Yesterday hailed a bit of a landmark for our forward-thinking local council in how they use the web to serve local residents.
Like lots of other other councils in the UK, they’ve had a presence in social spaces for a while now, with a Facebook page, Twitter profile and YouTube channel. In the meantime they’ve been working out how they can best use these spaces to actually engage rather than simply represent (disclaimer – this is something we’ve been helping them with).
A simple Twitter conversation yesterday proves that they absolutely do get it. Of course this example is just a start and there’s more that can be done (the conversation happens over a few hours), but it’s a great indication.
One local resident spotted a pedestrian light stuck on red, and tweeted about it at the Brighton & Hove City Council twitter profile:
Not only did the Council respond to thank the person and reassure them it was being looked into…
…but really did have it fixed and tweeted back to confirm:
As I say, this is just a small step, but one that points in a massively positive direction.
Some cities in the US have pioneered the use of social platforms as tools for communicating with their local residents – San Francisco’s SF311 non-emergency Twitter reporting service being a prime example.
Here in the UK however, most of our public sector bodies are still working out how these channels can be used for real public engagement. A quick check through the 129 UK local councils on twitter shows that, with a handful of exceptions (props to Derbyshire County Council), Twitter is used mainly as a means of pushing information out, at best soliciting feedback via surveys on their own websites.
Given the logistics involved in communicating with all of the residents of Brighton who are on Twitter, I’m not suggesting this single event sets a definite precedent (though others may disagree), but it is indicative of a forward-thinking attitude towards how the social web can be used and has definitely generated some good karma.
Recently, and with worrying regularity, Twitter has become a platform for a series of high-profile bashings. First was Jan Moir thanks to her unpleasant article concerning Stephen Gately, then Ian Morbin, a (former) London Underground worker exposed by a well-timed video, and most recently AA Gill who unwisely used a restaurant review to gush about baboon killing. On each occasion Twitter users have lead the public outcry, calling for resignations or worse, which has lead to some questioning how orchestrated these mobs were, and others wondering whether the timing of such a scandal determined the scale of the impact. Read more…
After all, when you can set up a WordPress blog for free, in minutes, why would you invest thousands of pounds, plus your team’s time and energy, in getting us to build it for you?
For starters, a blog isn’t just a blog, it ’s a platform for conversations with your audience, often the first that any company considers embarking on. It’s also a content distribution platform, allowing you to disseminate your voice out into the social web, reaching your audience wherever they already are.
WordPress, and ExpressionEngine – the platforms we know inside out, aren’t simply blogging platforms either – given the right know-how, they’re an engine that can drive fully-fledged socially-enabled sites, without the need for a ground-up development process that takes six months or more.
What’s even more important to recognise is that if your company decides to take that first step into the social space with a blog, everyone has to be comfortable with opening themselves up to their audience.
For a start, it’s got to reflect your brand. We spend a lot of time understanding the personality and visual identity of a brand. We carefully meld it to take into account it will become a shared space, for conversations between you and your audience. It’s not the same as an old-school push marketing website, it’s got to have an identity of its own, and be a place where people feel comfortable talking.
But there’s also the question of being comfortable with just the idea of opening yourself up to comment.
Understandably, there’s still a degree of reticence within some companies in starting those conversations. We run workshops with all our clients to understand how their processes work, bringing in legal, marketing, PR and anyone who has a stake in how the brand is perceived online.
It’s an exercise in understanding everyone’s needs and objectives, as well as the things that make them start chewing their fingernails and turning grey.
Only once we understand these things can we deliver something that everyone embraces, and stands a good chance of success without internal pressures constraining the conversation.
And success is a key consideration when we’re scoping a blog – it would be all too easy (and heartbreaking for us) to put together a beautiful new blog and hand it over, only to see it stagnate.
It’s important to remember a blog is a container for its content – and unless that content is compelling, relevant and useful to your audience, it’s not going to gain the traction it needs to be successful.
Before we’ve even launched a blog, we spend time working closely with our clients to create content plans. We help you carefully consider why you’re launching a blog, everything you might have to talk about over the next 12 months and what your audience is going to find engaging.
This is a vital part of launching any website, but too often overlooked when it comes to blogs – it’s easy to concentrate on the build without looking further into why people will want to actually take part.
We also help create moderation guidelines that don’t stifle conversations but make sure that some of the more sensitive internal stakeholders, like legal and PR, feel like this blog will be a great opportunity, not a liability.
Looking back over this post, which I’ve made as short as I can without missing too much out, I think the length probably shows how much more than ‘just a blog’ a NixonMcInnes blog really is.
If you’re thinking of launching a blog or community website for your company, why not get in touch?
*Thanks to Flickr user donjd2 for use of the image.
Do you have a project that you would like to discuss with us? Or perhaps you know someone who is thinking about how to implement their digital strategy for 2009 and could do with some useful, actionable input and direction?
If so, we are running a limited edition special offer to help you shine online. Check it out.
If we can’t be of assistance or if you are not satisfied with the results then we will send you a delicious cake from the lovely Brighton cake boutique Choccywoccydoodah. Mmm, how can you refuse such a tasty proposal?
“And if you want to know a little bit more about our practice areas and service offerings then check out our “What we do page”. This will give you guys, the wonderful NixonMcInnes audience, a little more information about the kind of work we are helping folks with.
Just so you know in case it is still not clear; we are a full service agency; this means that not only can our skilled social media consultants help you apply social media to your marketing strategy and help you use this medium to plan specific campaigns, but the consultants are backed up by a fully formed delivery team made up of talented developers and designers able to make your ideas for websites, widgets, applications, blogs, social media press rooms and anything else web wise a reality. You can even get to know the team in advance.
So go on, book your conversation with us now, we are ready, poised to listen to your challenges and lend a hand; guaranteed!
Great article on mycustomer.com today (well I would say that because I’m quoted in it!) for any folks in big companies who are putting together a business case for corporate blogging. Check it out.
A few months ago, we launched a new website for Rushton International – a market leader in insurance valuations.
At the heart of the new site is a blog. This is best practice for professional service firms who are essentially selling the expertise of their people. It allows you to demonstrate your knowledge and give a human face to the company. Perhaps best of all, blogs are search engine friendly, allowing potential customers to find you using very specific searches. Read more…
We educate our clients and course ‘guests’ on GIVING IT AWAY!
We say: think of incredibly useful content and tools, create them and give them away.
We say: your boss will say ‘but we don’t want to give it away’. You need to tell him ‘boss, it’s OK to be male, elderly and often wrong’ and you need to educate him about the size of the opportunity, the reach of the Internet, the power of giving and the SEO benefits too.
We give away content too. We don’t just say it – shizzlers – we boom-tickling do it.
So please enjoy:
Plus, as an extra titbit – how cool is SlideShare? You just upload yer slides, and bada bing, it gives you a neat snippet of code to insert on your web page or blog, and boom tickey boom – WIDGET INSERTED :). Happy days, web campers, happy days…
The new age of online marketing success is often about sharing your knowledge and personalising your offering.
With this in mind we invited some of our lovely clients and friends along to Brighton Marina on Friday to share our words of wisdom on the topic and indeed learn about their own experiences and top tips.
Online marketing is transforming the balance and focus of marketing budgets all over the world and if yours doesn’t reflect that then “Come on – catch up!”
We got togeather at the Alias Hotel Brighton and talked through the commercial benefits, core principles and some great examples of business blogging, online social networking, podcasting, killer content, email marketing and online branding.
We got excited, shared some knowledge and helped some great people identify ways to kick new life into their own online strategy.
To see us all in action have a look at our photos on our Flickr account.
If you missed out and would like to come along to future events then drop me an email at jo@nixonmcinnes.co.uk – we’d love to see you.
…but really did have it fixed and tweeted back to confirm:
