By Molly Williams, Social Content Coordinator, Sheffield City Council Communications Team
More people use WhatsApp than any other social media messaging platform in the world according to Statista. Still, most UK local authorities aren’t using it to communicate with the public yet.
My advice is based on our experience – and that of other local authorities who helped us – alongside the research we’ve undertaken throughout our journey in developing this channel. It’s the guide I wish we had when we launched, and I hope it smooths your path to success.
This guide shows how your organisation can create a Channel, gain followers and keep them engaged on the smartphone app most used by UK adults (87% according to Ofcom’s Online Nation Report 2024).
Sheffield City Council was one of the first local authorities to set up a Channel in December 2023, just a few months after Meta launched the broadcast-only feature. After a trial period, we implemented a promotional campaign, gained verification and settled into a style that saw our following and engagement rocket.
To date, we’re the only core city council using WhatsApp Channels regularly and the only one with verification.
Check us out on WhatsApp here https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaGKyBjJuyAH8MKTtB1R.
What WhatsApp Channels are
The one-way broadcast channel is used by hundreds-of-millions of people globally to get direct updates from organisations and people including news publishers, authorities, sports clubs and celebrities.
Although a relatively new feature, it has great potential to reach widespread audiences with bitesize key messages in a way people trust – 82% of UK adults had a positive opinion about the app according to the latest 2025 YouGov data.
Some pros:
- as a one-way broadcasting channel, there are no comments to monitor
- post visibility isn’t based on an algorithm
- followers can switch channel notifications on to get alerts when there’s a new post or off
- emoji reactions can be unlimited, restricted to six default options, or switched off
- channel posts can be easily shared into WhatsApp chats that people trust the most (for example private friends and family or community chats)
- follower interaction is anonymous
- it’s very intuitive to use
Cons – the main drawback is limited analytics. You can only see insights for the last 30 days, but this might change as the feature develops.
Find more information about Channels on WhatsApp’s website.
Growing your channel
Our number of followers organically peaked at around 380 between launching in December 2023 and October 2024. During that time, we trialled various styles, formats, timing, length of captions, tone and content – mostly news and updates. We promoted it once on Facebook, Nextdoor, X and email bulletins.
Concerns about X prompted us to explore Channels, and other emerging platforms, in more depth.
Following a thorough review of ours and others’ channels – including helpful conversations with communications colleagues at West Lothian Council, South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue and Tower Hamlets Council – I started implementing a strategic promotional plan.
Unanimously, research suggested the best way to increase followers was to treat promotion like a mini campaign.
Some of the ways we, and other councils, did this were:
- regular posts with creative videos and photos on other social media platforms
- inclusion in the council’s biggest email bulletins
- an article on the council news website
- a banner on the council homepage
- a call to action in email signatures asking people to follow
- updating Linktrees, footers and other places listing ways to get information from the council
- internally asking staff to follow and spread the word within their networks
By far, the most effective way to grow followers was gaining verification.
Using some of the methods bulleted above, our followers increased by roughly 530 over five months before verification.
Within one month of verification, our followers rocketed by more than 1,225.
We found that we only appeared in the search once we were verified.
How to get verified
It took several attempts, hoop jumping and conversations with various people at Meta, but it was worth it.
West Lothian Council – the first council in the UK to be verified – provided invaluable advice on this.
To get your local authority channel verified:
- Request verification via Meta Support Pros for governments and non-profits here https://www.facebook.com/government-nonprofits/help (for this to work you need to be logged into Facebook on the same browser you’re accessing this link on)
- Be as clear and specific in your request as possible – imagine you are asking someone who doesn’t know who you are or what your organisation is
- The support team will get back to you and through what you need to do, this might take some back and forth
Bear in mind these key points:
- your Facebook, and Instagram if applicable, pages will need to be verified first
- make sure all your social media channels are linked in your Facebook bio
- use your .gov email address in communications with Meta Support Pros
- you will need to provide a copy of your work ID
- make sure you already have two-step verification set up on the mobile device of the WhatsApp Channel owner
Improving engagement
As with all social platforms, a mix of content works best to keep the channel fresh and interesting.
Content can be photos, videos, polls, GIFs, voice notes and more but there is no alt text feature, so you need to add alt text to your caption.
We found posts with short captions, a simple social tone, well-composed high-res images and polls were most engaged with.
Long formal text with no line spaces, posts without images or multiple images and more than one link per post performed worst.
It can be challenging to maintain consistency and best practice for every post when there are lots of admins who have various priorities outside of social media.
To address this, we:
- created a one-page simple style guide with an extra page of visual examples and simple written instructions
- set up a Teams chat for WhatsApp admins to peer check each other to ensure posts were consistent and styled for the platform and people learned from each other
- delivered training to admins introducing Channels and covering best practice, how to use it and why we are using it that was recorded and made available to revisit
- set a one post per day rule while people got to grips with the new way of posting and to not overwhelm followers
- trialled news, alerts and strategic positive content before bringing in limited campaign messaging
Takeaway
WhatsApp Channels is an exciting feature with a promising future for communications, news publishers and others wanting to directly communicate key messages with their audiences.
It could be a very useful tool if you’re willing to put some time to get it rolling.
We’re continually working to grow our channel to reach more of our citizens and we’re proud of how much it’s progressed already.
I hope this guide has been inspiring and empowering and that we see more councils join Channels soon!
You can find me on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/molly-williams-b41520216/