Introducing: The Zencity 360 Comms Toolkit

If a new park has been built and no one knows about it, does the park exist? We don’t mean to get too philosophical here; the answer is obviously yes, the park exists. But if the community doesn’t know about it, the park might remain empty, and residents will be left wondering how their tax dollars are spent or just oblivious to the new green space they could enjoy.

One of the most common challenges shared with us by our local government partners is around communication efforts. First, the need to communicate effectively and compellingly. Second, the burden this takes on staff time and resources. 

This work falls to the communications team – a team tasked with monitoring the 24-hour news cycle and never-ending conversations on social media and, crucially, responding to emerging issues. Moreover, the Comms team is also tasked with proactive communications about new facilities, programs, events, and basically everything the organization wants its residents to know about. 

That’s a lot of work, hours, and tasks that, despite being essential, can get repetitive. 

Comms people, we hear you and we see you. We are here to augment your communication efforts with a suite of new Zencity tools to make Comms work more efficient, effective, and impactful. 

Publishing Tool

Imagine this: You’ve been alerted by Zencity 360 to a peak in negative sentiment around waste management. Further investigation in the dashboard informs you that residents are confused about the new waste management schedule and are expressing their discontent online. 

No need to switch tabs to your Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts. Now, you can address the confusion directly from Zencity 360 and share more about the waste collection schedule. You can schedule posts for the following week to remind residents of the changes in waste collection services and pre-empt frustration from resurfacing. Get yourself a coffee (or tea, we’re agnostic when it comes to beverages), and check your dashboard again to see that negative red sentiment shifting to green positive sentiment!

With our new Publishing tool, you can:

• Communicate with residents directly from your Zencity 360 platform.
• Plan, draft, schedule, and publish posts across your social media platforms.
• Connect as many accounts as you want; include as many users as you need.
• Use ChatGPT to effortlessly write polished social media posts. 

Social Media Analytics

Remember that post you shared about the new waste collection schedule? It turns out that the Parks and Recreation Facebook Page generated limited traction, but when the Library shared the same post on Instagram, engagement went through the virtual roof! Is Instagram a better platform for such updates, or is the Library particularly popular with your residents? Has engagement increased since you posted about waste collection, and should you do this regularly? If only there were a way to get answers to all of these questions right there on the platform… Well, you know where we’re headed with this.

Zencity’s new Social Media Analytics tool collects, analyzes, and displays the essential metrics from multiple social media channels in your Zencity 360 platform.

Examples of how to use the Social Media Analytics tool include:

• Publish a post and check in later to see how it performed.
• You can filter by date, account, or platform for a granular view or aggregate to track overall performance and assess the effectiveness of your social media strategy.
• Get the full picture of your communication and messaging strategy to ensure your work is as impactful as possible.

Press Release Generator

Writing a press release is an essential part of communications work, but it takes time and effort and, let’s be honest, can be repetitive. 

Zencity’s new AI-driven Press Release Generator is the first of its kind. We’ve embedded ChatGPT into our platform. This update allows you to create professional-grade press releases in a matter of minutes with minimal effort and editing.

It’s as simple as providing the information you want to be included, instructions for adding quotes, and the tone of the press release. The Press Release Generator will create a draft for you to review, edit where necessary, and share on the relevant channels.