Reason why we did this
Following an assessment of the Council’s communications over the past year it was found our most engaged residents tend to be aged 55 and over.
We need to find a way to engage young generations (millennials, Gen Z, and Gen Alpha) to increase their involvement with the community and Council and to do this we need to adapt to the way they communicate.
What did we do?
As part of these efforts we are proposing to trial a Council led podcast. A podcast is a series of spoken, audio episodes, often focused on a particular topic or theme.
Edison Research notes podcasting continues to grow with the number of monthly listeners increasing from 21 per cent of the population to 24 per cent of the population over the last year. The audience tends to be younger (18-54). Their socio-economic profile (affluent1 and educated2) matches those of this borough (69% of Facebook followers are university educated). Podcast listeners will listen to most of the episodes they download and most of each individual episode – so they are likely to hear content which is communicated.
Plans were already underway prior to the pandemic, however we decided to move forward swiftly with the work in order to communicate some of the big, current issues and messages in a more in-depth way. The podcast is hosted by a local ward councillor who is a professional actor. Each edition he meets with one or two people key to the specific theme. So far, the podcasts have included:
- Coronavirus: Richmond’s response – a discussion with the Council Leader and representative from the local voluntary sector
- Coronavirus: Avoiding a second peak – a discussion with the Director of Public Health
- Muggings, Young People and the Police – a discussion with a local police officer, community group representative and young person.
- Business recovery – a discussion with a local business and Town Centre manager
The podcast is recorded virtually and edited by the Communications Team. It is available on the Council website, but also to download from usual Podcast apps – including the Apple Store and Spotify.
Outcomes
To date we’ve had over 1.6K downloads and attracted listeners from all around the world including USA, Germany, Australia and Thailand.
