GovDelivery | Reach The Public

Facebook’s Top 10 for Government

By Mary Yang, Marketing Communications Manager, GovDelivery

At GovDelivery’s October 19^th social media conference in Washington, DC, more than 300 attendees received some valuable tips on Facebook usage by government agencies from Adam Conner, Associate Manager of Public Policy at Facebook.

His engaging, fast-paced and helpful presentation included his top 10 “musts” for governments using Facebook to get their message out. We thought it’d be great to share with those who weren’t able to attend the event. Here’s a summary of those tips:

Speak with an authentic voice. Government agencies and organizations often tend to converse (both in-person and online) in a formal tone. No one actually talks like that anymore, and, more importantly, the average citizen would probably tune out if you did. Social networks, especially Facebook, are designed to be virtual hangouts. If you want to be where your audience is, you need to talk like you belong there.
Deliver your message. Before you post something, think about how your content will appear on Facebook or other social networks. You’ve got one shot at delivering your message, so enhance what you’re posting with a pithy title or headline. Add an appropriate image; be sure to hit on your key messages; and offer a link for more information. Adam noted specifically on this tip that “a click is a bonus,” which is a great point. As long as your message is out there, someone will see it and consume it.
Be timely and informative. Part of being a part of a social network is the immediacy of the channel. Let’s face it: people pay attention to breaking news, because it’s new and different. Providing timely information through Facebook means more people will pay attention.
Comments are here to stay. Many government agencies and organizations ask Facebook if it’s possible to turn off the Comments feature. They’re hesitant about receiving negative feedback or inadvertently breaking the law by having a citizen comment inappropriately on Facebook. But, alas, the Comments function cannot be turned off on Facebook. Adam stated in his presentation, “Facebook doesn’t work without comments.” His point is that Facebook’s Comments feature is integral to the activity within the social network, allowing people to voice their opinion, confirm their interest and show their personality. What you can do is provide a Comments Policy that spells out the commenting behavior that you expect from the public. You can also use a profanity or moderation filter to give you a little more control over the kind of language posted to your updates. Or, as another option, you can turn off your Wall – but then getting your message out becomes much harder.
Multimedia. Use photos and videos to help deliver your message in an impactful way. This doesn’t mean you need to have professional photographers everywhere. You can tap your archives for historical content that is relevant today. For instance, Adam noted that the US National Archives posted a photo of the destruction Hurricane Katrina made on the anniversary of Katrina, while the East Coast was dealing with Hurricane Irene. This was timely, relevant content – even if the photo itself was 6 years old.
Adam Conner, showing the full list of government agency pages on Facebook.
Words can have power, too. Multimedia is a huge part of social media, but don’t forget that words can have power. If the activity or moment calls for a dialogue or discussion, then words are helpful. Adam used an example of US ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford, and one note he posted denouncing the Syrian regime while answering questions and responding to comments that others had made about his stance on Syria. This generated intense buzz and was an interesting communications vehicle for the ambassador to get his key messages out to the public to generate support and interest.
Use Facebook Insights. Facebook recently revamped their Insights feature, the analytics tool that helps you track your “Likes” over time; interactions with your page; messages with the most impressions and feedback; etc. We also recently blogged about the new and improved Insights tool. Read more on Reach the Public.
Facebook is more than just facebook.com. Facebook isn’t just your agency’s page or the number of likes you have. With the immense growth over the past few years, you can now leverage Facebook on your website via Facebook widgets, mobile integration so you can update your status with a text message, and customizable apps. Adam pointed out San Francisco’s 311 Customer Service Center app, hosted on their Facebook page, as an example. They created an app for Facebook that leveraged their customer service request forms so the citizens of San Francisco could report a pothole to the city on Facebook. The main point: Facebook helps you create interactions and engagement across the web.
Secure your accounts. Adam was insistent on this point and emphasized that October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month. His main point was simple: do not use the same password. Do not use the same password for your Facebook account as you would for Twitter or YouTube or your government email address. It’s not secure, and being in government, security is extremely important.
Resources for Government. Adam provided a number of additional resources for government.

State & Local governments. Facebook provides an amended set of terms for State & Local government pages. View them here.
Security with DTM-09-026. The Department of Defense (DoD) outlines their policy and guidelines for the effective use of social networking. This DTM applies to all agencies within the DoD. If Facebook is blocked for your agency, this will tell you why.
Archiving capabilities. There isn’t an archiving tool within Facebook, but Adam offered up two options: Backupify, which backs up and restores data from popular online services (Google Apps, Facebook, Twitter, etc.), and Nextpoint, which develops “cloud-based technology for legal and compliance needs.”
Interagency cooperation. Government agencies and organizations should remember that interagency cooperation on social networks can reap great rewards. Like with the unique GovDelivery Network, which allows different agencies and organizations to cross-promote their content and subscriptions to broaden their reach, interagency cooperation on social networks can help your agency increase its effectiveness.

Such great takeaways, don’t you think? What’s new and what are you already doing with your organization’s presence on Facebook? Are these tips helpful? Let us know what you think in the comments!

You can download Adam’s presentation from Slideshare. And stay tuned. We’re hoping to get some videos from Adam’s presentation up soon!

adam conner, citizen, communications, engagement, Facebook, Gov 2.0, government, outreach, social media, technology, web 2.0

Why face-to-face events about digital communications are important

September 19th, 2011 | Posted by Mary Yang for GovDelivery in Federal Government | GovDelivery | Government 2.0 | Social Media - (0 Comments)

By Mary Yang, Marketing Communications Manager, GovDelivery

With increased budget pressures and constraints on our schedules with expanding workloads, finding time to attend a face-to-face event is difficult. Not that there are many face-to-face events anymore: studies show that 60% of US marketers are planning to increase their spend on virtual events while 42% plan to decrease their spend around physical events and conferences.

That’s unfortunate.

While we live and work in a digital world, there is a definite need for face-to-face events that promote interaction, collaboration and networking. In fact, Facebook’s own Mark Zuckerberg believes that.

In David Kirkpatrick’s The Facebook Effect, he recounts this very idea: “Popular though it may be, Facebook was never intended as a substitute for face-to-face communication…it has always been explicitly conceived and engineered by Zuckerberg and colleagues as a tool to enhance your relationships with the people you know in the flesh – your real-world friends, acquaintances, classmates, or co-workers.”

The idea is so simple but revelatory when I think of how social media has drastically changed the way most of the world communicates. Maybe that’s why Facebook has been winning the social media wars to date: because, at its core, it has not forgotten that people are friends with people and that people do business with people – not a social networking site.

Social media has become essential to our everyday lives, but only because it helps us extend our face-to-face relationships. That’s something to remember when crafting your social media strategy.

Want to learn more? GovDelivery is hosting a free, face-to-face seminar for government empolyees and contractors in Washington, DC on October 19 around social media and its role in digital communications. Bonus: our keynote speaker will be David Kirkpatrick!

5 things to consider when developing your communications plan.

July 8th, 2011 | Posted by GovDelivery in Email Communication | GovDelivery | Software as a Service (SaaS) - (0 Comments)

By Mike Bernard, Digital Marketing Specialist

For the last few weeks I have been slowly building a deck on my house. Since I’ve never built a deck before, I did a lot of research, gathered all my materials, looked into regulations, drew up plans and got down to the hard work of getting the deck built.

I’m nearly finished and the process got me thinking about communications (full disclosure, I’m always thinking about how to communicate better!). I think organizations oftentimes approach their communication strategy the way I approached my deck – a vision of what the end product will look like, but not really certain about how to get there.

Here are 5 things to help you develop a communications plan that removes the uncertainty of how you will accomplish your vision:

1) What types of information do your stakeholders want? Brainstorm the types of information you think is most important to people (don’t forget to take what you are hearing from your customer service staff into account). Don’t let your brainstorming be limited to what you already have; allow room for “What if…” questions. You never know, that off-the-wall idea someone had might end up being your most popular item.

2) What’s the best medium for distributing the information? There are two points to this question. 1) What is the best way to get the information out? In some cases it can be done through email or monthly newsletters – in other cases, text messages, RSS feeds, podcasts or social media might be a better way to go. Try to determine what the people in your area will be most comfortable with. 2) How will your staff get information out in an efficient and effective way? You need to find systems that are simple, direct, and fast – with a minimal number of hurdles to overcome. It should also easily integrate with existing systems so you don’t create communication hang up silos. Remember: Simplify, simplify, simplify! The more difficult a system is to use, the greater headache it will cause for the people who have to administer it.

3) How will you inspire and energize staff to take communication to the next level? This is where you can really start to have fun. Encourage staff to create content that is user-friendly, human, and personal. Move internal information, experiences, learning, ideas, direction, and feedback equally well in all directions — up, down, and across the organization. A free flow of information will help everyone problem solve and inspire new, innovative ways of doing things.

4) How will you measure success? This is something that is too often left until after a project is completed. Knowing what outcomes you are looking to achieve from the get-go will help define what results to look for and how you will make improvements to achieve your goals. Are you looking to increase website traffic? Do you want to grow the number of subscribers to your monthly newsletter? Are you interested more in broad coverage so you hit everyone, or depth that provides the people who care with exactly what they are looking for? Do you want to try to capture people’s information so you can connect with them in the future? How will you determine what message delivering mediums are working and what are not? Once you figure out what you want to measure, make sure you are monitoring the metrics that will allow you to know if you are being successful.

5) How will take what you are measuring and adapt in order to get better? You need to have a plan for how you make improvements to what you are doing. If you’ve tested something for 3 months and there has been no improvement, try a different approach. If you don’t adapt, based on what your measurements are showing, you will never get better.

Creating a well developed strategy, before implementing it, can help you realize your communications goals.

Dealing with negative feedback in social media

By Lauren Modeen, Digital Strategist, GovDelivery Professional Services

Regardless of whether you are representing yourself, an agency, a company, a non-profit, or a campaign online, you will most likely encounter negative digital feedback. While you cannot control what the world puts in front of you, you can control how you respond. In fact, how you do so might say more about your character than when you are just humming along. Below are some examples and tips for Facebook and Twitter, but they also apply to other social media networks:

Twitter

1. When you read content directed at you that immediately raises your inner flag (i.e. it is negative), simply re-read it. Avoid jumping to unnecessary conclusions too early.

2. After you read it the second time, if it is in fact, negative, or unproductively critical, take a deep breath, step away from it for a few minutes, and then respond. No impulsive, angry thrashing out! Keep your cool.

3. If the person appears to be legitimate (see point C below), calmly analyze the tweet and respond in a constructive, non-threatening manner. If the person continues to engage (as long as it is not profane or otherwise abusive), continue to briefly interact with them until they give up.

Posts to block:

A. Those containing profane language

B. Those attacking anyone personally

C. Those that appear to be a spam account (can usually tell by the content of their tweets, 0 or < 10 followers, no profile image)

D. Anything else that appears to be completely inappropriate

Facebook

Follow the same three steps as above. Also, consider adding a Facebook policy to your page. Here is an example:

Sample Member Conduct Policy

[Name of organization] on Facebook is moderated. That means all comments will be reviewed before posting. In addition, [Name of organization] expects that participants will treat each other with respect. [Name of organization] on Facebook will not post comments that contain vulgar or abusive language; personal attacks of any kind; or offensive terms that target specific ethnic or racial groups. [Name of organization] on Facebook will not post comments that are spam, are clearly “off topic” or that promote services or products. Comments that make unsupported accusations will also be subject to review.

Any references to commercial entities, products, services, or other nongovernmental organizations or individuals that remain on the site are provided solely for the information of individuals using [Name of organization] on Facebook.

Here is a summary of the guidelines we abide by:

The use of vulgar, offensive, threatening or harassing language is prohibited. Public comments should be limited to comments related to the topic. [Name of organization] on Facebook is not the proper place to express opinions or beliefs not directly related to that topic.

[Name of organization] on Facebook is not open to comments promoting or opposing any person campaigning for election to a political office or promoting or opposing any ballot proposition. [Name of organization] on Facebook is not open to the promotion or advertisement of a business or commercial transaction.

Have you dealt with negative feedback on Facebook or Twitter? How about in comments on your organization’s blog? How do you deal with this?

communication, digital, Facebook, feedback, GovDelivery, government, social media, Twitter

Increasing online subscribers with content-rich, in-person events

This is the first tip in a series of 22 Ways to Increase Fans, Followers, and Subscribers originally presented by Steve Ressler, Founder, GovLoop.com.

How do you increase your online subscribers with content-rich, in-person events? I am often amazed by the content rich presentations, events, or simply meet-ups I attend where no one asks for my email address. If I attend willingly, learn new things and express enthusiasm, I am most likely sold, and I’d most likely be happy to establish a recurring relationship with you.

From the perspective of the organization, when you have a targeted, sold audience, capturing their email address is one of the most essential tactics you can perform if you desire some action from them down the road. It’s just math. The more people you create a recurring relationship with, the more desired results you'll see later.

Here are some simple methods you can use content-rich events to drive more online subscribers.

First, host an in-person event that delivers real value to your audience. Get your experts and best people to demonstrate thought-leadership that is not easily attainable elsewhere, or describe your mission and why you need help from the audience. End things with them wanting more.

After the rich content or conversations, explain that you would like to continue the conversation offline with a newsletter or email. Pass around a sign-up sheet or have attendees drop their business card in a bowl on the way out explaining that they should expect follow-up content in the next few days (or even be signed up for an online community if that is your forte).

A few days after the event, begin communicating your content with your new audience. Thank them for attending the event, and deliver content the same caliber as at the event. Include a link to your Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, or blog if you have those properties, as well as possible quotes from the event (approve with owner), and a link to a picture album from the event if you took pictures.

Make sure you deliver this first outreach no more than 2-3 days after the event so your audience is still fresh on the value you provide. As you start to build an audience, be very thoughtful about what you deliver, when, and always make it value, value, value.

Online webinars can be handled slightly differently, and will be discussed in another tip.

Why I can’t subscribe to AlphaGov

June 20th, 2011 | Posted by GovDelivery in E-Government | GovDelivery | Government 2.0 | Web 2.0 - (4 Comments)

By Dave Worsell, Director, Government Solutions, GovDelivery UK

There have been a lot of things said about AlphaGov since its launch in April. For the most part, reaction to AlphaGov has been very positive. The accomplishments of the team have been highly impressive given the scale of the nut they are trying to crack so all the praise they’ve received is well deserved.

It’s still in the very early days for the AlphaGov concept, so what should they include as they move into the #BetaGov phase? The solution could be both very simple and very effective.

Paul Clarke tweeted at the recent MailCamp event, “A #mailcamp thought: if @alphagov got into the business of catching an email address for alerts/tailored comms,wd that be useful experiment?”

Neil Williams made similar comments in his recent blog post “If you started today, you would never build what we’ve got. You would build Alphagov.” where he identified the lack of content alerts in the current iteration.

So why are subscription services important?

AlphaGov, like many other government websites, doesn’t address the need for proactive public communication. AlphaGov is certainly visionary in its approach, but is still reactive in the way it communicates with the public.

Many government websites rely on users finding information when they know they need it. In this respect AlphaGov moves the game on significantly as the content I know I need is very simple and easy to find.

The trouble with this approach is that users often get essential information when it’s far too late…or never at all. For example, I’ll look for flu information when I or someone I know is taken ill, however, prevention is much better than the cure. Ideally it would have been much more beneficial to have this information before the onset of illness.

There are lots of examples like this. How do you find out about changes to the Highway Code? Do you know you need to renew your photo ID driving licence every 10 years? How do benefit changes affect you? Proactive communication is essential. An informed public makes better decisions and this substantially reduces costs.

To address this issue, governments need to maximise direct connections with the public. An anonymous visit to a government website isn’t a direct connection; it’s a fleeting, transient interaction that doesn’t lead to long-term engagement. There is only a small lasting benefit.

By direct I mean the ability to develop relationships and send highly personalised communications to known individuals on specific topics of interest to them. Personalised, proactive communication keeps the public informed, enables them to make informed decisions and encourages more cost effective use of public resources.

Governments must encourage the public to subscribe to the online services they offer. This doesn’t need to be a complex user registration form. Capturing a simple email address or mobile number can be enough.

Once government has established a direct connection with its audience it has the keys to the digital communication door. Government can then use this connection to encourage subscriptions to other areas of interest to maximise communication reach and promote efficient and effective engagement.

Like most members of the public, I won’t use AlphaGov every day. Checking for new public service information is very unlikely to be top of my daily agenda. When updates do occur I won’t have the time or awareness to go looking for them even if they impact me directly.

For AlphaGov to become a useful tool in meeting my ever-demanding needs as a U.K. citizen, wouldn’t it be fantastic if it could inform me proactively when the information I need to support my daily activities is available before I need it?

I’d definitely subscribe to that.

Community involvement pays great dividends

Access to affordable housing is a major concern in many communities across our country, and organizations such as Habitat for Humanity have significantly impacted public attitudes about this important topic.

Inadequate housing is a larger issue than mere living conditions – it impacts physical health, mental health, and the quality of educational opportunities.

As a company working with more than 400 government organizations throughout the United States, GovDelivery appreciates the critical nature of the housing issue and has chosen to support Habitat for Humanity's efforts to not only build homes, but effectively communicate with the public on the issue.

Yesterday, a group of our employees contributed their time to helping construct the "Entrepreneurs House" – a small townhome complex on a vacant lot in northeast Minneapolis. We encourage other organizations to learn more about Habitat for Humanity and get involved in their local community. Any other ideas from you on how to give back?

Five Simple Ways to Keep Your Online Community Fire Stoked

By Lauren Modeen, Digital Strategist, GovDelivery Professional Services

Building an online community is akin to building and maintaining a vibrant campfire.

Step 1: Create a plan of where to set up your fire, and which tools and resources you will use to build it (build your strategy with tactics and identified early stakeholders).
Step 2: Collect and organize the necessary materials that will initially spark the fire (prepare your launch plan).
Step 3: Prepare the fire with the larger logs (initial stakeholders) that will provide a steady flame and not burn out quickly as kindling or newspaper might (weaker, less involved members).
Step 4: Ignite the fire (implement your launch plan with a surge of communication and content).
Step 5: Watch and continuously tend to the fire with new sources of fuel and oxygen. A community can burn brightly as long as it is provided the right conditions and maintenance.

With that said, here are five easy tips to keep your fire stoked and burning brightly.

1. Build your member base slowly.

When you initially ignite your community, resist the urge to blast your concept to your entire extended network. In the beginning, the right vibrant members will do much more to initially spark the fire than hundreds of dead weight, uninvolved members. Provide the early members with attention, support, and direction. As these members take root, they will grow and spark interest in others. Working with a manageable number of members will afford you the bandwidth necessary to give your best. Focus on this basecamp first while knowing the summit exists.

2. Celebrate all of your members and reward your best.

Celebrate all of your members in your new member welcome messages, newsletters, and personal emails. For those members who go above and beyond, demonstrate meritocracy. Your best members really contribute 80/20 here, so reward them as such. Send them handwritten thank you notes, send them swag or virtual honorary gifts, feature their content, and ask them for their input as you shape your community in the future.

3. Provide an experience and tell stories.

What will keep your members coming back day after day when every other possible life event can get in the way? Work? Family? TV? Cultivate a community that constantly tells a story, provides an experience, and always has good customer service. Make it part TED talks, part Starbucks, and part Zappos. If members feel they have something valuable to contribute, continuously get something out of the community, feel rewarded when they contribute, and grow as a result, your super-user base will expand. Think hard about what motivates your members, what will make them contribute their limited time, and how you can constantly serve them in one month, six months, and one year. Plan for future success.

4. Feature good blogs/discussions.

When members contribute quality blog and discussions, make sure to feature their content. And don't just feature it, but send them an email that says something like: Your Blog was Featured on [name of community]. Why? Because It's Awesome. Keep it Up… This little action can make your members feel like a million bucks. And they deserve it.

5. Create leadership roles with specific titles. At GovLoop, we have a host of volunteer names and opportunities. But we don't just call them "volunteers." We assign specific titles with specific corresponding roles. Some example titles are: GovGuru, GovGoGetter, GovGreeter 1 – Meet 'em at the Door, GovGreeter 2 – Take 'em to their Seat…you can see the entire list here. Explain why the position is awesome, what they will do, and how it works, and what the time commitment is. Keeping your members in the know will increase the odds they will take the plunge into a leadership role because they will know exactly what they are getting into.

We hope this provides some insight. If you have additional questions, feel free to reach out to me or Joseph Porcelli.

Breathe oxygen into your ideas

By Lauren Modeen, Digital Strategist, GovDelivery Professional Services

Here’s the thing with new ideas, products, experiments, launches, etc. They will never be perfect. And your best feedback will come by setting them free sooner, rather than waiting for perfection.

In other words, 1.0 Is the Loneliest Number. Here’s a great excerpt from this blog by Matt Mullenweg.

“Usage is like oxygen for ideas. You can never fully anticipate how an audience is going to react to something you’ve created until it’s out there. That means every moment you’re working on something without it being in the public it’s actually dying, deprived of the oxygen of the real world. It’s even worse because development doesn’t happen in a vacuum — if you have a halfway decent idea, you can be sure that there are two or three teams somewhere in the world that independently came up with it and are working on the same thing, or something you haven’t even imagined that disrupts the market you’re working in.

By shipping early and often you have the unique competitive advantage of hearing from real people what they think of your work, which in best case helps you anticipate market direction, and in worst case gives you a few people rooting for you that you can email when your team pivots to a new idea. Nothing can recreate the crucible of real usage.

You think your business is different, that you’re only going to have one shot at press and everything needs to be perfect for when Techcrunch brings the world to your door. But if you only have one shot at getting an audience, you’re doing it wrong.”

Now here’s the best part. A community is the place to get input. Of course this comes with the caveat that if you belong to a community of ravaging, insulting, members, you might not want to put your idea baby out there for the wolves (but then again, why would you be a part of a group like this anyway?!).

So if it’s a professional and respectful community, people will give you honest input and constructive feedback. And yes, even when it’s a professional and helpful community it’s sometimes very hard to put things out there because we are all protective of our ideas, and no one is 100% perfect at getting feedback (even if it’s entirely constructive).

So ship early and often and start oxygenating your ideas.

Remember: No input? No oxygen? No good result.

5 things to consider when developing your communications plan.

Increasing online subscribers with content-rich, in-person events

Why I can’t subscribe to AlphaGov

Community involvement pays great dividends

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