embracing digital northumberland county council

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CIPR North East presented an insider’s perspective on how two of the region's biggest organisations are approaching digital and social media as part of their communications work? Ross Wigham, Service Manager: communications at Northumberland County Council, and Ralph Charlton, Director of PR at Sage Group plc gave their perspectives on how they are tackling the social media challenge at a special CIPR North East briefing in September 2011.Neither Ross or Ralph pretends to be a ‘social media guru’ but they are both dealing with the opportunities and challenges it brings to their organisations.

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www.northumberland.gov.uk

Copyright 2009 Northumberland County Council

Embracing digital

Ross Wigham

Northumberland County Council

www.northumberland.gov.uk

Copyright 2009 Northumberland County Council

What is Northumberland

• New ‘super council’ created in 2009• One of the UK’s largest Counties• Around 311,000 residents• Lots of space – 88 people per sqm

(London has 12,892)• Strong sense of community• More than 3,000 miles of road

www.northumberland.gov.uk

Copyright 2009 Northumberland County Council

Embracing digital

• Great strides in 18 months• More than 11,000 followers• Thriving virtual community• 2,000 people using our iPhone app• More than 98,000 downloads of our ezine• 700 pictures from Facebook

photographers

www.northumberland.gov.uk

Copyright 2009 Northumberland County Council

Much more than potholes

Elections. Empty the bins. Street cleaning. Grass

cutting. Recycling. Road maintenance. Gritting. Culture

and heritage. Local events. Beach cleaning. Sports centres. Tourist information. Schools. Social services.

Public health. Care for the elderly. Planning

applications. Libraries. Regeneration. Fire and Rescue.

Environmental health. Weddings. Births and deaths. Parks and gardens. Street lighting. Trading standards. Managing nearly 200 local buildings. Town centre parking. Animal welfare. Pest control. Licencing. Issuing benefits.

Social housing. Building control. Refuse tips.

www.northumberland.gov.uk

Copyright 2009 Northumberland County Council

Northumberland challenges

• Audience scattered over large area• Digitally savvy people• Expect things online• Legal requirement to engage people• Grey image of council information

www.northumberland.gov.uk

Copyright 2009 Northumberland County Council

Northumberland TV

www.northumberland.gov.uk

Copyright 2009 Northumberland County Council

Who do you think you are?

www.northumberland.gov.uk

Copyright 2009 Northumberland County Council

Facebook

• 29 million v 12 million• 9 months to get 100 million users• TV took 13 years to get 50 million users• Public sector not great at exploiting it

www.northumberland.gov.uk

Copyright 2009 Northumberland County Council

Facebook & Twitter

www.northumberland.gov.uk

Copyright 2009 Northumberland County Council

Early results

• Increased recycling• Less contamination• 53,000 hits on YouTube• Hit 1,000 followers then got stuck• Building blocks for community• Just extra information channels

www.northumberland.gov.uk

Copyright 2009 Northumberland County Council

Nuclear winters

• 2009/10 worst weather for 30 years• Temperatures of -19• Snow from Nov - Jan• 300,000 extra hits on website• Major service disruptions• 180 school closures

www.northumberland.gov.uk

Copyright 2009 Northumberland County Council

A new approach

• Website nearly crashed• How could we reach people?• Winter alerts system• New Facebook channel• Heavy promotion of new system

www.northumberland.gov.uk

Copyright 2009 Northumberland County Council

A new approach

• Explosion of followers• Live travel information• Gritting updates• Bin collections• Weather updates• What help available

www.northumberland.gov.uk

Copyright 2009 Northumberland County Council

A new approach

www.northumberland.gov.uk

Copyright 2009 Northumberland County Council

A new approach

• School closures• All announced by 7am• Key problem for working parents• Women aged 24-40• Reduced calls to switchboard• Reduced risk of website overload

www.northumberland.gov.uk

Copyright 2009 Northumberland County Council

A new approach

www.northumberland.gov.uk

Copyright 2009 Northumberland County Council

Response

When to respond?

USAF 12 point plan

www.northumberland.gov.uk

Copyright 2009 Northumberland County Council

A new approach

• On the move info for mobile phones• Followers became correspondents• Real time conversations• Partner updates• Separate profiles for events and alerts

www.northumberland.gov.uk

Copyright 2009 Northumberland County Council

www.northumberland.gov.uk

Copyright 2009 Northumberland County Council

• Council news• Events• Direct email or calls

www.northumberland.gov.uk

Copyright 2009 Northumberland County Council

Social media reporting

www.northumberland.gov.uk

Copyright 2009 Northumberland County Council

Social media reporting

• Potholes• Streetlights• Fly tipping• Graffiti

www.northumberland.gov.uk

Copyright 2009 Northumberland County Council

Scores on the doors

www.northumberland.gov.uk

Copyright 2009 Northumberland County Council

Council Groupon?

www.northumberland.gov.uk

Copyright 2009 Northumberland County Council

Online magazine

www.northumberland.gov.uk

Copyright 2009 Northumberland County Council

Facebook adverts

• Very direct• Target relevant users• 161 people• 5 sales• Made back costs

www.northumberland.gov.uk

Copyright 2009 Northumberland County Council

Community

Built a community that will:

•Give feedback•Come to events•Help each other out•Resolve issues before they hit the media

www.northumberland.gov.uk

Copyright 2009 Northumberland County Council

Lessons

1. Think customer not corporate2. Satisfaction will increase (35%)3. Make life easier for people4. Captive market5. Not an add on – central to what you do6. Separate out channels 7. Take the bad with the good!

www.northumberland.gov.uk

Copyright 2009 Northumberland County Council

@rosswigham@northumberlands@n_landcouncil

NorthumberlandTV

/northumberlandcc/northumberlandevents/nccalerts

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