Creativity doesn’t come naturally to everyone.
Yet, with 77% of Americans revealing they’d be more likely to explore their creative side if they felt more confident in their abilities, even those who believe they lack innate creative talent can play a crucial role in content ideation and creation. This is crucial in the world of government agencies, where limited resources are often a barrier to success.
With that in mind, we asked two local government social media experts from the City of McKinney — Digital Communications Manager Meredith Haynes and Communications & Media Specialist Tony Adamo — to share their best practices for fostering a culture of creativity and social media advocacy.
Meredith and Tony have used these processes and strategies to craft a ton of highly shareable content. Like this Instagram Reel, which celebrated the forthcoming arrival of golf’s CJ Cup Byron Nelson to McKinney:
View this post on Instagram
“People always say, ‘I could never find people to do something like this,’” says Meredith. “Yes, you can; you’re just not looking in the right places.”
Read on to learn:
- Practical cross-departmental content strategies
- Collaboration insights to encourage idea-sharing
- Creative problem-solving tactics to overcome challenges
Let’s get into it.
Realizing the Potential of Collective Creativity
Like a lot of social media managers, Meredith was busy.
In 2022, she started feeling burned out by the constant pressures of juggling brainstorming, content production, editing, and disseminating city messaging across all of the agency’s social media platforms.
Then, in November, a colleague came to her with an idea for an Instagram Reel. Meredith worked hard to bring it to life. However, it was only after the content went live that she truly realized the benefits of a more collaborative approach.
“My teammate’s enthusiasm was off the charts,” she explains. “She shared the Reel with her friends and family, even with strangers on the street. She could not stop talking about it. It made me realize that all this time, I’d been trying to do all of this work by myself — not asking anyone for help because I didn’t want to bother them — when, in actuality, she was so excited to share her idea.”
Naturally, this got her thinking. What contributions could other colleagues bring if given the same opportunity?
Which, in turn, led to the foundation of a new initiative: Reel Talk.
Reel Talk: Laying Foundations for Creative Ideation
Meredith couldn’t just rely on her teammates randomly sharing content ideas. She needed a formalized process to foster collaboration and creativity across departments.
Her solution was Reel Talk, a bi-weekly meeting series in which the City of McKinney employees brainstorm, discuss ideas, share expertise, and actively participate in creating engaging social media content.
To achieve the desired results (AKA building a consistent pipeline of creative ideas), Meredith knew she shouldn’t confine those meetings to the office. Instead, they meet at a downtown coffee shop.
“When I created this meeting, I purposely wanted it to be away from the office, away from the conference table, and in a safe space where it felt more like friends coming together to brainstorm,” she says. “Creativity is obviously going to be higher when you’re in a more comfortable, fun setting.”
Running an Effective Brainstorm
We’ve likely all been to our fair share of unproductive, low-energy brainstorming sessions.
To give themselves the best chance of generating a ton of compelling content ideas, Meredith gives her colleagues a small amount of homework. Before each meeting, she asks them to add their initial thoughts and discussion points to Wrike, a project management platform.
Specifically, she wants them to think about current online trends and pop culture moments that the agency could put its spin on. “It’s anything that is really sparking the interest of the social media crowd.”
After discussing those trending topics, it’s brainstorming time. “That is really when the magic starts to happen,” Meredith says.
To guide the team’s creative energy, Tony often gives a presentation detailing the Parks and Recreation team’s program for the next two weeks. Then, everyone puts forward their ideas for group discussion.
When they hit on a high-potential idea, Meredith decides which of the agency’s two video producers will be the best fit. “Each has their own areas of expertise and interest, and so based on that, we decide which video producer makes the most sense to film this Reel.”
Finally, when they’re back at their desks, she sends a follow-up email reminding her teammates of their action points for the next two weeks “just to make sure everyone’s on the same page.”
Let’s take a look at the end product of one of these meetings — a Reel that raised awareness of a location change for the city’s annual Red, White, and BOOM fireworks display:
View this post on Instagram
The team decided that the best way to communicate the news would be to use a combination of dad jokes, PSA messaging, and drone footage.
Best of all, Meredith didn’t even have to attend the meeting because she was out of town. She says, “The brain trust came together and created something magical!”
What If You Don’t Have Time To Meet?
Sometimes, in-person meetings aren’t practical — too much other stuff is going on.
But that doesn’t mean you have to abandon collective creativity altogether. Instead, it’s time to lean back on all those remote collaboration skills you picked up during the pandemic!
Tony offers the following tips for continuing to generate creative ideas when meetings are off the table:
- Send emails. “It seems so simple, but sending emails to the group that you’ve created and following up with them on the projects is a game changer.”
- Ask the experts. “Contact others in your field and build online and in-person relationships. Everyone does R&D, so why not follow in the footsteps of people that have already figured it out?”
- Build collections. “Both Facebook and Instagram allow you to build collections [of saved posts]. Be intentional about this — building collections around individual projects makes it easier to find everything.”
- Start groups. “Start Instagram groups and share ideas to get buy-in from your developing brain trust.”
- Follow similar accounts for content inspiration. “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. However, [if you use someone else’s idea], it’s nice to send a message thanking them for the inspiration.”
How Has Reel Talk Affected Results?
For Meredith and Tony, creative collaboration isn’t about goofing off and having fun with a bunch of colleagues.
It isn’t even about reducing Meredith’s workload (or, at least, that isn’t the whole purpose).
Instead, it’s about creating more — and better — content ideas, thereby helping the City of McKinney reach more people and communicate its key messages on social media.
The agency’s social media results show that the Reel Talk strategy is clearly working.
For instance, in early 2024, they wanted to promote the Parks and Rec team’s latest recruitment drive. So, their graphic designer created this static graphic to share on Facebook:
Unfortunately, it didn’t exactly set the world on fire, receiving only nine likes, one share, and zero comments. Not much help for a department that hires for 200+ positions every summer.
So they switched things up and produced this Reel:
View this post on Instagram
Compared to the original static graphic, the results were night and day:
| Views | – | 13,487 |
| Reach | 4,500 | – |
| Likes | 25 | 235 |
| Comments | 2 | 22 |
| Shares | 7 | 74 |
| Saves | – | 17 |
“The views, the reach, the shares were incredible,” says Meredith. “It made it very obvious that something like this really is worth your time.”
And it’s not just a one-off — far from it.
Take a look at the city’s massive uptick in Instagram followers, engagements, impressions, and video views from 2022 – 2023:
“The only thing that changed between 2022 and 2023 was Reel Talk,” Meredith explains. “This shows you what a brain trust and a group of collective people working together can do for your engagement and your numbers.”
8 Quick Tips for Successful Creative Collaboration
Are you eager to run your own creative sessions? Meredith has a few quick tips to help you get started:
- Start by using people on your own team to star in Reels, then start thinking about employees from other departments.
- Earn their trust. Coach them, encourage them — and always thank them for their time.
- Ask for their ideas. The whole purpose of this process is to generate a broader pool of content themes, so be sure to ask. In particular, encourage colleagues to share ideas related to their own departments and areas of expertise.
- Invest in your relationships. For instance, when you share a Reel, reach out to the team involved in the idea and thank them for their help.
- Encourage them to share Reels with their friends, family, and colleagues. This will increase the number of eyes on your content.
- See if other members of their team want to join in. Their colleagues may like the sound of creative work and be eager to get involved.
- Identify individual strengths. Who is the star? Who is great at coming up with creative ideas? Who has a natural flair for short-and-sweet messaging?
- Keep growing your creative team. Always look for new team members, whether for idea sharing or appearing in Reels.
Above all else, Meredith urges: “Be cognizant of their time, but use them as often as they’re willing.”
Invest in the Right Equipment
We’ve covered the people side of creating high-quality Reels. But if you produce engaging, sharable content, you must also invest in the right equipment for the job.
“A few pieces of good equipment really elevate the final product,” says Tony. “In a world where perception truly is reality, investing in good equipment is worth every new follower.”
Fortunately, you don’t need to splash the cash on a whole studio-quality setup. Tony recommends four pieces of equipment:
- Mics: “If it sounds good, people tend to think that it’s way better than it actually is. They’re able to hear the difference versus the onboard mic.”
- Lighting: “Good portable lighting, battery-powered, really helps to decrease the shadows in your video, but also make your actors look more lively and awake.”
- Gimbal: “A good gimbal is a wonderful way to take your film phone camera to the next level. It’s small and mighty, easy to use, and less intimidating than a gimbal that’s used with a full-size camera.”
- Camera: “Investing in a proper DSLR that has video and photo options gives you more diversity in your tool bag when it’s needed.”
Purchasing the right equipment improves your video quality. It also shows that you’re serious about content creation, encouraging your colleagues to get involved.
Meredith explains: “If they know that they’re going to look good and that we’re trying our best to make them look good, the trust goes way up.”
Want to discover more social media marketing best practices from other leading agencies? Register for one of our upcoming social media conferences.
Featured image by Freepik.
