The Reinvention of Social Housing

5: FutureComms - The Last Will and Testament of #UKhousing

On average, housing organisations have only 0.5% of the social and digital engagement rates of not-for-profits on Facebook and 3.4% of their followers on Twitter.

Purely commercial brands and utility providers too, such as O2 or British Gas, far outstrip them in terms of social media popularity and engagement.

Anne McCrossan

What’s the problem?

Do we talk to each other too much - rather than seek out customers?

How social are we – really?

Do we really need another “sector campaign” or rebrand?

How do we engage dissenting voices and include them?

Do we need to talk less and listen more?

What’s the problem?

We asked delegates to imagine they were the last #ukhousing comms team!

What would be their gems of wisdom to pass on to the next generation?

The last will and testament for #ukhousing– what would it say to start doing , and to stop!

Start

Get over yourselves! We can use humour and have fun

Keep it real – make it relevant

Make trust the priority

Make comms everyone’s responsibility

Do with - not to. Engage customers and stakeholders in conversations

Test more. Experiment more

Just be a little braver

StopDoing it for the sake of doing it (if you’ve got nothing to say - don’t say it)

“HB, Voids, UC” - It’s past time to kill jargon

Job titles and hierarchies- they reinforce role of comms as the only communicators in an organisation

Being obsessed with digital – other channels are available

Saying “You can’t say that” (yes, you can!)

Thinking you know your audience. You don’t – and probably never will

Obsessing over ‘viral content’