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Newsflash for Your Newsfeed: Are You Really Reaching Your Audience?

April 18th, 2013 | Posted by Jennifer Kaplan for GovDelivery in Best Practices | Integration | Tips & Tricks | Uncategorized | Unique Uses of GovDelivery - (0 Comments)

Are you relying on Facebook to communicate with the broadest audience possible online? Think again.

Just because a citizen, business or stakeholder likes your Facebook page, doesn’t necessarily mean that they will see all of your posts. In fact, according to a recent comScore report, commercial brands that post an average of five to seven times per week only reach about 16% of the fan base they have worked so hard to establish. So, that post about a new economic development initiative or that weekly public health tip may have gone unseen.

How is this possible? Facebook has a powerful algorithm called EdgeRank. EdgeRank determines the most “screen-worthy” content. In other words, EdgeRank filters what posts each user sees in their newsfeed. Two people may both like the Department of the Interior’s Facebook page, but one person might see some of their posts while the other person might not see any. Unless you want to invest dollars on sponsored posts or spend hours analyzing engagement history, comments, and content aging, your organization is simply at the mercy of Facebook.

It’s time to take control of your communications, and Facebook can actually help! The answer? Convert your Facebook audience into a built-in base of subscribers who you can reach directly, anytime.

CE_City_EdenPrairie_Facebook_EmailPromotion (2)

According to Pew research, 94% of adults online leverage email. Email is the #1 way to reach the broadest audience directly with personalized, archive-able content. This is especially critical in an emergency situation, where you need to reach as many people as possible. Even though email is your direct connection, social media can be a powerful acquisition tool to help build a list of people you can reach 100% of the time.

In 2013, government organizations are taking control of their messages by employing cross-channel promotion. People who like you on Facebook may not know that you have an email or wireless communications list. Invite them to sign up!

The City of Eden Prairie, Minnesota does this very well by posting links to their email subscription page in their timeline. Not only do they provide a value proposition for opting in, but they set the expectation around what types of information they send, as well as how often a subscriber can expect to receive email.

The Social Security Administration leverages GovDelivery’s Facebook sign-up app, which automatically displays for any Facebook user who navigates to their page (whether a users likes their page or not).

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An added benefit is that the user can establish a relationship with your organization, without having to broadcast it in their own newsfeed.  This is an effective strategy, as it can be set up once and will collect email and wireless subscribers automatically everyday. Instructions for GovDelivery customers who want to install this app can be found here.

Don’t forget, channel cross-promotion works on Twitter too! The Office of the Governor in Minnesota generates a sense of urgency by tweeting an announcement of their impending newsletter a few minutes before it goes out.

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This strategy works well on Twitter too! The Office of the Governor in Minnesota generates a sense of urgency by tweeting an announcement of their impending newsletter a few minutes before it goes out.

Louisville, Kentucky also sends a tweet when new subscriber lists are available. This is a great tactic for building an audience for a temporary initiative, new project or when departments merge.

Social media allows government to engage with their constituents in a way that was never possible. When you are engaging an audience through those channels, they can also be used as a strong promotional tool to get more people to opt in to your email communications. For more ways GovDelivery integrates with social media, websites, and more, check out our Integrations Library.

APIs ARE the secret sauce

September 17th, 2012 | Posted by govdelivery in Best Practices | Client News | GovDelivery Features | Integration | Unique Uses of GovDelivery - (0 Comments)

By Mike Bernard, Digital Marketing Manager, GovDelivery

Yesterday, I attended an outstanding webinar, by my co-worker Richard Fong, about using APIs to improve how the government communicates with the public.He discussed what an API is and why they’re so important to government organizations.

Application Programming Interfaces (or APIs) are a hot topic in the government these days. Earlier this year, the White House released a new strategy for the Federal government called Digital Government: Building a 21st Century Platform to Better Serve the American People. This new digital government strategy lists API use as a key element in fulfilling the vision for more open, responsive government communication. And U.S. CIO, Steven VanRoekel tweeted out earlier this year about APIs, with the hashtag “#yesitsthesecretsauce.”

Fong noted that API use has become more critical because the way we access information has dramatically changed. “In the past, businesses and organizations went to the Web because that’s where the customers were…we all sat in front of our desktop monitor and browsed the Web to get content. Then something happened. Technology evolved. The browser stopped being the exclusive gateway to information and content. A few trends that pushed this included social media, mobile, and location-based services.  The public started to consume content using smart-phones, tablets and other intelligent devices,” states Fong.

Fong went on to highlight some of the excellent work being done with APIs throughout the government. For example, here are a few of the API integrations he mentioned in the webinar:

These are just a few of the success stories that Richard covered in his presentation. If you’re interested in exploring creative ways to improve communication with the public, check out the recording of this webinar.

And, if you are in the Washington D.C. area, you should consider attending our Annual Federal Digital Communications Event on October 16th. There will be in-depth discussions about the White House Digital Strategy and how you can use APIs to advance your communication goals. Space is limited, so register today.

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Federal Agency Distributes Content More Broadly, Educates & Informs for Safety

August 31st, 2012 | Posted by Mary Yang For GovDelivery in Best Practices | Client News | GovDelivery Features | Integration - (0 Comments)

If you work in or around Federal government in technology, it’s impossible to have missed the White House’s new strategy for the federal government, Digital Government: Building a 21st Century Platform to Better Serve the American People. In the White House blog, U.S. Chief Information Officer Steven VanRoekel discussed the strategy as a critical roadmap for government to take advantage of technological advances and ultimately deliver better services to the American people through digital means.

While the strategy is important, much of it needs further interpretation and deeper analysis. But there were real-world examples throughout the roadmap that offered clear insight into how Federal agencies could deliver against the strategy. One such example was the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which is “liberating web content” by using a “create once, publish everywhere mindset.” Essentially, the CDC syndicates their content and data via application programming interfaces (APIs) so that information was seamlessly flowing into multiple channels. The CDC example was one of the most clear and immediately applicable pieces of the strategy to me. It’s easy to see how other Federal agencies could provide official content while enhancing their digital interactions with the public in a similar way by automating content distribution to various channels.

A more recent example of this “create once, publish everywhere” approach is at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) which recently launched two widgets to allow anyone to easily publish and distribute FSIS content on other digital properties (websites, blogs, etc.):

  • News & Events Widget consolidates several feeds from FSIS’s email subscription service and provides access to news releases (including recalls) and newsletters.
  • FSIS Policy Widget consolidates the following feeds from FSIS’s email subscription service: FSIS Notices and Directives, Federal Register issuances, scenario-based training, compliance guides.

FSIS_widget

The FSIS mission relies heavily on public outreach as it is “responsible for ensuring that the nation’s commercial supply of meat, poultry, and egg products is safe, wholesome, and correctly labeled and packaged.” This is critical for the public and stakeholders, including farmers, grocery store suppliers, and more. FSIS’s widgets allow specific information to be broadcast broadly beyond typical communication channels, such as press releases or website updates. Stakeholders or even just the general public can take the code for the widget and use it on their digital properties, helping to promote official content much more quickly and widely.

The FSIS widgets pull directly from digital communications that FSIS is already producing, so keeping the information in the widgets updated does not entail any additional actions or resources. The widgets automatically populate with the most up-to-date news or stories, such as food safety tips and updates during severe weather and recent food recalls. Furthermore, FSIS’s widgets provide an embedded ability for the public to sign up for ongoing updates from FSIS via email — a service that already has over 100,000 active users and that links back to their website, helping to increase web traffic. Leveraging information-sharing widgets to syndicate content saves FSIS time, money and resources, and it also provides the public and partners with an easy way to redistribute relevant and valuable information that directly impact people’s lives and safety.

The Digital Government strategy provides a clear path to delivering better citizen services by leveraging technology and urging government organizations to “go digital.” While there are many milestones to meet, the truth is more than half of all Federal agencies – such as the National Guard Bureau, Disability.gov, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency – are already managing digital communications using a cloud-based platform with open APIs to easily reuse and redistribute content so there is a firm foundation in place to deliver progress against milestones rapidly. FSIS’s widgets are just one clear example of the impact of how creating once and publishing everywhere can provide greater value for both the public and government.

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Congratulations, Maricopa County Air Quality Department!

July 24th, 2012 | Posted by Mary Yang For GovDelivery in Client News | Integration | Unique Uses of GovDelivery - (0 Comments)

GovDelivery client, Maricopa County Air Quality Department, was recently recognized by the National Association of Counties (NACo) with a 2012 Achievement Award for the County’s Rapid Response Notification System, which alerts residents and stakeholders of a pollution problem and provides on-site response from department inspectors and stakeholders to identify and discourage pollution activity to reduce the risk of pollution impacts.

Maricopa County enjoys many days with clean air, but there are several days out of the year when air pollution levels approach, or even go above, the federal health standard. The Air Quality Department’s mission is to provide clean air so residents and stakeholders can live, work and play safely. To help do this, the Air Quality Department maintains a robust ambient air monitoring system with 23 fixed monitoring stations reporting hourly readings. These readings provide air monitoring data that feeds into the notification system and uses automation to create the messages that alert citizens and stakeholders.

We wanted to take a moment to congratulate Maricopa County for being one of only three counties across the country to be recognized by NACo with 33 Achievement Awards. We’re excited about the work that we’ve done with the Air Quality Department, and we definitely think their success is a testament to the ways that governments can help keep residents and stakeholders safe and healthy with digital communications.

 

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National Weather Service Using APIs for Tsunami Alerts

July 11th, 2012 | Posted by govdelivery in Best Practices | Client News | GovDelivery Features | Integration | Tips & Tricks | Unique Uses of GovDelivery - (1 Comments)

By Richard Fong, Technical Implementation Consultant

Tsunami events in 1946 and 1964 devastated Hawaii, Alaska, and the coastlines of Washington, Oregon, and California. The 1946 event started with an earthquake magnitude of 8.1 near Unimak, Alaska. Tsunamis inundated the coast over 100 feet above sea level and destroyed many structures near the Unimak area. The waves arrived in Hawaii about 4 to 5 hours later, and 159 people lost their lives due to the ensuing tsunami, which occurred before any warning systems were established.

Due to the 1946 and 1964 events, two warning centers were created: the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) and West Coast/Alaska Tsunami Warning Center (WCA). Each Center has an Area of Responsibility (AoR). West Coast/Alaska’s AoR “consists of Canadian coastal regions, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and the ocean coasts of all U.S. States except Hawaii.” WCA’s mission is to “help protect life and property from tsunami hazard by providing tsunami information and warning messages to its area-of-responsibility.” They are also tasked with developing new processes to improve responses time and message content to residents.

Since these two tragic events, warning systems have been developed to keep people safe. One of the methods now in place is digital communications, which the National Weather Service (NWS) employs to get out the word about weather and climate forecasts to help protect the public.

NWS quickly and easily drafts messages with forecast information, including severe weather updates, and uses GovDelivery Digital Communication Management to deliver those alerts via email and SMS/text message to nearly 140,000 citizens and stakeholders. But with events like tsunamis, seconds matter, which is why the NWS utilized cutting-edge application programming interface (API) technology to send out tsunami bulletins even more quickly than before.

When issuing a tsunami hazard bulletin, speed and accuracy are extremely important. In order to provide near real-time messaging, the GovDelivery Send Bulletin API is used to rapidly disseminate tsunami bulletins to the public. The application integration is able to send both an email message to subscribers as well as an SMS/text message to mobile phone/wireless subscribers. GovDelivery APIs are designed to automate previously manual processes, so this was a perfect option for NWS to send critical tsunami updates.

With online documentation and support from GovDelivery staff, NWS was able to quickly write the integration. Because the APIs employed open standards such as REST and XML, it made deploying the solution easy.

During the April 11, 2012 earthquake, a number of tsunami messages were sent to the public and officials. While no tsunami warning was issued for the U.S. or Canada, the message was sent once the earthquake was identified.

How does this automation ultimately benefit organizations such as the NWS? Simple: NWS and other government organizations can get out of the business of sending out communications (and all the operational logistics this entails)  and focus instead on their core business mission. For both the WCA and PTWC, the mission is to watch for and alert stakeholders to potential tsunami threats as quickly as possible to protect the lives and property of the public. Taking on the process of automating these alerts with near real-time messaging helps NWS get even closer to fulfilling their mission objectives, and that’s a process no one can properly put a number on.

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APIs and Tax Season

February 16th, 2012 | Posted by govdelivery in Client News | GovDelivery Features | Integration - (1 Comments)

By Richard Fong, Technical Implementation Consultant

Have you wondered how your organization can step into the mobile world? Do you want to extend your reach and drive more engagement with the general public wherever they can consume your content – whether that’s from a desktop or a mobile device such as a smartphone?

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) stepped more firmly into the mobile device arena, recently announcing an update to their IRS2GO 2.0 app on iOS and Android platforms. This update adds new features to their previous app, such as access to their YouTube channel. In addition, IRS2GO allows app users to enter in their email address to receive “simple, straightforward tips and reminders” from the IRS. This helps extend the IRS’s reach by encouraging app users to also sign up to receive emails from the IRS, specifically from the “Tax Tips” topic. The sign up portion of the app was built using a Subscriber API (application programming interface) within GovDelivery Digital Communication Management (DCM).

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This integration isn’t as complicated as it seems. In fact, many GovDelivery clients are already using APIs to help integrate a number of processes. Examples of current API integrations include:

  • The State of Michigan is using our API to capture subscribers for their Fall Colors eNewsletter.
  • A large Federal agency is using our API to sync their internal grants database with GovDelivery to ensure grantees get the most recent and relevant information.
  • Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) sends out email and SMS alerts about elevator service availability on a daily basis via our Send Bulletin API.

Many private companies (Google, Yahoo!, Amazon, Twitter, etc.) have APIs available to build out an automated integration, and GovDelivery is no different. An API is made up of resources that are available programmatically. With a library of industry standard RESTful APIs that clients can use to make requests to GovDelivery DCM – from creating and assigning subscribers to sending a message – your organization can automate manual processes and free up times and resources.

If you have any questions about how your organization can use APIs or integrate with GovDelivery DCM, contact us at info@govdelivery.com.

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Can GovDelivery “watch” part of my web page?

May 7th, 2009 | Posted by govdelivery in Integration | Tips & Tricks - (0 Comments)

Yes! Two quick and easy set-up steps.

1. Navigate to the Item Information page and look for the watch tagged content line. (Please write to help@govdelivery.com if that line doesn't appear so we can enable the feature.)

Toggle watch tagged content to yes and click the save button.

2. Insert these tags in the source code of your web page. (Please be sure to copy and paste them exactly as they appear. Do not add or remove anything.)

Opening tag:
<!–PAGEWATCH CODE=""–>

  Content you want us to “watch”….
Closing tag:
<!–/PAGEWATCH–>

You can use the above generic tags on any page so long as that page contains content for one subscription item.

If your page has different sections that you want to offer as separate subscription items then you must use the opening tag that appears on the Item Information page. The closing tag listed above can be used with item-specific opening tags. Again, copy and paste the tag exactly as it appears on the Item Information page.

Contact Client Services if you need assistance. 800-314-0147 or help@govdelivery.com

"Feature sheet":http://www.govdelivery.com/PartnerHelp/docs/watch_tagged_content.pdf

Saving Time by Using GovDelivery Automation Tools

March 13th, 2009 | Posted by govdelivery in GovDelivery Features | Integration - (0 Comments)

The GovDelivery system includes an automation engine that makes it practical for clients to follow the best practice of offering many subscription options with minimal administrative efforts. Clients can use GovDelivery’s automation tools to ensure that outbound messages (typically emails) are sent with little manual effort when new content is available.

Subscription topics in GovDelivery can be configured in several different ways to help clients achieve an optimum level of automation. Each subscription topic a client chooses to offer can leverage one or more of the four types of automation options, each described in detail below. Clients can determine what level of automation is appropriate or necessary by evaluating items individually and reviewing the automation features available in the GovDelivery administration tools.

Manual Sending
Administrators in GovDelivery can compose and send bulletins at any time.

Best Uses
• Creating and sending HTML newsletters.
• Sending emergency information.
• Composing on-the-fly communications.
• Updates unrelated to web content changes.

Web Content Updates
GovDelivery items can be configured to be associated with client web content.

Best Uses
• Updates for web content with active owners willing to send timely messages.
• Updates to clearly labeled web content, such as time-stamped press releases or dated reports.

Automation with RSS
GovDelivery can be configured to automatically include website content in bulletins sent to subscribers.

Best Uses
• Web content published as an XML feed. The feed does not need to be published to the general public.

Automation with Web Services
The most in-depth approach to GovDelivery automation is through web services.

Best Uses
• Time-sensitive updates, such as road closings or transit route delays.
• Content generated in other internal client systems that needs to be distributed via email and text.
• Any content that specifically meets the above two criteria.

Please contact us at 800-314-0147 or help@govdelivery.com to discuss these options in more detail. Here is a link to our automation feature sheet.
Automation

Banner Image

February 17th, 2009 | Posted by govdelivery in Best Practices | Integration - (0 Comments)

Federal clients – did the banner on your website change with the new administration on January 20th?

All – has the look of your site changed recently?

As you may know, we host and display an image at the top of your GovDelivery subscription pages. Please send us a new image if what you see on our pages does not match your current site.

Send images to help@govdelivery.com. Maximum width should be 700 pixels.

Please, only one image per client account. Thanks!

GovDelivery Link Placement

January 21st, 2009 | Posted by govdelivery in Best Practices | Integration - (0 Comments)

The placement of Subscription Links is one of the most important steps when integrating GovDelivery with your website. The more awareness you can build for email updates, the more likely people are going to take advantage of it. Proper link placement will help to increase your subscribers, which means more information getting to the right people in real time.

Homepage Integration:
An eye-catching graphic or text-box placed above the scroll line will increase awareness of the system and promote its use by web visitors. These links should direct subscribers to the Quick Subscribe Page or a description page. Having a permanent area on your homepage for subscriptions is a starting point for consistency and allows returning users the ability to make changes or additions to their preferences.

Any time the homepage contains a distinct area of content offered for subscription, that area should have a one-click subscribe link as well.

Direct Sign-up:

Graphic:

Subscription Topic Integration:
Each Subscription Topic offered should have sign-up link on the site. All links should be placed next to its corresponding content. We recommend that you use consistent graphics and labels so website users can easily identify content available for subscription.

Most importantly, remember that if potential subscribers are not able to find your links, then it is unlikely they will sign up for the service. If you are not sure of the best integration, ask for help! The GovDelivery staff are always happy to suggest graphics and placement, particularly on pages that are designed differently from the rest of your site.

For more information about Best Practices for link placement, click here.