Beth Brotherton, Director of Communications and Engagement for the City of Greenville, is passionate about sharing the truth. This began while growing up in a communist country, where the state controlled the media. She knew then that she wanted a career in journalism and communications.
Beth led a communications workshop for local nonprofit professionals, here are Greater Good Greenville’s Top 5 Takeaways:
- All communications, including social media posts, interviews with the press, and written articles, should lead consumers back to your website. This is your primary source of information, so keep your website updated with the latest news!
- Sorry folks, the press release is dead. Instead, create a media advisory which includes a save the date and links back to a blog post about the event or topic. Then push your own message out on your channels, and invite the media to learn more.
- Know the answers to these 5 questions before alerting the media:
- Is it relevant or timely?
- Is it visually engaging?
- Are there interesting people?
- Is there a broad impact?
- Will it be inspirational?
- Keep your message to 3 or 4 key points. Understand your story well enough to communicate without a script (but certainly have bullet points on hand for reminders!). A shorter message will also decrease the chance of the editing room deciding which of the points should be included – you decide the priorities!
- Smartphones are amazing – use them! To create the best content for social media, be sure to have both horizontal and vertical pictures. And remember to record videos (and invest in a small wireless mic to help with quality). Content can be used across all platforms; a photo story is just a pretty version of a tweet.
