Essential Mayors WeekendMasterclass #1

What’s my personal mayoral brand and how do I develop it further?

Presented by Belinda MacLeod-SmithBelmac Integrated Communication

On behalf of the Victorian Local Governance Association#IJOT2014@_VLGA

The Big Question

What’s your personal mayoral brand and how can you develop it further?

 Masterclass outline

We’ll explore the answers to this question by covering the following topics: Branding – product/service vs personal brand Personal brand and social media – who’s in charge? Taking charge – a strategic approach to building/maintaining

your brand. So who has a good brand? Session summary and close.

Masterclass Overview

1. Do you have a good understanding of what your current brand is?Two thirds said YES. The remainder weren’t quite sure. 2. List some of the ways you measure the success of your personal brand: Feedback from the public (including thank-you letters) other

councillors and council officers (including Communications team) The type/quality of media coverage Annual staff/resident survey Function attendance Successful re-election  

Survey outcomes

4. Do you have a specific branding question or issue you'd like to be covered during the session? How do you build a brand? How do you stop being caught in the

day-to-day to develop a brand in such a short time? How does one move between the professional brand and the public

mayoral brand and use them for congruence and strength? This is related to working mayors and their time management as well.

Given that most mayors are elected by their colleagues and not by the community - but that the outcome is important to the community - what role does branding actually play? Are people viewed differently by their colleagues than they are by their community and is this relevant or not?

What is the value in having a blog page? With so many social media options out there it would be nice to know which have the best return rate and also which are best sited to different age groups.

Survey outcomes

5.In a local government context (here, interstate or overseas) who do you think does a great job at managing their personal brand?

We’re going to look at our responses to this right at the end of the session, as we may have an attitude shift during the course of the workshop.

Survey outcomes

First of all – even in the marketing world, a brand is not just a product or a logo

Brands represent a combination of tangible and intangible qualities (Haighs Chocolates - explain)

Branding is a process that creates connection through message consistency and interaction (customer touchpoints - explain)

Marketers aim for brands to convey emotional triggers – strength, energy, passion, security.

What do we mean by ‘brand’?

define: Brand Here's Seth Godin’s definition: A brand is the set

of expectations, memories, stories and relationships that, taken together, account for a consumer’s decision to choose one product or service over another. If the consumer (whether it’s a business, a buyer, a voter or a donor) doesn’t pay a premium, make a selection or spread the word, then no brand value exists for that consumer.

Defining brandDefinition sourced from http://sethgodin.typepad.com

“Your brand is what people say about youwhen you’re not in the room.”

Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon

Your personal brand

To build or manage your personal brand, you need to know yourself.

Your values, your strengths, your passions. In public life, you then need to know which of

your strengths is relevant to the situation you’re dealing with.

If you were a product, this would simply be knowing your tech specs.

Find those shiny pebbles

“If you think you’re too small to have an impact, try going to bed with a mosquito in the room.”

Dame Anita Roddick, founder of the Body Shop.

Is a BIG brand a GOOD brand?

For your audiences – their overall satisfaction or otherwise depends on whether expectations are being met. Example – A key message from your council might be

about fiscal prudence, yet the annual report shows budget overruns and unsustainable growth targets.

A strong brand is built on your own values, vision and mission.

As an elected member, it’s important to find alignment between your values and that of Council.

And what happens to expectation management when there’s a clash of opinions?

Qualities of an effective brand

Your organisation would have a business plan containing values and priorities for a preferred brand experience

Ideally, every customer interaction with Council should provide a consistent experience of brand sentiment

The way you manage your personal channels means you have the ability to generate a ‘Mayoral’ brand sentiment

Every impression* you make contributes to a brand experience for your followers/community

My experience is that strong differences of opinion are catered for in either your Code of Conduct or Communication/Media guidelines.

Your brand vs. Council’s brand

When we looked at ways to leverage your personal brand, I listed some activities and techniques you may already use (pie chart slide 5)

What underpins all these activities? Why do we do them?

With a marketing hat on – it’s because we want to influence behaviour. We want something to change.

We want people to change:…their thinking…their behaviour…their attitude

Strategic communication approaches

Brand in Action Activity Time for some practical application with a

team approach. I’ll put you into pairs. Overview: 30 minute activity (20 mins prep,

5 mins presentation). Only one of you will present the following overview back to the group:

1. Your qualities/values2. A situation to deal with3. Target audiences and methods to reach

them4. Elevator pitch

Strategic communicationand brand in action

Popular political platforms Australian politicians (in general) use only

the most popular of social media sites, Namely:

Twitter Facebook YouTube

Brand management on social media(content informed by SlideShare presentation given by Rubina Carlson)

Twitter - Microblogging site ( posts of up to 140 characters, hashtags # )

Posts occur more frequently(compared to FB posts) Content may be more trivial Why politicians like Twitter outlet for their personal voice (e.g. “Just sat down for

#qanda) ability to disseminate message(s) to many, other than

followers ability to listen to political chatter, surrounding #qanda

#auspol

Social media as brand channel

Facebook - A social networking site - platform to share news, photos, videos, links

 Why politicians like Facebook they try to create a greater sense of community

and connection to the person/party/policy Facebook offers directed discussion spaces (e.g.

comments, discussion boards) Facebook allows you to address on one-to-one,

one-to-many or many-to-many basis

Social media as brand channel

Most popular video sharing site Register, then customise your own channelWhy politicians like YouTube casual way of addressing Australian voting

public through video platform where the party can showcase existing

footage e.g. TVCs, vox pop, policy announcements, testimonials – excellent visual medium

Social media as brand channel

LinkedIn – seems to have been a sleeping giant.

I like to think of it as Facebook for grown-ups Professional networking platform Greater capacity to demonstrate professional

skill set, and obtain recommendations/endorsements

Excellent online networking opportunity Possible to create groups dedicated to

specific areas of interest (communities of interest)

Social media as brand channel

Other options that may be in your ‘mix’ Instagram Pinterest Google+ Tumblr

REMEMBER – use the right channel for your target audience. There’s honestly no prize for using the

newest, most popular social media channel.Know your demographics. It is all about them.

Social media as brand channel

An excellent, Australian reference for current social media/social business statistics

Yellow™ Social Media Report, 2013 95% of Australian social media users are on

Facebook 41% of 14-19 year olds use Instagram 67% of Australian users access social sites on a

smartphone Google+ use is increasing, with highest usage

among older Australians Fantastic resource which the VLGA will make

available to you post-session (or you can Google it – cerca trova!)

Social media demographics

Questions to ask yourself: Have you been provided with a current Councillor

Code of Conduct? Does it include specific guidelines around

Communication and Media? Does your organisation have a clear and

accessible set of social media guidelines? What guidelines/recommendations are in place for

when your personal views differ from the organisational position?

What are the consequences of potential breaches of your organisation’s guidelines?

Social media governance – general Adapted from information sourced from: http://socialmediagovernance.com/

Protect your privacy Be safe Keep your professional and personal lives

separate (very important for public officials) Location, location, location Think before you share (in social media,

there is no ‘off the record’)

Social media governance – general Other hints

Robert Doyle, but that is probably mainly because of the high level of exposure he gets.

Boris Johnson (City of London) Robert Doyle (City of Melbourne)

Don Nardella (Politician) An obvious candidate is Stephen Mayne (City of Melbourne

Councillor, business journalist, shareholder activist) - another is The Lord Mayor of London - but what is the relationship or correlation between high profile and effectiveness? Quiet achievers undoubtedly manage their own personal brand very effectively.

One can always improve - the world is not a static place The new mayor of Geelong Darryn Lyon is out there, loud

and proud maybe a bit over the top but so far has the town talking.

Who does a great job?

Mayor of Geelong

With that in mind, I thank you for your input, and hope you enjoy the rest of what will be a truly excellent weekend.

Twitter: @belmac_icLinkedIn: Belinda MacLeod-Smith

NEXT!