The Light Mobility Cluster had the opportunity to participate in the event organised by 3Cat.

The communication project managers of the clusters attended the 3Cat workshop on the creation and management of communities on 12 March. This series of sessions, organised by the Catalan Public Radio and Television, aimed to connect with consumers and explain how certain aspects of their work help to reach and engage audiences. Although the experience of the Corporació Catalana de Mitjans Audiovisuals (CCMA) is not directly applicable to the clusters, participants were able to gather ideas and suggestions for our daily work.

The day began with a tour of the facilities, including a production room, the Els Matins studio (where a live show was taking place) and the news studio.

The main presentation took place in the L'Està Passant studio, where Dani Hernández, Director of the Corporate Strategy Office and the Government Council, explained that TV3 has been at the heart of Catalan society for 40 years. Recently, however, there has been a proliferation of channels, new technologies and large platforms that have multiplied the content on offer and now represent significant competition. Despite this disruption, TV3 has also had to face a change in the way viewers consume media. As a result, the public broadcaster had to consider transformation, and over the past three years the CCMA has been developing a strategic plan to adapt to the changing and evolving environment. The aim is twofold:

Understanding citizens better - This has led to the creation of the Citizenship Hub, which analyses why and how consumers interact with the channel's content.

Connecting them to CCMA's content - Broadcasting through the channels most used by the population.

In her turn, Judith Argila, Head of Community Generation at 3Cat, explained that their strategy is to be where the audience is. Judith explained how they've adapted their content creation to different environments, how they work with formats that encourage participation and interaction, and how they connect with their communities by making themselves a reference in their daily lives. The key points of her presentation were:

Loyalty: Social media requires more natural and relatable content, so one way to reach the audience is to find "faces" they can relate to and create many pieces to promote the personalities of the network. She gave examples such as pieces about La Travessa, Fuet, interviews with Ricard Ustrell/Juliana Canet or personal stories of anonymous people. Judith stressed that it's important for the audience to identify with the person telling the story.

Originality: Pieces need to be transformed and created, but they also need to be original; experimenting with formats is necessary. Content series keep audiences engaged and coming back to the platform. Examples include the MWC 2024 presentation, videos with sensibility such as the 2023 Women's Champions League final, and animated videos.

Community: It's important to know who's on the other side and to give them a voice and visibility so they feel identified, creating a community. Examples given were spontaneous conversations between two women on the beach talking about TV3 shows, the 15th anniversary of WhatsApp, and the similarities between a CCMA presenter and a piece of Catalan folk art. Judith also mentioned that they produce videos based on current events (like a special on the death of the creator of Bola de Drac - this kind of content has to be made in the moment, not planned or done later). "The day something happens that everyone is talking about, we are there with them".

The presentation was followed by a question and answer session, and the speakers drew the following conclusions

It's important to be bold and decide what to start with and what can be produced for users to consume. Social media production is not expensive, so if something doesn't work, it can be stopped and moved to another medium or format. Often, old content can be repurposed if it fits into the current conversation. As long as it's useful, it will be well received. Content should be relatable and identifiable to the user.

To explain what a cluster is, you don't need to focus on it directly. The user's need isn't "what is it" but "how can it help me? So it's better to focus the message so that the explanation of what a cluster is is secondary. An example would be a press release about a success story that the user is interested in, with an added explanation of how it was achieved thanks to the cluster.

It's "how it's communicated" rather than "what it's communicated" that engages the audience. It's also important to find the "face" that conveys the message.

It's crucial to follow a method: what do we want to explain, to whom, through which channel and how. There's no one-size-fits-all solution.

The day ended with a networking session where participants were able to exchange ideas, gain inspiration and make new professional contacts.

You can watch the video summary of the event.