DH digital communication strategy 2011

DH digital communication strategy 2011

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  Digital communication Strategy 2011 «doingthe basics very well« «putting most effort into the things that matter most« «removing the novelty from doing brilliant digital communication«
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  2 Purpose This document describesthe Department of Health approach to digital communication, and our priorities for 2011. 2011 will be a year of significant change for the Department. Effective communication, and digital communication in particular, will be crucial to us as we lead the health and care system through a period of transition. We aspire to use digital as the default communication channel for the Department in 2011, helping us to listen, engage and deliver messages. This strategy is being delivered as a programme of work by the digital communication team.
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  3 Purpose The digital communicationteam 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 doing brilliant 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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  4 The policy cycle Digitalcommunications 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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  5 Digital context Use ofthe web has changed massively in the last few years. The cost of publishing to the web is now close to zero, meaning that everyone has become a potential publisher. And the cost of access to the web is decreasing every year - people can now access the web from a variety of cheap everyday devices. Social media - once the preserve of geeks and enthusiasts - is now mainstream, just as likely to be used by nurses and patients as by students and technologists. More people in the UK have access to the web (76% broadband access from home); people are spending more time online each week (an average of 30 hours); people are increasingly finding ways to integrate the web into their everyday lives (13.5m use the web on their phones); and the web is beginning to penetrate previously hard to reach groups (half of over 55s have broadband at home).
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  6 DH context DH ischanging. 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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  7 Government context The reviewof 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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  8 Principles A set ofprinciples guide the work of people working on digital communication for the Department: Strategic - we can justify everything we do by how far it delivers the priorities of the Department. That means bringing innovation to priority projects, and delivering a template approach to others. Transparent - we do attributed, overt comms. And we actively encourage others to reuse our content and data. Mainstream - we enable the department to deliver core business. Digital communication has a role in everyone¶s job, rather than a geeky afterthought for the enthusiastic. Audience - everything we do online is delivered with a specific audience in mind, and promoted to that audience. Distribution - we are the primary source for DH messages. We develop the means and the method to distribute ideas and information in a way that suits the audience. Partners - we work with partners and use 3rd party tools to deliver our objectives. We provide a digital presence not a website, and we aren¶t precious about being a destination. Practitioners - we edit, write, photograph, film and record, and enable colleagues to do the same. Technology - we reuse existing brilliant tools and methods rather than starting from scratch. Evidence based - we evaluate what we do as we¶re doing it, and get better at it as a result.
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  9 Priorities We have threebroad areas of focus: Tools and channels ...doing the basics very well... Campaigns and content ...putting most effort into the things that matter most... Digital capacity ...removing the novelty from doing brilliant digital communication...
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  10 Tools and channels Enhanceour 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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  11 Tools and channels Ouroffering 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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  12 Tools and channels Platform/processmanagement 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 on digital communications within the Department.
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  13 Tools and channels Standards Ensurewe¶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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  14 Campaigns and content Method Providea 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 ‡Social Care 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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  15 Digital capacity Health digitalestate 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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  16 Digital capacity Communities Establish relationshipswith 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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  17 Digital capacity Consultancy Provide adviceand 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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