The local authority fund has been using webcasts to promote transparency and engage the workforce to encourage member satisfaction and employer co-operation
How to run webcasts effectively
Conduct market research to gauge members' appetite for interactivity;
Target design and language of communication campaigns accordingly;
Record all webcasts and edit for YouTube; and
Remove jargon and choose a "star" scheme representative the audience can relate to.
The scheme started webcasting five years ago. But it has recently used Facebook and Twitter to invite feedback from its 162,000 members.
The online meetings are part of the government's push for transparency.
The scheme, which has 180 employers, also noted knock-on benefits in encouraging employer accountability and timely transfer of member data, enabling it to pay member benefits more quickly.
Gary Chapman, head of administration at SYPA, said: “It’s an opportunity for members and employers to interact while the meeting is going on to get their thoughts across to the councillors."
Schemes that are able to engage their members and employers improve the service they offer and promote member satisfaction.
South Yorkshire’s webcasting
The live meetings discuss the investment fund choices and returns, ethical investments and the administration of the £4.5bn scheme’s 127,000 active and 35,000 deferred members.
Video is direct and compelling to use
Leon Kaplan, South Yorkshire
Leon Kaplan, information manager at SYPA, said: “Video is direct and compelling to use. It transcends problems of literacy and brings a directness and authenticity to communication, essential to build trust in democracy.”
Emails to members and messages on payslips encourage them to tune in to the webcast, which is kept in an archive and uploaded to YouTube.
More than 80 per cent of viewings came from watching the archived footage within two days of the first showing.
“It’s where all the juicy decisions are made,” Kaplan said.
The SYPA webcasts have the facility to carry out snap polls and surveys to engage the audience as much as possible.
There is also the facility to include who is watching and why.
Kaplan said the scheme would be putting out a lot of advanced publicity ahead of October’s meeting and, with trustees, reviewing ways to make the agenda more attractive to members.
“The approach must be different from the traditional physical meeting. The online audience is different," he added.
“People have to come together physically to take decisions about the scheme. A meeting must appeal. People want things they can interact with and provide an opinion on.”
SYPA consulted and communicated with the members to see the appetite for the webcast.
Chapman said it was a good way to engage South Yorkshire’s employers of different sizes to transfer data more efficiently. This can improve the ability of the scheme to provide benefits.
“The new [local government] scheme is likely to beef up the governance arrangement and include employers more in the decision-making process than it is now," he said.
“The webcast is a way to achieve some of that before the regulations make it more mandatory.”
Imaginative engagement
Members must be aware of the webcast for members to benefit.
Schemes need to build a context to avoid launching something cold
Alex Thurley-Ratcliffe, Shilling
Alex Thurley-Ratcliffe, strategic consultant at Shilling, advised schemes to follow SYPA's lead and always record webcasts and upload to YouTube afterwards.
“Where web work is concerned, schemes need to build a context to avoid launching something cold," he said.
“A member who has not heard anything for two or three years apart from the odd statement, then launching an all singing all dancing website expecting people to switch on and suddenly get engaged, is the wrong way to go about it.”
A rule of thumb in advertising is that it takes five attempts at communicating a message before those targeted are aware of it.
Thurley-Ratcliffe suggested schemes should be consistent and pick up to three key messages to get across, instead of overwhelming members with all available pensions information.
He suggested postcards could be sent to the members’ home address, with the language and design targeted according to the demographic of the member.
To ensure success, the schemes should first find out what members want and how they want messages communicated.
Kaplan advised: “Look for champions in the scheme – people who can really talk with a bit of passion and get them to speak off the cuff, from the heart rather than trying to script it.
“Most organisations will know who the stars are. Choose ordinary people, not always the top raft. People like to listen to people like them.”
