Better #2

Welcome back to Better.

This month we’re doing something different (yes, I know this is only the second edition, but hey 🤷‍♂️).

Instead of interviewing one content pro, I spoke with two. And frankly they had way too many insights for a single newsletter.

So we’re going to break this up into two parts, and I’ll send out Part Deux next week.

So settle in, it’s time to get a little bit better. 

Cheers,
Seamus Boyer 👋

I’m a sucker for a simple, well-executed strategy, and these guys are doing that in spades. Lachlan Forsyth and Matthew Floratos work at Waka Kotahi - Lachlan leading content, Matthew in charge of social media. Both are key members of their storytelling team that has achieved some incredible results lately.

Both also have great chat - it was an entertaining and enlightening meeting.

Here’s the first part of our interview, where we talk strategy, dash cams, Merge of the Month, and creating content in the aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle.

Enjoy.

Firstly, where do you work, and what do you do?

Lachlan Forsyth: I started at Waka Kotahi in early 2019, as a Principal Advisor in the Comms and Engagement team. From there I moved into my current role, which is dedicated to content, at the start of 2022. It’s basically a national storyteller role, developing content to be delivered across a range of channels.

Matthew Floratos: I started in November 2020. I’m the Senior Social Media Advisor, in charge of 19 social channels - the 5 national channels plus 14 regional channels (7 Facebook and 7 Twitter).

What’s the team set-up?

LF: In the content team there are three of us, covering the work of the entire organisation. We produce content a number of ways - sometimes working with Comms Advisors for projects or regions, sometimes producing it ourselves, sometimes responding to requests from other parts of Waka Kotahi. It’s a mix of everything – writing, editing, filming, and always looking to provide support and expertise.

MF: In the social team there are two of us, me and one advisor. We manage all the non-traffic and travel stuff. Then there are eight people based in Auckland and Wellington who do all the traffic, weather posts, updates and responding to comments on those posts. That’s an enormous role on its own and those teams do an absolutely incredible job.

The growth on Waka Kotahi social has been phenomenal this year. How have you achieved this? Describe your strategy?

LF: We have amazing people, doing incredible work, and they do it every day, all over New Zealand. Our strategy is pretty simple - show those people, show their work, and show how it’s making New Zealanders’ lives better. Storytelling doesn’t need to be complicated – speak like a human, keep the story simple, and never forget the why – why should anyone give a damn? Get those things right and the rest will follow.

MF: It’s all about nailing the basics – making sure our content is fit for purpose, making sure we have room to experiment with our existing channels and with new channels, and having good internal management and clear guidance and standards for our people. It’s important our content is relevant to people, clear, and accessible. That means using plain language, and cutting to the chase and giving the key message right away—not buried three or four sentences into the piece, but from the very first word.

Your content following Cyclone Gabrielle really stood out to me. The strategy seemed to be to show people and progress, and a lot of both. Describe how you approached it.

LF: We knew early on there was only so much damage we could show – the critical thing was sharing what progress was being made, and the scale of the job ahead. So we hustled to find anything that showed the response - small, large, it didn’t matter. What mattered was showing people that we were onto it, and that everyone involved was going above and beyond to help people. So, while our teams committed to delivering on the ground, we committed to delivering stories about them, and everything they were doing. Communities were desperate for updates and to see progress – that was our priority.

MF: People were turning to our channels to see how soon they could leave their town to visit their family a few towns over. We needed to show them the quick progress we were making to give them the confidence they’d soon reconnect with their loved ones and with essential services outside their community. 

It was also about sharing stories from people doing the hard yards on the ground. Many of the roadworkers cleaning up had themselves been affected by the storm - they were restoring their own roads in their own community, working around the clock in extremely challenging conditions to get the job done for their own people. We wanted their voices to be heard, their faces seen, and for them to get recognition for the remarkable job they were doing.

Waka Kotahi is a huge organisation, how do you get buy-in from across the board?

LF: We really try to make the most of the fact we have people from Northland to Southland who we work with. We’re very lucky to have an enormous organisation with 1000s of people, all doing incredible – often unseen - work.

Often it just starts with receiving a photo or some cellphone footage, and we go from there. Our job is to provide support for all our comms staff, especially those not so comfortable with content creation. We give them guidance and show them what the options and opportunities might be for making the most of that content - whether it’s written, images, or video. 

Let’s talk about the famous Merge of the Month. How did that come about?

LF: It actually came from a serious place. We were getting ready for the opening of Transmission Gully, and with all the new interchanges and connections with other roads we needed to show people why it is so important to merge like a zip. At first we tried the serious approach but it didn’t get the results we wanted. So then we went back, took another look, tried the funny approach and it took off. 

They’re fun videos but they have a serious message, and I love when you read the comments and someone says, ‘Thanks, I didn’t know this before watching this video’. That’s always really satisfying.

MF: It’s the same for Driver of the Week. When you see a comment like, ‘I indicate for three seconds now because of you’. 

LF: It’s fair to say there was some skepticism at the start, and to be honest we were prepared to back down if it didn’t work. But we quickly saw that it resonated. You do have to be aware of the sensitivities of posting funny content though, and each post has to be appropriate. It obviously wasn't appropriate to do Merge of the Month straight after the cyclone.

Has anyone ever got in touch to say, ‘Hey, that driver is me’?

LF: No, but lots of people want to be in it.
MF: They’ll message us and say like, ‘I was coming onto the motorway off Aotea Quay on Friday at 2.30pm and I merged perfectly if you want to use the footage’.

Are the clips difficult to produce? Who pulls the footage together?

LF: No, it doesn’t take long. We’ll just book out some time to go through the footage and in 30 minutes you can generally find what you need. The trick is to find the right period, when traffic’s not standing still or flowing too quickly. The editing is done by whoever has the time - it’s often me but not always. Editing them is a lot of fun, too. 

Another content format that does really well is the dashcam footage - who’s responsible for that?

LF: Whoever has the dashcam in the right place at the right time.
MF: We both have them in our cars, and it would be fair to say a lot of that footage comes from us driving around in our personal time. But we don’t mind doing that - it’s pretty cool that we can make an impact with those videos for basically zero dollars of taxpayer money.
LF: It’s interesting because at the start people would watch those videos waiting for the punchline. They kept expecting something bad to happen, but nothing bad comes. They are literally just simple examples of good driver behaviour, and they are really popular.
MF: People have basically been trained over time to expect something negative from dashcam footage.

How much does it help you, time and resource-wise, having those set pieces like Merge of the Month and Driver of the Week?

MF: It helps with planning and scheduling, but I’d say more importantly than saving time is that it gives structure to our work. It allows us to be more strategic, and we can use it to lead into additional related content if it resonates. For example, we know that on TikTok on Thursday, it’s Driver of the Week. And then if that content works we can follow it up on Friday with more educational content about tailgating or merging or whatever. 

How far in advance do you plan your content?

MF: We have an idea of what we're doing for the next year, then we plan in more depth for the next couple of months. But we only schedule a few days ahead as you never know what might happen in terms of weather or a crash.

To be continued…

Quick 6 with Lachlan Forsyth…

1. Strategy or tactics? 

Tactics – I’m a doer.

2. Favourite platform:

I’m decades too old for it, but probably TikTok. There’s so much creativity to enjoy.

3. Least favourite platform:

Twitter/X. I used to love it. Now I never use it and don’t miss it in the slightest.

4. One public sector account to follow:

Being from Palmy, it’s hard to go past Palmerston North City Council – they showed that the public sector doesn’t need to be po-faced.

5. One non-public sector account to follow:

Matty Matheson on TikTok is an absolute joy.

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

Failure hurts, but it’s the best way to learn. Embrace it. Get better.

That’s the end of Part 1, look out for Part 2 next week, where Lachlan and Matthew talk TikTok, video content, and the creative process.
Finally, if you’ve read this far, and enjoyed what you’ve read, I’d be really grateful if you would consider forwarding this newsletter on to someone you think might like it.

Thanks for reading, see you next week 👋