A unified, built-in content material plan amongst inside and exterior communications groups is essential to reaching goal audiences.
Lockheed Martin Director of Digital Communications John Yembrick shared his insights Wednesday on the Ragan Communications Strategic Communications Convention at Microsoft Headquarters in Redmond, Wash.
Yembrick mentioned a customer-driven easy message works with all audiences and will help drive engagement.
Why an easier message was wanted at Lockheed Martin
Earlier than Yembrick joined the protection firm, he mentioned Lockheed Martin approached messaging with many social media posts which wasn’t resulting in engagement.
“Now we have 4 enterprise areas at Lockheed Martin,” Yembrick mentioned. “And every enterprise space has their very own communications staff with completely different priorities.”
Lockheed Martin’s John Yembrick speaks throughout Ragan Communications Strategic Communications Convention. (Picture used with permission from Erin Patrick).
He advised attendees that the messages despatched from completely different departments wasn’t constant and have been reaching solely a fraction of its supposed viewers.
“The federal government procurement course of is complicated,” Yembrick mentioned. “You’re speaking about elected officers in international governments, their staffers and buyers. It’s only a complete net of various folks you wish to attain, nevertheless it’s an actual viewers which you can goal.”
And that viewers was a broader one, which takes a distinct kind of message.
“I needed to current our firm as a superb place to do enterprise with and to work for,” he mentioned. “And also you try this by showcasing the great issues about what our firm does.”
‘Your messaging needs to be accessible to everybody’
Yembrick advised attendees that there’s worth to sharing related messages internally and externally,
“Your messaging needs to be accessible to everybody,” he mentioned.
For instance, he shared a video about what Lockheed Martin goals to do. The identical message was additionally shared in a press launch and all exterior and inside messages.
“We wove the identical message (inside or exterior) on the video so it’s in every single place,” he mentioned. “It’s this concept that you understand the person expertise is similar wherever they see it. It’s additionally a message penetration so in the event you’re making an attempt to say one thing, you say it in every single place since you don’t know the place everyone’s going to see it. ”
Don’t be afraid to experiment on social media
Yembrick additionally emphasised the significance of experimentation in social media. Even when the checks aren’t profitable, you’ll have a greater understanding of your viewers and efficient techniques.
He examined two hypotheses in separate, month-long checks: one which Lockheed Martin’s engagement would go up if the corporate posted much less, and the opposite that utilizing solely pictures would assist drive outcomes.
“We posted much less after which all the pieces went up,” Yembrick mentioned. “Our engagement charges went up, our impressions went up, our common shares per submit went up, and posting much less was more practical for us. High quality over amount. We have been very selective as a result of we posted one factor per day.”
He mentioned he borrowed an concept from his time at NASA earlier this 12 months and posted solely photos with easy captions for a complete month.
“We confirmed our merchandise doing cool issues,” Yembrick mentioned. “Quite simple, however the backside line was that it labored,” he mentioned. “You might be speaking about your functionality, you’re instructing one thing to folks, they’re studying one thing that’s not simply photos. I used to be actually pleased with the experiment, it carried out very well.”
And Yembrick advised attendees that Lockheed Martin was capable of share use this concept to share its work with producers of “High Gun: Maverick” to create a compelling message.
Chris Pugh is a workers author for PR Each day. Comply with him on Twitter and LinkedIn. Ship story concepts to ChrisP@Ragan.com.
