Communities Focus on Communication

A group of local government communicators and officials Zoomed in from throughout Southeast Michigan last month to connect and compare notes. Specifically, the Southeast Michigan Communicators Network gathered to share experiences and best practices; build relationships; and discuss opportunities to collaborate on regional initiatives.

The group had not gathered for a while, so it was encouraging to meet with members from past communicators network meetings and to welcome new faces. The conversation touched on recent changes and challenges, as well as some potential topics for this group to cover in more depth in 2022.

Unsurprisingly, this group sees the value in building relationships and talked about finding opportunities to work together more. A couple of proactive local elected officials from different communities planning significant projects expressed interest in learning how others are engaging the community. Common themes also included best practices for social media, working effectively in small teams, and smoothly managing workflows.

Discussion moved to the ongoing shifts in the earned media environment and how getting media coverage has changed. The group wanted to talk not just about how to get various analytics, but how communicators are using these data to guide future content decisions. Another commonality among government communicators is that their audiences span a wide generational and demographic spectrum, which makes it essential to use a balanced mix of tools to reach audiences with differences in media preference (website, email, snail mail, text blasts, etc.). People who work in transportation are also thinking about how to balance messages and styles when working with a blend of urban and rural audiences.

We look forward to learning and sharing experiences, best practices, and new ideas at webinars and peer discussions throughout 2022. We look forward to building and maintaining relationships for future knowledge sharing opportunities and/or regional initiatives. We also look forward to finding more opportunities to collaborate with communities on the kinds of issues and content that reach beyond municipal boundaries.

A recent example SEMCOG’s ongoing Shop Local video series. Since 2020, we have had the opportunity to partner with over a dozen communities to encourage shopping local, also known as investment in our local and economies. This past holiday season, we worked with Brighton, Oak Park, and Trenton and we look forward to working with more SEMCOG member communities in the future.

If you are interested in adding a Shop Local video for your community to this series, please let us know.

The next meeting of the Communicators Network is on February 16, 2022. Please register for this meeting to join us and to get on our mailing list. If you have ideas for upcoming meeting and webinar content and/or your community has a great story to tell and wants to join the conversation, let us know.