Complete communications overhaul for the Embassy of the Netherlands in Jordan

The government of the Netherlands had just committed over 200 million euros in development aid to Jordan. In less than year, the embassy transitioned from a mission with a limited scope to an entity that needs to manage a development budget of over 80 million euros annually. That’s when I came on board as a Press & Cultural Affair Officer. My role was directly involved with increasing the visibility of the Netherlands in a highly saturated donor country. Since then, I have spearheaded the process of developing two multi-annual communication strategies for the embassy (2019-2022 and 2023-2026). Being responsible for communications as well as public diplomacy and cultural affairs meant that I’d be responsible for two extremely critical things, communications and money. I’d manage communication strategies as well as funds to implement activities with local partners

So, how did I do it?

Building an adaptable yet worthy communications and public diplomacy strategy

After much discussion and coordination with management, including the Ambassador and the policy team which consisted of 13 policy officers, we decided on the following communication and public diplomacy goals:

1. To create a positive image of the Netherlands and promote the country as an innovative, creative, successful and friendly nation;
2. To initiate and engage in meaningful dialogue with key stakeholders to enhance the mutual understanding between both countries/citizens;
3. To increase awareness of the Netherlands and its support to Jordan.

Once those were established, I identified three key areas that would help us achieve our goals:

Step 1. Simplify Dutch programming through written and visual material

The embassy didn’t have a consistent tone of voice or messaging before I joined. This was needed since we had a comprehensive development programme that would entail the Netherlands working in 5 strategic policy areas, in 12 governorates, with over 40+ local and international partners. There was a lot to communicate, but we needed to make sure that it was consistent in tone and easy to understand.

Factsheets

I created a factsheet for every policy priority. This enabled us to distill complex policy goals into easily digestible pieces that made it simple for our target audiences to grasp. These were available online and as hard copies, ready to hand out to key stakeholders such as government, the media, and potential partners at events or bilateral meetings.

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Website

The embassy’s website had been neglected for years and didn’t reflect the embassy’s expanded programmatic role in Jordan. It was also extremely under-utilized, despite the increased interest in the Netherlands in Jordan.

I restructured the website and re-wrote the content to reflect the embassy’s new role – that of being one of Jordan’s main development cooperation partners. Previously, visitors had to scavenge the website for information on Dutch policy priorities. Now, they are placed front and center.

Step 2. Increase engagement with key stakeholders and target audiences

With the embassy active in numerous policy areas, it was important to identify our key stakeholders and prioritize our areas of focus. This was done collaboratively with policy officers as they are the subject matter experts. We identified the following general groups, which were then further specified per policy area:  

• Influentials: those whose views have a ‘ripple effect’ throughout society because their opinions resonate with large numbers of people, or are able to influence policy making. These include: political leaders, civil-servants, academics, business men and women, content creators, journalists and more.
• Refugees: The Netherlands primary focus in Jordan was on the safe and humane reception of refugees. Therefore, it was crucial that refugees were one of our main target groups. By engaging more closely with them, we were able to build activities that cater to their needs.
• Youth: With 65% of Jordan’s population under the age of 35, it was a no thinker that we had to engage more with youth – the leaders of tomorrow.
• Women.
• Human Rights Defenders: The Hague is renowned as a global center for justice.  Even before the embassy’s expanded program in Jordan, the Netherlands had a long history of providing support and funding for Jordan’s human rights community. It was therefore very important for us to continue to engage with them.

Step 3. Overhaul social media strategy

With the new communications plan in place, it was time to start promoting the Netherlands!

The embassy was already present on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram but with no clear strategy dictating how content was created or used. Over the past 5 years, I have led the process of developing the embassy’s social media strategy twice (Once in 2020 and again, in 2023). It was based on a lot of trial and error, and monitoring what works and what simply, doesn’t!

This wasn’t always a straight forward process. Back in 2020, we finalised the new strategy and began producing fun and creative content. The engagement on our posts was unprecedented and we were growing our followers faster than ever. Then, covid-19 hit and we had to rethink everything. Our priorities shifted from program posts to communicating time-sensitive information to ensure Dutch nationals and tourists in Jordan were keeping informed on the latest updates.

In 2023, we finalized a new strategy centered on a three-pronged content approach: informative posts about Dutch programming in Jordan, light-hearted and entertaining posts that feature embassy staff, and cultural nods. Again, we experienced unprecedented engagement. Our followers especially loved our #traineetuesdays series that highlighted the adventures and escapades of Dutch trainees during their six-month traineeship in Jordan.

Although the embassy is active on all three platforms for various reasons, our main focus for growing our audience has been Instagram. Since 2019, I have helped the embassy increase its Instagram followers from 382 to 4,000, a growth of 947%.