Your Council Website as a Community Engagement Tool
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Mark Tomkins is back on the podcast — this time for a follow-up to his Assertion 10 session. The question now: once the website is compliant, how do you actually use it? Mark strips away the jargon and lays out what works for turning your council's website from a legal tick-box into a genuine community engagement tool.
He covers signposting and making the homepage do the heavy lifting (the six-button pattern for the questions you're asked most often); why Word and PDF "forms" create barriers rather than removing them; using Facebook well by going where people are and sending them back to your website for anything you want to measure; the case for turning Facebook comments off and the GDPR traps lurking in WhatsApp groups; and how navigation and "mega menus" can position the council as a genuine community hub — news, local groups, events, consultations, all in one place.
At the back half, John reads listener questions on alternatives to SurveyMonkey, balancing multiple channels as Facebook loses the younger generation, and the great comments-on / comments-off debate. Plus Mark's pay-it-forward answer (fighter pilot, colour-blindness notwithstanding) and a hobby-themed question for the next guest. Recorded April 2026.
