City of Newcastle’s Have Your Say platform was designed to strengthen community engagement, but the content wasn’t delivering. Despite producing a large volume of material, ROI was low, and engagement skewed to older demographics. The team recognised their content felt “dry” and failed to connect with broader audiences. They needed a clear strategy and practical tools to increase reach, diversify participation, and position the council as a trusted source of truth in community conversations.

We developed an organic social media strategy aligned with the City of Newcastle’s community engagement objectives. The focus was on creating content that was clear, contextual and accessible - moving away from technical updates toward material that encouraged participation and built trust. To enable the internal team, we designed a comprehensive library of social media tiles and carousel templates. These gave staff the tools to deliver content consistently, confidently and at scale, while maintaining alignment with council messaging and brand identity.

Within the first two months of launching the new strategy and templates, City of Newcastle’s organic channels showed strong improvement. Engagement rates increased, follower growth accelerated, and the quality of interactions shifted toward more constructive participation. While still early, the data indicates the council is on track to achieve its goals of broader reach, stronger brand awareness and a more diverse community voice in decision-making.