Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, Google+, blogs and emails have changed the way government communicates with the public. But in order to have a true government transformation, you can’t forget about the people part of the equation. You can send out all the tweets in the world, but if no one sees them, or takes an action, your communication is just talk – not engagement.
Wednesday, GovDelivery hosted their Power of Reach event on how your communications can engage stakeholders to take action – online or offline – to truly drive mission value for your organization. And as part of the event, GovDelivery’s CEO and co-founder, Scott Burns, gave a keynote on how to put people first when crafting your outreach.
A little background for you, every day between 35,000 – 50,000 people sign up for updates from the government via GovDelivery. That amounts to about 70 million people.
Burns said asking the question, “What is your digital strategy?” is an outdated way of thinking.
“If you are trying to get people to get a flu shot, it’s not a tweet that is going to get the shot — the person does. You can’t think about the program first. People aren’t part of the programs; they are the programs.”
Burns walked the audience through his four-step plan to attract more people to your programs:
- Mine Your Data – Government organizations are ripe with departmental databases, email lists, transactions data and outlook address books. Use that data to discover followers.
- Web Sign-Ups – Make your government website a portal to one-click sign-ups for alerts. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs was able to get a half a million people signed up with this process.
- Network – The government does not compete with other departments or agencies, so share resources. Integrated sign-ups and networking processes can drive outreach.
- Accelerated Reach – Government agencies can cross-promote. Do it!
“When you combine the power to reach the right people, with the strategy and technology to compel them to act, you have a game-changing formula,” said Burns.
>>>> You can find all the Power of the Reach tour stops here.
Hi Emily, I really enjoyed your article and I think about how much stronger we could be as a nation if Federal Agencies did more true partnering with each other. The United States Postal Service is rapidly changing and yet still remains so under utilized. We have the ability to reach every household in America in a fun and engaging way. Check out our new Spiderman video https://www.usps.com/amazing/ Have a great day!