Better #1

Welcome to Better, my monthly newsletter which I sincerely hope will help you get just a little bit better at creating and delivering great content. 

Because a little bit better is enough. In fact, it’s more than enough. 

Each month you’ll find the following: one fact, one quote, one challenge, and one interview with an inspiring public sector content professional.

Don’t work in the public sector? Don’t worry - this stuff applies to all content and channels.

It’s my sincere hope that after reading Better you might be a tiny bit better informed, better equipped, or better motivated to create and share content that informs and delights your audiences.

That’s it.

Now let’s go and get better. 

Cheers,
Seamus 👋

This month I spoke with Simone Borgstede, who leads social media for Wellington City Council. She’s a bit of a legend in social circles, known for her polite but firm approach to handling tricky comments.

She’s also happy to use humour and sass, and plays a big role in creating content for the council channels, including TikTok.

We talked about moderating comments, handling the negativity, the biggest mistake she sees on social, plus her favourite piece of content.

Here’s the interview.

Firstly, where do you work, and what do you do?
I’m Senior Social Media Advisor at Wellington City Council. I’ve been in the role since 2022, and at the council since 2019. Before that I was a communications student at Massey.

What’s the team set-up?
We are a team of four, led by our Content Editor, with me, a Social Media Advisor, and a Content Creator. The team is part of the Strategic Comms team. 

You’re known for your calm, patient community care on WCC socials, how would you describe your approach?
For me it’s a combination of a genuine, human response, a bit of humour, some personality, and always being polite - sometimes to the point of being a little pass-agg [laughs].
Moderation is my favourite bit of the job, but it’s probably also the hardest part. You’re dealing with real people and real emotions. I’d say it’s also the part of the job with the biggest risk, as there is often a lot of attention on the comments, but there is also huge reward there if you get it right.
Every comment is also a piece of content, because people are watching, especially on the popular or controversial posts. So you can use the comments as an opportunity to educate or give context or add some useful links that will give people a better understanding of what’s going on. 

How do you know when to engage, and when to leave alone?

As part of our policy we try to answer every genuine question that we can, but obviously some comments are just people sharing their opinion and there isn’t much value in responding to them.

But sometimes I’ll go out of my way to respond to people that are sharing false information and correct them, or if I can see a good education opportunity I’ll get in there and try to provide some info and see if I can win a few people over.

Have you got yourself into trouble in the comments before?
In the early days I used to struggle to let go sometimes and ended up in a couple of almost heated debates with trolls, which didn’t really get me anywhere and just made things worse.
I’ve had a few pretty nasty interactions, but when I’ve run the conversations past my team they normally agree with how I handled it. But I always make an effort to apologise if I got something wrong. I think that’s important. 

How do you get more comments if your socials aren’t generating much engagement?

There are all the classics like “where was this photo taken?” or “which is your favourite”, where you can encourage people to comment, but honestly the best way to get good engagement is by creating good content. It needs to be real, authentic, entertaining, and have an impact on your audience. Niche stuff that only interests a small number of people is never going to get as much engagement.

Is ‘^Simone’ a bit of a persona, or is it 100% you?
It’s literally me being me. And over time it’s changed a bit as I’ve got bolder and a bit braver. I used to be scared to show too much of my personality as I was conscious I was representing the council. Now I think I have a good feel for the organisation and its values as I basically live and breathe WCC everyday, so I’m more comfortable just answering questions rather than having to go and get a second opinion all the time. 
Plus I just don’t care as much now, in a good way [laughs].

Have you ever been recognised?

Yes, not my face, but there is a bit of name recognition, which is pretty humbling. I don’t want to get big-headed about it though because normally it’s not my work I’m posting about, it’s other people from across the council. I’m really just the messenger.

I also like the fact that I can be sitting on a bus answering comments and there could be people around me who are also commenting or reading those posts and comments, and they have no idea who I am.

Does the negativity get to you? How do you deal with that?

It definitely gets to me sometimes, especially if there’s no reprieve and it’s just non-stop all day. You can start to feel disheartened and frustrated and a bit sad. You can feel like giving up. 

When that happens I take a break, talk to my team, and focus on some more positive content for a while. 

We’re lucky in social that we can distance ourselves from the work sometimes, as we’re just passing it on. But if you have worked on a project for a long time and you believe in it and it gets shredded on social, that’s really hard.

How do you see social media overall - a positive force? A cesspit?

Honestly, it’s pretty cessy. But some of that comes from people who I think just don’t have anyone else to talk to, and they feel they aren’t being heard, so they come to us. I think deep down there’s probably something going on in their lives - there’s generally more to it.

We also get lots of lovely comments - the council and me personally. People can be really nice and stand up for us and take on the trolls on our behalf.

Do you have to care to do social well?
Yes, I think you do. But you don’t want to care too much or get too invested. You also have to remember to stay neutral.

What parts of the job do you gravitate to?
Apart from community care I really like crisis comms and emergency comms for the drama. I also love making people laugh, so creating funny content is something I enjoy.

Biggest mistake you see on organisations’ social media?

Not owning up to mistakes, and being too quick to blame the customer.

Where do you find creative inspiration?

I watch a lot of TV and movies. The nature of the job means I also spend a lot of time scrolling, so I see a lot of content. The team around me is a great source of inspiration, too.

One piece of content you’re particularly proud of:

A little comment I made to a post about slips in Wellington. We had a record number of slips that winter and it was around the time of the new Stranger Things season, so I made a comment about it being the unfortunate antithesis to ‘Running Up That Hill’. I am a huge fan of puns and memes.

Where’s council and government social heading? 
There’s definitely more of the low-brow, organic content being created, and I think it’s clear that more accounts are becoming a bit meta and self-aware, so there’ll be more of that.
That said, it can be hard for those bigger departments to have 1-to-1 conversations on social if they’re not delivering those frontline services. Councils can play a big part in people’s lives, so it’s natural for us to develop those relationships with people.

Finally, a lot of commenters suggest you should run for mayor, is that on the cards?
Definitely not! I am always in awe of people who want to be politicians – I don’t know if I could handle all that scrutiny. I read all the comments remember! Though I do really enjoy politics and think that one day I could end up working in that space, but more in a ‘behind the scenes’ capacity.

Quick 6 with Simone Borgstede…

1. Strategy or tactics? 

Tactics. I’m a doer.

2. Favourite platform?

Instagram - it has a bit of everything. I also weirdly love Twitter - you’re never bored there.

3. Least favourite platform?

LinkedIn. It’s just less juicy and authentic than the others.

4. One public sector account to follow?

Either NZ Police or Waka Kotahi. They are both very clever, and manage to win people over with their content. Considering they work in two potentially risky areas, they actually take more risks than most other agencies.

5. One non-public sector account to follow?

I still really love the Washington Post. Just really clever storytelling.

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

Most of your posts will be forgotten in a couple of days, so take that risk.

That’s all for this month, but before you go, any chance you could do me a favour? If you’ve read this far, and enjoyed what you read, I’d be really grateful if you would consider forwarding this newsletter on to someone you think might like it.

Thanks for reading, I’ll see you again next month 👋