4/12/2018

“ It is essential that Local Action Groups make use of communication tools such as social media to highlight the endogenous resources of the territories, attract people and transmit the benefits of the rural environment and the territory in general ,” as Lourdes Barona, Deputy Assistant Director of Rural Environment Promotion at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food , stated at the opening of the workshop. This is the main reason why the National Rural Network promotes this type of action.

Innovative communication tools

How to use different social media platforms? Whether through text, video, images, or a combination of all of these, each tool has its own language that enables successful communication, according to Guadalupe Talavera of Dialoga Consultores. Selecting good content , posting at the right time , and using the right format are essential steps.

Despite the differences that characterize each of the available digital tools, it has been mentioned that the common factor in content must be that it be clear, simple, relatable, and engaging . Images , meanwhile, must be current and of good quality , and videos must be short, emotional, and explanatory.

New ideas and inspiration

“In every communication we make, we appeal to emotions,” said Elisabeth López, a technician at Adecobel, a GAL in Campo de Belchite (Zaragoza) . At Adecobel, we believe that by following an emotion-based communication strategy, we can reach a wider population, raise awareness, and thus create a more inclusive territory. In this regard, direct, colloquial, and relatable language, characterized by a humorous and joyful tone, highlighting the achievements and strengths of the territory, are the guidelines Adecobel follows in its communication strategy.

Basic guidelines

The meeting served as a space for joint reflection on how to develop a communication plan . Led by Diego Pontones, communications manager for the Spanish Rural Development Network , attendees completed an exercise to reinforce these guidelines :

• Set clear goals: what we want to achieve;
• Discovering our audience: who they are, where they are;
• Define our message: what we communicate and how;
• Networking: Who to Follow;
• Adapt our message to the audience and the medium;
• Audience loyalty and engagement (engagement);
• Choose our profiles;
• Establish a publication schedule;
• Integration of other aspects of communication/synergies;
• Web, press releases, media relations;
• Putting the plan into practice: hiring or self-management;
• Measure results to better define our Plan.