Presentation on 'Listening digitally...how Newcastle City Council has used social media…and some thoughts for the future'. Presented by Louise Reeve, Policy and Communications Partner at Newcastle City Council, at Really Useful Day: Social media for councils in Sheffield on 27 February 2015.

1. Listening Digitally…
How Newcastle City Council has used social media
…and some thoughts for the future
Louise Reeve
Policy and Communications
Business Partner

2. Introduction
 Digital by Choice
 Listening Digitally
 #Toonflood
 Principle 1
 Consultations and
YouTube
 Principle 2
 Principle 3
 “Sweary signs”
 Principle 4
 Not everyone agrees…
 Conclusion
Newcastle City Council
Facebook: 4,250 likes
Twitter: 26,400 followers
Principles: Not so much “official Newcastle
City Council” principles, more my own
reflections on what has worked for us

3.  Part of our budget proposals are to, where possible,
move our customers’ interactions with us online:
Digital by choice

4.  To inform this “channel shift” work, we
commissioned the Social and Local research agency
 They did some “digital listening”:
 Assessing our digital assets and activities
 Looked to see where our residents went when they go
online.
 Map out how many social media
users are in the local area
Listening digitally
940,000 people
within 40km of the
city centre are on
Facebook.

5.  Probably the most famous
Newcastle City Council use of
social media.
 28 June 2012: A supercell
thunderstorm passes over
Newcastle just before the
rush hour
 One month’s rainfall in 2 hours
 Web and digital team
established appropriate
hashtag: #toonflood
 Quick and effective response
#Toonflood
http://ceg-morpethflood.ncl.ac.uk/toonflood/

6.  #Toonflood
was effective
because:
 We had
already
established
ourselves
online
Principle: Prepare in advance
 Staff trained in use of social media monitoring: Monitter,
addictomatic, trendmap, tweetreach, twitonomy, hootsuite…
 Built good working relationships – so able to get partners to
agree on one hashtag for all flood-related tweets
 Now asking residents to tweet us with news of flooding, so that
we can map and respond to events

7. Consultations and YouTube
 Our budget
consultations and
other major policy
initiatives are
accompanied by
YouTube videos.
 Here’s one for recent
proposed road
changes… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2FI_lVLKuk

8.  What people want to know is “what
will the road look like?”
 YouTube is used to give them an
idea…
 …alongside older formats of
consultation, such as a display in the
city library
 …and online discussions on our
consultation portal, Let’s talk
 For short bursts of information, we
use Twitter and Facebook
Principle: What they want, how they
want it
www.letstalknewcastle.co.uk

9. Everyday Principle: Listen & Engage
 We respond to our
residents’ views on
Facebook and Twitter
 Example 
 Everyday, ongoing
conversation
 Need to be aware of what
people value.
 In Newcastle, our heritage!
 Our Newcastle libraries
Flickr account has had
7.6million views since 2009. https://www.facebook.com/NewcastleCityCouncil

10. The “sweary signs”
 Initiative to tackle dog
fouling, littering and fly-
tipping
 (They don’t actually have
swearwords in!)
 9 comments on our
Facebook page…
 …60 comments and
shares on the Chronicle’s
Facebook page
http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/newcastle-city-
council-sweary-sign-8413773

11. Principle: Know who else uses social
media!
 Digital Listening
 Know where people
you are interested in
like to hang out online
 It may not be the
channels you own!
 How to use this
knowledge?

12.  Official name for the campaign: “Keep It Clean Newcastle”
 Our own webpages:
 http://www.newcastle.gov.uk/news-story/council-launches-hard-
hitting-poster-campaign
 http://www.newcastle.gov.uk/environment-and-waste/keep-it-clean-
newcastle
 Chronicle articles:
 http://www.newcastle.gov.uk/environment-and-waste/keep-it-clean-
newcastle
 http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/newcastle-city-
council-sweary-sign-8413773
 Facebook page debates:
 https://www.facebook.com/itvtynetees/posts/920813564605913
 https://www.facebook.com/NewcastleChronicle
More about the Keep It
Clean Newcastle signs…

13. Not everyone agrees…
Note: The “£147,480” figure
quoted is since 2010/11 (so, around
£49,160 a year, out of a revenue
budget of £263.8million)
Our response:
“Social media is a cost-effective and
innovative way to reach people as
they go about their daily lives. Our
customer service staff use social
media to receive and respond to a
wide range of service requests from
our customers every day. Many
people in the city now prefer to
contact us in this way.”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2528501/Revealed-Councils-spent-3million-updating-
social-media-accounts-cutting-public-services.html

14.  Prepare in advance
 What they want, how
they want it
 Listen and engage
 Know who else uses
social media, and where
people like to go
 Prepare for negative
reactions, but don’t let
them put you off
Summary

15. More information
Shah Amin’s excellent presentations on
how we communicate digitally:
Social media in an emergency:
https://prezi.com/1za7vyd2k0eq/social-
media-in-an-emergency/
A communicating council:
https://prezi.com/ngpecyeqg7if/a-
communicating-council/
Moving to Digital by Default:
https://prezi.com/sraenzng9gyu/moving
-to-digital-by-default/
Why social media is important:
https://prezi.com/tuos4nalxdbu/why-is-
social-media-important/
 Council website(s) – newcastle.gov.uk,
newcastleyouthelections.co.uk,
godigitalnewcastle.co.uk,
Letstalknewcastle.co.uk
 Twitter: @NewcastleCC
 Facebook: facebook.com/
newcastlecitycouncil
 YouTube: newcastleCCUK
 Blog: newcastlecitycouncil.wordpress.com
 Flickr:
flickr.com/photos/newcastlecitycouncil
 Pinterest: pinterest.com/newcastlecc
 LinkedIn: linkedin.com/newcastle-city-
council