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Government Online Community Building: How to Increase Followers & Engagement

Government Online Community Building: How to Increase Followers & Engagement. Lessons from The GovLoop Playbook. EPA ROCKS!. GREAT MISSION. GREAT PEOPLE. Public Service is Awesome. Founder. Do-Gooder: 3rd Gen Public Servant, DHS Fellow, Multiple Gov Agencies

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Government Online Community Building: How to Increase Followers & Engagement

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  1. Government Online Community Building: How to Increase Followers & Engagement Lessons fromThe GovLoopPlaybook

  2. EPA ROCKS! GREAT MISSION GREAT PEOPLE

  3. Public Service is Awesome

  4. Founder • Do-Gooder:3rd Gen Public Servant, DHS Fellow, Multiple Gov Agencies • Innovator:Co-Founder, Young Government Leaders • Award Winner:2006 Rising Star Award, 2007 Fed 100 Winner • Speaker:25+ Conferences, Brookings, Harvard Kennedy School • Author:Wikinomics, Federal Times, Public Manager • Athlete: Used to be good at golf – 3rd in State • Scholar: Recovering Sociologist - Miami (OH) and UPenn • Gentleman: Likes Cats and Babies

  5. Why Millions of government employees working on similar issues but no safe place to connect and share best practices. Problem: ? Solution: Online community. Hub to connect disparate conversations/events. New technology leveraged to collaborate.

  6. 3 Things You’ll Learn Today 1 - Lessons from growing GovLoop.com from 0 to 35,000+ government leaders 2 - Lessons from a year of talking to non-profits, for-profits, government agencies 3 - 10 Step Approach to Building Audience and Community with Real Live EPA example

  7. 2 Questions I Think About • How to Grow GovLoop • Increase Engagement (Make It More Useful -Measured in PVs, Open Rates, Feedback) • Reach More People (Measure in # of Members, Active Members, Growth Rate of Members)

  8. My Last Year of Research How Others Increased Audience & Engagement • Studied for-profit communities (Dogster, Catster, Job sites, ITToolbox, Sermo, Facebook, IWillTeachYouToBeRich, change.org, WhoRunsGov, Craigslist, UserVoice, dating sites) • Studied for-profit commerce (GroupOn, Hubspot, email marketers, Priceline, etc) • Studied non-profit campaigns (Causes, Charity: Water, Neighbors4Neighbors) • Studied political sector (EccoDigital, BlueState, Direct Media Strategies)

  9. What I’ve Learned • It’s REALLY REALLY Hard • There’s a talent/skill • Hard to be consistent • There’s a difference between just doing it and doing it well • Lots of optimization opportunities (channels, frequency, types, content)

  10. The GOALS ARE SIMPLE • What are the Goals of Private/Non-Profit/Political Web and Social Media Presence? • Reach large number of relevant stakeholders • Build relationships with them • Provide clear, timely, actionable information • Take ACTION with your information (Usually involves $) HOOK  ENGAGE ASK

  11. Examples • Big Cat Rescue – Animal Rescue in Tampa, FL • Get lots of people aware of them • Get them to Subscribe to Content • Provide compelling content • Ask to Give $ or Visit Park • 23k fans, 100+ Likes per post

  12. 10 Consistent Themes • 1 - Create Great Content (interesting, fun, quality) • 2 - Regular, consistent content • 3 - Many types of content (blogs, videos, photos) • 4 – Get them to Sign Up somewhere • 5 - Multiple, cross-promoted channels (email, text, FB, Twitter, own communities) • 6 - Authentic and interesting voice • 7 - Personalization – speaking to people not just masses • 8 - Calls to action • 9 - Move Up Commitment Curve (ask if want more) • 10 -Online and offline events

  13. Hypothesis • Government not very good at building audience and engagement • Haven’t focused resources (time, staff, money, training) on it • You aren’t paid for it – non-profit / for-profit measures in $ and votes

  14. BUT It Matters A LOT • Government mission to serve all its citizens • Cost of Misinformation • Cost of citizen inaction • Attack on brand – agency loyalty and trust • Defend your program budgets • Take actions that save $ and increase revenue

  15. What EPA Web Goals? • What are the Goals of EPA Web and Social Media Presence? REACH MORE CITIZENS AND ENGAGE DEEPER • Reach large number of stakeholders (citizens, state/local government, experts, NGO/non-profits, etc) • Build relationships with them • Provide clear, timely, actionable information • Stakeholders take action with your information

  16. RULE 1 Identify What is the problem you want to solve ?

  17. EPA Example Identify • EPA lacks engaged audience on a rapidly growing topic – Renewable Energy • EPA wants to be thought leader in space • Lack of great compelling content • Want to increase engagement w/ stakeholders • Administration priority • Build renewable energy online community

  18. RULE 2 Logistics What is the time frame? To launch? Is it a campaign? Is it on-going? How does it tie into our other initiatives? What is our budget?What is our staff? What technology to use?

  19. EPA Example Logistics 3 months to launchOn-going project$50,000Staff – existing Web staff, 1 Program lead, 1 program assistantUse existing technology plus new collaboration software

  20. RULE 3 Defining Success What is success?Size of audience?Quality of engagement?Press/accolades?

  21. EPA Example Defining Success High-quality engagement among renewable energy thought leaders 1,000 active members by 1 year (based on relevant association size, other sites)10 press mentions

  22. RULE 4 Enlistment Who are our stakeholders? Where is the target audience currently?What else exists?What have we done in past? What other F/S/L doing?

  23. EPA Example Enlistment

  24. RULE 5 Experts and Partners Who are the experts on the topic?Who are the connectors in the industry? What are potential partner sites?What is our ask of them? How can we incentivize them? Develop outreach materials

  25. EPA Example Experts and Partners

  26. RULE 6 Community Strategy Community Managers Community Leaders Reward StructuresLeaderboardsWhat are the Rules? What’s In It for You?On-boarding process

  27. EPA Example Community Strategy 5 Internal Community Moderators Create EPA Community GuidelinesLaunch leaderboards

  28. RULE 7 Content Strategy What content do we have? What do we need to create? What content popular?Who will create content?What content doesn’t exist?What unique content do we have? What is the content frequency?Where’s the fun?

  29. EPA Example Content Strategy

  30. RULE 8 Launch Invite early adoptersGet buy-inHost a PartyMarketing/outreach on launch Provide swag

  31. EPA Example Launch Pictures on invitesPartyConferenceSwag

  32. RULE 9 Start Doing Follow StrategyDo Outreach Produce regular content Engage with communityTHIS IS THE HARD PART

  33. RULE 9 Start Doing

  34. RULE 10 Measure What is working?What type of content popular?What type of frequency popular?What are our key problems?

  35. EPA Example Measure Weekly/Monthly ReportsWeb Analytics Community Analytics

  36. Continuous Improvement Fresh Content Fresh VolunteersNew TechnologyFresh StaffConsistency is Hard

  37. Here to Help Ask ?s / Read Case Studies Places/Help on G2G Collaboration Share/Replicate Best Practices Honor/Highlight Public Service

  38. Topics? Climate Change Radiation Environmental Issues Pesticides Grants 6. Solar energy 7. Research 8. Transportation 9. Procurement 10. ??? Tell Us?

  39. Questions Steve Ressler Founder and President Founder@GovLoop.com @GovLoop

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