Online Communities and Digital Communication

I’d venture to say that for most of us working in or with government, the more people we can reach effectively, the better off we are. Here are three not-so-obvious ways to do this. For additional best practices like this, be sure to download our newly released guide: Public Sector Digital Management Communication: The Critical Role of Email. And for real-time tips we invite you to join our upcoming Public Sector Communication Best Practices webinar on June 7. Reserve your seat now!

1. Capture Subscribers at Exciting or Critical Times

One of the best times to capture subscribers is during an exciting or critical time for your organization. For example, in early 2012, Seattle experienced four straight days of snow and ice. Citizens in King County poured onto the county’s metro transit home page to get the critical information they needed about the storm. The takeaway? At a time where there is a huge increase of citizens on your site, make sure you seize the opportunity to sign up as many as you can. Once you are connected to them, you can proactively communicate in the future.

How about a baby Wild Black Bear just born in a den in Maine? While this exciting event was happening, the Wildlife Research Foundation live-streamed the event. As excited users came to their page to view the live-streaming, the Foundation encouraged visitors to subscribe to their bulletins.

2. Drive Sign-ups through Your Social Channels by Just Asking

Sometimes we get so caught up in thinking of the perfect tweet, Facebook post, or subject line, we forget that sometimes the easiest way to ask citizens to subscribe to emails is simply to just remind them and ask. Check out this very simple but effective tweet sent out by Governor Mark Dayton.

Oh, and when trying to spread your message even further, it’s not a bad idea to add to your (tweet) - - “Please Retweet.” While is some debate around this in terms of data versus “gut” – this Hubspot data does point to the fact that "Please retweet" is the 11th most retweetable word.

3. Hook Your Subscribers Where They Are

When considering where to place subscription sign-up links on your website, always remember to review your website analytics first. For the pages that have the most popular and vital content – place your link on that page, in the top left. Take a look at the great example of a sign-up box on the LouisvilleKy.gov site below.

As part of GovDelivery's Engagement Services team, I am excited to annouce our release of a new guide for digital communication best practices in government.

This guide was written and compiled after a review of best practices and results from more than 500 local, state and federal government organizations and agencies. These insights are based on observations from organizations that sign up between 10,000 and 30,000 citizens daily for email updates.

This guide is organized around three main principles: effectiveness, efficiency and engagement.

1. The goal of EFFECTIVENESS is to build the largest possible base by leveraging existing contact lists and promoting sign-up options across organization websites and partners.

2. The goal of EFFICIENCY is to focus on streamlining and automating complex communications across email, SMS, and social media.

3. ENGAGEMENT aims to drive users to online and offline activities that create the most value for the public and the organization, ultimately creating mission value and changing behaviors that will create an immediate or, in some cases, lasting impact.

Download the complimentary guide here.

To learn more and ask questions in real-time, sign up for our webinar: Best Practices for Government-to-Citizen Communications on June 7.

Still want more? Check out this article: 3 Tips to Help Government Optimize Communications

The New Facebook Timeline is coming your way on March 30, whether you are ready or not. Here are 7 tips to keep in mind so you can put your best engagement foot forward!

1) Cover Image: as you’ve probably seen by now, the most drastic change to the new Facebook timeline format is the new “cover” photo. This landscape image will span across the top of your organization’s page and will provide a great way to visually represent what is most important to you, what best describes you, or highlight an ongoing campaign. This image will look best when it is a high quality image 851-by-315 pixels. Something important to keep in mind is that this cover image can not be an advertisement. Specifically, it may not contain your contact information (URL, email, street address), calls to action or references to Facebook features or actions, such as “Like” or “Share.” See IIIB for all the details in Facebook’s Page Terms.

2) Profile Picture: what was your previous profile picture will automatically default to your new profile picture, only this time it will be in the bottom left of your cover image. To make sure your profile picture renders best, format your image (most likely your logo) to 180-by-180 pixels.

3) Tabs (apps). What happens to my Apps, you ask? Ahh, yes, no need to worry. Your Apps will now become Tabs, and they will be located directly under your cover image. Here you will see your Photos, Videos, Notes, Likes, and Events (if you selected all of these to show previously). You can’t custom edit these Tabs (although there are ways to get around this which I am happy to explain if you are interested offline), although you can move their placement. To do this:

• Look all the way to the right of your Tabs.
• Find the little down arrow button and click this to expand the view of your Tabs.
• Now hover over the Tab you wish to move and click the little edit pencil when it appears.
• When it appears, look for the “switch position with” and then click on the Tab you’d like to switch this Tab with.
• You should now be all set.

Quick tip: you can have up to 12 total tabs.

Interestingly, you can create Custom Tabs for your other Apps that have automatically migrated over. To create a custom Tab:

• Hover over the Tab like in the instructions above, and wait for the little edit pencil to appear.
• When the pencil appears, click on it and look for the drop-down that says: Edit Settings. The Edit Settings box will pop up.
• From here you can Remove the app, add a Custom Tab Image, or set a Custom Tab Name.
• Start by adding your call to action words as the Custom Tab Name, and click Save. To change the image, click Change next to the Custom Tab Image and when the browser pops up, search for your image.

Quick Tip: Tabs are 111 x 74 pixels. Facebook will format any other image to fit this, and it won’t look as clean.

I think the new Tabs functionality is one of the best ways you can use the new format to best promote your brand and engage with users. Check out the U.S. Army for example. It has 8 total Tabs, and some amazing custom tabs including a “Heritage” Tab that currently features Women in the U.S. Army, and a Nation Gives Thanks widget. Depending on your mission objectives, the sky is the limit to how creative you can be. Check out Guess clothing. They have a “Sign up” tab that allows users to sign up with one click on this page.

4) Your Designated Landing Page is Now Gone. Something very important to note is that you can no longer drive users to any landing page except specifically the Timeline page. That doesn’t mean, however, a custom landing page you created previously is gone forever. Instead, it is now a custom Tab most likely called “Welcome.” Check out the City of Marietta, Georgia’s page for example. Before the Timeline format, they had a custom landing page asking users to “Like” their page and sign-up for e-mail updates, Subscribe to receive news from City Hall, events and emergency alerts by e-mail or cell phone (SO SMART). This still exists, it is just moved.

The possibilities to be creative with Tabs are really endless. Check out this page by Yoga Relief – - and look closely at their Tabs. See the big arrow Tab that says “Like Yoga Relief.” Click on that and you are taken to a new page with a giant arrow that asks you to click “like.” Again, very smart. I will stop there with the examples so this post doesn’t become a dissertation. The bottom line is you can be SUPER CREATIVE with Facebook Tabs, so I highly recommend you do.

5) Pin Your Most Important Content for 7 Days! Since the word “pin” is becoming ever more popular these days [cough Pinterest, cough], Facebook is jumping on the bandwagon. Now you can “pin” a post to the top of your page and it will remain there for 7 days. All the nitty gritty details can be found here regarding exactly how to do this.

6) Your Fans Can Privately Message Your Organization. With the new format, a fan can now send a message privately to the organization (if it is enabled). However, interestingly, Organizations can only RESPOND to a private message sent by a fan. Also, to note: this functionality is optional. How do you turn this feature off or on? There is a place in your Admin control panel where you can turn this off and not allow fans to message you. If you think your organization can adequately respond to fan messages, definitely turn it on. If you don’t have the bandwidth, my recommendation is to turn off so you don’t appear to be unresponsive. Here’s a quick post that outlines how to control this message functionality.

7) Last But Not Least – Real-time Insights! If you monitored a Facebook page before the new format, you know you often had to wait typically at least two days to get any feedback on metrics. Now, the wait time is between 5-10 minutes. Check out this TechCrunch article that outlines everything. In short, this makes me very, very happy. It’s actionable data that you can start using right away to influence your next post, and you can’t go wrong with immediate feedback.

One of GovDelivery’s Client Success Consultants, Bandar El-Eita recently came up with a helpful metaphor on email (or as GovDelivery calls them, bulletins) sending best practices. His thinking is that the process of encouraging a new citizen to sign up and read your bulletins is akin to the process of dating. That is, when a communications professional sends bulletins, he can think of the process as having five stages: the Introduction, a First Impression, a “Let’s Make Plans” Call, the Big Date, and then, of course, the Relationship.

Stay with me. I’ll walk you through it.

Let’s say you are interested in dating. Well, first you have to meet someone. As you know, you probably meet a potential candidate in one of two ways. First way: you are so well known, so appealing, so spectacular, that a potential suitor seeks you out in a bar, at a community gathering, or, well, you get the point. Second way? A friend introduces you (often, the more likely of the two).

In gaining subscribers, it’s the same. Your audiences is likely to find you in one of two ways. Either, you are so well known, so appealing, so spectacular, that a potential subscriber seeks you out in their browser., or a GovDelivery Network Partner introduces you (quite likely).

Regardless of how you meet, you meet. What happens now? You have a chance at a first impression. In the digital communication “dating” world, you might only have a few seconds to make this first impression. This first impression is where you present your subscription topics. At this point you should ask yourself: am I making my offerings clear? Would descriptions help my subscribers? Are my subscription pages customized to best increase the likelihood I can continue to the next phase?

Let’s say you do these things right, and your potential suitor (subscriber) gives you the cue that you should give them a call. They subscribe to your bulletins. What happens now? You might ask them some questions so you can get to know them better. Here you have successfully moved to the “Let’s Make Plans” Call.

Just like you would on any first call to ask someone out, here you can put your best foot forward to confirm and peak their interest from your original introduction.

So, you’re on the phone. Chatting away. Learning more about them. Next up? You need to ask for the Big Date. How do you successfully ask for the Big Date, and once you do, how do you present yourself on that date? Keep in mind, on this date your potential suitor (subscriber) will ask: who is this? Is this “dater” attractive, well-groomed, and interesting (i.e. bulletin looks good and is interesting)? Is the date what I expected, and if not, will I want to go on another date (i.e. meets needs)? Will I tell my friends (i.e. share the bulletin)? Do I want to go back to their place (i.e. click on a link in the body of your bulletin)? Do I want to ever hear from the person again (i.e. unsubscribe)?

This Big Date step, actually sending a bulletin, is crucial.

From the subject line to the bulletin design to the content, there is a lot to think about. So, here’s where I’ll jump into some commonly asked questions including tips on best fonts, colors, subject line best practices, image best practices, and best times to send. Follow these best practices, and you’ll have more than one successful “date!”

Bulletin Design Best Practices:

Subject Line: As the gateway to your bulletin, the subject line is crucial. If your subscriber is not drawn in here, the best bulletin in the world will not be read. Here are five quick tips for writing high open-rate subject lines:

1. Provide a clear call to action
2. Keep it brief: try to write less than 50 characters
3. Make it definitive
4. Make it intriguing
5. If appropriate, localize the content (include a city or specific location)

Content: Once you successfully draw in a reader, keep the engagement going with solid content. Here are five easy tips:

1. Personalize the bulletin when possible
2. Use social English (write at an appropriate reading level for your readers)
3. Write in the present tense
4. Have a sense of humor when appropriate
5. Never use all-caps

Fonts: When picking fonts, the best rule of thumb is to keep it simple. Pick a few that best resemble your brand, and pick a font that is web safe (here is a list of web-safe fonts and their explanations). My top favorite fonts include: Arial, Georgia, and Tahoma, Lucida Sans Unicode, Trebuchet MS. Finally, avoid having too many fonts, or switching font types from line to line.

Colors: Along the same vein as fonts, the best colors to choose are simply colors easy on the eyes that keep in line with your brand and help your readers easily digest your content.

Images: There are lots of schools of thought on image best practices, but here are 6 extremely important ones:

1. Make sure your bulletin makes sense without any pictures. Not everyone will download your images, so you are best assuming no one will see them and go from there.
2. Make sure you include alt text (some tutorial tips can be found here).
3. Include high-quality, appropriate images.
4. Host the image yourself – otherwise you have no control over it
5. Don’t include one giant image. Why? It will significantly increase the time for the bulletin to load, and may get blocked from the start. What to do instead? Try editing images so they’re smaller and flow with the text of the email. You may also consider asking an HTML designer to help design a solution if your images are integral to the bulletin.
6. Re-size the image before you embed.

Let’s get back to the dating metaphor, shall we? Let’s say you send a few successful bulletins, and your subscriber reads them, and even tells a friend about them. Maybe you even get a chance to show your subscriber your place (they click on your link and return to your website). So, you have a few successful dates. Now what? You start to move into the Relationship phase. And like any successful relationship, meeting your subscribers’ needs is critical. How do you move along in the Relationship phase? Communicate openly. Evaluate their interactions with you (examine your metrics). Ask them to introduce you to their friends. Consider thanking them on their anniversaries. You fill in the rest.

Last week during my presentation on How To Motivate an Online Community to the University of Reddit Community, one of the participants asked about using rewards. This is a great question and one I can shed some light on.

Here's a list of top 4 ways to use rewards to motivate your online community:

1. Feature a member's blog post on your community homepage. As community members begin to publish content, identify which is unique and compelling and highlight it in your community. Rotate the members you highlight so you're not always promoting the same person or group of people. To see an example of this, check out how GovLoop does this with a rotating carousel, and Today's Top 10.

2. Feature a member in your email/newsletter. Hopefully you are communicating with your members on a regular basis (that being at least once per week). As you develop the content for these messages, highlight the folks in your community that are doing great stuff. This will not only increase engagement with the member you are highlighting, but will also motivate others who would love to see their name in lights.

3. Send members a personal thank you note - either a physical note or an email. Hearing firsthand from the community manager, especially of a large community means a huge amount to members. Say something like: "Dear (name), You've been a key part of making the (name of community) awesome. As such, I'd like to honor you as part of a select tribe with the virtual 2012 (name of community) Trophy for Awesomeness." Write it in whatever tone is appropriate for your community.

4. Send swag. Send your exceptional members something as a thanks - a t-shirt, sticker, lanyard, water bottle, whatever works for you! Or even something unbranded, like a Starbucks card, or a voucher to have coffee sometime. This little bit of time and money goes a LONG way in motivating members. Always remember to make it personal. That's why it will count.

What else do you think motivates online community members?

Do you know the biggest killer for an online community? Yep, that's right. It's boorrrriinnnggg. So how do you keep a community alive? Good discussions. Here are five fail safe discussion theme threads to keep the fire burning. These are some of the most popular discussion topics on GovLoop, an online community of 53,650 members, boasting 5,769 total discussion topics to date created since its inception in summer of 2008.

5 Discussion Topics to Keep Your Community Alive:

1. A Question Everyone Can Answer

Example: "Introduce Yourself"

Total comments to date = 2,745.

Why it Works: this thread was created on June 15, 2008 and had activity as recently as January 19, 2012. That's pretty impressive. Why is this topic so sticky? It's a question everyone can answer, and it makes it super easy for a new member to contribute in a non-threatening way. They can dip their toe into the conversation of the community, get confidence, and begin contributing in more comprehensive ways later.

2. A Timeless Topic

Example: "Favorite Quotes?"

Total comments to date = 520.

Why it Works: this is a timeless topic that doesn't go out of style or relevance. It's also another easy "dip toe in the water" topic for a new member to contribute their voice without having to express too much until they get comfortable.

3. Something Competitive

Example: "Vote on $25,000 GovLoop Scholarship"

Total comments to date = 389.

Why it Works: there is real money on the table with this discussion, and people get to vote. People can express themselves through their voting, and feel like they are part of making something happen. Same reason we vote for anything.

4. A Creative Challenge

Example: "In 7 Words or Less, Explain What You Do"

Total comments to date = 378.

Why it Works: it's creative, and makes people think. They get to read what other people describe in 7 words or less, and try a spin on their own. It's also another way of expressing themselves in a way that makes them feel part of the larger community, and they can connect with others based on what they do. It's not political, or opinionated, just lets people be themselves.

5. Something That Personally Affects a Huge Population in Your Community

Example: "Sound Off - Your Thoughts on the Federal Discretionary & Pay Freeze"

Total comments to date = 177.

Why it Works: this topic affects a huge population in the GovLoop community, and possibly for the negative. Plus, it's a potentially really strong negative - - it's their livelihood. It hits on a major nerve, and generates a ton of energy. For those who are not directly affected through their livelihood, it's a super controversial topic that gets blood flowing.

Yesterday, I left for Minnesota. When I got to the DCA airport, I "checked-in" via Foursquare, tweeted that the security line wasn't too bad, noticed on Facebook that a co-worker was on his way to the airport and told him I'd save him a seat at the gate. When I arrived in Minnesota, I checked into the MSP airport, and checked into my hotel, physically and virtually. I searched on Yelp for the best coffee shop within .5 miles, and Instagramed a picture of the view from my room.

Yes, I think and see in Social Media.

Just like when I was learning French in grade-school, and I started to "think" and dream in French, my instincts are becoming such that I see the world through social media channels.

The world is my oyster, and it is mostly digitally documented and communicated.

Last night, before bed, I read this Atlantic article (on my Kindle, of course): "The Facebook Eye."

A quick summary of the article can be summed up by these two lines by the author: "Simply, I have been trained to see the world in terms of what I can post to the Internet. I've learned to live and present a life that is "likeable."

I recommend you read the article in full, but in short, my question to you is: how has your life been affected positively or negatively with this new "social media" eye? Or is it neutral? What do you think about the generations being raised on iPads?