Getting the Word Out
A big part with any online community is getting the word out. As government agencies move to engage online in various communities and create their own…a big part will be
getting the word out.
On GovLoop we get the word out in a number of ways including:
-Being awesome – As Seth Godin says, be remarkable. That’s our goal and still the best way to get the word out.
-Partners – GovLoop partners with a number of relevant stakeholder groups from associations to events that have similar audiences
-Engage – GovLoop engages where our future members may be – from Facebook to Twitter to LinkedIn
What else should we do? Ideas on getting the word out?
What should agencies do?
I sound like a broken record, but you need to engage the agency public affairs folks to get their buy-in to make GovLoop part of their lexicon. It would help if you were a “.gov” instead of a “.com” network. We still cannot access GovLoop at work (I’m teleworking today).
An endorsement from the White House or CTO wouldn’t hurt either.
Another idea is to sponsor Government-centric webcasts or virtual forums to draw an audience.
It also seems that you need to segment your market into Federal vs. State/Local Governments. We often operate in separate, but overlapping, spheres of influence.
Contests, with inexpensive “give-aways” (e.g. t-shirts), like your recent contest to name the Recruiters’ Forum, attract people like bees to honey.