Make time for a communications spring clean – whatever the season

I know, I know, it’s September here in the UK and so it does seem odd to be talking about having a spring clean. But bear with me and I’ll explain what I mean….

Over the summer I had a spring clean. Not of my house (a domestic goddess I will never be!) but of my LinkedIn profile. It had been a while since I last looked at it, so I was very much not following the advice I give to my clients to regularly review their communication content.

I really enjoyed doing it. It reminded me why I give that advice, because there are lots of benefits to having a regular tidy up of your content. And for many comms teams, summer can be a slightly quieter time so can be the perfect opportunity for a review.

Benefits

I found several benefits came out of reviewing my profile. These are also relevant for organisations who review their content too.

This list shows the main things I learned:

• Even when you have a clear purpose, the focus of your work or priorities can change over time, so is your ‘now’ reflected in what you’re saying?
• The phrases and words you use will develop over time as you hear more from your audiences and clients.
• There is an element of confidence building in re-reading with fresh eyes what you have said about yourself and what you do.
• Web links may change over time (this one might just be me – I discovered the link to my services page was wrong in my profile – oops!)

Where to start?

I would recommend that you begin by making a list of all the channels you currently use to communicate with your various audience groups. If you’re working from a comms strategy document, you should already have that information written down somewhere.

The content on some of these channels will be changing frequently, for example your social media channels. While nothing should stand still, some channels will be less dynamic and by their very nature content will be more static, for example information web pages or leaflets. Even on the channels where the specific posts are changing regularly, the underlying messaging may stay the same over time.

Then make a list of what you want to review for. This is a list of things that you might want to check:

Language

Are the words and terms you are using still up-to-date and appropriate? Is there any jargon that made sense two years ago but doesn’t anymore? And so on.

Dates and timelines

Is everything still relevant and timely? If you still have an advert for an event that happened three months ago, that isn’t a good look and can suggest that your organisation doesn’t have an attention to detail. If you’re referring to a research paper that was published 10 years ago, is it really still relevant? There are some very influential pieces that will be, but not many.

Services

Are you still offering the things you talk about? Have you started anything new that doesn’t get a mention?

Accessibility

Are you doing everything you can to make your content as accessible as possible?

Stories

Are the people featured still happy for you to tell their story? Approaches to storytelling have evolved over time, is the way you present yours still relevant and appropriate?

Armed with this information, start with the channels that haven’t changed for a while and use your checklist of things to review. See what’s going on and what might need to change. It’s up to you whether you review everything in one go and then put the changes in place, or you might prefer a cycle of review and change one channel at a time.

If you’re reviewing your content, I’d love to hear how you get on. 

And remember, it doesn’t have to be a spring or summer clean. Find the time that works best for you and go with that – regular checks are so much quicker and easier than leaving it for a long time and then having a lot to do!

Until next time

Sarah

Sarah Browning is a kindness cheerleader, communicator and strategist, and the founder of Browning York, a communication consultancy specialising in charities, universities and other not-for-profit organisations. This is an extract of a blog published on her site. Read the original post.