OurAuckland. Auckland Council s home for council news and events. 23 May 2016

Transcription

1 OurAuckland Auckland Council s home for council news and events 23 May 2016

2 What you will hear today? Our journey to be coming a digital publisher.

3 INTRODUCTION

4 Our belief The Communications and Engagement division of Auckland Council believes there is a connection between a highly effective communications channel and trust and confidence in Auckland Council.

5 THE CASE FOR CHANGE

6 Our Auckland brand We already had a strong product to leverage. o Awareness of Our Auckland 68% (among Aucklanders aged 16+) o Print readership at 57% o As a result of reading Our Auckland,: o 47% of readers attended an event, 31% have learned more about council services, 30% have learned about what council spend rates on, 23% have visited a council facility, 10% have submitted feedback on a council plan or policy Our Auckland Research

7 The challenges we wanted to solve 1. Reliance on media to tell our stories. 2. Reaching our audience who increasingly consumes their content online (web, app and social media). 3. Establishing more control over reputational risk. 4. Ensuring the news we re telling is what Aucklanders want to hear from council about.

8 The case for the Our Auckland site Product and Channel review took place with a paper presented to ELT in May This work identified the core role that Our Auckland plays in communicating with Aucklanders on council matters (news, events, submissions).

9 The case for Our Auckland site The review identified a need to: o Deliver relevant news in a timely fashion. o Reach Aucklanders directly. o Re-set current editorial direction to include more hard news. o Leverage our social media following to get our story out there. o Have a dedicated mobile-friendly digital platform to achieve the above.

10 Core objectives of OurAuckland Support the growth and quality of community engagement to enable good decision-making. Improve the reputation of council through greater awareness and understanding of council and the value it delivers.

11 Core objectives of OurAuckland Enable Aucklanders to get the most out of their region and their rates by improving awareness of the services and opportunities that council provides. Meet the needs of Aucklanders and comply with the Local Government Act 2002 (LGA 2002) that requires council to inform the community of its activities.

12 WHAT WE DID

13 Our Auckland Print Magazine Recognise that not all our audience consume their news online. To continue to comply with the LGA 2002, we need to offer the option of print. However changes made to: Upsized from an A4 to an A5 to give greater prominence. Introduced a feature story to bring in harder news Increase the use of illustrations and pictures maiximise cut-through and appeal.

14

15 The before state

16

17

18

19 HOW DID WE GET THERE?

20 Technical Delivery The project was managed by the council s Brand and Channel team. We worked from an early stage with our web and mobile team, Digital Services and Information Services to agree the platform for the site. We worked with our in-house design studio to create the design, which was implemented by our digital agency.

21 Technical Delivery Digital Services and Brand and Channel then worked together to load the content for launch. Daily stand-ups, Trello boards and a task wall were some of the tools we used to ensure people were up to date with what was expected each day in the weeks leading up to launch.

22 Project Governance Over seen by C&E Lead Team Steering Group where decisions on site build, process change, resourcing and risks with appropriate mitigants were covered off.

23 Training Writing for Digital workshops. CMS training workshops and guides. Written Induction Pack for all of C&E to see the value of the new channel. Corporate Communications required FAQs tailored to journalists.

24 Engagement prior to launch Tailored presentations and memos to council ELT, council SLT, Local Boards and Governing Body. CCO s what s in it for me presentations. Internal comms plan executed to ensure all employees were aware of the new channel for OurAuckland. Briefed agency partners of new channel opportunity.

25 OURAUCKLAND CONTENT STRATEGY

26 OurAuckland content flow

27 How will we get there? Content principles for all OA channels Substance Content that grows knowledge Useful content Grow trust and confidence by engaging Aucklanders in a customer-focused way. Useful: tips/how to. E.g.: Gem of the months, Spotlight on, public notices, consultations, LGOIMA s Relevant: topical stories. E.g.: housing, rates, new facilities/upgrades. Relevant content Grows Knowledge: first to know news. E.g.: media releases, community stories Experiences: news that evokes emotion. E.g.: events upcoming and re-capping. Enables reader to live or re-live experiences

28 Customer focused content themes to drive trust and confidence in council Leadership and 2-way communication Council s contribution to WMLC Financial stewardship Day-to-day service delivery Transparency: how to find out stuff / engage with council, LGOIMA data, proactive publishing of data, how decisions are made, closing the loop (you said, we did), how council works (governance, CCOs) Children and youth: working to give them a better start Value for money, efficiency / savings stories, volunteering Community safety: what we re doing, what communities can do Planning for the future: environment, infrastructure, economy, waste, transport. Pride in Auckland: in all our diversity, regional, MyAuckland, customer view, top 10 XX in Akl (can be user-generated), Auckland the playground (beaches, parks, harbours) Financial strategy: how we fund stuff, driving the economy forward What council does: profiles, grad pieces to show breadth/depth of services and activities, for those who are new to Akl Maori outcomes: cuts across everything, but also gets solo focus Projects delivered : new facilities, upgrades etc. Rates: how we calculate them, easy ways to pay, what they cover Timely, helpful stuff: traffic alerts / links to AT Profiles: officers and elected members, demonstrate their role + value Housing: supporting affordability, SHA updates, process improvements Engagement: closing the loop, ECA Events: upcoming and reviews Ask us anything: what would you like to see featured + our replies Transport : CRL and other developments.

29 Content Operating Model for planned content Content Group Content Reporting Editorial Board Content Promoted Content Commissioned Content Published

30 OurAuckland Operating Model Content Team Print Mag Channel team Made up of: Team Manager OA Editor Digital Content Editor Copywriter Sub-Editor Temp: CMS Support Copy writers Content creation Social Media Design Studio Digital team

31 RESULTS AND WHAT WE LEARNED

32 Our Auckland awareness Main places seen, read or heard about Auckland Council (Nov-Dec 15) Nov13- Feb- May- Aug- Nov14- Feb- May- Nov- Jan14 Apr14 Jul14 Oct14 Jan15 Apr15 Jul15 Dec15 Source: Trust Tracker OurAuckland (Nov-Dec 15) * Hard copy 40% Online 9% National papers OurAuckland Local papers TV Radio Websites Social, blogs, forums Event/conference Magazines Other places e.g. rates, mail, word of mouth, pamphlets

33 Website and behaviour trends Audience demographic and behaviour since launch Male Female Sex 34% 66% Age Devices Content % 24% 30% 19% 11% 6% Desktop Mobile Tablet News 41% 35% Events 47% 12% 41% Source External 90% Internal 10% Visits New 59% Returning 41%

34 Content that worked Winning formula = High interest topic + useful + video/images + emotive + ad support

35 Website audience growth

36 Where are people coming from? Social media

37 OurAuckland e-newsletter Revamped look and feel so it matched the landing experience of the site. Now incorporate news as well as events with success. News makes top 5 each week. Subscriber increase of 26% since February when revamped design was launched

38 OurAuckland e-newsletter Old design New design

39 Growth in social media followings Social Media Channel % Growth Number of followers Twitter 39% 53,438 (+14,671) Facebook 64% 35,913 (+ 14,459) Instagram 316% 2,134 (+ 1,620) Channel Change Engagement Twitter % 30,837 (+29,698) Facebook % 98,993(+50,526)

40 Facebook Marketing Campaign Facebook ad campaign aiming to encourage people to visit OurAuckland and consume content from 11 February 30 June. Bonus: Increased brand equity in OurAuckland as a trusted source Latest themed content ads went live 1 March

41 Facebook Campaign Results

42 Aucklanders feedback So I read the piece about dodgy builders. Watched the videos. Saw it in the Herald. People are still talking about it on Twitter. That s pretty good reach. In fact, it s a great example of how content marketing should be done. I always say show not tell. You didn t tell people council has an important job. What you did was show people why council building inspectors are important and let people make the connection themselves. Next time people moan about building inspections or regulation, they ll think of that. - Eric Rowe, Digital Marketing Innovation Manager at ANZ Congratulations the new OurAuckland mag is a lot better. I actually read it, cover to cover. It was good to see some positive suggestions for things to do around or near Albany. I noted the recycler directory and the art week. The larger print and layout made it much more user friendly. I just found it easier to read and instead of it lying around and thinking I 'must read' that, I actually did. The housing affordability articles were interesting. Jenny Phillips, resident

43 Media Management Leaked story on NZ Herald website Auckland Council set to launch news website and app Karl Fergusson led our response. Since launch, we have had several stories reproduced verbatim, some with follow-up stories. Shoddy Builders, Human Walkies campaign, 10 quirky queries to the council s contact centre, All Blacks parade.

44 Key Learnings & Next Steps Content format is important so content development will be a key opportunity we explore going forward. Conducting research on the OA suite to ascertain audience, awareness, readership habits, content consumption. Getting people to the news we want to tell them and read more than one article means promotion is key. Developing confidence metrics across all our channels so we know how effective we are at reaching Aucklanders.

45 QUESTIONS