|
Is your community in the right frame?
Imagine you walk into an art gallery, what do you see? There might be works of handcrafted painted scenes or sculptures that contain the most delicate details, or even interactive displays that work to teach you a concept. Now let's think more profoundly: if you stopped in front of a painting at this art gallery, there might be something added to the art that would enhance its message or content. The frame’s color, texture, or visual appeal helps complement the actual art you view. Although it's not every day that we visit an art gallery, we come across works of "art" every day. I’m talking about carefully crafted words, images, and videos produced specifically to draw residents to your social media platforms. Every variation of post can be considered another form of art with one focus: to generate attention and educate the audience on a new issue. This occurs through an idea called framing theory. This allows posts to have specific outlines or frames that influence audiences' thoughts, viewpoints, or opinions on the content. Framing theory is critical to recognize. Its nature allows your town to produce more focused content. In return, groups being showcased too will find this more appealing. Audience members tend to respond with posts that hook their interest and attract their attention. Framing Theory helps you tailor your content to your target market before publication. Ask yourself, will my audience benefit from this post, or will it push them away? For example: say you are writing an article on behalf of your local government, residents generally do not support the use of aerial fireworks, and you are covering an accident involving fireworks. It would not be a good thing to have the running headline, "Fireworks give an impressive display as they burn down warehouse." This connotation will speak badly to your audience; a framed headline consistent with your audience's viewpoint would read something like, "Hazardous fireworks burn down warehouse." Framing theory allows a local government to resonate with its residents’ wants, needs, and viewpoints, which helps the organization maintain positive interaction with their audiences. Furthermore, audiences will be willing to engage more with framed items to catch their attention, just like a painting catches their eye in a gallery. Understanding the frame is sometimes just as important as the content of the art itself. It can make or break grabbing the attention of a group. |
Further reading
      |
For more information on how Cobalt can help you adapt and thrive in the changing demographic, economic and social environment, visit the Cobalt website or reach out to us by email. Let us know if you need anything at all for benchmarking or research data; we are here for you.
Cobalt Community Research is a national 501c3 nonprofit, non-partisan coalition that helps local governments, schools and membership organizations measure, benchmark, and affordably engage communities through high-quality metrics, mobile geofencing data, surveys, and dynamic population segmentation. Cobalt combines big data with local insights to help organizations thrive as changes emerge in the economic, demographic and social landscape. Explore how we can help by calling 877.888.0209, or by emailing [email protected].
Cobalt Community Research is a national 501c3 nonprofit, non-partisan coalition that helps local governments, schools and membership organizations measure, benchmark, and affordably engage communities through high-quality metrics, mobile geofencing data, surveys, and dynamic population segmentation. Cobalt combines big data with local insights to help organizations thrive as changes emerge in the economic, demographic and social landscape. Explore how we can help by calling 877.888.0209, or by emailing [email protected].