Author: Ally Mogg

Goodbye golden hour, hello Golden Dragon

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When I first starting working in communications in 2005, crisis communications plans looked very different to how they look today.

For a start, there was a big focus on media relations, and how they could help you get your messages across – through interviews, regular statements, etc.

And, of course, we had the magical ‘golden hour’. The golden hour was essentially the time that you had from the start of a crisis unfolding to formulate and agree your handling plan, before people started to make their own assumptions about what was happening, or you were lambasted for not saying or doing anything.

one hour

Fast forward to 2017, and not only do I feel much older than I did in 2005, but those crisis communications plans look pretty different too. And, while the media still play an important role in a crisis, that golden hour has pretty much disappeared.

These days, with so many people plugged into social media day and night, often the first way an organisation finds out that a crisis or issue is brewing is through Twitter or Facebook (incidentally, this is one of the main reasons why I think organisations should hand overall responsibility for social media to their communications practitioners, but there’s probably another blog in that).

Last month, at about 6.30pm one Friday evening (it’s always a Friday), we started to see some direct messages and mentions on the @sheffhallamuni Twitter account, complaining that adverts for a postgraduate open day featuring both Sheffield Hallam and the University of Sheffield were appearing on the Breitbart website. If you don’t know Breitbart, it’s a fairly ‘extreme’ news website – and I use the term ‘news’ very loosely indeed. In fact, much of its content is just plain offensive.

Both us and the small team running the @sheffielduni account moved quickly to agree a joint handling line that we could use on Twitter as a statement and in replies to specific mentions or questions. We did this simply by DMing each other straight away (I was getting a takeaway at the time. In 2005 it’s unlikely I would have been able to deal with an unfolding incident from the reception area of the Golden Dragon).

Twitter crisis1

As we posted replies, explaining that we’d be contacting our advertising partner to ensure they updated their list of websites to ban, the advertiser very helpfully stepped in to say they had removed Breitbart immediately from their list (once again, there’s probably another blog post on the perils of programmatic advertising, but that’s for another day – and in fact, Damian Tambini from LSE has already done so far more articulately than I ever could as part of a research project into how advertising is fuelling fake news).

This also prompted some positive responses from some of the people who had initially made their feelings heard.

Twitter crisis3

Now, while this wasn’t necessarily a major crisis, it had the potential to create some uncomfortable reputational damage if we had failed to act quickly. The lessons here are pretty clear: try and set up a system in which you have people in place to check social media out of hours; and it helps to have a good working relationship with partner organisations’ comms teams – it’s likely you’ll need to work with them at some point.

Spring roll anyone?

Ally Mogg, head of news and PR
@allymogg

Thought leadership from the top

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Today Sheffield Hallam’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Chris Husbands, has published a blog on the BERA website about how social media has transformed professional communities.

In his BERA blog, he says that: “Social media has brought together teachers, policy wonks and academics in virtual coalitions. Some say that there has been nothing like it before, though those who do largely overlook the ‘teachers’ centre’ movement of the 1970s and 1980s which also, in admittedly local settings, also brought together like minded teachers who formed networks which brought about change.  But even so the scale here is quite remarkable.”

Prof Husbands is a prolific blogger and tweeter. He writes a weekly blog and uses it as a channel for communicating with staff – it’s a great way to keep in regular contact to discuss topical education issues, celebrate successes, and just tell people what he’s been doing.

Chris_Husbands412

For communications professionals, having a senior leader who sees the potential and the opportunities provided by social media is really valuable. We know that social is here to stay. The channels may change in the future, but digital communication is now embedded in our personal and professional lives.

Chris is a great example of how senior leaders can use social media for communication, engagement in debate, and thought leadership. His recent blog about the Government’s plans for new grammar schools in The Conversation pulled no punches.

His blogs for the Institute of Education where he worked until December 2015, are being compiled and edited into a new book, which will be available on their website soon.

 

Ally Mogg, Head of News and PR

@allymogg

Using data to tell a story

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In my last blogpost I looked at ‘peak content’ and shared some tips for creating shareable content for use on social platforms. One of the most popular pieces of content shared on social is infographics. The great thing about them is that they’re an excellent way of using data to tell a story. Newspapers have long been creating them in print to illustrate stories, and the Guardian and the FT both have dedicated data journalists and designers that have created some great infographics in recent years. Done well, they prompt a discussion or conversation (or sometimes an argument).

The Guardian datablog is a good place to start to seek out some nice examples of infographics and data visualisations. It may be a few years old now, but their infographic on Government department spending in 2011 (below) is a fantastic example of what a good infographic should do – using data to tell an interesting story in a visually stimulating way. Yes, it’s busy, there’s a lot of information on there, but for politics nerds and designers it’s quite something.

Government spending 2010-11

However, it’s a bit too detailed for the average social media timeline – too much zooming in and losing your way. But if you have the time to pore over the figures it’s perfect.

An excellent recent example that worked well on social is the one below from National Parks Wales, who used some data about their parks to tell a great story about their impact on people, businesses and on the country. It’s simply done but well executed, and perfect for social. It prompted discussions about the importance of green space on well-being and the impact of global warming.

National Parks Wales

Here at Sheffield Hallam, we commissioned a designer to create an infographic for use both on social and as a handout for some of our regional stakeholders. We wanted it to tell the story of our impact in the city region through supporting jobs and driving economic growth. We posted it on Twitter and LinkedIn, and it was widely shared by our business-engaged audiences. It’s also a useful handout for staff who are working with stakeholders and want to provide them with something which demonstrates our impact.

SHU Value of Sheffield

Commissioning a designer is a good idea, but not everyone can afford that. If you want to try yourself, there are some useful free tools out there. Websites like FlatIcon have lots of useful free icons and images that you can download, and Infogram is a good online tool to help you create something from scratch. There are some good templates in software such as Prezi and even MS Powerpoint. If you do give it a go, have a read of Guardian data journalist George Arnett’s article on some golden rules and things to avoid before you get started.

Ally Mogg, head of news and PR
@allymogg

 

Content Content Content

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A few months ago I read an article by the economist Will Hutton about people in the west reaching the point of ‘peak stuff’. In the article he described how consumer demand for shiny new things seemed to be losing its appeal as we’ve all accumulated so much stuff in recent years that we’re unlikely to ever be able to use. Our kitchen drawers, cupboards, wardrobes, cellars and attics are bulging with stuff that we either bought for ourselves somewhere or perhaps were given at Christmas. Or maybe it was a birthday. Actually, I’m not really sure, it’s just there, unused, in a drawer…

peak stuff (Photograph Paper Boat CreativeGetty Images)

It hit home for me. I recently moved house and had a significant clear-out which involved no less than five trips to the local recycling centre in which I experienced the catharsis that can only be achieved when launching the disembodied parts of a knackered but well-used bed-frame into a huge skip. Western society has finally reached a point where we have admitted we have no room for any more stuff.

More recently, many online experts have begun to agree that we are approaching ‘peak content.’ There is now so much content online, it’s almost impossible to gauge the sheer magnitude of what’s available. The ITunes App Store now has 1.5million apps, and there are about 4billion YouTube video views every day.  Companies are creating and publishing thousands of pieces of content every year, and it’s increasing.

But as more and more content is produced, there remains only a finite amount that we can watch, process, and share. A recent Trackmaven research study from February shows that as content creation has increased, our engagement levels have dropped. As content competes for our attention, demand for better quality content increases. There’s too much to consume.

audience-with-3d-glasses

Getting someone to watch a 20 second film on Twitter from start to finish is tough and in this highly competitive market it means that brands can no longer get away with using social just to post a few words about their products or services. Changes to Twitter and Facebook have allowed embedded video, and the surge in popularity of visual media enabled social channels like Instagram and Snapchat have created new opportunities for brand advertising that in the past only television and cinema could provide, but with the added ability to measure engagement through comments, shares and likes.

So, as content creators, what can we do in this competitive environment to make sure we’re creating the kinds of content that people want to see? There are four things that stand out for me. There are more of course, and you may disagree, but I think they’re a good starting point for thinking about a strategy for creating content

  • Planning – create a content plan, an editorial calendar (or both)
  • Focus on quality not quantity
  • People like stories – create content that tells a story about you, your brand or product
  • Think about your audience – take time to understand who they are and what they want

And finally, the bit that people sometimes forget before moving onto the next thing – evaluation. Evaluate and measure whether content worked. Did you want your content to do something, change a behaviour, influence thinking, or just encourage traffic to a website? Did it do what you wanted? If not, why not?

skip-hire-malton

If you don’t take this simple step, you might as well just take your shiny new content down to your local recycling centre and launch it into a huge skip.

Ally Mogg, head of news and PR
@allymogg