Overview
Facilitated channel strategy workshops for the Research Council of Norway, surveying communications staff and running a structured Gameplan process with senior stakeholders to define a shared vision, goals and priorities across the organisation's digital channels.
Who This Is For
Public agencies and large organisations running many channels for many audiences, with no shared view of what each channel is for. This case is most useful if:
- you run several websites, newsletters and social channels
- you serve audiences as different as applicants, industry, teachers and government
- channel owners set priorities in isolation
- you need a shared starting point before choosing initiatives
The Challenge
Forskningsrådet, the Research Council of Norway, communicated through many channels: its main site plus forskningsdagene.no, nysgjerrigper.no and skattefunn.no, press releases, newsletters and social media.
It served many audiences too: applicants, industry, teachers, government and internal staff. But there was no shared view across the organisation of what each channel was for, or who owned it.
Our Approach
Working with senior stakeholders, including the department director and the web and UX lead, we ran a structured process across the organisation's channel owners.
- Gameplan workshops: a shared vision, goals, roles and risks defined together.
- Channel survey: web editors, communications advisers and managers surveyed on their channels, audiences, KPIs and skill gaps.
- Written findings: audience-by-audience visions (applicants, industry, teachers, government, internal teams), goals at programme, strategic and channel level, and a prioritised long-list of potential initiatives.
Impact
A shared starting point. A large, multi-audience government agency gained a documented basis for channel decisions across all its channel owners.
No more channels in isolation. Teams could set priorities against common goals instead of defining their own.
Most channel problems are ownership problems. Agreeing what each channel is for comes before improving any of them.
Delivered by a team at Making Waves (later NoA Ignite), engaged by the Research Council of Norway on channel strategy workshops. Any public information referenced here is used for identification and does not imply endorsement.
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