare a few minutes to tell us what you think and expect over the next 12-months. 

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using social media for engaging with people

Once upon a time a consultation exercise was just a box ticking go-through-the-motions thing involving a village hall for an hour and maybe a couple of clip boards in the street. Why would you do that when you could do something that worked?

by Mike Hammond

Working in local government you’re frequently reminded of the varied quality of digital engagement in the sector. At Kingston we don’t yet pretend to be pioneers but we are striding keenly towards the frontier.

So, what have we discovered? Good content helps, obviously, but just as important is proper application. Social media is about conversation. Posting announcements is all well and good but if you’re not engaging in dialogue then you’ve missed the point.

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#backclimateaction twitter campaign was bigger than christmas

Rear Admirals and a reach of 100 million was the staggering reach of a UK government department's Twitter campaign that called on popular support.

By Ewan Bennie

Working at the Department from Energy and Climate Change - or DECC - has offered up some unusual experiences, but teaching two former Rear Admirals how to tweet – after a ten hour stint on Twitter with four colleagues in a windowless cell-like room – was perhaps the most surreal.

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ridiculous workplace rules are stifling creativity

No beards or stubble!

No hats! (…even in the winter)

Drink only from tiny little cups!

A blanket ban on biscuits ☹

by Caroline Roodhouse

We were intrigued by this recent article from The Telegraph all about weird workplace rules. And it seems there really is no shortage of examples!

We’ve started to get quite concerned that, whilst being so utterly bonkers they had us in stitches, these ridiculous rules could actually be stifling creativity at work. You see, unnecessary bureaucracy and redundant red tape cause major frustration for employees.

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winning at the unawards

The inaugural comms2point0 UnAwards were a brilliant opportunity to showcase and celebrate the outstanding comms and digital work which takes place up and down the UK. And whilst you are all winners to us, here is the official winners roll of honour...

by Darren Caveney

Following an inbox-busting 202 entries from 150 organisations, our team of external, independent judges and comms industry experts had a fight on their hands to select the winners, But select they did.

And of course you played your part too in the public vote, which saw us receive almost 2,000 votes.

Social media was simply buzzing with UnAwards chat - in just seven days on Twitter the UnAwards reached 489k accounts with over 2.5m opportunities to see. Just statistcial outputs, of course, but impressive nonetheless.

Here's an UnAwards Storify courtesy of Emma Rodgers.

Huge thanks to everyone who played a part and supported the Unawards. We're keen to get your views on whether we should run them again in 2015 so do get in touch.

Here's the full list of winners:

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launching a justgiving for nordoff robbins

With the unawards and Christmas upon us what better time to launch a fundraising drive.

by Dan Slee

Merry Christmas. As its the season of good cheer we thought we'd do our own bit to raise money for a good cause.

The lifetime achievement award at the unawards is named after Dan Harris. To some within the public sector digital community the name is familiar. So is @gecko84 his Twitter name.  To others it is not, so let me explain.

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grab yourself an ultimate unawards ticket

So you've seen the build-up, you've entered the unawards and you've even voted in one of the four public vote categories. Now you could have a chance of being at the first ever comms2point0 UnAwards, taking place next week.

By Emma Rodgers

It sees the culmination of hours of hard work, by both us and all the entrants and has seen some cracking stats so far... 

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