ACEM External Communications Policy

COR607

 

 

The purpose of this policy is to provide guidance to College members, trainees, and employees in the use of ACEM’s communications channels.

 

Member communications

refers to all information communicated or shared with a group of members or multiple groups of members, and generally includes email, website, Electronic Direct Mail (EDM emails) and social channels.

Member

means a means a person admitted as a member of the College pursuant to the provisions of the ACEM Constitution and associated regulations.

Trainee

means a person enrolled in and undertaking an ACEM training program and, for the purposes of this policy, Specialist International Medical Graduates (SIMGs) undertaking College requirements for the purpose of attaining eligibility for election to Fellowship of the College.

Employee

means any employee or contractor engaged by the College.

External Communications

means materials produced by the College for external audiences (i.e., not College members, trainees or employees), including media releases, publications, print collateral, digital content (including multimedia content and social media).

 

The College’s communication objectives as approved by the ACEM Board are:

1. to provide timely, relevant, and consistent communication and engagement to members, trainees, employees, and key external stakeholders.
2. to provide members, trainees and employees with the necessary information to undertake their role (e.g. Continuing Professional Development, training etc).
3. to engage members, trainees, employees and external stakeholders with the ACEM brand to promote the College and its initiatives.
4. to create awareness and understanding of ACEM’s position on key issues and policy matters.
5. to build the profile of ACEM, its entities, members and trainees.

 

4. Principles

To meet the above-mentioned objectives, all College communications are to be delivered through the Communications and Media Division, within the Membership and Engagement Department.

This includes all media relations, use of official College social media channels, use of the ACEM brand, marketing collateral and all College print and digital communications channels, including newsletters and bulk emails.

The following principles apply to the College’s communications channels:

• College-wide external communication is managed and maintained by the Communications and Media Division.
• The Communications and Media Division provides and coordinates the channels, tools and templates to support timely and consistent communication.
• The Executive Director, Membership and Engagement, in consultation with the General Manager, Communications and Media, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and ACEM President, approves the creation of new communication channels.
• All teams have a shared responsibility for providing information to inform communications that reinforce their areas of accountability.
• All communication should be consistent with, and reflective of the ACEM purpose, brand, culture and values.
• All communication should consistently represent ACEM’s desired brand attributes, personality and identity.
• All bulk email communication (i.e. emails being sent to more than one membership group, or more than 50 recipients) is sent via the agreed email platform so that subscription and analytics can be managed.
• Communications will value the audience's time – communications or new channels will not be created without a clear purpose, and all communications kept succinct.
• Communications should prioritise and consider relevance and usefulness for target audience, where possible, using case studies, data or research to create deeper engagement, credibility and interest.
• The College communicates in an open and transparent manner unless there are clear commercial, regulatory or legal reasons for confidentiality.
• Where possible, repetition of key information through different channels, via coordinated ‘campaigns’ should occur to ensure that key messages are received (that is heard, read, absorbed) by the target audience.

4.1 Standards

All communication must:

1. endeavor to be clear and concise in meaning, avoiding jargon and explaining acronyms;
2. be delivered in a timely manner using appropriate tone and channels;
3. be relevant to the audience, including an awareness of cultural or diversity sensitivities, and having due regards to geographical differences;
4. create opportunities for members, trainees, employees and others to provide feedback, indicate preferences with regard to College communications and provide input; and
5. adhere to brand identity and tone.

 

5. Brand Policy

The ACEM brand is the sum of the feeling and opinions that people have of the College. The aim is to influence people’s opinions and feelings through brand positioning and identity that reflects how the College wants to be perceived. The brand identity includes the name, logo, language and visual appearance, and is key in external and member communication.

• All College communication activities should reinforce the positioning of ACEM as a credible, professional organisation through the content and visual appeal.
• All marketing and communications (print and digital) must adhere to the ACEM Style Guide, which outlines the use of the:
  • logo;
  • colour palette;
  • typography or font; and
  • photography and graphics.
• All marketing and communications (print and digital) must adhere to the ACEM Writing Style Guide, which outlines the:
  • tone of Voice; and
  • language style.
• The Communications and Media Division in consultation with the CEO and ACEM President provides brand approval for all external, member and trainee communications.
• No changes can be made to the ACEM Style Guide without the endorsement of the Executive Director, Membership and Engagement and General Manager, Communications and Media, in consultation with the President and CEO.
• Use of the College logo must adhere to the Use of the College Logo Policy and, where applicable, approval to use the College logo obtained in accordance with the provisions of that policy.
• No new logos are to be created without the express direction and endorsement of the ACEM Board.

 

6. Member/Trainee Communications

6.1 Bulk Emails

ACEM has two types of bulk emails:

• E-newsletters / Bulletins
• Special alerts / Updates

The guidelines for bulk emails include:

• The General Manager, Communications and Media, in consultation with the Executive Director, Membership and Engagement, CEO and/or President as required needs to approve the creation of any new bulk email.
• Development of new channels and communications approaches must be undertaken in consultation with the General Manager, Communications and Media, Executive Director, Membership and Engagement and with the approval of the Executive Leadership Team and/or CEO.
• All scheduled bulk emails are sent via Mailchimp, to ensure privacy standards, data management and analytics requirements are adhered to.
• All bulk emails will be managed via a schedule coordinated by the Communications and Media Division and approved by the CEO or Executive Leadership Team.
• All bulk emails will be brand aligned and follow the approved template.
• Ordinarily no more than two bulk emails are to be sent to ACEM members (or a subset of the membership or trainee cohort) per week.
• Exceptions outside the schedule apply for bulk emails requested by the President, ACEM Board and/or CEO when communication(s) to the membership (or a subset of the membership or trainee cohort) is required urgently.
• Bulk emails should be kept to a readable length and format.
• Bulk emails should be designed to be mobile responsive.

6.1.1 E-newsletters, Bulletins

Regularly scheduled emails are used to communicate general information to a large group of people or multiple groups of people, with a focus on, but not limited to:

• College operations;
• Education, training and assessments;
• Call for nominations/Expressions of Interest;
• Trainee news, Governing body and entity updates;
• Network updates;
• Faculty updates;
• The ACEM Foundation;
• College events;
• Job and event advertisements; and
• College policy and ongoing advocacy.

6.2 Website

The ACEM website is used to share general information about the College to a broad range of stakeholders including members, trainees and the general public. The focus of website content is education and training program information, corporate information, ACEM profile, advocacy and public research.

• The website functionality, navigation and content is managed and maintained by the Communications and Media Division.
• The website platform and operational performance is managed and maintained by the ICT Team.
• No changes to the site navigation can be created without the express direction and endorsement of the Executive Leadership Team or CEO.
• Content (including PDFs and forms) is the responsibility of the various subject matter experts / teams, and responsibility lies with the owner to review and update content at least twice per year, or otherwise as required. Required updates or changes, or the creation of new pages should be briefed to the Communications and Media Division using the web update request form on the College intranet.

6.3 Members’ Portal

The member portal (My ACEM) is used to share specific information with members and trainees with a focus on members’ details, fees, education, training and assessment processes. This specifically relates to content on the home page of the member portal, not content within the functionality of the member portal.

• The functionality, navigation and content of My ACEM is managed and maintained primarily by the ICT team, with the Communications and Media Division responsible for building and maintaining some aspects and pages (ie., expressions of interest, election pages and the uploading of communiqués for the ACEM Board and College councils).
• The platform and operational performance of My ACEM is managed and maintained by the ICT Team.
• No changes to the site navigation can be created without agreement of the General Manager, ICT and the Deputy CEO. 
• Content (including PDFs and forms) is owned by various subject matter experts / teams, and responsibility lies with the owner to review and update content at least twice per year, or otherwise as required. Required updates or changes, or creation of new pages should be briefed to the Communications and Media Division, or ICT Team, depending on area of responsibility.

6.4 Determining content for the ACEM website or My ACEM

The intention is that the College does not duplicate information on the ACEM website and My ACEM. To determine where the information best fits, the following questions are considered:

• Does the information help to positively profile ACEM or one of its key strategic priorities or identified advocacy issues? If yes, the content is to be considered for publishing on the ACEM website.
• Does the information assist members, trainees and interested stakeholders understand details about ACEM’s training programs including CPD programs? If yes, the content is to be considered for publishing on the ACEM website.
• Is it critical that the content is restricted to members or trainees? If no, the content is published on the ACEM website.
• Are there any privacy or legal implications that mean the content could not be made available to the general public? If yes, the information is to be provided on My ACEM.

 

7. Social Media

ACEM uses social media to build communities for its members, trainees, employees and the general public to interact and connect with the College. The profiles act as a hub of information and generate content for the rest of the network to share, raise awareness of ACEM’s work and support its members and trainees. For further information, refer to the ACEM Social Media Policy (COR345).

 

Media relations incorporates media inquiries, releases, comment and briefings. For further information, refer to the ACEM Media Policy (COR90)

 

On occasion, ACEM may engage in digital advertising to promote a key College activity or position, for example advertising the ACEM Annual Scientific Meeting.

 

Where capacity does not exist within the Communications and Media Division, third party suppliers may occasionally be used to support the development and delivery of a range of communications and media activities across the College.

 

• ACEM Media Policy (COR90)
• Social Media Policy (COR345)
• ACEM Writing Style Guide
• ACEM Style Guide

Use of the College Logo Policy (COR449)