Real conversations = successful communications

With the possibilities of social media and smart data, we get more and more ways to communicate. Whether it’s in B2B or B2C communications: the world is changing and so is the way we communicate with each other. But how does this reflect our daily work?

Let me give you an example. In order to inform kids in the age of 13 – 17 years old about their rights and obligations while they are working during the summer holidays, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment used to hand out brochures. These brochures gave answer to questions like what is my minimum wage? And: how many hours am I allowed to work during a week? 

In 2013 we proposed a partly online approach of those kids. In only two summers, we managed to create a dynamic online platform which foresees in the needs of those kids. The campaign of 2015 just ended, but in 2014 we managed to increase the base of followers with 133% compared to 2013. In the same campaign we received 350.000 interactions on posts on this platform. 

The key to this success? Real conversations. Instead of pushing all the rights and obligations through the social media channels by ourselves, we asked the kids to tell us. Therefore we visited a couple of events and asked the kids if they want to tell something about their job on camera. We used this video content to deliver the message about wages, maximum working time, jobs that you may or can’t do. In the replies on the videos we didn’t need to adjust or correct people. In fact, the kids corrected each other. 

This summer we skipped the events and asked the kids to send in vlogs of themselves, talking about rights and obligations in their work. We provided the platform, the followers and the in-depth information for people who wanted to learn more about these topics. And again: real video content resulted in meaningful online conversations. 

In only a few summers, we managed to use the shift in communication as an advance in communication with a difficult target group like kids between 13 and 17 years old. We’ve chosen video as the vehicle to deliver the message without a government sauce being poured over it. Real conversations are the key to successful communications.