The Labour party: leaders or followers in embracing digital?

The Labour party: leaders or followers in embracing digital?

The process of the political parties embracing digital media for their campaigns has been a bit stop-and-start in the UK, with smaller parties like UKIP arguably finding their feet in the cyberworld must quicker than the big fish.

Since becoming Tory party chairman, Grant Shapps – who famously has a background in SEO - has been using digital in the only way that works: by dissipating inventive original content on a consistent basis.

Infographics seem to have been the Tory digital weapon of choice, and Labour haven't yet quite stepped up to the mark.

Until now:

Labour has used online video before, of course – party leaders speaking to camera, interviews with party members ‘on the ground,’ and standard party political broadcast-style short films. But what made Labour’s latest video so special is that it wasn’t just getting shares from the usual party members.

Partly because of the familiar ‘Facebook movie’ theme, ‘David Cameron’s Facebook Movie’ has been getting shares across Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social networks as a piece of funny, original content, that genuinely appeals to people in its own right.

Perhaps the success of this video will prompt more political videos to focus on familiar themes to drive social sharing, and include fewer talking heads speaking about policy.

We will have to wait and see.

Workshop: YouTube metrics

By Owain Button

YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world, only beaten by Google, and is the third most used site in the UK, behind Google and Facebook. If you want to have your organisation's messages seen and interacted with (33% of videos result in a comment) then YouTube is a good bet.

YouTube allows account holders to look at and analyse key metrics, which will show the relative success of their videos. But which metrics should you pay most attention to?

• Views – We'll start with the most obvious statistic. It is always pleasing to see a large number of views, but alone this statistic is not enough as it doesn't tell you how much of your video viewers have watched.

• Audience Retention – This brings us on to audience retention which measures how long a video has kept people watching for. This is broken down into average view duration and average percentage viewed. A key measure of a good video is the number of people still watching after 30 seconds. Longer videos are likely to have lower average percentage viewed rates.

• Engagement – There are a number of useful engagement metrics within YouTube analytics. These include how many people have "liked" or "disliked" your video, how many times it has been commented on and how many times it has been shared. Sharing in particular is a good measure of the quality of and interest in your content.

• Channel Subscribers - If you're looking at the long term, this is perhaps the most important metric of all. If you can build up a subscriber base (and we would certainly encourage driving people towards the 'subscribe' button) then the work you need to put in to distribute and promote videos becomes less with each video you publish, as you have a basis of loyal followers who will do it for you. You can monitor the number of people who subscribe, and unsubscribe, on a per video basis.

It goes without saying that YouTube is a great platform to place videos, and its suite of analytics is comprehensive for a free service. Paid-for video hosting platforms such as Wistia and Brightcove provide greater levels of detail, but as a basic measure of levels of interest in your content the YouTube tools do a good job.

For more information on video for public affairs campaigns by VoiceOver call 020 7517 2225 or visit www.politics.co.uk/voiceover

Digital picks: Campaigns roundup

By Louise McCudden

Campaign group 38 Degrees are somewhat veterans of digital campaigning. Most notably, the group is currently using digital media to draw attention to criticisms of the Lobbying Bill – or, as they have dubbed it, the ‘Gagging Law.’

As well as filming the campaign meetings, and publishing them on their YouTube channel - alongside the hashtag #gagginglaw to encourage online debate about the bill - 38 Degrees successfully used video to explain the basis of their campaign itself too.



The five minute video consists of on-location interviews, filmed just outside parliament, and some simple animations to highlight key points and names, as well as to remind viewers of the #GaggingLaw hashtag.

By filming the video against the backdrop of the Houses of Parliament, and keeping the animations simple, the video immediately captures the attention of any politically-aware viewer.

Stonewall made digital media the central driving force in their new #LotstoDo campaign, about bullying in the workplace, which launched this week.

The charity hasn’t abandoned traditional media; the campaign includes posters around public transport, including 4,000 on the London underground. Supportive members of the public are encouraged to take photos of the posters when they spot them and tweet on the hashtag #LotstoDo.

Stonewall has long been ahead of the digital media curve, and indeed, the now famous ‘It Gets Better’ campaign was one of the first video campaigns to go viral. You can still see new videos added regularly to the charity’s popular YouTube channel as part of the campaign, which remains ongoing.



Video is great for making a case, but sometimes it’s also a brilliant tool for simply explaining complex information in a more accessible way. This animation by Kings Fund, explaining the coalition’s changes to the NHS, has had over 18,000 views, and is still being shared on a regular basis.



Action for Rail is a campaign run by several unions promoting public ownership of our railways and specifically campaigning against the re-privatisation of East Coast. To promote the campaign on digital platforms they commissioned this excellent animation which uses the backdrop of a model railway and good use of stop-motion to convey a thought-provoking message.



And finally, if you’ve still got a twitch of the Christmas spirit about you, then you may appreciate this video animation by Unite, supporting Food Banks at Christmas.



For more information on video for public affairs campaigns by VoiceOver call 020 7517 2225 or visit www.politics.co.uk/voiceover

Government makes 'sophisticated' digital comms a priority

By Nathan Coyne

Government departments are increasingly using more innovative forms of digital content to deliver news and policy announcements.

The ever-reliable press release is more and more frequently being accompanied by video, animation and infographics promoted directly to the public via social media networks.

And it is a trend we can expect to continue in 2014 as the vision of Alex Aiken, executive director of government communications, is realised.

Back in June 2013, Aiken unveiled a £237 million budget for communications in 2013/14 and with it he pledged a “shift of emphasis” from a “tendency towards broadcast to more sophisticated digital communication”.

We’re already starting to see this to varying degrees in campaigns ranging from cyber security awareness to promoting HS2.

Below we take a brief look at a handful of recent campaigns which have used video, animations or infographics to help spread the message.

Animation: Strategic Case for HS2

The DfT launched this two minute animation as it published the strategic case for HS2. With its hand-drawn style the animation is one strand of the government's attempts to convince the public of the merits of HS2.

Infographic: Cycling investment

Another DfT example, this simple infographic was produced to highlight UK wide investment in cycling in the period up to 2015. 

It was shared by David Cameron’s office on LinkedIn.

DECC Shale gas infographic

The government has begun 2014 with a fresh PR offensive on shale gas. 

This infographic is designed to show the public the stages that fracking sites would undergo from exploration to decommission and restoration along with rough timescales.

It was distributed by DECC on Twitter.

Cyber Street animation

A very short but effective animation from the government’s Cyber Street campaign highlighting the dangers of simple passwords.

Cameron shares BCC infographic

This one isn’t a government infographic, but in fact an infographic produced by the British Chambers of Commerce showcasing the data from their quarterly economic survey for Q4 2013.

We have included it in our roundup because it achieved what possibly ranks as the holy grail for public affairs digital campaigns when it was shared on LinkedIn by the prime minister David Cameron.

For more information on video, animation and infographics for public affairs campaigns by VoiceOver call 020 7517 2225 or visit www.politics.co.uk/voiceover

Public affairs and its digital future

By Dan Atkinson

It's true that parliament and its members are not often considered to be at the forefront of the "white heat of technology". However we are now in a digital age, with online video audiences on the rise and expected to double to 1.5 billion people by 2016. The average person spends 16 hours per month watching videos online, and this is being mirrored in the Houses of Parliament.

Digital channels are increasingly opening up for public affairs professionals to influence political stakeholders. YouTube is now one of the most visited sites on the parliamentary estate and research has shown that the first thing most political professionals do when they come to a new issue is Google it. 

Of course, face to face meetings remain the most effective way of getting your message to stakeholders, but as the digital channel offers new lines of communication if you are not taking advantage of it, it is likely that your competitors are.

Parliamentarians often act on information provided by their researchers, on an issue raised by their constituents - so don't just target the MP. Peers, researchers, other political employees and politically interested members of the public are also relevant.

The best way to engage with these disparate and time poor individuals is through engaging digital communications. A survey of those who have used video in email campaigns found that 82 per cent said it proved effective. Sixty per cent confirmed that video email improves conversations on their key issues.

While working in Parliament I remember dealing with postcard campaigns on a whole range of issues. To the uninitiated this involves constituents sending pre-printed postcards campaigning for or against something to their local MP.

The MP's researcher will then pile these postcards in the corner until they reach a critical mass and letters of response need to be written. These campaigns do little to engage the parliamentary office with the debate; little information is given and it is not always easy to find the campaign web addresses.

By contrast the benefit of an online campaign is that links can be embedded in the emails, tweets and Facebook posts taking the viewer to campaign videos at a click, providing up-to-date news and engaging content on the subject.
 
So, don’t get left behind thinking “I meet with the Minister regularly, why widen the campaign?” Often political narratives are driven by MPs acting on prompts from their politically interested constituents and information provided by researcher.

Similarly, don't fall into the trap of thinking "MPs are too old and grey to be affected by digital campaigns". A study by the PICT found MPs benefited from using tablets and the most visited external website on computers from within the parliamentary estate is none other than Facebook.

For more information on video, animation and infographics for public affairs campaigns by VoiceOver call 020 7517 2225 or visit www.politics.co.uk/voiceover

VoiceOver campaigns show digital can work for everyone

By Louise McCudden

The beauty of video is that, with the right creative minds behind you, the medium can work for almost anybody.

When 60 per cent of the population are visual learners, it makes sense to use visual creatives in your campaigns and your policy messaging on a regular basis. 

Throughout 2013, Politics.co.uk’s VoiceOver service has helped a range of organisations to embrace online video for the first time, as well as producing videos for those who are already regular users of the medium.

The Let Britain Fly campaign for greater airport capacity was launched towards the end of 2013, and VoiceOver made and published the official campaign animation. The video served as the centrepiece for the campaign, and was screened at the official launch.

You may think you recognise the voice in the video, and if so, you’d be right. The script was performed by none other than actor Tony Robinson, who has pledged his support for the campaign along with many other well-known figures including Mark Boleat from the City of London Corporation, Rebecca Cane (02), Sir George Lacobescu CBE (Canary Wharf Group PLC), and Richard Branson. 

A different style was opted for with the animation VoiceOver produced for Understanding Animal Research. The short animation provided an informative introduction to the scientific basis for using animals in medical research, and served as a springboard for many viewers to learn more about the subject. It worked well as a medium to present information directly to the viewer, without having to see it ‘translated’ through journalists.

This direct hotline to the public is one of the biggest benefits that campaign organisations in particular get from online video. There’s no worry that your campaign will be misinterpreted  or lost in translation. 

That’s why Child Poverty Action Group used video to bust media myths about people who claim benefits.

And its chief executive Alison Garnham was very pleased with the outcome, saying: "For the first time we have been able to use the medium of film to influence the debate which has enabled us to campaign in a new way – we are delighted with the results."

Whatever your organisation, whatever your message, whoever your audience, video should be part of your digital voice. 

For more information on video, animation and infographics for public affairs campaigns by VoiceOver call 020 7517 2225 or visit www.politics.co.uk/voiceover