Newsletter | MARCH 2011
From the desk of Dave Worsell
You've got your new website. You're using Twitter and Facebook to engage with your audience. Your community has access to the latest news and information. The savings are predicted to be huge…So why isn't it working?
GovDelivery research reveals clients using an email-led engagement strategy to help coordinate their social media activities are likely to engage up to 20 times more users than agencies who rely on social media alone. Our research examined social media usage within a random sample of local authorities and revealed that only a tiny percentage of the local population are active users. The average is a disappointing 0.33 percent for Twitter and 0.175 percent for Facebook measured as an overall percentage of the population served.  I believe the main reason these numbers are so low is because the channels aren't being promoted effectively. Why should your audience connect with you on Twitter or Facebook when they don't understand the benefits they'll see when using them? Any investment in new online tools, no matter how good the implementation, is likely to be wasted unless you promote the service and its benefits. The rewards for a well-planned and thought-through promotion strategy will pay dividends longer term. Tips for Effective Promotion Treat the launch of all new digital assets as you would physical ones. Consult, design, build and promote. As an example, would you build a new sports centre and then not tell anyone when it opens? Wouldn't it be much better to promote it with a big story on your website, get the council leader talking about the service, invite the press to a grand opening, do a splash in your community newsletters, produce posters and distribute this information all over town?
- The right tools — Use social media tools in conjunction with more-effective online channels like email and SMS to engage a much-larger audience. A recent Pew report "Generations Online 2010" gives a good guide to the channels you should be using.
- In your Face — Ensure all your communications channels e.g. Twitter, Facebook, email alerts, YouTube, etc. are promoted on the top left or right of every page on your website, not just the home page. Ensure these channels are always displayed "above the fold" using distinctive and colourful icons to encourage subscription.
- Explain why — Having a Twitter or Facebook logo on your site isn't enough. Explain what you're trying to achieve and how users will benefit if they participate.
- Cross-promote — Cross promote your online presence at every available opportunity: Make sure all your online stories provide links to your digital channels. Stories run in newsletters and the press must link to your digital channels. All outbound emails must contain links to your social channels in the footers. Customer service teams must capture email addresses and SMS numbers which can be used to promote your online channels.
- Leverage Events — Government agencies with good digital engagement numbers have used unexpected events to rapidly drive up subscriber growth. For example, when it snows, create a story on your homepage about how you are using new technology to keep people informed about snow disruption.
Note: Join us for an insightful webinar coming in April. Stay tuned for additional information.
Excellence in Communication Award – Met Office
The Met Office has been awarded the Excellence in Communications Award by GovDelivery for the fourth quarter of 2010. The organisation won the award for achieving a five-fold increase in digital message subscribers during 2010. These fantastic results were achieved by the Met Office team through highly innovative search engine optimisation approaches. Met Office has effectively used digital communications to efficiently engage the public by providing timely weather conditions. Subscription topics include weather warnings from across Britain, news releases, social media updates and Met Office job vacancies. This winter's heavy snowfall resulted in a large increase of subscribers to Met Office's severe weather alerts. Met Office gained a total of 17,838 subscribers from September 2010 to January 2011 — a 67 percent increase in those five months alone. More than 28 million messages were sent to more than 55,000 subscribers throughout 2010. Met Office has also used cross promotion with its GovDelivery network partners to gain 34 percent more subscribers. Partners include the Department of Energy and Climate Change, Highways Agency, Driving Standards Agency, Department of Business Innovation and Skills, BSI Standards and Health and Safety Executive.
Welcome to our new clients — Crawley Borough Council and Sheffield City Council
Crawley Borough Council is using GovDelivery to keep residents informed of changes to Crawley Council services during bad weather. The system will update subscribers by email whenever new information about services is available. People can also register for local weather updates from the Met Office using collaboration on the same system.
Councillor Bob Lanzer, Leader of Crawley Borough Council, said "this system is very handy for both residents and visitors as they will be able to get up-to-the-minute information about whether our leisure centre or theatre is open, for example, or if refuse and recycling collections have been disrupted."
The Crawley council will be extending the alert system to offer information on a wider range of services.
Sheffield City Council has launched its "Alert Me" service using GovDelivery to help keep residents in the know about the things that matter to them such as bin collections, school closures and activities happening in their local area. The new system means residents don't need to check the Sheffield website or ring the council to find out the latest information — it will be delivered straight to their inbox instead.
The types of things Sheffield residents can find out about:
- Winter — gritting and road updates
- Environment — waste and recycling, bin collections
- Social media — links to Twitter and YouTube
- Libraries — latest information and activities
- Community Assemblies — what's happening in local areas
- Education — school closures, school holidays
- Leisure and activities — events throughout the city
Client success chart — Met Office, DSA, and Highways Agency
GovDelivery and COI
We are also pleased to announce that we are now on the COI's Interactive Services Approved Supplier List. We're looking forward to working with COI under these arrangements to deliver successful online services to their clients.
GovLoop surpasses 40,000 members!
Had you heard the news that GovLoop just hit another milestone, recently crossing the 40,000–member threshold? With the help of hard–working and passionate "govies" like you, we have achieved this significant number in record time…and we continue to grow!
"How did we get to this point and in such a short amount of time," you might wonder? The answer can be simply summed up in one word. You!
If you haven't already, join GovLoop now (it's free and only takes 30 seconds)!
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