Building your Communication Tool Box
So, what's the first thing you need when you build anything? Tools. What tools do you have to get information out to the public? The tools in your tool box will vary from agency to agency, budget to budget, but at bare minimum you have a computer, work email (and therefore the ability to build distribution lists), a work website, and, more than likely, a smartphone. That might not seem like a lot of tools, but they're all you need to start releasing information. Add to that social media platforms, perhaps a third-party software that allows you to build and release eNewsletters to subscribers, and now you have more robust tools. Some of you may even have access to local cable channels for broadcasting. The point is, you need to know what tools you have and how to best use them.
The tools I have in my office: email, ListServe lists, website, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Granicus, the Adobe Suite (Photoshop, InDesign, Premier, Illustrator, etc.), a subscription to Getty Images, a smart phone, a digital SLR with mic, and lights.
So, take inventory of your tools. What do you have that helps you gather, create, and distribute information. Once you have that list, give some thought as to what each of those tools allows you to do.
Email - I can create my own distribution lists to target information to certain people. I have a PIO list I can use to share info. I have a town/municipality list also for disseminating information. I have a list of reporters that I use to send news releases (which I also send to my PIO list and my town/municipality list). I have a school district superintendent list. I have lists and lists. Lists are like money for public communicators. If you build and maintain strong contact lists, you can get information out quickly and directly to a targeted audience.
ListServe - I'm not tech-y so all I know is that our IT Department has set up some ListServe lists for me which do the same as my Outlook distribution lists PLUS it monitors bad email address and deletes them automatically so I don't have to continually babysit the lists. It also allows me to put in a lot more email addresses than the traditional distribution list.
Website - I manage several pages on our website including a news release page and a PIO page. I can post all kinds of information to these pages and promote not only my items but also items from other departments. For example, currently my department is working with our Office of Emergency Management (OEM) on publishing 12 months of emergency preparedness tips. Those tips currently live on the PIO webpage with a link to the OEM page and their complete Emergency Preparedness Guide.
Social Media - we could talk for days about social media, and maybe we will. But for the purpose of this post, I will say this: If you aren't on social media, shame on you. Get on it. Why? Because it is where your people are, and your job is to communicate information with your people. For those of you on social media, understand not only how that social media platform works (there are differences in their strengths, weaknesses, and audiences) but also understand how your residents use those platforms.
Granicus - so this isn't a plug necessarily, although I do love this product. And I know I am extremely fortunate to work for a county that also sees the value in this and pays the bill for it. Essentially, this program, and there are others that do the same thing, allows me to build eNewsletter/alerts, etc. that are topic specific and the public can subscribe or unsubscribe on their own to whatever they are interested in. We have numerous newsletters (I don't know what else to call them - stylized emails?) on topics such as Foster Care, various Public Works road projects, general county news, and the Area Agency on Aging. Do I need this service in order to get this information out to these specific interest groups? No. You can build lists, create distribution lists, and draft emails that do the same thing (but it takes longer and doesn't have the bells and whistles). Another great thing about this type of service is that it provides analytics. I can tell you how many people received any given eNewsletter, how many opened it, and what links they clicked on. Email doesn't do that.
Adobe Suite - do you need this? Only if you 1) have the budget for it, and 2) know how to use it. Otherwise, there are other less expensive, and even free, tools you can use for photo editing, layout and design, etc. My background is actually photography and design, so I use these tools quite a bit. Others use Canva, iMovie, etc. Use what you have/can afford and what you are comfortable with.
Getty Images - as a county, we use a lot of stock images for a lot of different projects so this makes sense for us. There are other entities where you can purchase, and maybe even obtain for free, stock images to use in your communication. Just make sure you understand the difference between copyright free and royalty free...don't just grab a photo from the internet and use it. No. Never. Bad. (Sorry, my photographer side is showing again 😄)
Smartphone - with smartphones these days you can record audio, video, draft text, create layouts, publish to the internet and even broadcast live to the world. When it comes to tools, your phone is probably the most versatile. Think of it as the Swiss Army knife of communication tools.
Digital SLR, Mic, Lights - you don't need these in your tool box unless you are asked to do a lot of photography or video work.
So, now that you have taken inventory on what your communication tools are and how you want to use them, take a minute to know what tools your public has and how they use them.
In our county, our primary newspaper is down to publishing four times a week, and their largest circulation (print) is in one municipality. We have several weekly newspapers that publish once a week. These are important tools, but they have limitations in a 24/7 world that can be hindered by online paywalls.
Our website receives lots of traffic, but people who go there are not just cruising around to see what's new - they are looking for something specific and are in and out of the site once they find it. So for us social media (in particular Facebook), is our largest and most forward-facing tool for disseminating information. We put information on that platform and direct people with a link to a location on our website for the full information.
Our next biggest tool is our eNewsletter(s). Look, government isn't sexy, and for most residents, it isn't top of mind. So developing tools, where we can make it easy and interesting for residents to learn a little bit about what we do, is imperative to building our communication relationship with them. Our subscriber-based platform let's residents opt-in to receive information they are interested in, which is awesome for sharing our message.
So take a look at the tools you have now - those are the best tools. You can do a lot with those tools. And when the time (and budget) is right, ask for more tools, if you need them. Understanding what you have and how to use them will help you with the next step in effectively telling your story - mining your content.
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