Author: DTW Agency

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Creating meaningful content for Facebook

Content marketing

Facebook have announced it will be taking steps to limit the number of low-quality ads on their platforms by disapproving more of them and reducing the distribution of the ones that are approved. Which got me thinking, what are the key ingredients to creating high-quality content on Facebook?

Before we dive in let’s go through a little background and talk about what ‘low-quality’ actually means. In Facebook’s own words low-quality ads “include clickbait or direct people to unexpected content, create bad experiences for people and don’t align with our goal of creating meaningful connections between people and businesses.”

Facebook break it down in more detail in their own blog post, but it’s basically the trashy content shown in the images below, the kind which either directly asks for engagement or where, when clicked on, presents you with a gazillion irrelevant pop-up ads which you have to get rid of before you can get to the inevitably underwhelming content hidden underneath.

Facebook post on mobile
Facebook post on mobile
Facebook post on mobile

Working in communications, Facebook does a lot of stuff which makes me bang my head against my keyboard, but this one I think is spot on. At DTW, we’re not in the business of begging for likes, and we’re certainly not out to deceive our audience into clicking on our content. And from my own perspective as a consumer, it’s great news – these types of posts are annoying, pointless and not what I’m on Facebook to see.

So, as communicators, how should we be engaging with our audience on Facebook in a way that resonates with them whilst still benefiting our brand? And not just in ads, but in organic content too. Obviously, every organisation is different, but I’ve whittled it down to these three basic key ingredients:

Know why you’re posting in the first place

Every single thing you post on social media should have an aim, because what’s the point in posting just for the sake of it? What story do you want to tell your audience, what impact do you want to make, and what do you want to result from the post? It’s easy to get into a repetitive cycle of posting things because ‘it works’ without really knowing why. But it’s important to take a step back, take a look at things strategically and ask yourself those questions, because you can’t create meaningful content if you don’t know the meaning of it in the first place.

Create content your audience can connect with

The joy of marketing on Facebook is that it’s easy to get into the mindset of a consumer, because you probably have a Facebook account and are one yourself. Think about how you and your friends or family use the platform. What do you click on? What do you like? What engages you so much you leave a comment or share on your own profile? Now think about how you can apply that to your own organisation. Aim to educate, entertain or evoke an emotional reaction. To get the most out of Facebook’s algorithm you want to create content that starts a conversation rather than posts which are consumed in passing and then quickly forgotten about.

Be transparent

Hopefully, you aren’t alarmed by Facebook’s latest announcement, and if you are then maybe we should have a chat about your social media strategy. But it does highlight the need to be completely open and honest with your audience about what you’re asking them to click on. Do you want them to find out about your latest initiative? Tell them! Are you asking them to sign up to a service? Make it clear. Either way, be upfront, and don’t get too caught up in having incredible engagement rates across the board. If your post is about a niche topic, expect engagement to be lower, but know that the engagement you do get is probably better quality than if you’d tricked your audience into clicking on it.

So, I think that covers off some of the basics. Of course, there’s more I could chew your ear off about, but we’re all busy people and we’d be here all day. If you made it this far, let me give you a virtual high five and a bonus tip – always, always, always include images (or preferably video) in your Facebook posts, the algorithm loves it and your posts will get noticed by your audience. I’ve already waxed lyrical about getting your social media image sizes right, maybe my next blog will be about getting the creative content right too.

Thanks for reading! – Hannah

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News

Northern Spire: Hard hats and sequins – the secret to successful infrastructure communications

Aerial view of traffic crossing the Northern Spire bridge

Karen and Chris are heading back to Sunderland shortly to do a joint event with Sunderland City Council’s communications team about all things Northern Spire from a PR perspective.

If you like the sound of that you can book a ticket on the CIPR North East eventbrite site and read on below to find out more.

“It’s all about hard hats, sequins and having a narrative that can really engage the community.”

Successful infrastructure projects take years to deliver – so where do you start, how do you keep people engaged and what do you need to do to get your regional project in front of 11 million people on Strictly on a Saturday night?

Hear from the award-winning communications team behind the success of Northern Spire – Sunderland’s new bridge.

Karen Westcott from DTW will be joined by Paula James from Sunderland City Council to give a behind the scenes look at all things ‘Northern Spire’ and outline how the project team has engaged the local community, stakeholders and the media over the past three-and-a-half years.

Get the inside story on hosting William and Kate on a secret Royal visit to a live construction site, running a school site visit programme for 2,300 children, persuading construction teams to create 10-metre high media viewing platforms at a day’s notice, dealing with the Strictly team, and achieving 99% positive/neutral media coverage and all the other things you need to do to put communications at the heart of a major engineering and infrastructure project like Northern Spire.

DTW Managing Director Chris Taylor will also share his insight on devising and delivering long-term campaigns for major projects tackling difficult topics, looking at issues like strategic planning, engaging at Board level, partnership working and staying on track through good times and bad.

All that and a bacon sandwich with a view overlooking the 105m high Northern Spire, the north east’s tallest structure and newest landmark – what more could you want for a Wednesday morning!

The CIPR NE event takes place on 14th November at 8am at Liberty Browns just next to Northern Spire.

See you there!

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Twitterstorms, Facebook meltdowns, Instagram explosions – how do you handle a crisis on social media?

Close up photo of social media app icons on mobile

What are the golden rules for managing social media in a crisis? Our MD Chris Taylor takes a look at how the UK public sector is leading the way and picks out his five top tips for using social media in a crisis.  This article first appeared in ESPO’s Spotlight magazine. 

If you work in the public sector, one thing you can guarantee is that ‘stuff happens’ (other words are available).

Another certainty is that when it happens, there’ll be a whole load of people queueing up only too ready to put the boot in and give the local council, NHS trust or emergency services a good kicking and a heavy dollop of blame.

It was ever thus, and always will be. Today though, we have the added joy and immediacy of social media. So where do you start when it comes to managing social media in a crisis?

Five golden rules

Here’s our five golden rules for engaging with your communities on social media when that ‘stuff’ hits the fan.

  • Plan in advance– if you’re stepping blinking into the sunlight without a pre-prepared and tested plan of what to do in a crisis then you’ve already lost. Think about involving your stakeholders and building and solidifying your key partnerships offline so you can all respond effectively and consistently online. You should also think about the channels that you will be publishing information on and who your audience is on each of these – carrying out an audit of your social media and keeping a handle on analytics on an ongoing basis is a good way of doing this.
  • Be accurate– when it comes to reputation, being right is more important than being fast (though that helps too). Rushing to publish before you are sure of the facts or guidance won’t just make you look foolish – it can actually make a real crisis situation much worse if you give out the wrong information or guidance. A steady hand is needed on the ‘publish’ button. It’s also critical to be proactive in identifying sources of inaccurate information and responding appropriately to avoid miscommunication and confusion.
  • Take ownership– if it’s your crisis, then you need to position your organisation as the key source of information – please follow us and share latest updates as we have them – the police in particular do a great job at this – but it’s a lesson we can all learn. It doesn’t mean you have to respond to every question – you can say we’re posting updates as and when we can confirm new information– it is a crisis after all. But do make sure the person heading up your communications is at the top table and informed at all times so the updates you do give out are accurate and consistent, and whoever is publishing that information follows an approvals protocol.
  • Be authentic– don’t just live in a social media echo chamber. What you do and say on social media needs to link with your actions in the real world – it’s no good just saying you care for example – you need to do something that shows you care (and video and share it so the world can see you mean it).
  • Be practical– think about what you’d like people to do and ask them (politely) to do it – people love to share and if your messages are simple and succinct (which they will be) you’ll find your online communities will be a massive help in spreading the word.

Remember, there is a silver lining. If you’re dealing with a major crisis or a challenging situation then you can guarantee your audience and community will have grown, which will give you greater reach and potentially greater influence when the smoother waters return.

DTW is an ESPO accredited supplier under Lot 9b of the 664 Consultancy Services Framework.

Chris is a Chartered PR Practitioner and a member of the national Council of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR). He has provided community engagement and PR support to transport projects like Mersey Gateway, Northern Spire and numerous energy-from-waste and other treatment facilities.

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News

It’s a 10! When the project you love takes centre stage on BBC Strictly

Photo of Strictly's Giovanni Pernice and Faye Tozer on the Northern Spire Bridge

There are times in PR and communications when something pretty amazing happens – and for our Northern Spire team, and particularly me, that time has been this week.

After all, it’s not every day you manage to get your client’s brand new landmark bridge in front of 11million people on the biggest show on TV.

However, that is exactly what happened for Sunderland City Council tonight when its impressive Northern Spire bridge took centre stage alongside the stars of Strictly Come Dancing.

By taking a punt, and believing that with a lot of tenacity and a bit of good fortune the very unlikely can happen, DTW managed to arrange for actress and former Steps popstar Faye Tozer and her Italian dance partner Giovanni Pernice to rehearse their Foxtrot routine on the bridge deck before the cameras.

It was an amazing opportunity for Sunderland to showcase its new bridge to a huge national audience, and I have to admit that it was an incredible personal experience for me, too.

You see, I’m a massive Strictly fan. I never miss an episode, follow them all on twitter, and go to the live shows when they tour. My poor husband and three sons all know, and accept, that Saturday night (and part of Sunday) is ‘Strictly night’. I start singing the theme tune from about 5pm onwards and make sure tea is out of the way early.

So, having the opportunity to work with the crew and host Faye and Giovanni at Northern Spire – a construction project I have absolutely loved – was beyond exciting.

The hardest thing was keeping the whole thing under wraps, as directed by the BBC’s production team.

It all started back when the bridge opened at the end of August. We were busy promoting the opening on social media and we noticed that a certain Faye Tozer was taking an interest in the bridge and liking and sharing our posts on Twitter.

I knew that Faye had just been announced as a celebrity contender on the 2018 show, so set about trying to establish her link to Northern Spire.

To be honest, it wasn’t difficult. A dig around the internet told me that Faye was married to a Sunderland businessman, and they lived fairly close to the new bridge – so her interest was purely as a local resident.

What a result! What if we could actually get Faye and her yet-to-be-announced dance partner to rehearse on Northern Spire. How fab would that be?

It took a few attempts to make contact with Faye’s agent, but once we did, it was wheels in motion, and soon I was liaising with a Strictly assistant producer.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Filming on Tuesday, for me, at least, was a surreal experience. Faye and Giovanni came to the construction site, got ready in one of the meeting rooms in the staff cabins, had a chat over a cup of coffee and biscuit, and were a total delight.

Using my iron and ironing board (which I had been requested to take to site), a costume assistant prepared their outfits for the shoot. Meanwhile, Faye put the final touches to her make-up and Giovanni stripped down to his underwear to change into his costume – that was a treat I wasn’t expecting.

Photo of Karen, Faye Tozer and Giovanni Pernice on the Northern Spire bridge
Photo of Strictly Come Dancing's Faye Tozer and Giovanni Pernice on the Northern Spire bridge
Photo of behind the scenes at the photo shoot with Faye Tozer and Giovanni Pernice on the Northern Spire bridge

I loaned Giovanni my high vis jacket, in case it got cold between shoots on the deck, (the sun came out and it wasn’t needed) and I watched as Faye’s beautiful red satin gown and his shirt/underwear combo was ironed on MY ironing board.

We talked sparkle and glitter, what it’s like to be in the middle of the Strictly bubble, the media attention, and their busy training and TV schedules. It was all very laid back and normal, whilst being remarkable at the same time.

Of course, both Faye and Giovanni said they loved Northern Spire and rehearsing on the deck, while the crew, delighted with the footage they had captured, said their visit to the bridge was likely to be one of the highlights of the series for them.

Success all round.

So, it just goes to show how great things can come out of the blue from seemingly unlikely opportunities.

I guess the message for us all here is take every opportunity that presents itself, and don’t be afraid to take a punt, no matter how much of a long shot you think it is. You never know, you may just pull it off.

Keep dancing………….

Karen Westcott

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News

Northern Spire to provide inspiration as DTW MD joins speakers at project management conference

Photo of the Northern Spire Bridge illuminated at night

DTW MD Chris Taylor will be speaking at the Association for Project Management conference in Manchester on 7th November.

Chris will be joining Duncan Ross Russell, Regional Director at Faithful+Gould, to showcase Sunderland City Council’s award-winning Northern Spire project and pass on lessons learned to other project managers from around the UK.

Chris and Duncan are speaking as part of the conference’s Smarter Thinking stream. It is all about inspiring project professionals to review their approach and mindset to deliver projects that provide broad benefits, including social, environmental and economic impact.

Northern Spire is a £117 million project to build a stunning new bridge at the heart of Sunderland’s new strategic transport corridor.

Chris said: “Project managers need to focus on improving people’s lives and their role in delivering investment and economic benefits. That means creating a team ethos and a narrative that puts outcomes and real people at the heart of the scheme from day one, and that’s what we all did as a team in Sunderland. I’m looking forward to the APM event as there are some great speakers and it should be a fascinating conference.”

DTW was appointed by Sunderland Council to deliver strategic PR and stakeholder engagement support alongside the three-and-a-half year construction programme. Faithful+Gould were the project managers for the scheme on behalf of Sunderland Council.

DTW has won awards for its work on Northern Spire from the CIPR, PRCA and UK Public Sector Communications Awards body.

You can see more about Northern Spire at www.northernspire.co.uk.

 

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Insights

Does size really matter?

Illustration of a woman with blue hair looking shocked with large text behind stating 'Size matters!'

It’s the question we all ask at some point in our lives – does size really matter? Everyone has an opinion, and everyone thinks theirs is right. For me, size totally matters, if your social media images aren’t in the right dimensions you could be massively reducing your engagement levels…

So, now you’ve picked your mind up out of the gutter, let’s have a chat about why that is.

Whether you’re educating your audience with an infographic, shouting about your latest offer with an image or simply updating your profile and header images, we often spend hours crafting the perfect creative content for social media, but do you put as much effort into making sure it’s the right size for each platform? If the answer is yes, high five to you! Grab a cuppa, maybe a biscuit, and put your feet up because your work here is done. If the answer is no, you might want to read on about the impact this could be having on your brand…

First of all, do you even use images on a regular basis? At DTW we recommend that clients always include visual content like an image or a video when posting to social media, with a few exceptions of course. So, why do we do this? It’s simple, social media is an increasingly visual space, and you’re more likely to receive engagement and increase reach if you do. The numbers speak for themselves, tweets with images receive 150% more retweets than those without*, and it’s the same on Facebook with image-based posts receiving 2.3x more engagement than those without**.

But of course, it’s no good just using any old image, it has to be relevant, interesting, eye catching and if you’re posting on Facebook ideally containing less than 20% text. We call it a thumb stopping creative, an image that’s so good it cuts through the noisy social media landscape, grabs your audience’s attention and stops their thumb from scrolling down the newsfeed.

So, where does size come into all this? Let me paint you a picture. You’ve written the perfect post and you’re feeling pretty smug because it’s topical and witty but still hits your key messages. And you’re even more smug because the image you’re using is so mesmerisingly thumb stopping it would halt even the most jaded Twitter user in their tracks. It’s what social media management dreams are made of, right? But once that thumb has stopped, what do you want your audience to see? Making sure your image is the right size means your audience:

  • Appreciate the full image
  • Aren’t confused by cut off words
  • Don’t misinterpret what you’re trying to say because of cut off words (like your meet-up event for Cockapoo owners…)
  • Don’t miss important details like locations or dates

Everything you post on your social media feed reflects your brand, so what do you want yours to say? And more importantly, what does it currently say? Tailoring your images to each social media platform helps you to engage your audience, easily convey your message and give the appearance of being a professional, up-to-date organisation.

However, as with everything there are exceptions that prove the rule. Sometimes you might make a graphic too large for the feed preview so the audience are forced to click on it, or if you’ve taken a photo on the go it’s much better to get it out there whilst it’s fresh and relevant than waiting to get back to the office to squeeze it into the right dimensions.

And let’s gain a little perspective, if you post an image that isn’t exactly the right size, the world won’t fall down around you. The key takeaway here is to try and use relevant, eye-catching imagery in the right sizes whenever you possibly can, so your social media feeds can look their best and deliver the best results.

So, you’ve made it this far – congratulations! As an added bonus for sticking with me, I’ll let you in on a great way to make sure your social media images are always the right size. Sprout Social have this nifty cheat sheet containing every social media image size you could possibly need, and the best part is that when the platforms make an update (which, let’s face it is practically all the time) Sprout updates this guide too. And as a Sprout Social Partner Agency, we can vouch that they’re good eggs with reliable info.

Thanks for reading!

Hannah

*https://blog.bufferapp.com/the-power-of-twitters-new-expanded-images-and-how-to-make-the-most-of-it

**https://buzzsumo.com/blog/how-to-massively-boost-your-blog-traffic-with-these-5-awesome-image-stats/

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Client survey feedback – it’s good for your ears, your soul and your business plan

Word cloud of positive desciptors of DTW

[Every year we do a client survey – one of those jobs it’s easy to put on the back burner or forget about. To put it simply – make sure you don’t!

We get client feedback all the time – whether that is anecdotal whilst ‘on the job’, more formally in client review meetings, or a quick mention on social media. It’s all important, and all welcome – good or bad (though I’m pleased to say we get a lot more of the good).

Feedback, research, insight. Call it what you will, it is hugely valuable. In today’s always on, permanently plugged in social media world, there is no shortage of feedback, and there can be a danger we close our ears and switch off.

Anyway, back to the DTW survey. It sounds a bit like we’re blowing our own trumpet (we are!). In addition to the questions, we also asked our clients to sum us up in three words – so here’s what they said.

Graphic depicting client survey result that 100% of our clients would recommend DTW to others
Graphic depicting client survey results 2018
Word-cloud of comments from client survey

If you are one of the clients who responded then huge thanks – it’s because of you that we are able to do the work that we love.

If you’re reading this and would like some PR and marketing support then just give us a call on 01287 610 404 or email me at chris@dtw.co.uk and we can have a chat about how we can help you.

Thanks for reading

Chris

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Animating the future proves just the job for UEFA

Screenshot of UEFA Nations League animation

Warning: this is a blog about animation, not football.

Just thought we’d better get that out of the way first.

The new UEFA Nations League generated an impressive mix of confusion, apathy and shrugs all round when it was first announced, so the UEFA comms team have no doubt had their work cut out trying to explain the new competition format.

The answer – animation.

Good choice. When you’re faced with communicating a complicated issue or one that doesn’t have any simple ‘real’ visuals that can explain it or bring it to life, animation comes into its own.

 

In this case UEFA also managed to follow up a good idea with excellent execution. Its suite of short animations explains the two key elements of the new Nations League format.

Clever, simple and effective, they follow the golden rule of still working when played with no sound and put the viewer in charge of the pace they learn at. As a consumer, you or I can go back and re-watch any particular element that we might need more than one viewing to register properly.

The UEFA animations have been widely shared with and used by the media, increasing reach and lending third-party credibility and increasing understanding of and, I hope, support for, the new-look tournament.

You need some clever animators, an eye for detail, a damn good knowledge of flags, and a comprehensive proofing system for a job like this to deliver it. But first of all, you need the idea – well done UEFA – it’s not often they get credit for very much to be fair.

At DTW, we find we’re increasingly using animation to showcase complex concepts or bring to life ideas that just don’t work with video footage.

You don’t need to worry which employee you want to give a starring role to in case they decide to leave, or if the project you want to showcase is still a construction site, because you’re creating your own universe and you have control over the characters, the plot and the setting.

If you want to see a bit more you can see some examples of our most recent work.

Thanks for reading

Chris.

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News

DTW MD Chris Taylor re-appointed to CIPR Council

CIPR logo

Hi – Chris here – I’ve just been appointed to the council of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (no election needed this year). The CIPR is an important body that leads the PR profession, not just in the UK but across the globe.

A copy of my CIPR candidate statement is below. All comments and feedback welcome – whether you’re a member or not.

We’ve got a great new President-elect in Jenni Field and a strong line-up on Council for the next two years to take the public relations profession forward.

Strategy. Leadership. Ethics. These are the cornerstones of the CIPR’s new-look chartership assessment day. I can’t think of three better words to sum up what the CIPR must focus on for the next two years.

Strategy– I’m a huge supporter of the drive to position PR as a strategic management function – otherwise the robots will take our jobs. Our skills are in demand, but never has there been more people (or machines) who think they can ‘do PR’.

Leadership– we’re suffering from a lack of effective leadership in public life. Now that ‘the experts’ are fighting back, the CIPR has a real opportunity to carve out a position for the UK as an international centre of excellence for the PR profession with the CIPR at its heart.

Ethics– the CIPR has always led the way in promoting ethical standards. We need to maintain that by continuing the drive to professionalism. Truth, transparency and authenticity have never been more important or more challenged and our profession has to lead the way.

Our core commitment remains the same – PR is the discipline that looks after reputation. That means speaking truth to power, saying the unsayable and always using our eyes and ears to understand before opening our mouths to give professional advice.

If I am elected to Council I will:

  • ensure the CIPR keeps its focus on professionalism, making a modern, meaningful and responsive CPD system at the core of our work.
  • support the leadership team whilst ensuring that the needs of ordinary members remain at the heart of the CIPR’s mission
  • help ensure the CIPR maintains its high ethical standards in a challenging and fast-moving environment
  • ensure a strong voice for regional and sectoral groups.

To become a predominantly chartered profession we must engage with decision makers and people outside of the industry to showcase the value that PR, and CIPR members in particular, bring to society.

We’re getting there – we’re increasing the numbers of people doing CPD, becoming accredited and, crucially, getting chartered status, every year.

I’m a Chartered Practitioner (if you’re thinking of doing it – go for it and #getchartered). I fell into the CIPR family 14 (gulp!) years ago because my new boss told me it was a good idea – he was right.

Since then I’ve been Chair of the North East group for three years, and been a Council member for the past eight.

For the past two years I’ve also played an active role on the Professional Development and Membership Committee.

As for my day job, that is Managing Director of DTW– we’re a strategic PR consultancy based in the north of England working in the infrastructure, public sector and membership organisation sectors. If you want to know more about me catch up with me on twitter @dtwchris.

It’s 14 years since I joined the CIPR. The world has changed a lot since then. As CIPR members we need to lead the way and set high professional standards. I’d like to continue to play my part.

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News

Colourful fund-raising for Teesside Hospice

Photo of Chris and Lorna covered in coloured chalk after taking part in a colour run

Chris and Lorna decided to take a colourful approach to fund-raising this weekend.

They were each joined by their daughters to raise money for Teesside Hospice as part of its annual 5K Colour Run in Stewart Park in Middlesbrough on Sunday morning.

As you can tell from the photos it was a quiet, uneventful day full of shy retiring people!

Chris Taylor, MD of DTW said: “Teesside Hospice is a great cause and the colour run is loads of fun. It’s one of those occasions where you just need to have fun and dive right in!”

Teesside Hospice offers palliative care for people over the age of 18 who are living with a life-limiting illness when a cure is no longer possible. Its care is provided 24 hours per day, 7 days a week, 365 days per year and reaches thousands of local people. If you want to help the team continue this great work, you can donate online to support what they do.

Get in touch.

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