A blog about government-to-citizen digital communication and engagement, Government 2.0, GovDelivery, and other e-government issues
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Vine: Government’s 6 Seconds to Shine

May 24th, 2013 | Posted by Anna Stroncek for GovDelivery in Community Management/Engagement | Social Media | Tech | Usability - (0 Comments)

It’s likely that you have heard of Vine in recent months. For those of you who haven’t (or who have, but aren’t exactly sure what it is) Vine is a mobile app by Twitter that allows users to create and post short, 6 second video clips. In turn, the videos can be uploaded, shared and embedded into a variety of social networking channels like Twitter and Facebook.

 Vine

Vine made its debut in January of 2013 and was met with mixed reviews. While some were excited about the potential that Vine presented, others were skeptical of what could truly be accomplished in 6 seconds and what types of videos would be created. However, as of April 2013, Vine became the most downloaded free app in Apple’s IOS App Store.

The way Vine works is simple. Videos are recorded and created with Vine’s in-app camera (the camera on one’s mobile device or smartphone). The camera only records while the screen is being touched, allowing various shots or snippets to be mashed together for up to six seconds. The video & audio are then looped together, forming a Vine that plays continuously. These Videos are able to be instantly uploaded to Twitter or Facebook and posted on Vine for followers to see.

As adaption to Vine continues, many people are attempting to figure out what the best use of Vine is. While the six second maximum presents a challenge to some, it also cultivates creativity and allows for messages to extend beyond Twitter’s 140 characters.

Government and Vine

As of April 1st the U.S. General Services Administration’s (GSA) new media office announced that it had officially created government-friendly terms of service with Vine. As agencies and organizations create Vine profiles, they will be added to the Federal Social Media Registry, verifying official government social media accounts and distinguishing them from any fake ones.

So just because government can Vine, should it? I believe they should. While it may not be the most efficient way to send out important data and information, Vine opens a new door of communication and engagement with the public. While most communication between government and citizens is information focused, filled with text, data and some images, Vine allows citizens to engage with government in a completely different way and to see what is actually happening in government.

Vine takes a more “fun” approach to engaging with citizens and enables organizations to showcase their inner workings and share footage of things we would normally be unable to see, such as NASA’s visual tracking of Hurricane Sandy  across the East Coast.

Since its release in January, various government agencies and employees have taken to Vine and have begun to experiment with it.  Health.Data.gov posted a series of Vines during the 2013 Health and Human Services Innovates Awards and used Vine to promote and invite people to the Health DataPalooza in June.

My personal favorite government Vine was posted by California Congressman, Mark Takano, back in February. Takano chose Vine to offer up an inside look into his work in the House, featuring a Vine of him submitting his first bill.

The six second video showcases Takano’s steps from his initial signing of the bill to riding the Capitol subway, and concludes with him handing the bill in.

For government, the biggest struggle I see is similar to what other businesses are facing- deciding what to Vine. Six seconds is short and it can be a challenge to creatively think of things citizens would actually want to see or what messages could successfully be shared in six seconds. However, I think this is perfect for government communicators, who are constantly striving to simplify their organization’s message and share its most important points of information. To help begin the brainstorming process, I have come up with a few ideas of how government could begin to use Vine.

Introductions. So often citizens think of government as a compilation of organizations and agencies or entities. Rarely do we directly associate with individuals within organizations or think about what their office may be like. By taking to Vine, organizations can post 6-second introduction videos of various leaders and employees throughout the organization, putting faces to the organization’s name and making government a little more “personable”.  You can also create Vine shots of any fun happenings taking place at your office. This allows citizens to see inside the organization and an opportunity to witness a more “fun” side to government.

Ceremonies and Events. Government is engaged with a multitude of events at every level. Ribbon cuttings, national nights out, electoral events- these are all great opportunities to Vine and let those who aren’t in attendance in on the action. These Vines also promote what organizations are doing and draw attention to the various causes being celebrated or acknowledged.

Introducing new products. Government can also use Vine to promote their new products, such as mobile apps or online services. Vine allows multiple screen shots to be shown in one video. Showing what the app looks like, where it can be downloaded, and  showcasing product hightlights provides promotional opportunities for your organization and learning opportunities for your audience.

How-to Videos.  While six seconds may not seem like much, it’s long enough to provide some great how-to information if enough thought has been put into it. In fact, just the other day I watched a Vine and learned how to make a latte, complete with the fancy design on top! Government can use this as an opportunity to show citizens how to do things like sign up for an event, pay a bill online, download an app or use a new online resource. Taking quick 1-2 second shots of each step in the process allows for up to 6 steps to be shown, enough to get a basic how-to instructional across.

Promote Initiatives and Events. Government  has lots of initiatives and events to promote. Using Vine to create videos and spread awareness is yet another way to use Vine. Whether it’s national night out or a reminder that tornado sirens will be tested, creating a short video and sharing it on your social networks can bring even more attention to it. You can also use Vine to share public announcements. People need to be kept up to date and Vine videos are both to the point and entertaining. A 6 second vine featuring short clips of various public beaches could be used to announce the official opening of local beaches and lakes and may even inspire some viewers to go.

Engage with Citizens.  This is my final idea and a new way to expand the dialogue between citizens and government. Post a Vine that poses a question or promotes a trend and ask citizens to respond with a Vine post of their own. Going back to national night out, ask citizens to vine videos of their neighborhood gatherings and tag it with a special hashtag. Vines can also be useful for citizens to communicate problems with government. If a citizen sees a problem or situation they are unhappy with, they could create a Vine and share it with you via a tag on Facebook or mention on Twitter.

Hopefully the above list inspires some thought around the adaption and use of Vine.  I would love to hear any additional ideas you might have or how organizations are already using Vine today. Let us know what you think.

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Top 10 Email Don’ts

May 20th, 2013 | Posted by Mike Bernard for GovDelivery in Compelling Content | Email Communication | Mobile | Usability - (0 Comments)

Recently, I wrote an article on how to create mobile-optimized emails. That blog post provided tips on how to improve the experience of reading email on a mobile device, which led me to think about what you shouldn’t do when creating emails.

So, here are some things to keep in mind when putting together your next email:

  1. Email CommunicationDon’t copy and paste from a word processing program.
    Most word processing programs (such as Microsoft Word) will actually insert a lot of unnecessary, and unseen, code into an HTML email if you cut and paste it into your email software. Oftentimes, this will cause your email to look strange, and you won’t know why. A better solution for cutting and pasting is to paste your text into a basic text editor such as Notepad or the code portion of Dreamweaver. Then copy from the text editor and paste into your email solution. Taking this extra step will strip out unwanted code and make your emails display better in the various clients’ email.
  2. Don’t forget to include “alt image” text.
    I know how it goes. We’re all busy. It’s easy to drop an image into an email and move on to the next task without pausing to fill in extra details like the “alt text” on your images. This is a bad habit, so make the effort to break it now. When you skip this important step, your emails will not encourage people to accept images from your organization as well as making it difficult for people with vision problems to decipher your email. Take the extra 5 seconds it takes to enter in alt text. It’s worth it in the long run.
  3. Don’t make your emails too wide.
    As I mentioned in my previous post, we are rapidly headed toward the time where the majority of emails will be viewed on a mobile device. To ignore this trend could be the difference between highly engaged readers and a digital ghost town. The old standard for email widths was 600px – 750px. Given the rise in popularity of mobile devices, I would suggest shooting for a standard width in the 350px – 500px range. They will display on mobile devices a lot better and will still look good on a larger desktop screen.
  4. Don’t assume your email will render the same for everyone.
    Did you know that, with the number of email clients, browsers and operating systems available, there are literally thousands of ways one individual email can look? Thousands! What can be done about this? First, try to find designs, layouts, fonts, and color schemes that will render well on some of the most common email/OS/browser combinations. For example, how does your email look in Outlook 2007 while running on Windows 7, or in Gmail running on Chrome? If it looks good for the most common possibilities, you can assume it will look OK on the rest. To find out how it will look across multiple combinations, use an email testing service such as Litmus or Email on Acid. These services are inexpensive ways to see how your message will look without spending a lot of time trying to cobble together lots of different systems to test on your own. Also, some email sending systems provide this type of testing as part of the platform.
  5. Don’t use long URLs in the text version of your email.
    When you’re creating HTML emails it’s fine to use a long URL, because the link gets hidden in the attribute tag. But, when you check out the text version of your email (you are sending a text version with every HTML version, right??), you may discover that a nice looking “click here” becomes “http://www.youragencyname.gov/files/05012013/web/stories/new/this-is-your-story-that-you-want-to-share99477546.html.”For readers who see the text version of your email, this is not visually appealing or informative. I suggest you go in and edit the text version of your message and use a link shortener, such as Bit.ly or Goo.gl to create something that looks like this: “To learn more about this story, click here: http://goo.gl/n3ZTe.” It will be a much cleaner read for your readers.
  6. Don’t embed video.
    Videos are a great way to engage your audience, and I highly recommend that you find creative ways to present your content in a video format. But, please don’t embed a video inside of an email. This will likely get your email to be marked as spam. A better approach is to use an image of one part of your video, such as the title page, and link the image to the video.
  7. Don’t use ALL CAPS.
    This one continues to baffle me. Writing in ALL CAPS is internet code for yelling or spam. I thought everyone knew that by now, but I still get at least one email a week where some portion of the email is written in ALL CAPS. If you need to highlight something exciting, choose a larger font, a different color, bold the font. Please don’t capitalize all the letters.
  8. Don’t use monster pictures.
    This is related to tip 7. While a nice, high-resolution image will look great when you display it on your 36 inch monitor, it probably doesn’t need to be in your email. Remember to shrink the image to something that’s web-ready. Leaving large images in your email could make them undeliverable if the email bumps up against file size limits. If it does make it into the inbox, the email will still take a long time to load. This can be annoying for people viewing your message on a mobile device. If you do want to offer the large, high-res version of your image, that’s great. Just create a thumbnail for your email and link to a spot where people can download the large version. That way those who want the big picture can still get it.
  9. Don’t use unprofessional fonts.
    There really is no place for Comic Sans or Papyrus fonts in professional emails. They just look silly and, depending on if people have that font installed, they may not display correctly. Personally, I prefer a nice sans serif font for emails. Something like Calibri, Arial or Verdana. But you can determine what you think looks professional and matches your brand. This also applies to using more than two different font types in one email, or using multiple colors and sizes. You want people to read your email, so make it easy on their eyes.
  10. Don’t forget etiquette.
    It doesn’t matter if it’s an email to your boss or a message you are sending to 75,000 people; following basic email etiquette will go a long way. Here is a great article that lists 25 tips for ensuring you aren’t creating an email faux pas with your messages.

I know some of you are thinking these items are pretty obvious, but you would be amazed at how many emails I get every day that violate one or more of these ‘don’ts’. If this list is basic stuff for you, then you’re probably well on your way to designing compelling emails. If you realized you violated one or more of these principles, then take some of these tips to start improving how you’re communicating with your audience. It’s never too late to start getting better. Remember, as Thomas Edison once said, “There’s a way to do it better – find it.”

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Universal Credit Implementation: Meeting the Communications Challenge

May 10th, 2013 | Posted by Mary Yang for GovDelivery in Community Management/Engagement | Current Affairs | Email Communication | UK Government - (0 Comments)

The most extensive reform to the UK welfare system in five decades- Universal Credit – is underway and presents some unique challenges and opportunities, as outlined in a recent article in The Guardian. With a change this massive, how does the UK government implement Universal Credit consistently and communicate clearly with its citizens?

Defining the Changeuniversalcredit
Universal Credit is a new, single payment system for people who are looking for work or on a low income. Its goal is to cut costs by simplifying the benefits systems by bringing together multiple benefits into a single payment, which citizens apply for through one online source. Transitioning to Universal Credit will involve a focus on citizen self-service by going digital and centralizing services within the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

Digital by Default
One of the most significant changes in making the transition to Universal Credit is the shift it requires in the way citizens have traditionally interacted with government authorities. Historically, citizens needed to work with a number of different local authorities to apply for and manage the set of government services they receive. The bulk of this interaction between citizens and government has been paper-based and moving to a digital delivery system will require effective communication with citizens. Issues to address in this area include applicants’ potential lack of digital skills and access to digital channels.

Delivery Plan
For a successful Universal Credit transition, local authorities need to evaluate their role in implementing the change. To support that task, the DWP has published a Local Support Services reference document to help local authorities build their citizen outreach efforts and tailor the ideal delivery model region by region. The most critical components of building the delivery model will be:

• Identifying Customers
• Understanding and Planning to Mitigate the Impact
• Demand Management and Influencing

How can local authorities reach the most citizens most efficiently? In his white paper, Universal Credit: Challenges, Changes and Digital Communication, Dr. Gerald Power – an expert in public sector change and efficiency improvement – discusses best practices for how local authorities can inform and engage their citizens. Local authorities with a comprehensive set of digital communication solutions can leverage a wide range of tools to enhance citizen communication initiatives related to Universal Credit.

Download Dr. Power’s white paper to read more about how robust digital communication platforms can help local authorities implement the transition to Universal Credit.

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Top 10 (Easy) Ways to Make Your Emails Work for Mobile

May 6th, 2013 | Posted by Mike Bernard for GovDelivery in Compelling Content | Email Communication | GovDelivery | Mobile | Tech - (1 Comments)

mobileI don’t need to convince you that we are in the midst of a massive shift in the way we access information. The days of desktop dominance have given way to mobile devices. This is especially true for email. With each passing month, more and more people are accessing their email on their phones and tablets. If your emails are not designed to accommodate smaller screen sizes, your readers will become frustrated with your emails and discontinue reading.

In a previous post, I talked about how to create a mobile friendly website using Responsive Design. But, what about email? What can be done about my newsletters, alerts and notices?

Responsive Design for email is not going to be the solution for everyone. First, to use Responsive Design for email, you have know how to code. You have to write CSS code that will scale and re-arrange your emails to fit on mobile devices. This is a specialized skill set that not everyone has. What if you don’t know how to write CSS? How can you make your emails look better without getting a masters degree in computer science?

Second, Responsive Design for email will only display properly on iPhones, with the built-in Apple mail client. Responsive Design currently won’t work with email apps like Gmail or Yahoo Mail. For people viewing their email on a mobile device, which pulls the content from a hosted mail server like Exchange or Lotus Notes, Responsive Design elements will not work.

So what can you do? Although more people are reading their emails on mobile devices, Responsive Design is not currently a great solution.

To get around this issue, and make things easier for you, I suggest optimizing your emails for mobile using solid scalable design principles. Scalable design uses a single column layout and grid system for alignment and proportion. If you don’t know how to set this up, or your system doesn’t allow for this, it’s easy to design your emails, in any email provider, by using some simple tricks.

So, here are my top 10 (easy) tips for making your emails work on mobile devices:

Try to keep in mind how you use your own phone or tablet to look at email. If you think through the steps you take, the fingers you use and the way your device works, it will go a long way in making your emails look good.

1) Single Column
When you put together your emails, a single column is going to work the best. Classic web design prescribes keeping as much as possible “above the fold” to catch a person’s eye. The result was web pages that got wider and wider so that more information could be at the top of the page. With mobile, wide is bad, because most mobile devices are not as large as your 24” monitor. For mobile devices, skinny and vertical is better. It’s much easier to read and scroll up and down than it is to go right and left (or worse, to zoom in and out).

2) Width
Speaking of skinny and vertical, you should reduce the width of your emails to allow for the smaller screens of mobile phones. I would suggest you keep your email width to 450px and definitely less than 600px. This will allow your email to fit nicely on most devices.

3) Text Size
Now that you have a skinny, single column email, you will need to compensate for the smaller dimensions by increasing the size of the font. I suggest you go with 14-16px for body copy and 20-26px for headers. The larger font will allow people to read your content without having to squint (or as I mentioned, the dreaded zoom in and out).

4) Shorten Content
Remember way back in point 1 when I said it’s easier to scroll up and down on a mobile device? Well there are limits. If people have to scroll for 17 minutes to get to the bottom of your email, your email is way too long. Try writing shorter, teaser summaries to your stories and then link to the full story on a landing page or your Responsively Designed website. This helps people get right to the content they want and will drive up your engagement rate. It will also help improve search engine optimization (or SEO) of your site and keep your readers happy by getting them exactly what they are interested in.

5) Buttons
While you are linking to those landing pages, get rid of simple text links and go with touch-friendly buttons instead. For most people it takes pin-point accuracy to actually click on linked text and many times we hit the wrong things if we are a little clumsy or have large fingers. Replacing those links with clickable buttons will help solve that problem; 50x50px to 75x75px should be enough to get the job done.

6) Alt Tags
When using buttons as links, make sure you are putting alt tags in place for people who have images turned off. Also, make sure the alt tags make sense to people viewing your message. Instead of the outline of your button with “mobile_button_2.png” in place of the image, why not try an alt tag that displays something like, “Click here to go to the full article. Please allow images from Central City to improve your reading experience.”

7) White Space
Even though you are using buttons for your links, remember to place ample white space between text, paragraphs, images, buttons, etc. This will help make your emails easier to read and provide more forgiveness so people don’t click the wrong thing.

8) Thumbs
The majority of people use their right hand, more specifically their right thumb to scroll and click on things. Even lefties like me scroll through emails on their phone using their right hand. So, placing your buttons on the right hand side, or in the center, of your emails will make it easier for people to click while using one hand.

9) Subject Lines
Keep your email subject lines short and sweet. Subject lines that are too long will get truncated with smaller screen sizes. I suggest 60 characters or less.

10) Test, Test, Test
Just like a pool, it pays to test the waters before diving right in. Send a test email to several different email clients and look at them on several different devices of varying sizes. You will be amazed at how different one email can look. Try to find a design that looks good for all devices and email clients. If you can get that right, you can be confident that people will have a positive experience interacting with your emails.

There you have it. 10 simple tips for making your emails look great on mobile devices without using Responsive Design. If I’ve missed any you can think of, put them in the comments section below. For more great tips, check out our new white paper, “Integrating Email in Government Communications.”

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Social Media Strategy: More Than Posts and Tweets

May 1st, 2013 | Posted by Mary Yang for GovDelivery in Analytics/Data | Community Management/Engagement | Integration | Mobile | Social Media - (0 Comments)

Social media seems so easy. Getting a social media presence going is as simple as setting up an account and starting to post or tweet. It’s tempting to hire someone to get started – and check off that ‘social media’ box in e-government initiatives.

But this approach results in isolated social media outposts that don’t deliver the broad benefits that public sector organisations hope to see from new channels.

Measuring your returns

Any technology initiative in government, including social media, has to pass a litmus test: does it deliver a value for the taxpayer’s investment? It needs to either cut costs or improve service to citizens. And when efforts are isolated, it’s difficult to identify or prove their effect.

For example, does your social media presence reduce inbound calls? Deliver insight into citizen opinions?  Streamline or replace paper processes? Increase your reach to citizens?

Social media efforts are often isolated

In the private sector, marketing organisations have been the big adopters of social media. Corporations have been shifting marketing budgets from traditional channels to social media and other digital channels.

But even the corporate marketers are struggling. A recent CMO Survey by Duke University Fuqua School of Business indicates that while marketing organisations are increasing their spending on social media, these efforts are not well integrated into marketing communications.

 Source: The CMO Survey, cmosurvey.org, February 2013, Highlights and Insights, Figure 5.2]

On a scale of 1 to 7, the CMOs on average rate themselves a 3.4 in terms of integration of social media in marketing strategy. More surprising, this number has remained steady over the past couple of years, while the spending on social media has increased.

The importance of integration

In her recent paper “Integrating Social Media in Government Communications,” government communication analyst and blogger Liz Azyan suggests that the real, measurable benefits of social media come when you integrate it in broader campaigns. The paper gathers examples of government agencies using creative, cross-channel campaigns to improve service to citizens, including:

  • Proactively communicating with citizens over Twitter and Facebook about traffic, weather, and emergency issues
  • Using text messages or Tweets to alert people to updates available on a website
  • Collaborating with citizens in social media channels to improve public safety and identify rioters
  • Supporting and training volunteers helping within their own communities

In each of these cases, social media is part of a broader communication strategy.  To read more about integrating social media in digital strategies, download the paper.

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Trends Point to Opportunities for Government Efficiencies

April 15th, 2013 | Posted by Mary Yang for GovDelivery in Analytics/Data | Community Management/Engagement | Compelling Content | Current Affairs | GovDelivery | Mobile | UK Government | Uncategorized | Usability - (0 Comments)

Customer service, collaboration, and mobile communications top the list of trends important to UK government in 2013, according to results of a GovDelivery survey of nearly 100 individuals.

The respondents – individuals within the UK government — identified the top trends from a list of hot topics, such as big data/open data, cybersecurity, budgets, technology and cloud computing. They were asked to identify the most important trends affecting the public sector at large and their specific jobs.

Respondents were asked to look at the trends through three filters:
•    Trends taking center stage in 2013 (affecting their agencies and others)
•    Trends directly affecting their own work
•    Trends that their organizations are already addressing

The three trends ranked at the top of all three categories were those with the greatest impact on government productivity and effectiveness:
•    Citizen/customer service
•    Collaboration with other agencies and with citizens
•    Mobility and bring your own device (BYOD)

The top trends are related. For example, an initiative to provide citizens with the ability to subscribe to email and text messaging updates might address the three objectives of improving customer service, supporting mobility, and improving collaboration.

As a whitepaper on the survey notes, embracing digital government initiatives will be a key to improving efficiencies. By improving collaboration, digital services can help departments work more efficiently. And by streamlining communications and services for citizens, digital tools can help departments meet their objectives of improving customer service even during constrained budgets.

Following is a brief summary of each top trend presented in the white paper about the survey that is available for download.

Customer Service is the Top Priority

Customer service was the top trend identified for UK government as well as the top trend that departments were already addressing. More than two-thirds of the respondents said they were currently addressing customer service.

Digital technologies are playing a major part in how government departments are addressing customer service. The Government Digital Strategy published by the Cabinet Office calls for government organizations to embrace digital services to constituents.

About half of respondents said their departments use social media to communicate with citizens, which leaves room for improvement.

Given the focus on digital government, expect to see the increasing adoption of social media, email, web and other digital channels to improve communications with constituents, such as:
•    Expanding awareness of and participation in services
•    Raising the profile of community development projects
•    Communicating public safety alerts
•    Cross-promoting programs and topics across departments and channels
•    Allowing customers to subscribe to updates using the channels of their choice (text messaging, email, RSS feeds, etc.)

Collaboration is the New Imperative

Collaboration is needed with other government entities, between departments and levels, and with citizens. The emphasis on collaboration is due in part to resource constraints, as collaboration should improve efficiency.

The Government Digital Strategy suggests using digital tools and techniques to engage with and consult the public by creating plans to listen to and understand conversations in social media, using the insight gained to inform the policy-making process and to collaborate more effectively with partners.

As the white paper notes, there is a difference between passive listening and active collaboration. As the government seeks to solicit citizen input on policies and services, they will need to expand their use of digital channels, including:
•    Interacting on existing social media communities already widely used by customers
•    Using dedicated online communities for stakeholders
•    Creating other digital channels with citizens to streamline information exchanges and knowledge sharing

Mobile Government

Given the increased use of mobile devices and applications by the public, it’s not surprising that mobile government is the third most important trend affecting UK government.

Within government, employees are increasingly using mobile devices to access government sites and applications. Externally, more citizens are accessing government services and information using mobile devices.

Of survey respondents, 42 percent said a more mobile government would affect their jobs, yet only 32 percent said their departments were addressing the issue.

In 2013, expect that UK government organizations will find new ways to interact with citizens over digital channels, including Twitter, text messaging, and mobile-accessible websites. Government departments will look for ways to integrate transactional messaging and services over digital channels.

Download the white paper for more details and analysis.

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Expanding Communication to Citizens During Sequestration

April 11th, 2013 | Posted by GovDelivery in Community Management/Engagement | GovDelivery | Integration | Software as a Service (SaaS) | Uncategorized | Usability - (0 Comments)

By Lance Horne, General Manager, GovDelivery Federal Team

talking bubbleNo one thought it would happen. If you look back at all the news stories and interviews, no one in the Federal government believed that sequestration would actually happen. But here we are, and it’s clear that sequestration is making an impact. In my last post, I focused on employee communications during sequestration, focusing on how important it is to keep the lines of communication open for your staff. Now, more than ever, being a leader is as much about communicating effectively as it is about vision and strategy.

In today’s post, I want to focus on a different kind of communication: government-to-citizen communication. In the wake of sequestration, I’m pretty sure your agency may have already had a few encounters with confused citizens over what will be cut from the budget – and how it will affect them. And rightfully so. Generally speaking, people are aware that there will be budget cuts. Deep down, people probably realize there’s a possibility that their particular program may be subject to cutbacks. The biggest challenge is how to talk with citizens and stakeholders and keep them updated about what’s going on.

But, in spite of all the challenges that sequestration poses, I believe it’s possible to gain exceptional reach and value with digital communications components that drive efficiency in the face of furloughed employees and funding shortfalls.

Yesterday I talked about how the cuts may be sporadic, and I used the example of national parks. With summer right around the corner, people are likely planning vacations and may be considering visits to parks. Keeping them informed becomes crucial to keeping them satisfied, allowing them to plan their vacations better. They may not be happy with park closures, but they will be more satisfied knowing ahead of time rather than showing up to the park and not being able to get in.

In an age when new information can go viral in a matter of minutes, your agency is competing for public attention on a variety of devices.  To keep people informed, you need to manage multichannel digital communications – email, text messaging, social media and more – in one system. Having a digital communication system in place at a time like this can save your agency lots of time while continuing to keep customers informed and satisfied.

In our work with more than 550 government organizations worldwide, we tell our customers that you need to have a digital communication management system that can help you dramatically increase your direct connections with the public. By maximizing your direct connections with the public, when you need to relay important information that will impact a citizen’s life, you can do so immediately through multiple channels.

I gave one example of parks earlier, but there are additional situations where an efficient communication strategy is critical. Hurricane season starts in June, and it’s plausible that sequestration could still be in full effect at that time. For an organization like the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), sequestration cuts may mean that there are fewer resources to meet the agency’s mission of preparedness. Yet, FEMA’s goal isultimately to keep America’s citizens safe, and this isn’t something the agency can bend on. In emergency situations, effective government-to-citizen communications are lifesaving. Even with sequestration cuts, relaying critical information is simply not an area that should be eliminated.

In addition, collaborative digital communication tools can be extremely helpful. By using a collaborative forum, you might be able to strengthen your relationship with the public by being able to gather feedback and create dialogue with citizens in an environment that’s more secure than a social network. By creating collaborative communities, you can create secure, virtual communities that encourage higher levels of engagement. Not only do you provide information, but you can monitor and respond to feedback easily. Plus, you’ll be able to publish content quickly to as many, or as few, people you desire.

I’d like to hear about what you’re doing in your agency to effectively communicate with the public during sequestration. What have you tried that works? Are you forming communities? Have you found other ways to keep citizens informed? Please share what you think is working.

Read my first post, Don’t Sequester Your Agency from Employees During Sequestration.

To get the FREE EBOOK, Leveraging Digital Communications In Emergencies, click here.

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Would You Like Fries With That?

April 3rd, 2013 | Posted by Anna Stroncek for GovDelivery in Community Management/Engagement | GovDelivery | Uncategorized | Usability - (1 Comments)

Believe it or not, government organizations can learn a thing or two from McDonald’s. While on the surface the two hold very little in common with one another, similarity can be found in their mission to get the word out and to serve and satisfy their customers.

For many organizations, getting customers to engage with or buy their product is the key goal. While this may not appear to have anything to do with government, there are lessons to be learned. For a government organization to find success in their communications efforts, valuable connections need to be made. A connection is made when a citizen engages with a resource or piece of information that is of interest to them.

mcdonalds

 

 

Cue McDonalds.

 

 

“Would you like fries with that?” is a phrase we are all too familiar with. Behind these five familiar words lies the most famous cross-selling technique around. Because a customer is already in the buying mode (placing their burger order), the simple addition of a complementary product (those delicious, golden fries) is an easy add-on; not only can the customer afford the additional purchase, but they’re reminded how they want the additional treat, thus increasing the total value of the sale. This simplistic strategy finds success by sparking an idea in the customer’s head with those famous five words.

As GovDelivery’s CEO and co-Founder, Scott Burns, points out during GovDelivery’s Washington D.C. webcast, these up-selling and cross-selling moments are where government organizations can dramatically change the effectiveness of their communications.

Another way to connect with citizens is by collaborating with other government agencies. By simply suggesting that a citizen sign up to receive information from another government organization, another valuable connection is made- for the citizen as well as the other organization. By cross-promoting your organization’s various resources such as newsletters, websites and forums across your digital communication outlets, you place a new opportunity right in front of your citizen, making it easier and more appealing for them to take action.

Scott Burns uses the Social Security Administration (SSA) as an example to demonstrate the idea of up-selling in government. SSA created a baby names Web page on their website listing the most popular baby names from previous years, knowing how popular this topic is among new families. In his presentation, Scott notes that though this topic isn’t nearly as important to the SSA with regard to mission goals and objectives, as having citizens go online to apply and monitor their Social Security benefits, the organization still understands how much of a draw the baby names information can be. So, while visiting the baby names Web page, citizens are given the option to sign up to receive other SSA alerts that are more impactful.

Thus, government’s opportunity to cross-sell or “to offer the fries with the burger”.

By placing options to sign up for other newsletters, links to other digital communication channels and links to higher value activities on the baby names Web page itself, SSA now leverages the baby names page to effectively and efficiently cross-promote their other topics.

High value and low value activities will vary from organization to organization. However, the key is to determine what they are for your organization. From there, finding topics to help your organization cross-promote is fairly simple.

To hear Scott Burns’ full discussion on the transformative power of communications, check out the video by clicking here.

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Digital communications improve customer service

March 29th, 2013 | Posted by Mary Yang for GovDelivery in Analytics/Data | Community Management/Engagement | Compelling Content | Current Affairs | E-Government | Government 2.0 | UK Government - (0 Comments)

In an era of limited resources, governments need to build strong hello my name isrelationships with citizens and stakeholders, and what better place to start than by improving customer service. That’s just what public sector entities in the United Kingdom plan to do. In a GovDelivery survey of almost 100 UK government employees, respondents identified customer service as the top trend taking centre stage in 2013. At the same time, more than two-thirds of respondents said that government is already working to improve customer service.

Take a look at this infographic that provides a visual overview of survey results. As one of the graphs depicts, customer service is far and away the top priority for the UK government compared to budget or big data. Collaboration, however, comes in at a healthy second place. For a full analysis of the survey results, download the white paper.

The white paper notes that communication with citizens is the first critical stage of customer service for most public sector organisations and one of the easiest to modify to improve services. One way the UK government is improving communication is via strong support for social and digital programs.

UK_digital_govFor example, the Government Digital Strategy published by the Cabinet Office calls for government organisations to embrace digital services to constituents. New or redesigned services must conform to a “digital-by-default” standard. It also calls for the Central Government to consolidate publishing on the GOV.UK site and raise awareness of digital resources. With such a strong focus on digital communication, the government has an opportunity to engage with and consult the public, establishing the collaboration that develops into good communication, which ultimately leads to excellent customer service. In addition, digital tools can help departments meet their objectives of improving customer service, even during times of constrained budgets.

Despite the government’s emphasis on a strong digital program, only about half of respondents said their departments use social media to communicate with citizens- so there is room for improvement. Find out more by downloading the white paper, which provides an in-depth analysis of the survey findings and to learn how the three top UK government trends for 2013 are related.

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Getting Your Message Heard: When Communication is a Matter of Life or Death

March 27th, 2013 | Posted by Anne Doucot for GovDelivery in Cloud Computing | Community Management/Engagement | Current Affairs | Email Communication | GovDelivery | Government Success Stories | Local Government | Social Media | Software as a Service (SaaS) | State Government | Usability - (0 Comments)

Imagine for a moment that you are in an area that is about to be hit by a hurricane. What would you want to know to prepare? Do you know where the safest place will be? How will you contact other family members if separated? These getting your message heardquestions are extremely important when faced with a disaster. And if you work in the public sector, another important question is: What good is your message if your audience isn’t getting it?

As a government employee, you may have critical information that could potentially save lives before or during an urgent situation, but if your message doesn’t actually get to your intended recipients, the message is useless.

The town of Ocean City, Maryland, quickly realized the importance of this question during the aftermath of Hurricane Irene in 2011. Overall, the storm caused 47 deaths and over $15 billion worth of damage. Despite the myriad of communications being sent out by town staff, Ocean City residents felt they hadn’t received adequate or timely information about the storm.

Ocean City officials listened to their citizens and stakeholders and took action. They began by discussing their current communications system. The town already had a system in place that pushed out email alerts; however, administrators felt that a more flexible system was necessary. They wanted the ability to send messages, especially emergency alerts, via multiple channels, including text messages or SMS. They knew there was a phone alertsmuch more efficient and effective way to communicate emergency and other high priority information to residents.

In July 2012, Ocean City selected and implemented a multichannel, integrated digital communication platform: GovDelivery Digital Communication Management (DCM). Residents are now able to sign up for a wide variety of topics such as Jobs, Council updates and City Wide Alerts.

The system not only allows Ocean City to send out email and text messages, but it has also helped the town dramatically increase its reach.

In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, Ocean City was significantly more prepared, using the system to get the word out about preparation, storm updates and recovery efforts.

“In times of emergencies, it’s critical for the town to have a system in place that allows us to quickly reach out to our residents and stakeholders with information that they need to keep themselves and their properties safe or secure. With Hurricane Sandy, I was glad to know that we were using the same system that FEMA was using to get the word out about the storm,” said Joe Theobald, Emergency Services Director, Ocean City, MD.

Despite Hurricane Sandy’s devastation, Ocean City residents reported being “extremely satisfied” with officials’ communication throughout the storm. To read the full success story, click here.

If you’d like to know more on how to guide the public in preparing for emergency situations, click here to get the FREE E-BOOK, Leveraging Digital Communications in Emergencies.

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