digital comms strategy 2011

8/6/2019 Digital Comms Strategy 2011

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/digital-comms-strategy-2011 1/18



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Purpose

The digital communication team is responsible for the way the

Department of Health uses the web.

That includes how we:

�provide digital communication platforms for the Department

�communicate via official government digital channels

�collaborate, manage communities, and participate online

We help the Department deliver policy and communications

objectives. We do this by using digital culture, tools and techniques

to help reach, listen to and influence our target audiences.

We embrace the massive opportunities we know exist for doingbrilliant digital communication. We provide our own channels, and

we exploit existing platforms to find new and better ways to deliver

DH policy objectives.



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The policy cycle

Digital communications tools and techniques should play a role for

staff at every stage of the policy and communications cycle:

for listening - to efficiently find out what others are doing and

saying, and quickly test and refine ideas and campaigns.

for engaging - to take part in conversations, reach out to

communities, and collaborate with our partners inside and outside

government to find better solutions to problems.

for broadcast - to deliver official information, steering the public

debate, and influencing the behaviour of our target audiences



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DH context

DH is changing.

The transition to a new health and care system will present digital

communication challenges for the Department, both in:

�the way the Department manages the process of transition during

the next five years, and

�providing appropriate channels and approaches for the new

Department of Health, and supporting the migration of online

content and digital engagement activity from the Department to the

NHS



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Government context

The review of Directgov and the wider digital government estate, the

ongoing Transformational Government programme, and the freeze

on marketing spend will radically change the way Government uses

the web in the next few years.

Across government, we will focus our effort on providing digital

services, information and engagement that meets the needs of the

end user . This will mean vastly reducing the number of government

websites, possibly ending up with just one website for government.

It will also mean providing more information to support

transparency, such as data and responses to Freedom of

Information requests.

The role of government digital teams will no longer just be to

manage a corporate website on behalf of their Department. Instead

they will be challenged to find new and innovative ways to use a

variety of digital channels and techniques to deliver Departmental

objectives.



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Priorities

We have three broad areas of focus:

Tools and channels

...d oing the basics very well ...

Campaigns and content

...putting most effort into the things that matter most ...

Digital capacity

...removing the novelty from d oing brilliant d igital communication...



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Tools and channels

Enhance our platform

Provide straightforward, devolved, content management, and agile

templates for our official web presence.

Provide an enhanced subscription offer to ensure we extend our

reach beyond people browsing our site.

Ensure the website offers more than just an archive of official

information.

Enrich our official channels with rich and dynamic media from

elsewhere.

Ensure smooth user journeys through our web presence, including

common design and layout and standards.

Provide mobile options for our content



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Tools and channels

Our offering

Define our offer to the Department, including a set of corporate and

3rd party channels and a methodology for doing digital

communications.

Provide incoming web presences (such as an agency or ALBs,

NDPBs) with:

�a place on our corporate channels

�a standard DH branded sub-site

Provide online-only versions of comms and marketing to

supplement or replace offline versions.



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Tools and channels

Platform/process management

We need to ensure that our entire web estate is treated as a

communications tool.

Our µtechnology¶ principle means that we should use existing,

brilliant and open-source tools instead of implementing large-scale

IT solutions.

Save 50 per cent of the money we spend on our websites, and plan

to make further substantial reductions in our technology spend after

that.

Clarify roles and responsibilities between the people who work ondigital communications within the Department.



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Tools and channels

Standards

Ensure we¶re delivering against government and industry digital

standards.

Run an accessibility review with real users.

Listening

Make full use of regular analytics reports in our editorial process -

respond in close-to-real-time to trends.

Provide real-time sentiment analysis and other real-time monitoring,

including dashboards for our projects and campaigns.



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Campaigns and content

Method

Provide a methodology that defines how we use the web to listen,

engage, and broadcast for:

�intensive high priority policy areas and campaigns

�lower priority projects

Campaigns - treat high priority areas for the Department as high

priorities for digital communications, in particular:

�Transition

�Public Health

�SocialCare

Editorial

Generate creative bespoke web content for our corporate site. Make

use of our skills as web journalists to promote policy and news

content.

Develop our digital editorial process, plugging into the news and

policy planning processes.



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Digital capacity

Health digital estate

Influence the wider conversations about digital information across

the public sector health estate.

Training ourselves

Become better able to deliver creative digital content. Develop our

capability to be the in-house practitioners in: web journalism, video

production, including shooting and editing, audio capture and

publishing (including podcasting), photography, community

management, digital outreach and participation

Internal campaign

Run an internal campaign to distribute the method, and skills

needed for effective digital communication.

Establish ourselves as being responsible for the way that DH uses

the public web (strategy and delivery).



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Digital capacity

Communities

Establish relationships with online health communities in order to:

understand and map our audience, and provide extended reach and

insight for our campaigns.

Participation

Develop a culture of attributed personal-and-official digital content,

encouraging online participation in conversations by officials and

ministers.

Digital ministers

Find effective ways to work with ministers to use digital tools and

techniques to help them deliver their objectives.



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Digital capacity

Consultancy

Provide advice and a network for all digital communicators in DH.

Ensure that campaigns run by others on behalf of DH are in line

with our approach to digital communication, and provide a useful

legacy for the department as well as delivering in the moment.



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digital comms strategy 2011

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