Strategic themes
To deliver our objective, we have distilled inputs into six themes.
This will see emphasis on strategic priorities. We will continue to strengthen our digital channels, support place leadership and boost engagement with residents and staff.
In turn, we will reduce focus on low level tactical activity to unlock the team capacity needed.
- strategic focus
- build digital reach
- stronger engagement
- place leadership
- internal communications
- unlock capacity
A more strategic focus
Both the LGA peer review and Communications health check recommended a more strategic approach to communications.
We will focus on priorities in the corporate plan, notably the environment, high quality services, housing and the local economy.
We will also bring forward proposals for an annual marketing campaign plan, supported by a centralised budget.
Build digital reach
Our social media channels - Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn – have seen significant growth since 2019 and now have a combined following of around 14,000. The MyTMBC app launched earlier this year has seen strong growth with 3,600 subscribers.
We will continue to grow these platforms and consider adding new platforms to our portfolio (for example TikTok) based on evidence from other public sector users and resource implications.
We will also continue our approach to marketing the MyTMBC app and develop a resident email database to enable e-marketing.
Stronger engagement
A recommendation in both the LGA peer and communications reviews was to strengthen public engagement.
We will use social media data to inform our content strategy, prioritising the most engaging content and making more use of video. We will do less ‘noticeboarding’ of news from other organisations.
We will also broaden stakeholder engagement via digital channels and email, notably around important consultations such as the Local Plan, and develop ways to provide feedback to respondents.
Place leadership
Communications will play a vital role in demonstrating place leadership as recommended by the peer review.
We will support development of a clear vision for the borough and town branding proposals for Tonbridge, as part of the ongoing asset review.
We will also build a new section for the TMBC website to better promote leisure and events in support our objective of celebrating the best of Tonbridge and Malling.
Internal communications
Following the peer review process, an internal communications audit was undertaken by Westco.
The report made recommendations to improve staff engagement, including ways to ensure important messages were communicated consistently and to help embed the council’s vision and values across the organisation.
In Q4 2022, we recruited a part-time internal communications specialist to support improvements in this area. Initial focus will be on developing a better intranet, a staff bulletin and reviewing how the Joint Employee Consultative Committee (JECC) works.
Unlock capacity
We are not proposing any growth in external comms headcount to support these objectives.
Instead, we will unlock capacity within the existing team by focusing on strategic priorities and reducing time spent on low impact activities.
In line with the peer review recommendations, we will initiate a project to transfer responsibility for responding to social media enquiries about council services to customer services.