How to harness the voice of your communities

Working in public sector comms, community feedback can take a number of forms: comments on social posts; survey responses; feedback sent directly to our inbox; a quick reaction on a press article shared on Facebook. No matter the channel or method used, every voice matters. All community insights come together to build a comprehensive community temperature check. Are people confused about the council’s latest recycling campaign? Frustrated about the lack of GP appointments? All feedback is valid and should be considered before making important decisions that affect the people we serve.

The problem is, public sector comms professionals are drowning in data. The results from mandatory consultations sit siloed from other survey responses. Complaints on social media reach the Customer Service Team, but perhaps aren’t always shared with Comms and Marketing. Social listening reports give us a wealth of insights into how community members are feeling, but they can miss the wider context if treated in isolation. Without real-time insights, reports sent to senior leadership can sit gathering dust – with no action taken until it’s too late.

Drawing out actionable insights from the online noise can feel like an impossible task, and this intensifies when we need to overlay multiple data sets. We can easily miss the main message, or leap to the wrong conclusions.

That’s why, here at Orlo, we recently created our Voice of the Community solution.

VOC allows public sector teams to combine data from surveys; media monitoring; social listening and direct messages giving them a holistic view of public feedback related to a particular theme, project or campaign. By capturing the voice of all community members in one place, public sector teams gain easier and more accurate visibility on what they’re feeling, asking or saying. Teams can then make data-led decisions, respond to concerns faster, and close the loop to strengthen community engagement and build trust. 

Crucially, VOC allows teams to achieve this from one single platform – and in real-time. Comms teams can say goodbye to siloed data; insights shared after the fact; merged reports, or multiple logins.

Welsh Housing Association Valleys to Coast is shifting from using social media as a “bragging tool”, to putting community members at the heart of everything they do. At our BIG Social  event Lizzie Conway (Communications Team Leader) and Charlotte Davies (Customer Service Team Leader) explained that they are now proactively capturing sentiment and insights around projects like new housing developments. This allows them to capture a holistic view of what their communities really think.

For example, a recent announcement of a new housing development generated a flood of initial negativity. Lizzie and Charlotte used Orlo to identify that residents had valid questions. They weren’t necessarily annoyed by the announcement – they were just confused. Their questions included:

• “How will the new development be funded?” 
• “Is my rent money being used to build new homes, rather than repair and maintain the existing ones?”
• “Who will live in the new flats?”
• “How many flats will be accessible to people with disabilities?” 
• “How will Valleys to Coast invest in the local community as part of this development?” 

Rather than appear as the “all-knowing” faceless Housing Association, Lizzie and Charlotte, and their respective teams, worked together and flipped the dynamic and asked residents questions such as:

“What kind of initiatives would you like us to explore?”

The answer: “cycle routes; play areas for children”.

Valleys to Coast then had actionable data on initiatives their residents wanted to see, and because people felt included, sentiment shifted from negative to positive.

Gaining opinions from a cross-section of people 

Depending on the demographic, people will have preferred ways of communicating with their public sector organisations. Whether that’s Gen Z sharing quick feedback on TikTok, or an older person taking time to complete a survey, VOC enables organisations to capture the thoughts and feelings of community members, wherever they feel comfortable sharing. Ultimately, this creates opportunities for typically harder-to-reach people to get their voices heard. 

Increased engagement

At the same BIG Social event, Rosie Knight (Head of Value Delivery, Orlo) shared that in the past year, 115,000 surveys have been sent through Orlo and that this has led to a 112% increase in engagement. When you proactively seek feedback through surveys, community members find other ways to engage. Asking for feedback encourages more feedback, and when these insights are acted on, and that feedback loop is closed, we see higher trust levels.

Consistent approach – no matter the channel or team

Valleys to Coast residents don’t see the difference between asking a quick question in a comment on Facebook, completing a 5-minute survey, or picking up the phone to talk to someone. Nor do they care whether the reply comes from Marketing or Customer Services. None of us do. We know that excellent comms must be consistent no matter the channel, and it should also transcend internal silos. Through tapping into VOC, everything appears in one place, under one project, and community members get a consistent experience on all channels.

Better use of resources

This is the key. When we have a comprehensive picture of the views of our community, and what needs addressing, we can collaborate more easily across customer service and comms teams, take a proactive approach to our communication strategy to ensure everyone is kept informed and make strategic decisions based on real insight. That means our teams working in unison, less resource needed and more engaged communities. With VOC, we’re looking at wins all round.

“We’ve started building Orlo’s Voice of the Community tool into our platform. Having a place where surveys can sit alongside social and other insights, so that we can reflect and build our campaigns going forward, is super helpful.” 

Lizzie Conway – Communications Team Leader, Valleys to Coast

Interested in how Orlo’s Voice of the Community solution could help you? Find out more here or get in touch with our team of sector specialists, who are on hand to offer best practice advice with zero obligation.