Communicator | Online Strategist | Considered Opinions
I’ve seen loads of unions consider creating iPhone apps. An iPhone app is perceived in some circles as not only an essential element for engaging “young people”, but also as a status symbol. For example, a recent article over at “CyberUnions” advocated for unions to get into the app development business. (I use iPhone apps [...]
The Dragonfly Effect should be on the bookshelf of every union communications officer. It is a short primer on how to use social media to achieve positive social change written by Stanford Graduate School of Business lecturers Jennifer Aaker and Andy Smith. The “effect” is based on the four “wings” of the dragon-fly – an [...]
After setting up your Facebook page, your Twitter account, your MailChimp (or Campaign Advantage) account and your campaign website, what next? Knowing whether your online campaigning and social media efforts are succeeding is important for any organisation, no more so than unions, who need to ensure that scarce resources are put to best effect. (You’ve [...]
“If this e-mail is received in error, notify the sender immediately.” “This e-mail does not create an attorney-client relationship.” “Any tax advice in this e-mail is not intended to be used for the purpose of avoiding penalties under the Internal Revenue Code.” Many firms—The Economist included—automatically append these sorts of disclaimers to every message sent [...]
I’ve helped a few groups with setting up their websites over the last year or two – and set up many more for work. These have mostly been for specific campaigns or highly focused purposes – campaign sites. Recently, I’ve had reason to reflect on a common challenge that I face when talking about websites [...]
Research conducted by Swinburne Universityprofessor Dr Rajesh Vasa and internet firm MailGuard into social media habits of 50,000 workers has revealed that the average worker spends between 30 to 60 minutes online for personal reasons each day. While other studies have drawn on consumer data and qualitative research, this is the first to scrutinise individual [...]
The “Commitment and Consistency Principle” is what psychologists have termed the desire in people to keep their thoughts consistent with their actions. Once a person has behaved in a certain way, they start to adjust their thoughts to be consistent with their behaviour. In the 2004 US election, the Bush-Cheney campaign used this principle to [...]
Do you have goals for your union’s website? If you’re anything like most unions, probably not. Or, more accurately, your website’s goals are probably ambigious or vague. “Provide information to members” or “an online repository of union resources” or “a way for potential members to join online”. Sound familiar? Whereas most unions would be comfortable [...]
Over at Creative Unions is an interview I conducted with Paul Degenstein, the Chief Creative Officer of Canadian creative agency NOW Communications. NOW put together this fantastic video for the Manitoba’s Government Employees Union, entitled “Woke”. It does a fantastic job of creating a strong emotional connection with health professionals whose jobs rarely have a [...]
So, you’ve downloaded my free e-book on Social Media for Unions, read my tips on how unions can use Facebook… what, you want more? Ok. You asked for it. Here are four more tips on using Facebook for union organising and communication that you can’t afford to ignore when you set up your union’s Faebook [...]
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Three “do’s” and “don’t's” of dealing with critical comments
How do you respond to a negative comment in an online community, on your union’s web page, or your union’s Facebook page, or sent to your union’s Twitter account? Should you shut them down? Delete them? Edit them? Ban the commenter? Fight them? Ignore them? There is no one-size fits all approach to dealing with [...]