Making good first impressions with staff and target audiences, and landing key messages with them, are rightly important for new CEOs or senior leaders – and although these organisational changes are major events, they are often rare.
But for those working in government, changes in prime minister and secretaries of state are more frequent, and civil servants tend to have a lot more experience in showcasing their new bosses to those important target groups (especially in these past five or so years.)
So what can we learn from these first seven days of this new government in terms of how to present new executives on their social and digital platforms?
Audiences are more willing to engage with content from new leaders (at the start, at least)
We all know how we are living and working in an era where we are overwhelmed with content on our phones, on the TV and in our inboxes.
But when there is a new major organisational appointment, stakeholder audiences are more keen than usual to see and hear from that person and company.
With Labour coming to power, this is the first change of political parties in No10 in the truly social media era, so it is slightly unique in that both key stakeholders and the public are more interested and receptive to what ministers have to say.
But despite this more positive and welcoming environment, the government has needed to work hard to capitalise upon this opportunity, with engaging, relatable and sharable content.
Have clear, simple messages to land on social
From Keir Starmer’s first address outside No10 to the stream of social posts from ministers, there has been a common set of messages repeatedly landed, as part of the new government’s comms strategy:
Change, fixing broken institutions, focusing on economic growth, resetting international relationships and a return politics to public service.
Take a look at this video from No10’s digital comms team announcing the Prime Minister and his new Cabinet, which has similar vibes and soundtrack to Rishi Sunak’s new PM video from a couple of years earlier:
In all his media communications so far – not just online – Health Secretary Wes Streeting has hammered home his claim that “the NHS in broken” and setting out what he will do to “fix the NHS”.
Demonstrating that leaders have taken clear, immediate decisions that benefit the target audience on issues they care about can be impactful.
It’s not a surprise that this tweet announcing “tough action” on cleaning up rivers, lakes and seas after the Environment Secretary’s meeting with water bosses (while the regulator Ofwat announced that water bills were going to rise) was popular – 900,000 views, according to Twitter.
(Disclaimer: my partner is the head of digital comms there, but I think this is among the best performing posts on government social channels this week.)
Show personality and authenticity
Getting a leader’s personality over on social media and doing so authentically can be tricky at times, especially in the early days.
Although I’m not a huge fan of civil servants clapping in their new ministers, what I really like about this video from the Department for Housing, Communities and Local Government is that Angela Rayner feels genuine in her reactions as she enters her new department, seeing her photo already on the ministerial wall and thanking staff for their warm welcome.
This selfie by Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds is more engaging to me than a formal ministerial pic in an office – and still lands a clear message in the post wording.
And sometimes the best moments that show your genuine personality are unplanned and unscripted!
And Hacker T Dog should be given his own Sunday morning politics show for this grilling of Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy! (My four year old’s takeaway from this was, “They’re closing down the BBC?” 😂)
Corporate social videos don’t need to be formal and filmed professionally
Keeping on the theme of authenticity, I liked this from Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, who has replicated this format a couple of times already on Twitter this week.
Yes, he’s at his desk, but the jacket is off, and he’s talking in a really easy to understand and engaging way (and without autocue) about the lifting of the offshore wind farm ban – and landing messages about the pace of change and helping to deliver on the election pledge of making Britain a clean energy superpower.
And it’s simple, short and snappy – and vertical too. You don’t have to use professional-level kit for corporate videos, especially for the off-the-cuff, ‘breaking news’ feel of this content. And it can be easily posted on other platforms too.
Use the voices of beneficiaries, customers and staff to land your messages
Although the new government is enjoying its honeymoon period, this will not last long – and after an election campaign where politicians have been all over our media, many voters are likely to be wanting a break from it all.
So instead of leaders or ministers just talking at the screen, look to see when you can use real, ordinary people – from beneficiaries of policies, projects and services, or even your staff.
This is a far more effective technique to engage the less-politically inclined members of the public, who are not using Twitter/X (and if they do are not following ministers) and do not want to see politicians in their feeds elsewhere.
We haven’t seen enough of the public featured in the Labour government’s social output so far, but that hopefully will change soon.
There was some nice interaction in the Department of Health and Social Care video, where Wes Streeting was in listening mode, hearing from patients and doctors, rather than another direct ‘piece to camera’ telling you what you should think is important to you.
Collab with content creators and influencers to land your messages
So far, we’ve seen quite standard social and digital media comms from the Starmer government – but the previous administration had begun to develop relationships with content creators and influencers to help to get their messages out to a non-politics obsessed general public.
This collaboration by the Treasury with Mr Money Jar allowed their news about inflation falling to be told in an engaging, native storytelling format, and wove in soundbites from an interview with the then-Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt.
This week, you may have read about the Biden administration’s work with content creators and influencers and even seen unlikely collabs at the Nato conference:
@mandaround Replying to @ur mom THE COOLEST thing l’ve done in my career to-date – IM AT THE WHITE HOUSE BAYYYBEEEE this NATO summit has taught me SO MUCH already and I’m dying to tell you guys everything that I’ve learned and seen 👀👀👀 The way I was in the same room as THIRTY TWO presidents and prime ministers??????? WHAT I’m doing my absolute best as a hashtag woman in STEM, and hashtag woman in a room full of men in general, to ask questions (to insanely high level officials 😮💨) and take up space, and LET ME TELL YOU it’s been a bit nerve-wracking You guys are about to get smmm content from here (and also some cool opportunities for all my scholars interested in geopolitics and other subjects in political science 👀) SO GET READYYY #university #student #canada #justintrudeau #NATOsummit #NATOCanada #ontariouniversities #canadianuniversities ♬ original sound – Amanda | Student life ♡
But giving access and also loosening editorial control can have unintended consequences – for example, Amanda Round’s most popular TikTok was pointing out that only 3 of 37 Nato leaders were women.
And TikTok content creator Olivia Juliana explained to Politico about the backlash facing her and her peers to posting Biden content on the app.
Email is effective
Like any comms plan, there should be a multiplatform approach to landing messages – and more ‘traditional’ approaches like TV, news websites and email are still important.
For example, the new Education Secretary wrote an open letter to the workforce “to make clear the valuable role they will play in the government’s agenda for change”, which was then posted on the Department for Education’s blog on GOV.UK and shared on their social media:
While Wes Streeting sat on the This Morning sofa to talk to their viewers about his plans for the NHS:
Be creative, think ‘what would appeal to this audience?’ and go to where they are online
In the excitement to show action and engagement with key stakeholders, there has been a huge volume of content from government social channels. But, generally, less is more.
Where possible, be creative with formats, backdrops and presentation styles – a formal ‘piece to camera’ in an office should be reserved for serious moments!
And think if video really is the best way to get your points across (we still prefer to consume news in written form, according to a respected Reuters Institute report.)
Use insight to inform your strategy on the platforms where your audience are (I’m hopeful that the TikTok ban on No10 and departments will be lifted soon – the parties showed what is possible on there during the campaign and the Ofcom stats that show how many of us now get news from the app).
Also, look at your social analytics to analyse what type of content works best for that topic.
Put yourself in your audience’s shoes: if all your CEO’s content are videos of him or her talking at camera in their office, how is that going to stand out in people’s feeds?
And now social platforms are embracing algorithms over followers and engagement is key to boost visibility, think about how your leader’s content is sharable to reach a wider audience.
But direct comms is still best – have you considered a policy-themed or personality-led WhatsApp channel to share updates direct into your audience’s phones? Think specific and niche, not broad-based.
If you need some help with rethinking your approach on how to land your new CEO or boss on social, get in touch!
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