A view from the other side … a social media perspective

fleur@threesides — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 03:41:05 +0000

This is not a photo of Craig and Todd but we wanted to make them seem cooler than they really are. They are a bit shorter than the guys in this pic. Credit: sofachip.com

Canberra can be a small place. Having been with threesides for just a few weeks, it was great to hear that Todd was giving a presentation with one of my former colleagues from the Department of Health and Ageing, Gov 2.0 guru Craig Thomler, on the growing role of social media in government communications.

The presentation was at the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research as part of its Graduate Development Program. The guys spoke about how prolific social media use is in Australia (everybody’s doing it!). Todd talked about the thinking behind social media and the ‘nuts and bolts’ of getting involved, whilst Craig provided an outline on the innovation that’s been happening within our government departments. You can find the presentations (and a video of the guys doing their thing) on the DIISR blog here.

Just for my two cents, and having spent the better part of the past decade working in a range of communications roles in government, it’s been my experience that whilst the majority of communications people know social media is important and cost-effective and potentially very powerful, it can be very hard to get it across the line and make it ‘business-as-usual’ communications, particularly in government.

Now that I’m safely ensconced in the private sector, I feel I have a bit of perspective to discuss the issue and think it’s a result of a few different factors:

1. Old habits die hard. I have found it slightly strange how a single letter to the editor in a newspaper criticising an organisation can cause senior management to run around looking extremely concerned and serious, with closed door meetings and carefully crafted responses and briefing notes, and yet the organisation could be absolutely SLAMMED in a blog read by tens of thousands of people and it would just slip under the radar, never to be mentioned.

2. Organisational structure (read ‘turf wars’). Social media clearly spans multiple areas of communication — online, PR, marketing etc. Which is fine if you have just one area handling all of these functions. But if you have these areas segmented (as so many organisations do), the lines of responsibility are blurred and it can be easy for social media to either fall in the cracks or for resentments to arise.

3. Risk-averse (to put it mildly). I have regularly worked with areas where every single sentence on every media release was analyzed extensively for any possible signs of misinterpretation. Sentences were re-written, re-written again, and then taken out all together. And this was a process that would take days and days. Social media needs quick responses, relaxed language, real people, and this freedom is completely at odds with the regimented, anonymous approval processes that so many government departments are used to (and feel comfortable with).

4. Lack of resources. Government marketing and communications people are busy people. Forget the stereotype of the lazy public servant – people in government communications WORK HARD. It can be a challenge just to accomplish the essentials. And social media continues to be seen by some senior managers as a bit of a luxury, a ‘wouldn’t it be nice if we had time/the people to do that’ kind of thing. Getting extra resources for staff to undertake this function is just a pipe dream for some government organisations. But without it, their social media efforts are likely to be either misguided or potentially damaging.

Disgruntled former public servant? Perhaps, but what do you think? Are things improving out there in government land?

Marketing Workshops – “Forget Wally! Where’s Todd?”

Todd@threesides — Tue, 20 May 2008 04:42:18 +0000

This week I found myself committing one of the first sins of running your own business – that is “not practicising what I Preach”. To cut a long story short – I present a lot of training seminars throughout the year which business owners are able to attend which are mostly free or very inexpensivce to attend. I thought it was the job of everyone else to promote them and not me! Easy mistake to make – wrong – it’s a lazy marketing mistake, one that stops now!

So – in order to (w)right my wrongs – welcome to the first in my blog posting series called “forget Wally – where’s Todd?”. These posts will be dedicated to sharing with you information on where I am presenting my public training workshops, how to register and what they will include.

These ones are being held with CRACC and SBFO as part of the HBBS and NAI how’s that for acronym overload!! That will be one of the things you will learn in this workshop on Practical Marketing.

Some of the topics covered will include:

Understanding Marketing and the reasons your business needs it
The marketing Process – step-by-step guide to starting your plan
Getting help – who does what and how can they help you
The marketing kit ‘must-haves’
Making time for marketing
Bonus: Networking for results

Phew – and all this in 3 hrs of learning, activities and Q&A. Useful for all people in business who need to get a better grip on their marketing, where to start your marketing in a new business or just some fresh new ideas. Guranteed money back if you don’t learn something new (did I mention it is free?!).

Two of the workshops are fully subscribed but 2 still have places so if you are keen to come along and learn something new please use the details below to register through the Small business field officer program (a great program that the federal government shouldn’t have cut funding to ) – but that’s a whole other blog post!

http://www.cr-acc.asn.au/cr-acc.php?sec=70

THE Capital Region Area Consultative Committee combined with the Small Business Field Officer invites you to attend May program – featuring …

SMALL BUSINESS WORKSHOPS – hosted by the Small Business Field Officer

Practical Marketing – Presenter: Todd Wright

Tuesday 27 May

9.00 am–12 noon – Moss Vale Golf Club - booked out

2.00 pm–5.00 pm – Goulburn Soldiers Club - booked out

Thursday 29 May

9.00 am–12 noon – Yass Soldiers Club - seats still available

2.00 pm–5.00 pm – Queanbeyan Kangaroos Club – seats still available

Registration for these Community Information Sessions and Workshops is essential – RSVP to the Capital Region ACC on 6162 4400, 6162 4455 or email sbfo@cr-acc.asn.au

This is an Australian Government funded service under the Small Business Field Officer Program and the Home-Based Business Seminar and Networking Arrangements Initiative.

P.s. If you attended my workshop and wanted to leave a comment – please do so here – would really like to know what you thought….thks – Todd

Threesides - Marketing, Online, Training » education

A view from the other side … a social media perspective

Marketing Workshops – “Forget Wally! Where’s Todd?”