Welcome back to our new weekly blog feature, Engaging Reads, which rounds up the most useful and inspiring things we’ve stumbled across in the Twittersphere this week.
Why every organisation needs a digital comms specialist
Whilst looking at the latest comms-related trends and updates this week, we came across a blog by Dan Slee (a Local Government PR blogger) from back in March which really caught our attention. Our aim as digital communications specialists is not to be a long term extension of our clients’ team, but to ultimately do ourselves out of a job. Communications isn’t something you can just ‘outsource’ as an ‘add on’, it needs to be ingrained in the whole organisation and, as Dan points out, there is no longer a distinction between digital and any other type of comms. Social media is about relationships and should provide a genuine insight into the organisations so has to be contributed to at all levels. However, a digital communications specialist is still needed to help keep up with the rapid pace of change. He says that a good one should look like this:
1. A trainer
2. A geek
3. A solver of problems that aren’t problems yet
4. A horizon scanner
5. A builder of an internal community
6. A source of help
7. A winner of internal arguments
8. Someone who knows the channels. Traditional and digital
Finding your element
This week, Sir Ken Robinson was interviewed on US radio about his latest book ‘Finding your element: How to discover your talents and passions and transform your life’. Breaking down the barriers of age and occupation, he encourages readers to look at how their social circles and ingrained attitudes may be holding them back from following their real calling in life. Like our ebook ‘Power Your Personal Brand for 2013’, ‘Finding your element’ tells stories about people who have found fulfilment and provides readers with tools, techniques, resources and advice on discovering the depth of their abilities. We are all for this kind of aspiration – a ‘must read’ for us this summer!
What’s that coming over the hill? It’s Glastonbury!
For various reasons which I don’t want to talk about, I’m not going to Glastonbury this year. I’m not bitter, honest. Anyway, as a festival junkie, I’m probably spending more time than most torturing myself with the latest social media updates in the run up to the biggest event of the summer. Of course, all music festival organisers have now tapped into the power of social media to create word of mouth buzz and, because of the very nature of them, they are all using imagery and video very successfully. However, as with most things, Glastonbury reigns supreme.
A ‘drip feed’ of varied content has been saved up and is being slowly leaked on a weekly and now daily basis in the lead up to the start of the festival. It’s a fantastic combination of simple ‘teaser’ images – eg a tweet saying ‘what’s that coming over the hill?’ with a picture of brightly coloured Glastonbury letters sat atop the green, green grass of the farm – and much more serious environmental and safety messages which they manage to make engaging rather than a ‘buzz kill’. By keeping it simple and ‘bitesize’, they’ve certainly kept my attention and I’m not even going! Having been three times before, I know how good they are at capturing the imagination of revellers during the event and I’m sure this year’s will be the most social media savvy Glastonbury yet. Unfortunately for me, I’ll only be watching it all unfold via social media – so the online atmosphere better be good!
