After a long day at Uni (9-6:30pm, I’m not just being dramatic..) I was surprised to find I still had the motivation to go to the CIPR guest lecture being held at the university! The lecture was being held by previous lecturer Karl Milner, now the Director of Communications for the NHS Yorkshire and the Humber. I must admit I wasn’t very optimistic about how much I would enjoy the lecture, the public sector and particularly the NHS has just never appealed to me when thinking about the direction I would like to go with my career.
I had definitely changed my tune by the end of the lecture, and am actually now considering the NHS as a possibility for the future. Karl paced the lecture well, telling five stories with tips and advice mixed in with his comical method of presenting. I was surprised to hear that NHS Leeds is the biggest single communications employer in Yorkshire and particularly interested to learn of the personal and emotional strength required to be a part of the NHS communications team.
It seems to be a job with lots of ups and downs; one minute you’re the hero, and the next the latest villain! Working in the public sector had always seemed like the boring route and had never appealed to me before, but now I’ve heard about it first hand, I’ve been swayed!
There was one thing that confused me though. During the questions at the end one student asked how the NHS was planning to involve social media in new campaigns. Karl replied that they currently had no definite plans to use social media as they were unsure of the results (based on the older target audience). Wolfstar are currently running a social marketing team for NHS Kirklees (part of NHS Yorkshire and Humber) which includes lots of social media- are there no more plans for this? And if so, why not? Social media can really help to reach publics that might not respond to traditional advertising. I really hope NHS Yorkshire and Humber aim to embrace social media, bringing the public service into the modern day and helping give the public a way of communicating with the people behind the service.
3 Comments
October 14, 2008 at 12:21 am
That is odd about the NHS / social media thing. I guess with all the mess going on with their IT system it’s probably getting a less warm reception than it might otherwise, but still.
I’m writing my dissertation on how public bodies and charities can utilise current commercial marketing techniques to engage and develop communities, it would be really interesting to hear if there were any other great nuggets of info from the talk.
p.s great looking blog! been reading a week or two now
October 16, 2008 at 9:04 am
I’m glad you enjoyed the talk: me too.
The question about social media came from a final year student I’m supervising (we’re both presenting on this topic at a police public relations conference next month, so the use of social media in public sector communications is top of our mind at present.)
October 17, 2008 at 8:56 am
Thanks for the lecture review Natalie. Really interesting to see Karl’s take on social media. On one hand I understand his (public sector) need for effective ROI/evaluation, but on the other it is supply-driven needs like this that mean real, effective opportunities to engage meaningfully with target audiences can be lost.
Keep us posted on whether NHS Yorkshire change thier minds on social media.