😵 Engagement Modules, Not Saving Babies

The authority on mixternal comms

🌍 Recently I asked readers where you work. Well, you are here:

• 66% in the U.S.A.

• 15% in the U.K. or Europe

• 7% in Asia

• 12% work elsewhere

And I am here. Here we are.

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Engagement Modules

A sample of 6AM City’s engagement modules

Looking for a way to spice up your staid newsletter?

• In an article with a nails-on-chalkboard opener—At 6AM City, leveraging engagement to achieve synergy is one of our company’s values—you’ll find an interesting idea on how to engage readers in your newsletter.

• 6AM City is a hyper-local media company based in South Carolina.

“Engagement modules,” according to 6AM’s editorial manager Sarah Mallare, are “an interactive portion of the product that gives readers the opportunity to respond + react to the content they’re reading.”

• How they do it: The widgets—quizzes, polls, and questions—are created in Taxi (their newsletter platform) and then linked to an interactive Google Form where readers can submit a guess, vote, answer, or feedback.

WIFM? According to Mallare, the modules:

• provide feedback to the editorial team

• add positive value to the newsletter because of the ability to activate, educate, and entertain readers

• provide creative ways to promote the brand, style, and tone

A sample poll from 6AM City

Embedded polls and surveys are simple and can yield outsized and illuminating insights from your audience. Plenty of email platforms provide options for these interactive components.

• Pro tip: Make it a 2023 goal to try them out at least once per month. If you’ve never done them before you can show your boss you’re being innovative ;)

If you’re nimble enough to sidestep the jargon minefield that is this article, go deeper.

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Quick Hits

⚕️ Jessica Kleiman reminds us that, as challenging as our jobs can be and as often as we feel like we’re dealing with a life-or-death crisis, we have to remind ourselves that we’re not emergency room doctors who are literally trying to save people’s lives. (Medium)

• Or, as a former manager regularly reminded me, “we’re not saving babies.”

• Related: Scroll to the bottom to see Collins Dictionary’s word of the year.

🎞️ Forget donuts; grab popcorn. AMC and Zoom announced they're teaming up to turn some movie theaters into huge meeting rooms. Starting sometime in 2023, they'll bring what they call "Zoom Rooms" to AMC theaters in as many as 17 U.S. cities. (AMC)

📏 Of the 16 metrics PR pros track, tying their work (earned media) to business outcomes (“Sales, pipeline or revenue”) ranked 16…dead last, according to a recent survey. I have questions. (Muck Rack)

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“We work with companies in the defense industry and you look at their values and it’s like, oh my god, that’s hardcore. They’re really going after the bad guys.”

—Ethan McCarty, founder and CEO of Integral, discussing ethical issues in employee comms on the Ethical Voices podcast

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🎧 Can They Hear You Now?

There was a time when employees were enamored with the novel activity of watching short videos on everything from serious topics (news segments) to whimsical ones (cats flushing toilets) on a new platform called YouTube. Now video updates of company events are standard media for comms teams. 

Is it time for a podcast to be part of your comms strategy?

Employees compare how they understand what’s going on at the company to how they get news and information outside of work. Inevitably they expect their consumer experience to become part of their work experience. 

Assume ~20% of your employees listen to podcasts outside the office. Is that enough of a critical mass for your team to tackle an employee podcast in 2023?

Hear (get it?) from an expert on this topic. Pager.fm interviewed the seemingly ubiquitous Zane Ewton on his experience creating podcasts that make employees feel heard at work.

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Interesting Opportunities

Airbus - Internal Comms Manager (Paris)

Coca-Cola - Global Director, People Communications (Atlanta)

Kraft-Heinz - Lead, Global Internal Communications (Chicago)

MUFG - Corporate Internal Comms, VP (North Carolina, Arizona, Texas; hybrid)

World Health Organization - Communication Officer (Kyiv)

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Expect the Unexpected

“Sunrise (sunrise in Taiwan)” by Fujishima Takeji (Wikiart)

Crisis comms is about 5% of what internal comms does, but when it happens it’s the most important work you’ll do.

• Were you caught flat-footed when Russia invaded Ukraine?

Consider this: Half of the foreign companies in Taiwan are making contingency plans in case China invades the island, according to Nikkei.

An invasion isn’t inevitable, but it’s plausible. What else do you need to be ready for?

These two member-only Mister Editorial articles can help you get started:

• When Should We Say Something? A Way Forward.

• Ukraine: What Can Internal Comms Do?

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Permacrisis

😵 Permacrisis is Collins’s word of the year.

• Definition: an extended period of instability and insecurity, esp one resulting from a series of catastrophic events.

It led Collins's annual compilation of 10 words or phrases that "reflect our ever-evolving language and the preoccupations of those who use it."

• Quiet quitting also made the list.

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Disclaimer: Besides running Mister Editorial, I am the editor-in-chief of Digital Publications at Lam Research. The views in this newsletter are my own.