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Preventing Crime in 2013: How to Get More Tips With Email

May 20th, 2013 | Posted by Jennifer Kaplan for GovDelivery in Best Practices | Client News | GovDelivery Features | Tips & Tricks - (0 Comments)

By John Simpson, Engagement Consultant at GovDelivery

Preventing crime is one of the number one goals for public safety organizations. In 2013, we are seeing a shift in public safety groups, many of whom are leveraging the power of local citizens and stakeholders to report criminal activity. This type of interaction helps identify trends and prevent future crimes. Behind this shift is a simple but powerful tool that is driving this engagement: email.

The Sheriff’s Office of Stearns County, MN was looking for new ways to engage and educate the public on information sharing practices that could help prevent and solve crimes. Beyond using new technologies, the Sheriff wanted to be sure they offered clear and easy ways for the public to connect with his Office and interact with employees to help them better serve their constituents.

One of the main crime prevention resources that the Sheriff’s Office wanted to expand on was promoting the submission of urgent and non-urgent tips from the public. An evaluation of the tip submission process found it to be confusing, complicated, and unintuitive.

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To simplify the process and ensure public exposure, Stearns County partnered with GovDelivery to design a new Advanced Bulletin Template for the Sheriff’s Office regular public updates. Embedded within the template, are prominent buttons depicting the different tip submission channels: Phone, Email, or Web. Whether using a computer or a mobile device, clicking on each of the respective buttons now redirects the subscriber to the Sheriff’s Office phone number, email address, or an online tip submission tool.

By regularly featuring an intuitive method for tip submission, the Sheriff’s Office now offers a new opportunity for the public to communicate with county officers through every public bulletin. Just thirteen minutes after sending their inaugural message with the new Advanced Bulletin Template, the Sheriff’s office received a tip from a subscriber. A simple format with a clear, engaging call to action has allowed for the Sheriff’s Office to better encourage crime prevention, empower the public to report information to their office, and ultimately decrease the amount of crime in Stearns County.

While the Stearns County Sheriff’s Office serves as a great example of creating an intuitive solution for public engagement, no two projects are the same. If your organization is looking for better ways to engage the public, contact: EngagementServices@GovDelivery.com.

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How to write and send a marketing email

May 17th, 2013 | Posted by govdelivery in Best Practices | GovDelivery Features | Tips & Tricks - (0 Comments)

Guest Post by Darren Caveney, co-creator of comms2point0 and Vice Chair of LGcomms

Email? Send them an email? But, hasn’t the world all shifted across to social media, I hear you cry?

Well yes and no. image smithsonianA whopping 94% of UK adults have an email address (source: Ofcom, 2012) That knocks into a cocked hat just about every social media statistic you’ll ever see.

Actually, most of us switch back and forth between both without really thinking about it too much. Smart phones and tablets have made it all so easy and seamless.

 

As [communications] professionals we know that we need to be confident using both mediums, but understand the subtle differences, the advantages offered by both and where synergies exist.

Crafting, targeting and loving your marketing emails.  Now that’s a skill which will come naturally for some. For others it needs a bit of thought and a bit of work. Just think about the array of approaches, of content, of style of the emails you receive each day – the good, the bad and the ugly.  Occasionally, I scan through my spam folder with sheer wonder at some of the nutty stuff people have thought appropriate for me.

As always, there is much to learn and case studies a plenty out there so when I nabbed a ticket for the excellent mailcamp at the swanky National Audit Office’s HQ I was all ears.

So, here’s a top 10 things you need to consider when sending an email, as suggested by the speakers at mailcamp

  1.  80% of your email’s content should sit at the top of the email – above the fold, as we used to say
  2. What you put in the subject box is vital. Make it interesting and relevant, make it stand out in a busy inbox
  3. Use links rather than pictures – pictures may look nicer but links will generate more click-throughs
  4. Include surveys and competitions to encourage interaction, but only if the content of them is relevant to what your subscribers want
  5. Be fleet of foot – think about relevant opportunities which breaking news, current affairs and live events can throw up, and how you might time your emails to coincide
  6. Timing is key – if you want people to attend a weekend event, hitting their inbox on Friday late morning/early afternoon can be key in influencing their weekend plans
  7. Your ‘call to action’ must be clear and simple. And it must be referenced in your email subject line
  8. Integrate your email activity with your social media channels – cross-promote, co-ordinate, converge
  9. What works for social media can also work for email – be authentic, be honest, tell stories
  10. Measure, measure, measure – study the analytics. But do measure the right thing – don’t fret about openings if your goal is click-throughs and sign ups.

Of course, there’s more to running successful email marketing campaigns than this but if we nail these as a starter for 10 then we can expect a decent return.

Thanks to Steph Gray for organising mailcamp, to Nick Halliday for hosting and for GovDelivery and Dave Worsell for sponsoring and buying the pizza.

See original post on comms2point0 blog.

photo credit

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GovDelivery Awarded G-Cloud III Framework Contract

May 15th, 2013 | Posted by govdelivery in Client News | GovDelivery Features | Unique Uses of GovDelivery - (0 Comments)

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By Kathy Kyle, Digital Communications Consultant at GovDelivery

GovDelivery was recently awarded a G-Cloud III framework contract for its Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) cloud-based solutions, making it easier for government to reach more people.

G-Cloud III is important as it continues to enable UK public sector departments and organisations to easily access centrally negotiated deals and transact online. Government is investing in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure to achieve economies of scale, deliver flexible and responsive systems, deliver faster business benefits and reduce costs, and enhance customer service outcomes. And the G-Cloud helps them procure these technologies more quickly and efficiently.

Since GovDelivery has always developed cloud-based solutions, we have more than a decade of experience helping government organizations transform their communications. We currently support over 55 UK clients at the central and local government levels, managing proactive digital communications for GOV.UK, FCO, MOJ, DSA, Met Office, Parliament, VOSA, HA, FSA, MHRA and more. Our local government clients are using GovDelivery solutions to achieve cost savings through channel shift, driving residents to cheaper online channels where appropriate, and reducing avoidable contact. Local authority clients like Central Bedfordshire, Southampton and Suffolk rave about reaching 20 to 30% of their target population, increasing online traffic to high-values services by 35%, and generating immediate, cashable savings. One client estimates an annual cost savings of £100,000 by reducing phone call volume alone.

The common denominator for these clients? They all recognise the importance of reaching their stakeholders, and they understand that with proactive digital communications, they can transform online visits to transactions that demonstrate a return on their digital investment. GovDelivery clients achieve channel shift and cost savings through a single platform that links their existing communication channels to email, text messaging, RSS and social media (and soon, voice messages). Suffolk County Council achieved cost savings and accolades (2011 UK Digital Excellence award winner post-GovDelivery implementation) for their proactive messaging and on-demand alerts. Our clients at Central Bedfordshire realised significant cost savings after implementing GovDelivery; they report estimated reductions of up to 100 phone calls per day and continuously improve services by measuring results. Watch their video testimonial and learn about Central Bedfordshire’s comprehensive channel shift programme.

Summer is quickly approaching, and this is an ideal time to implement GovDelivery. With three months of highly-publicised events and activities across UK boroughs, counties and cities, past experience dictates that our clients will generate large subscriber numbers and with proper cross-promotion, also increase subscribers across other high-value services.

Those who promote their GovDelivery service all summer will reap the benefits of increased subscribers across multiple services. By the time the leaves change and autumn rolls in, inclement weather will be the main driver for GovDelivery subscriptions. West Sussex County Council experienced an increase of nearly 1500 subscribers on one cold, blizzard-like Sunday afternoon due to weather and referrals from other local authorities and Met Office subscription links.img_whitepaper (2)

For central government, it is always ideal to promote online services, share emergency travel alerts, or launch a public safety campaign. The Foreign Commonwealth Office (FCO) recently launched its travel alerts on GOV.UK using GovDelivery, and we are working together to keep UK travellers informed and safe when travelling abroad.

For local authorities, this means opportunities to leverage community events to cross-promote services and a chance to connect with referrers in the GovDelivery network. Local councils that would normally send alerts and updates about cultural events and library services will take advantage of the busy summer event season to feature and promote high-value service areas like rubbish and bin management, school term dates, highways and road works, inclement weather alerts, or even sign residents up for online portals.

As a quick and efficient cost-cutting measure, local authorities might also consider GovDelivery’s Transactional Messaging Service (TMS), new to the G-Cloud III framework, which allows organizations to send fully automated, targeted, one-to-one messages to citizens about council tax statements, benefits information, registration, and key notices. Our clients are achieving efficiencies both through postal savings and channel shift by driving their audience to online channels to complete electronic transactions with government.

With constrained budgets, dwindling resources and pressure to generate cost savings, GovDelivery is key to driving proactive messaging, achieving channel shift savings, and ensuring government achieves customer service goals. We are the engine that drives over 1.7 million UK residents to the relevant online activities that make their offline lives easier.

Contact us to learn how you can procure our services though G-Cloud III to dramatically increase your reach and impact in your respective community.

 

Kathy Kyle
Digital Communications Consultant
kathy.kyle@govdelivery.com or @bonominiyogini

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Breaking Through the Clutter: 3 Tips from Great Storytellers

April 29th, 2013 | Posted by Jennifer Kaplan for GovDelivery in Best Practices | Tips & Tricks - (Comments Off)

Getting your message across in 2013 is more challenging than ever. The public is bombarded by sensational messages. Their inbox and social media feeds are filled with captivating stories and images. To break through the clutter, government needs to evolve the way they craft their messages. That’s why one of the biggest trends in email this year is for government organizations to become storytellers. 

As a government communicator, it’s your obligation to keep the public informed. While critical situations call for quick deployment of life-saving information, many of the communications flowing from government aren’t as time-sensitive. Parks programming, new regulations, public health information, and economic development initiatives are what make up the rest of government communications. While this information is equally important, we’ve often seen it doesn’t command as much attention, especially when it only includes the most basic information.

Making the shift to become a good storyteller might seem daunting. You have enough on your plate, and maybe you assume revamping your messaging strategy would take too much time, effort, and resources, but it actually doesn’t! For example, if people are posting on your organization’s Facebook page complaining about potholes, your initial response might be “our organization doesn’t have funding to fix these quickly enough”. REWIND. This is a huge opportunity to tell a story. Start from the beginning and give them the inside scoop. “We know potholes can be frustrating, and even dangerous. We are working to remedy the situation as fast as we can. But, here’s what our funding was for road construction last year, here is what it is now, and here are some ways you can get involved.”  Now, that’s a story.

Texas Department of Transportation (DOT) does this really well. They put out a monthly newsletter that’s essentially a round up of Texas DOT news and events. Instead of just saying, “The State of  Texas experienced inclement weather and snowplows were deployed,” they use descriptive language to give their readers information in an engaging way.

What have we learned from Texas DOT? Storytelling involves 3 elements:

texas

1.Provide short, engaging news.  Being a good storyteller does not mean your organization should be verbose. Try simply punching up existing phrases like, “portions of Northwest Texas were blasted early last week with an unprecedented blizzard”.

2.Give them inside scoop.  People like to feel as if they are “in the know.” Everyone knows when the weather is bad, but providing transparency around what your organization experiences while solving the problem will give them a sense of involvement. “As the wind dropped and snow lightened, TxDOT crews from around the state moved in with snowplows to help their fellow workers in Amarillo, Lubbock, Abilene, Wichita Falls and Childress”

3.Establish a connection.  Good storytelling elicits an emotional response, and the emotional content is what gets shared on social media. People want to know what’s going on, and if you can engage them in a way that’s emotional, it also helps move the needle on citizen satisfaction. These two phrases do just that: “help their fellow workers” and “clear the snow-packed roadways for motorists”

 

Try using these simple strategies at your organization to break through the clutter and maximize the impact of your messages.

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Email: Be a Bigger Player

March 13th, 2013 | Posted by Anne Doucot in Best Practices | GovDelivery Features | Tips & Tricks - (0 Comments)

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When you are formulating your digital communication strategy, what tools form the foundation for your execution? Social media is most likely the first thought that comes to mind these days. And understandably so; social media, in its many forms, can be a very effective communications tool. However, email remains a key tool, especially in the evolving communications industry.

Jeremy Greene, VP of Product Management at GovDelivery, recently shared these key success factors in digital communication strategies during his “What’s Next In Digital Communications” presentation at our kick-off event of GovDelivery’s 2013 Communications Tour. To find out where the next tour stop is, click here.

1. More communication partnerships
A great way to expand your audience is by taking advantage of potential partnerships available through the public sector. In this non-competitive market, there are numerous opportunities to connect with other agencies similar to yours. Jeremy suggests cross-promoting with other agencies that may complement your mission by location, related topics, and relevancy. For GovDelivery clients, the GovDelivery Network is the easiest way to do this. If you don’t have it turned on, ask your client success consultant about it.

2. Deeper measurement – beyond open rates
Metrics are important. You may know how many emails you send at any given time, but do you know if your email reached its intended recipient or if they actually opened the email? Knowing these metrics will significantly improve your effectiveness. If you know how many people opened a particular message, you are then able to appropriately assess what content is relevant in the eyes of your targeted audience.

online community3. Creation of small online communities to engage citizens
Create an environment or platform around a specific purpose within your organization to drive communication between you and your stakeholders. Taking the time and effort to maintain and manage this type of environment can bring the benefits of tremendous citizen engagement and connection.

4. Go Visual
Visual matters. Period. Of the top 10 brands on Facebook, “users liked photos 2x as much as text updates and shared videos 12x more than photo and text posts combined” (Mashable, 2012). Sprinkle some pictures and graphics into your content, Jeremy advises. Make it relevant and visually attractive. Take a look at your message before sending, and ask yourself,“Would I open this?”

Do you know the answer to this question?
(Knowing the answer can be a powerful way to find out where you should be focusing your communication strategy).

“What percentage of my audience within the last 90 days has seen any of my content?”

little logoTo find out how GovDelivery can help you answer the above question and reach more of your target audience effectively, register for a seat at our ongoing 2013 Digital Communications Tour. We’re traveling to different cities nationwide to get the word out on what’s new in digital communication. Hear from public sector experts, providing insightful perspectives and strategies on government communications, and from your peers in government on their successful tactics and projects.

Register today for the 2013 GovDelivery Digital Communications Tour. Space is limited!

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Let it snow! Inclement weather drives engagement with the public

January 28th, 2013 | Posted by govdelivery in Client News - (0 Comments)

By Kathy Kyle, Digital Communications Consultant, GovDelivery UK

UK-snow2-jan2013The whole of the United Kingdom experienced a week of widespread travel disruptions and school closures due to unusually inclement weather.  The extended forecast promises additional wintry, blizzard-like conditions – with as much as seven inches of snow, rain and ice over the next week. One of the worst incidents reported was last Wednesday, when 30 people were forced to spend the night in a shelter after becoming stranded when the A39 between Bridgwater and Williton in Somerset became impassable.

More than ever, it is critical that government agencies at the national and local level efficiently and effectively alert local residents about floods, school closures, and road and mass transit disruptions.

At GovDelivery, we are finding that the snow has had a tremendous impact on the uptake of subscribers to government services and information, with increases in local authority subscriptions topping 3900% this past week. In one day, West Sussex received 1,447 new subscribers interested in receiving alerts. As we expected, there was an upward trend in subscriptions to the Highways Agency (HA) and the Met Office, with increases in alert subscribers of up to 180%.

West Sussex County Council website

More compelling than the expected increase in subscribers to weather and transit-related services was the surge in citizens subscribing to central government organisations, whose missions are completely unrelated to the impact of extreme weather. For instance, the National Audit Office (NAO) experienced a 16% increase new subscribers over the latest snowy three-day period, and the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) saw a 114% increase over the course of the same week.

This demonstrates the power of the GovDelivery Network, a bi-directional relationship formed between government organisations that use our integrated, seamless digital communications platform. Visitors have the opportunity to opt-in to alerts regarding a variety of government services. This cross-promotion of government services drives subscriptions, helping organisations reach dramatically more people, especially those who may have never known about or thought to search for a specific government topic.

Derbyshire County Council, who is using GovDelivery to reach more residents regarding school closures, experienced an increase of 956 subscribers in one day. Other councils – Sheffield, Herefordshire, and Crawley Borough – all experienced increases between 575% and 752%, with the majority of traffic to their websites coming from HA, the Met Office, and Department of Health.

With nearly 1.5 million subscribers in the UK alone (41 million worldwide), the GovDelivery Network not only drives engagement, but connects citizens to potentially life-saving information in an efficient, effective way through a simple, opt-in subscription process.

With pending severe weather across the country, it is more important than ever to leverage the GovDelivery ecosystem to maximise direct connections with citizens.

Learn more about how central government and local authorities are reaching more people.

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Highlight on Accessibility

January 18th, 2013 | Posted by Mary Yang For GovDelivery in GovDelivery Features - (0 Comments)

By Billy Reisinger, Senior Software Engineer, GovDelivery

WeCo_logoGovDelivery is passionate about helping government entities reach their citizens through digital communications.  We are in the business of spreading the word – and we want every single message recipient to be able to consume information easily and quickly.  Most of the time, this means reading an email or text message. Sometimes, it’s watching a YouTube video. But what we forget is that many times, those folks to whom information is delivered are living with some sort of disability, and our government clients are mandated to make their communications accessible to every person regardless of ability.

As part of our mission to make our product accessible, we have an ongoing partnership with WeCo, a company that provides accessibility training and certification.  It is striking to know that, according to WeCo, 20% of the active US workforce has some form of a disability.  Given such a large percentage, it is critical to our business and our clients’ success that we build our products to be accessible from the start.

To that end, several of the technical, client support, and marketing staff here at GovDelivery recently participated in an informative training with several members of WeCo. They helped us assess and improve the accessibility of several of our technologies and provided thoughtful discussion on what kind of digital actions we need to be cognizant of from an accessibility standpoint.  Not only is WeCo is an excellent resource for accessibility training, but they also employ experts in the field of accessibility – people with disabilities – to educate and test their clients’ products.

We’re excited about our ongoing partnership and how the work we do together can help government organizations distribute information as widely as possible and help those living with a disability receive information that they want or need. To that end, WeCo has recently launched a crowdfunding initiative on Indiegogo to spread the word on the unique and critical service they provide. If you’re passionate about accessibility, take a look and find out more about the important work they do.

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Are You Sitting On a Pot of Gold?

January 10th, 2013 | Posted by Jennifer Kaplan for GovDelivery in Best Practices | Tips & Tricks - (1 Comments)

By Jennifer Kaplan, Product Marketing Manager, GovDelivery

Like many of you, I started 2013 with lofty goals. Exercise more! Organize my desk! Finally finish my to-do list!  I’ve come to realize, like many others have, that a list of important objectives is never-ending. It’s daunting. However, instead of taking on all of these tasks at once, sometimes we can achieve success (and gratification) faster by tackling one or two crucial goals that directly affect our mission.

If you need to communicate with people through online channels like email, SMS, or social media, having a good group of people to communicate with is a crucial goal.

Building an audience online is one of the most important things you can do. Your message to the public won’t matter if no one sees it! Whether it’s getting more people to get flu shots, register for a deer hunting license, apply for more grants, or join your neighborhood watch program, the size of your email list correlates with your level of success.

At GovDelivery, we’ve heard many success stories recently of how Federal, State, Local and UK Government communicators are not only achieving this goal, but blowing it out of the water. For example, a state agency we worked with recently grew their email subscriber list by adding thousands of citizens in just a few days. This is your proverbial “pot of gold”. 

The best part? Their strategy for success is something you can easily execute THIS MONTH. Here’s how…

The agency I mentioned above uncovered over 20,000 email addresses from a department who did a huge promotional push for an event 2 years ago, but never did any follow up with the email addresses after the event. Because the agency had already established a relationship with this group, they were able to send them an invite and covert those old email addresses into newly engaged subscribers. This was all done with minimal effort: just a few conversations and an email invite.

To find your pot of gold, start talking internally with other departments. Make connections with other offices, programs or individuals in your agency who also communicate or interact with the public online.  You may uncover a wealth of untapped email addresses.

Here are some places where you might find your pot of gold:

  1. Parks and Recreation departments collecting email addresses online for classes, activities and events.
  2. Property Records or Taxpayer Services receiving e-payments.
  3. Department of Natural Resources typically get email addresses for hunting, fishing or other license renewals.
  4. Libraries may have email addresses for library card registration or book availability notifications.
  5. Any programs or agencies receiving grant applications.
  6. Water or other services collecting utility bills.
  7. Departments who oversee driver’s license or tab renewal.
  8. Departments receiving passport applications.
  9. Any other area of your website with online form submission or that collects online payment!

*Bonus tip: If you can tap into other demographic information, such as first name and zip code, you’ll be able to easily execute other strategic email communications tactics. For example, an urgent email with a subscriber’s first name in the subject line might be more likely to grab their attention. Or, you can use a zip code to target certain email addresses with a relevant email about a new park opening near their location. 

You can also work with your GovDelivery Client Success Consultant to determine if you can upload existing lists directly to GovDelivery or if it is preferable to invite people to sign up.  In most cases, you can create new topics in GovDelivery that map directly to the outreach you are already providing.  GovDelivery can also help by supplying potential invite templates.

I must say, I can’t take all the credit for the term “pot of gold”, as Alan Ferguson at Central Bedfordshire Council first drew the comparison recently at our UK Digital Communications Event.  Alan told the story of how their agency made the switch to digital communications in order to encourage a channel shift towards citizen interactions online. Alan’s team heavily promoted their new email communications through social media, website, staff and elected officials. Through this promotion, they were able to discover that one department (Adult Education) had a database of over 8,000 email subscribers that they had collected separately outside of other departments. Alan’s team was able to import this list and convert many of these people to subscribers of their other digital communications.  The entire presentation is fascinating, but fast-forward to the 6:53 minute mark to hear his experience related to email:

Finally, if you’ve already asked around and haven’t uncovered your pot of gold, don’t worry. There are plenty of other things you can do to grow your lists!  Check out some of the other tactics used by Federal, State and Local government agencies here: http://www.govdelivery.com/insidethered/2012/01/the-lucky-7-ways-to-increase-your-outreach/

 

 

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Last Minute Sandy Preparation Tips for Government

October 29th, 2012 | Posted by Jennifer Kaplan for GovDelivery in Best Practices | Client News - (0 Comments)

We’ve all heard the numbers. 8,000+ flights cancelled. Hundreds of thousands already evacuated. Mass transit shut downs up the Eastern Seaboard.* (stats from CNN)  Up to 60 million people will be affected. Hurricane Sandy, now the largest storm ever recorded in the Atlantic, is here.

President Obama, addressing the public in a statement this morning, said, “Please listen to what your state and local government officials are saying.” Government communicators are already in the midst of getting preparation and evacuation information out to those who need it. We’ve also seen additional tips for the public on television, radio, through news websites and social media. Here are the top things your organization can do right now if your stakeholders are affected.

Expand Your Reach. The more stakeholders receive your message, the more likely it is that they will be safe and prepared.

  • Update Your Website. Right now is the moment where citizens are most engaged with government organization. Make sure it’s as easy as possible for citizens visiting your website and social media pages to find the sign-up area for your communications. The key to success is a prominent position.  Keep it in the upper right or upper left of your page, but be careful not to blend it with other aspects of your website. For a temporary fix, highlight your sign-up area in yellow or orange.
    Ready.gov website
  • Leverage the Media to Promote Communications. In his public address this morning, President Barack Obama directed citizens to Ready.gov to get up-to-date preparation and safety information on Hurricane Sandy. If your organization is briefing or being featured through any media outlets, be sure to promote your communications and the ways citizens can subscribe to get updates via email or text message. It’s also helpful to include the URLs to your resources in any media graphics.
  • Recommend Power Outage Alternatives. If citizens lose cable, broadcast signal and Internet, they can still receive tweets about the storm on their mobile phone — even if they don’t have a Twitter account. Have citizens subscribe to SMS Twitter alerts. Here’s a great article from the Washington Post on how to do this.

Get the Word Out Efficiently. Be sure to send messages through all your communication channels.

  • Get Preparation or Evacuation Information Out NOW. There is still time to recommend precautionary actions that can be taken by stakeholders. Urge those in recommended evacuation areas to leave. Send reminders to conserve cell and computer power. Ensure citizens have a list of necessary items — enough food, water, cash, medicine and flashlights — should they experience a power outage.
    National Hurricane Center website
  • Don’t Have the Resources? Not sure what information to send out? Leverage existing, official content.  FEMA and Ready.gov, in addition to the National Hurricane Center with the National Weather Service are asking government organizations to share content they’re already creating to spread the word.  Instead of reinventing the wheel, your organization can share the information, tools and resources from these sites. Like and share FEMA’s Facebook page posts. Follow and re-tweet @ReadyDotGov tweets.
    Ready.gov Twitter feed
  • Continue to Send Updates Throughout the Week. Use email, SMS and social media and other channels to keep stakeholders updated. Be sure to use all means (especially SMS and Twitter) as some stakeholders may not have Internet.

Google has also developed a Crisis Map that provides real-time information about where the storm is moving. The interactive map shows Sandy’s trajectory of the entire country, plus the public can subscribe to additional alerts such as evacuation notices, storm warnings, shelter locations and traffic conditions.

Picking Up the Pieces. In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, continue to use digital channels to send updates to your stakeholders. Government organizations will need to work together to communicate relief and clean-up efforts, as well as provide additional resources available to the public. Keep an eye on FEMA, Ready.gov, and the National Weather Service for more information.

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