Let’s face it, the public sector is not known for its creative use of video. Video production is often restricted to simply communicating the message, with little room left for a catchy hook. However, some government departments have demonstrated that you can be creative and still deliver your message. Take a look at some recent examples:

• Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA): http://ow.ly/5o4rr
• Canada Revenue Agency: http://bit.ly/kGc7y1
• Human Resources and Skills Development Canada: http://bit.ly/m3E0SY

The CFIA video really caught my attention. Their public service announcement entitled ‘The Market’ engages Canadians travelling abroad to play an active role in protecting Canada’s agriculture, environment and food supply. Chantal Jacob, CFIA’s Marketing and Creative Services Manager, highlighted a focus on the public was the key factor behind production of the PSA.

“Our goal with the production of this video was to provide Canadians with a mirror effect of themselves travelling abroad. This helped us in providing useful information to the public while remaining focused on the message.” When asked about the pre-production of the video, Jacob adds: “By doing a SWAT analysis and by using social marketing techniques, we were able to obtain sufficient results to know this PSA would be a success”.

The video is now available through various partners of CFIA, most notably on Air Canada’s domestic and international flights. Well done!

At a time when newsrooms are in need of more multimedia content, communicators in the public sector should not only consider producing more videos, but should look at adding a touch of creativity to them. Their message will make their audience feel more connected and more aware of the issue at stake.

Attendees at the #PAB2011 conference in Ottawa

For the second year in a row, I had the pleasure to attend the Podcasters Across Borders (PAB) Conference in Ottawa. Also known as the ultimate un-conference, PAB brings the podcasting community together year after year, with attendees flying in from all over Canada and the United Sates. While the majority of attendees are active and influential podcasters, PAB encourages anyone with a creative mind to participate in the weekend long event.

This year marked the 6^th year anniversary of PAB. Co-founded by Mark Blevis and Bob Goyetche, PAB calls Ottawa home with the National Arts Centre acting as its location of choice. Held in the NAC’s Fourth Stage, PAB immediately provides its attendees with an un-conventional vibe, and a quaint feeling for their constant appetite of inspiration and creativity. Therein, lies the secret for quality content creation. The conference also offers a distinctive presentation format to its participants providing a mix of 40 minute presentations on content creation, followed by five minute jolts given by tenured podcasters. While this format is a welcome alternative to large type conferences, it is the topics and the people themselves that highlight the event.

Nowadays, it seems like most conferences are getting bigger and bigger, offering topics that have already been debated and dissected a million times over. PAB on the other hand, offers the exact opposite. It is a smaller audience (about 80 attendees), held in a small theatre, and has the goal and purpose of providing a lineup that inspires it’s audience to think outside the box. This is why, in my opinion, PAB is a jewel that is yet to be discovered.

If you are looking for a community that is passionate about content creation, technology and authenticity, then PAB is for you. Twenty-five people have already registered for #PAB2012, I strongly encourage you to do the same.

Media monitoring has evolved beyond a package of clippings that arrives on your desk the week after a launch. With online communications proliferating daily, communicators – and government communicators are no exception – need to keep their ear to the ground, listening for media mentions, social media conversations and online news.

But listening is only half the battle. Reporting on and analyzing your monitoring results can help you detect trends, nip a crisis in the bud, or adjust your communication strategy on the fly.

The Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA) uses MediaVantage for monitoring and reporting. Here’s what Mathieu Larocque, CATSA’s Senior Advisor, External Communications, had to say about why reporting is crucial to their team:

“Monthly reports that we produce using MediaVantage are an integral part of our dashboard reporting approach. We use the information to evaluate and adjust both our proactive and reactive media relations strategies. They are also used more broadly to evaluate the work of our branch. The data generated by MediaVantage is incorporated in a larger dashboard that includes many other indicators. The reports are also used at the end of each proactive campaign to evaluate reach and the overall effectiveness of a specific campaign. Likewise, we also use the reporting function to analyze a particular situation or episode related to our operations.”

For more on how reporting on monitoring results can give you the intelligence to analyze why and when to adjust your strategic communication plans, download our white paper, Continuous Measurement and Analysis.

I was recently invited by the Carleton Communications Studies Undergraduate Student Society (CUSS) and the Algonquin College Public Relations program (ACPR), to speak with students and share my experiences as a communications and PR professional. These are the type of events that I personally love to attend, as I find it to be very important to give back to students who are preparing to enter the workforce.

While I had the pleasure to share my thoughts on various topics, many of the questions revolved around career path and work opportunities. I’m summed up my recommendations in the following three points:

1. Get active on social networks

Remember this cliché? ‘It’s not what you know, it’s who you know’. In comms and PR, this is amplified by 10. Your networks are crucial going forward so it’s never too early to start making a name for yourself. Web 2.0 is the way of the future for practitioners, and establishing your digital profile is important. Twitter, LinkedIn and blogging are great ways to connect with others and help you develop your skill sets.

2. Get involved with extra curricular

I hate to break it to some of you, but if you’re hoping to land your dream job by browsing Jobboom and Monster, it’s probably not going to happen. Once again, good contacts have to be developed, groomed, and over time, will help you elevate your status. To get there, nothing beats getting involved with extra-curricular activities. For example, volunteering your time with local associations (CPRS, IABC, etc) will give you the chance to meet other professionals. If you do a good job, it will be easy to approach them to discuss work opportunities, and many of them will likely go to bat for you. Remember, most people who are on the board of such associations are usually well connected comms/PR practitioners…wink wink.

3. Make a short list of potential employers

You have to ask yourself ‘Where do I want to work?’ Agency? Non-profit? Public sector? Make a short list and start doing the ground work. If you don’t have the contacts, your first step can be as easy as contacting the HR department and finding out when they will be hiring next. If they say three months, call back in two and half to be sure the date hasn’t changed. The logic behind this is to do the leg work before the job posting goes up. By doing this, you’ll give yourself a running start over other applicants.

While there is no perfect science in successfully landing a PR job or internship, implementing these three points will give you traction and the best chances of landing your dream position.

With today’s resource-crunched newsrooms, a wise PR person does everything possible to be helpful to reporters. Writing great news releases and using a wire service is a given – but offering a little lead time on important events is imperative. Today’s newsrooms dispatch reporters and camera people using a triage approach. How can you ensure your announcement is given top priority?

Use a media advisory. Media advisories are short notices sent to the media in advance of an event such as a photo opportunity or news conference. Meant to quickly convey event information, media advisories are plain, short and to the point: who, what, when, where and why. As media now look for multimedia for their websites, be sure to entice journalists by playing up the potential for good multimedia from the event.

CNW’s daily Media Daybooks and Weekly Look-Ahead Calendars have become an essential part of Canadian newsrooms, aggregating all events issued via CNW media advisories into one, convenient place. Events are sorted by date and province, making it easier for editors to assign resources.

Weekly Look-Ahead Calendars are published every Friday, so be sure to get your advisory out at least the Thursday before your event. While best practice suggests sending your advisory a week in advance, some news editors appreciate up to three weeks advance notice for major stories.

Oh and after your advisory goes out, make sure you are available by email or phone to discuss your event further with any enquiring reporters. There’s nothing more frustrating for journalists than contacts who aren’t available.

Be sure to include media advisories in your media relations plan. Giving journalists, editors and bloggers a simple heads up can make or break your media coverage.

CNW recently aggregated all federal government news releases to one single Portfolio. Portfolio Email users can now receive all federal government news releases distributed by CNW in one convenient feed.

To start receiving federal government releases, simply select the Government of Canada bin in your Portfolio Email account or visit the feed here: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/orgDisplay.cgi?okey=12570

Haven’t used Portfolio Email before? It’s simple:

1. Click on the Subscribe to Portfolio email link, found above the release listing.
2. Sign in or register first for an account. If you are registering, make sure you check the Portfolio Email box under Requested Service.
3. Once you’ve signed in, your portfolio email dashboard will load. Click on the Organizations tab.
4. In the Search for an Organization by Keyword field, type in “Government of Canada.”
5. Once the results list loads, click the checkbox beside the name. Then, using the radio buttons select which format you prefer to receive the news in.
6. Click save and you’re done. The next time they send out a release, you’ll receive it by email.

Many government communicators have implemented social media strategies to better communicate with and understand online audiences. However, the use of tools such as multimedia, social media releases and webcasts has created a need for monitoring social media channels. Federal communicators are no strangers to media monitoring, but social media monitoring is still fairly new territory and one that should extend beyond Google Alerts.

To get the most out of social media monitoring, government communicators need to know what to look for. Here are suggestions to help you get started:

• Monitor what your audience is saying about you on blogs, forums, Facebook and Twitter.
• Monitor your website traffic. Consider a search engine optimization strategy and a keyword search exercise. Your audiences will find you faster and traffic to your site – including your social media networking accounts – will grow.
• Set some benchmarks. Get a reading on traffic and growth before you begin using social media networks, and then measure your progress on a regular basis.
• Measure changes in lead generation and sales.

Charles Funk, Director of Product Management for MediaVantage, had this to say about the evolving uses of social media:

“Social Media is still fairly new to many organizations. Ultimately I believe it will become part of the holistic media landscape in which television, radio, newspapers, magazines, blogs, microblogs, forum and review sites, and social networking sites are all well understood, monitored and leveraged appropriately by professional communicators.”

While most federal departments, crown corporations and agencies have a well-functioning media monitoring system, the need to integrate social media to the mix is more important than ever.

What social media challenges have you been faced with, and how do you see social media monitoring evolving for government?

Government communicators can almost always count on media coverage. Since they don’t have to fight for visibility like many other industries, creating multimedia content is often deemed unnecessary and is therefore overlooked. However, multimedia can help enhance the government communicators’ message by clarifying a story and engaging audience members. Ian Capstick, an Ottawa-based communicator and blogger, explains:

“Government needs to change the mentality from text to visual content to connect with their audience. There needs to be a fundamental switch to evolve to multimedia based communications and incidentally, reach Canadians more successfully.”

The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) has tapped in to multimedia with the production of its Success Stories video series. Produced over a two year period, the videos feature testimonials from Canadians who have utilized the FCAC’s interactive tools and financial resources.

The FCAC used social media releases to reach traditional media outlets and online audiences; their videos have been posted on YouTube, Google Video, Yahoo and MySpace.

“For us, using social media releases is an innovative way to bring these informative videos directly to consumers by positioning ourselves within the social networks they use,” said Véronique Milot, Communications Officer at the FCAC.

Using creative multimedia assets such as videos, photos and graphics will help government communicators better tell their stories and in turn, help Canadians understand the role and actions of government.

Podcasting is an effective way to engage with an audience. Although not as popular as blogs or social networking sites, podcasts have nonetheless attained a devoted niche following users who know how to make the most of this versatile, interactive communications tool.

A podcast is simply an audio recording or MP3 file made available for download to a computer or any MP3 player, such as an iPod. It can be scripted, such as a speech or reading; an unscripted interview or discussion; or an archive recording of a presentation, webcast or conference call.

I recently attended the Podcasters Across Borders (PAB) Conference in Ottawa. After two full days of workshops and networking, one point was clear: podcasting connects its communities just as well as any other medium. While the size of a typical audience is much smaller than its video counterpart, podcast effectiveness is very high.

“People recognize the potential to connect with others. Podcasting is not just about content, but more of a creative way to connect with communities. It remains a very inexpensive and easy tool to use and permits its users to listen at their own leisure, while serving any niche.”

- Mark Blevis, PAB Co-organizer

A great example of government podcasting done well is CanadExport, the e-magazine of the Canadian Trade Commissioner Service. Its monthly podcast provides insightful information on how businesses can successfully connect to the international community, and uses trending topics to start the discussion.

Laura Dalby, spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT), had this to share about their podcasting experience:

“In 2007, we decided to launch a podcast because we wanted to reach beyond the traditional readership of our e-magazine in our efforts to promote the Canadian Trade Commissioner Service to Canadian businesses. We grew out audiences through a multi-pronged strategy including listing on podcast directories such as iTunes and Podcast Alley, and promoting the podcasts through our e-magazine, multiple DFAIT websites and in our ongoing marketing activities. Today, our podcasts average between 6,000 and 7,000 downloads a month.”

At a time where the public sector is seeking new ways to reach and connect with its audience, the benefits of podcasting should not be overlooked.

Long live the podcast!