Recyclist’s Latest Feature: Embeddable Sites
“But how will people who come to our city website know about our Recyclist site?” This is a question that’s come up many times, and up until now, our answer was that we can link from the city website to the Recyclist site. But that never sat that well with us as a fantastic solution, […]
The Best Outreach Tool You’re Not Using (But 65% of Neighborhoods Are)
Nextdoor is a private social network site for neighborhoods. Launched in 2010, it’s intended to help neighbors share local information, whether that’s to vet a car mechanic, find a lost dog or safeguard against threats. As of September 2016, Nextdoor had 110,000 registered neighborhoods in the United States. That’s 65 percent of all neighborhoods in […]
Making an Impression: Communicating Recycling Changes
When developing a communications plan, an important way to evaluate success is to to count “impressions.” Simply put, an impression is any time a communications tool, such as a newspaper or radio ad, makes an impression on a person. Most newspapers, television stations, and radio stations can supply you with information about their readership, viewers and listeners. Billboard […]
Billboards are Big! How to Connect to All Residents about Waste
Formerly the domain of the legal, insurance, and restaurant sectors, municipalities are starting to use billboards as part of their communications efforts. The reasons are simple: well-placed billboards generate a lot of repeat “impressions,” and can in fact be surprisingly affordable. There’s a few things to keep in mind to get the most out of your billboards: Minimal text: The best practice […]
Better Call a KAB: Teaching Residents About Recycling
In communication and outreach practices, there’s a simple change model called KAB — knowledge, attitude, behaviour. The principal behind this model is pretty straightforward: when someone has knowledge about a topic or issue, they then develop an attitude about that issue, which leads to a behaviour that addresses that issue. In the case of waste […]
Why Magnets Don’t Work Anymore
Nothing conjures up images of in-home interactions than the family refrigerator covered in notes, artwork, and magnets. Letter magnets, poetry magnets, insurance broker magnets… recycling magnets. In theory, magnets that promote recycling make a lot of sense. The fridge is a high-traffic appliance, seen by many people during the day. The kitchen is also the place where […]
What’s the Deal With #hashtags
You’ve seen or heard of them: hashtags. In social media, a hashtag is a word or phrase that starts with a # (pound or hashtag symbol). This marks the word or phrase as a keyword or topic. (A hashtag phrase can’t have spaces in it). If lots of people use the same hashtag during a […]
Waste Communications Assessment: Using Data from Drop-Off Events
Many municipalities offer “mobile” drop-off events for “special” wastes such as hazardous materials, electronic waste, tires, and even paper shredding. These events may take place a few times a year, once a year, or in some cases, just once every couple of years. Residents love these type of events. For the most part, residents want to properly […]
Seven deadly sins of social media
Many municipalities are using social media to reach their residents. And it’s no wonder: in 2016, 78% of Americans have a social network profile. Social media is where people can be reached. Municipal social media programs tend to fall into three categories: Corporate. The municipality has a single, corporate account. All social media posts come from that account, […]
Deep Dive Into the Latest Recycling Survey: The Upshots You Haven’t Heard Yet
The media has been focusing on the same two takeaways from the Carton Council survey, but we’ve honed in on three upshots that shouldn’t be missed.
