Better #11

Hey there,

What ya been up to?

The last couple of weeks I’ve been deep in strategy work with clients, plus mentoring a couple of people through their strategy processes. It is 💯 my happy place.

The best part for me is offering fresh eyes. It can be hard to see the path when you’re neck-deep in the day-to-day and being bombarded by requests. What’s more, it’s hard to read the label from inside the jar, and that goes for me too when I’m thinking of my own content and channels strategy.

Harry Beckwith writes in Selling the Invisible: “So much of what passes for brilliant insight in helping a company is reporting what everyone in that company could see, if only they could still see clearly.”

You certainly don’t need to hire a consultant like me for this either. Anyone from outside your team or organisation - whose opinion you trust - can help you. What’s important is getting some fresh eyes on your work, creating time and space to talk and think, and being honest and open to addressing what you discover.

Your audience will thank you for it.

Cheers,
Seamus Boyer 👋

In the often stuffy world of public sector communications, Ben Caldwell is a breath of fresh air.

For starters, Ben understands that the game is about first getting attention, bringing people in with humour and entertainment, and then (and only then) educating them about things like LTPs.

Secondly, his content is brave and honest stuff. Ben and Rangitīkei District Council are tackling difficult subjects such as rates - and rates rises - head on. And we all know how risky this can be.

In this interview, I spoke with Ben about putting yourself out there, the power of trust, and using comedy to win people over.

I hope you enjoy our chat as much as I did.

👇👇👇

Kia ora Ben, firstly, where do you work, and what do you do?
I'm the Communications Coordinator with Rangitīkei District Council. I've been with them for about eight months now, and prior to that I was the Communications Advisor with Manawatū District Council. My main areas of expertise are social media engagement, media liaison, and crisis communications, along with a sprinkling of event management. Outside of work, I'm a stand-up comedian and producer with nearly 15 years of experience all over New Zealand, and for the past seven years I've been based in Manawatū, trying to build up the regional comedy scene of the central North Island.

What’s the team set-up at RDC?
We have a team of three: me, my manager Rhonda, and our designer Leah. It's a nimble team, but we work really well together to make sure that we stay on top of things. What I love about this team is that our skills are utilised effectively and our expertise is listened to, which is rare in my experience in local government. We're trusted to do our jobs and do them well.

Describe your approach at Rangitīkei for us, and how did it come about?
It started with a chat with my manager about where we saw social media and what we could do with the channels. Basically we both agreed that it’d be good to push the boat out and see what happens, and being a smaller council we were lucky in that we could do things that the bigger metro councils can’t. I said I had some pretty far out ideas but I thought we could get some good engagement and change people’s perceptions of the council. My manager said go for it. 

We also knew that for it to work it had to authentically be me and my approach. So I came up with a bit of a character where I could play with that, and that was Ben from Comms, which is an extension of me. 

How did you introduce Ben from Comms to your audience?

I kicked it off with a selfie intro post, basically just saying gidday and introducing myself. Some people remembered me from Manawatū District Council and particularly a certain weather warning post I’d done which got a bit of engagement [laughs]. I then followed that up with a post about what I’d learned about the district as a new resident, and some of the differences I’d seen. That post went really well, like it got stupidly ridiculous traffic. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive. 

That kind of bold, engaging content tends to bring a lot of comments - both positive and negative. Do you enjoy getting amongst things in the comments? How much time do you spend interacting?
I’m lucky that I’m resourced to put that time into responding to people, so I am able to be a part of those discussions, which is crucial. I try and respond to as many as possible. I probably spend about an hour a day, maybe a bit more. Some people come back with really good questions so there is a bit of time spent going away and getting that info from the experts, and I enjoy that too because I’m learning as well.

I really enjoy interacting with people. When you change someone’s perception of the council, that’s amazing. And even some of our biggest naysayers have surprised us in terms of coming out with something positive and we’ve been like, where did that come from?

How do you make supporters out of opponents?
I think one of the most important things we can do is to simplify things for people. As comms people we make complicated s..t seem simple, and people really appreciate that.

It’s also about understanding different perspectives, and having that empathy, although sometimes having high empathy means I can take some of it personally as well. Plus I genuinely feel like being a comedian helps a lot. On stage you need to be able to get the audience on board, and you do that by creating that empathy with them. Empathy gets you laughs, sympathy doesn’t.

In terms of content, where do you get inspiration?
I like to see what the common complaints are, the common views on something, and create content that addresses those. Sometimes that can be a little uncomfortable, and I understand why councils don’t touch them, but again I reckon being a comedian helps with this. Comedy works on tension and release. There’s a s..tload of tension in local government, and I like to play with that and add some humour to help get a release.

Of course, you have to balance that up with the more serious stuff. It can’t be all fun and games.

On that note, you’ve tackled the whole rates thing head on - how did you go about that?
We decided early on that we had to tackle it head-first and be realistic with our residents about the challenges that councils around the country face. We're not resourced properly to achieve the outcomes that are expected of us, and financially limited in how we can obtain the money needed for the services we provide to residents. People still don't like to hear that, and we still cop flack. But more people are starting to understand the reality that's in front of them, and us.

Our comms to people has been blunt, there's no ambiguity about it: ‘this is the situation that we're in, we know that it has an impact on you as a resident, but unless change comes from above, we're in between a rock and a hard place’.

I know it’s early days, but in terms of numbers, what are your goals and what kind of results have you got so far?

I’m currently developing the strategy, actually using your template which is helpful, and focusing on growth and engagement. We’ve got a lot of new followers since last year, and where we're seeing the most growth is in that 25-45 age demographic. We haven’t had those followers before so that’s pretty cool to see.

Overall, we've had a net gain of 895 Facebook page followers in the past 8 months since I started, and we've increased engagement on our page by 228 percent. We've also had strong growth on our Instagram page, our reach has increased by 657 percent. And on our video content, which is mostly Reels now, our minutes viewed is over 68,000, and that is all organic.

Anecdotally, what feedback have you been getting?
We’ve had people be like, ‘You made me follow the council’, and ‘Now I’m interested in local government’, which is pretty awesome. And internally too, staff have really enjoyed it. People get excited about being involved, and they really appreciate seeing different ways to communicate their work. At the start there were a few questions inside the council, but that’s died down as people see the results we’re getting, especially around that improved engagement.

You’ve had some wonderful clap-back moments - replying to comments with the kinds of things social media advisors dream of. How do you judge that?
I like to frame it as me being on stage and I’m being heckled and asking myself how I would respond to that. Generally people heckle for one of two reasons: they’re trying to be helpful, or they want to be involved. I think if you look at it like that it’s easier to work out ways to be playful and a bit sassy without taking the piss. Unless of course they’re being absolute conspiracy theorists and then I might reply with a little bit of disdain [laughs]. In general though, it’s about trying to get people on board with you, and in that respect it’s the same as being on stage.

Have you ever gone too far?

There have been a few times where afterwards I was like, ‘maybe that came across too much like my own opinion’. But that’s been few and far between. I also think if you’re not prepared to take a risk, then you’re never going to get great results.

Because you front some of the comms, do you get noticed when you’re out and about?
[Laughs] Yeah it does happen a bit. I had one where a lady came up to me in a bakery and said, ‘You’re Ben from Comms eh? I really liked it when you took so-and-so down in the comments, they’ve been a real dick on your channel lately’. And sometimes people comment on posts that they’ve seen me out filming etc. I’ve joked about getting a disguise for if it gets too much [laughs].

For me, I think that in a way I’m doing what elected members do to connect with the community. I put myself out there with a bit of personality and hopefully capture people’s interest about the important stuff the council is doing.

Ben from Comms features quite a bit in your posts, what will happen if you leave?
It’s definitely something we’re aware of, and I will need to factor that into the strategy. But ultimately it’s about finding your own voice, and doing it with your own twist on things. The reason why our approach works is because it’s authentically me, but dialled up to 11. So it can work with someone else, but they’ll have to do it their own way.

It’s a very bold approach. How have you been supported to do this?Honestly, I’ve had so much support. It would be impossible to work in this space without it. My boss has been a saviour to me, allowing me the freedom to be who I am and do what I do. In my former role I had a boss who wasn’t passionate about social media but had strong opinions about how it should look. So I felt stripped of authority in a way, and we used to butt heads a bit.

Now I’m trusted to use my expertise to shape the approach based on what I believe will get the best results. And that trust is crucial. Of course, hand in hand with trust comes accountability, so if it goes wrong I will put my hand up.

What are you most proud of in your work?
I love telling and sharing stories, and I think that's why I love working at Rangitīkei so much. There's a heap of awesome stories not just from inside council but from around the district, and I have people approaching me now asking for help to share theirs. That's what I'm most proud of. That I'm an outsider and yet people still trust me to tell their story in a way that does it justice. It feels really good being able to help like that.

Quick 6 with Ben Caldwell…

1. Strategy or tactics?
Tactics (but starting to think more strategically).

2. Favourite platform?

LinkedIn (it's so nice and positive haha).

3. Least favourite platform?
Twitter/X.

4. One public sector account to follow?
Horowhenua District Council.
 
5. One non-public sector account to follow?
Ben Tito Caldwell or DIY Comedy. [I’m into shameless self-promotion so totally respect these choices - Seamus]

6. Something you wish you’d known earlier in your career?

Be your authentic self! Whether that is you as an individual, or your organisation as a whole, don't try and be something that you aren't because people will sniff it out and realise you're bulls…ting. And creatively, it's much more satisfying when you’re given the freedom to be authentically you.

That’s it for this edition. Thanks for reading.

As always, please consider sharing this newsletter with someone you think might like it. I really appreciate your support.

See you in two weeks for more tips on how to get a little bit Better 👋