With a Masters’s in Journalism, Julia worked for a few years in some newspapers and dailies and pivoted to Communications, as it enabled her to tell stories and meet people and get perspectives without putting in long hours as a journalist.

In this episode, let’s look at Data in communications via the eyes of an internal communications professional:

Introduction

0:35 I’m largely a storyteller and even when I was in high school, I was drawn to writing and learning from others, gaining fresh perspectives. This inspired me to pursue journalism, and I earned a master’s degree in the field. I worked for several newspapers and dailies for a few years, but eventually became more interested in communication. This career path still allows me to tell stories, meet people, and gain new perspectives, but it’s a bit less demanding in terms of the long hours required of a journalist.

First interaction with data

1:26 When I started working for Brisbane City Council, one of the first tasks was to understand if people were actually reading the flyers that were being sent out. As a council, we had to send all kinds of notifications, such as water usage restrictions and resources available to the public. The data we collected was very helpful in understanding if people were actually reading what we were sending. We began with face-to-face surveys to understand what was being read and what was of interest, and whether the content needed to be long or short. Although time-consuming, these surveys were a great way to understand the data of what people were reading, analytics that I still take today. Through analytics, I can see that people are not always reading the content that I create, and it is fascinating to me. Google Analytics and Polite Mail are the two main data sources we use to understand the interests of our employees. Polite Mail, in particular, gives us a broad understanding of how engaged our employees are, how long they’re spending on the page, and how they’re actually reading our emails. Overall, the data we collect through these sources provides invaluable insights that we use to segment and tailor our messaging to better engage our employees.

Data for internal communications

3:49 I believe that engagement is one of our key measurements and it’s crucial for the success of our organization. Knowing how our employees engage with us is important, such as whether they are reading the messages we send and which messages they are reading. Therefore, our measurement tools focus largely on engagement, and we obtain this information mostly from Google Analytics.

Favourite campaign

4:19 As part of our annual employee engagement campaign at L.A. Care, we send out a survey to all 2,000 employees in the organization. This survey includes a variety of questions aimed at understanding employees’ opinions on different aspects of the company, such as their support for management and their satisfaction with the content produced. We also include open-ended questions to gain more valuable insights into our employees’ perspectives. This campaign typically sees a response rate of around 95%, providing us with a great measurement tool for the organization’s diverse workforce.

One key insight we gained from the survey was the desire for more work to be done in the areas of diversity, inclusion, and equality. This need came to the surface following the nationwide protests following the death of George Floyd. The survey highlighted the need for us to provide more equitable opportunities and to create affinity groups where employees can discuss their specific needs and feel a sense of belonging to the organization. We have since formed an equity steering committee and a range of different councils to support diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Evolution of data metrics

6:51 Over the past five years, we have been offered a range of tools that were not previously accessible. These tools are incredibly sophisticated, allowing us to track engagement on a single email or page and gain insights into how long someone spends on a page and whether they read it or just skimmed it. I believe that if we continue to refine and develop these tools, we will have even more valuable data to work with in the future.

Dream Metric

7:55 In my view, simply surveying people may not provide us with a full understanding of their opinions or preferences. For instance, if someone expresses a dislike for a particular email, we may benefit from gaining more insight into the reasons behind their response. While yes or no questions can provide us with some data, I believe that delving deeper into the reasoning behind people’s responses would be even more valuable. Understanding why someone engages with a particular approach or tool over others could provide us with invaluable insights. that those kind of aspects would be even more valuable to have.

Role of PR & Communications in coming days

In my opinion, the importance of remote work is only going to increase in the future. Despite the many difficulties that so many people have faced during this time, the pandemic has sparked a significant shift in communication and work practices. We have seen the rise of virtual teams and hybrid workplaces, as well as a move towards 100% remote work in some cases. This shift has also resulted in less differentiation between management and leadership teams and regular employees, which has helped to level the playing field. I believe that this middle ground will continue to grow in importance over the coming months and years.

My two cents

I believe in the importance of listening to our elders, while acknowledging the potential and power of the younger generation. I think that there are valuable lessons to be learned from those who have worked in the communications or journalism field for many years, as they have likely encountered and implemented numerous successful ideas in their careers. I also caution against assuming that our new ideas are automatically superior and emphasize the importance of working together and understanding the flow of the organization. Ultimately, I believe that listening and collaborating with colleagues is key to achieving success in the workplace.