22 tips to Increase Fans, Followers and Subscribers

1. 22 tips to Increase Fans, Followers and Subscribers Steve Ressler Founder & President, GovLoop Kathryn Hambleton New Media Strategist , U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Joseph Porcelli Director, GovDelivery Professional ServicesJune 16th , 2011

2. Agenda • How to Increase Fans, Followers and SubscribersSteve Ressler, Founder & President, GovLoop • Tips from HHS on increasing Fans, Followers and SubscribersKathryn Hambleton, New Media Strategist, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services • GovDelivery Professional ServicesJoseph Porcelli, Director, GovDelivery Professional Services • Duration: 1 Hour

4. At Work, Where Do People Go to: • Ask a question about their project • Find out about other similar projects in government • Get career advice or mentorship • Get best practices about a specific technology or project • In past, simply asked peers at work or people you already knew • How do you expand the network to solve government problems

5. What is Find and contribute best practices Research the latest trends MISSION: “Connect Government to Improve Government” Solve government problems ? Learn about the latest solutions Connect with Peers

6. 2 Questions I Think About • How to Grow GovLoop – Reach & Engage • Reach More People (More Active Members) • Increase Engagement (More Activity) • Solve more problems every day

7. My Last Year of Research Studied How Others Increased Audience & Engagement • For-profit communities (Dogster, ITToolbox, Sermo, change.org) • For-profit vendors (GroupOn, Hubspot, Priceline,) • Non-profit campaigns (Causes, Charity: Water, NeighborsForNeighbors) • Political sector (Presidential and local elections) • Government (Federal, State, Local)

8. What I’ve Learned • It’s REALLY REALLY Hard • There’s a talent/skill • There’s a methodology and rigor • Difference between Doing it and Doing it Well • Lots of optimization opportunities • Hard to be consistent Great communication key to driving real results for organizations

9. What are Your Goals? What are the Goals of Your Agency Communication? REACH and ENGAGE MORE CITIZENS to solve Problems Government Engagement Funnel • Reach large number of stakeholders • Build on-going relationships with them • Provide clear, timely, actionable information • Stakeholders take action with your information

10. THE ENGAGEMENT FORMULA FIND OUT + SIGN-UP + LEARN + ACT =RESULTS (get flu shot, fill out census, apply for job) Results met now = bigger base = more results later

11. Private Sector, Non-Profits, Politicians use $ Metrics “The value of an email address to a knowledgeable marketer is $118. ” -Stan Rapp, former CEO of McCann Relationship Marketing “Online revenue per usable email address for a non-profit is $3.36 - $27.56.” Source: Convio Benchmarking Study “A Facebook fan is worth $3.60 per year.” Source: Vitrue

12. Why Audience Size Measures for Government • Better health • More flu shots • More exercise • Less smoking • Better screening • More efficient and consistent compliance with regulations • Lower administrative costs • Higher revenue • Lower compliance costs for business / public • Lower costs • Fewer inbound calls • Lower enforcement costs • Citizen involvement in building mobile apps • Better mission results • Catch criminals • Get more grant applications so funds go to higher quality applicants • Improve recruitment • Ability to get real message out quickly not just “media interpretation • Higher citizen satisfaction with gov’t and higher trust of gov’t information • And more…

13. A Little Math – Flu Shot 500,000 Subscribers20% Open – 100,000 Read your message5% Take Action – 5,000 Extra Flu Shots

14. So How Do You Increase Audience and Engagement? Here’s my 22 Tips

15. Part 1: Sign-Up Tips

16. Big Sign-Up Box

17. Email Overlay

18. Da Vinci Code

19. FB Page Embed

20. Facebook Ads to Your Citizens

21. In-Person Promotion

22. Optimize FB Landing Page

23. Follow Others to Be Followed

24. Paper Sign-up sheets

25. Optimize Outside Home Page

26. Part 2: Content/Engagement Tricks

27. Regular Frequency Facebook – 1 to 4X a day Twitter – 3 to 10X a day Email – Range from daily, weekly** Key is consistency – actual numbers vary by agency and type of content **

28. Dessert to Broccoli

29. Pictures on FB

30. Use Special Events

31. Have Fun

32. Agency Cross-Promo

33. Use Multiple, Real People

34. Tell Stories

35. Cross-Promote

36. Ecards

37. Petition/Campaigns

38. Part 3: Call to Action

39. Just Ask

40. Make it Simple

41. Ask Multiple Times

42. Reference Links How to Build Gov’t Facebook Page http://www.govloop.com/profiles/blogs/how-to-build-an-awesome16 Excellent Gov’t FB Pages http://www.govloop.com/profiles/blogs/16-exceptional-govt-facebookTwitter - http://govengage.com/2011/03/28/how-to-build-a-govt-twitter-profile-and-drive-followers-and-engagement-2/

43. If having any challenges, reach out • Have a Team that works on: • Training (digital communication to social media) • Strategy (assessment and action plan) • Execution (help actually do the work) • Have helped: • Increase sensitive collaboration between federal agencies • Help mobile workers share tips and updates in real time • Help an agency build an online community with the public • Recruit citizens to help shovel neighbors in need

44. Reach out Steve Ressler Founder, GovLoop Founder@GovLoop.com @GovLoop

45. GovDelivery Delivers Real Value for Agencies GovDelivery maximizes direct connections with the public through digital communications. We accomplish that in three ways: Effectiveness – Reach More People Dramatically increase the number of people you reach directly Efficiency – Automate Complex Communications Streamline communication across email, SMS, social media and other channels Engagement – Create Mission Value Drive users to the online and offline activities that create the most value for the public and your agency.

46. GovDelivery Professional Services • GovDelivery Professional Services supports government • organizations that want to incorporate multi-channel • communication and engagement strategies deeper into the • organization’s mission in order to: • Expand program awareness • Accelerate adoption of online services • Support citizen engagement • Improve citizen services • Reduce service delivery costs • Complement and support existing staffing

47. GovDelivery Professional Services Services Overview: • Strategic Assessment and Planning: Establish an organizational baseline based on objectives, current technologies, and best practice benchmarks. Envision the future, establish tracking metrics, and deliver an actionable road map. • Training: Empower teams with knowledge, confidence, best practices, policies, and skills to optimize communication and engagement efforts. • Execution: Provide capacity to launch or accelerate key online initiatives with dedicated project management and support and deploy targeted digital communications to support offline initiatives.

48. Professional Services - Strategy Packages Packages: • Digital Communication and Engagement Assessment • Digital Communication and Engagement Strategic Plan • Community Engagement Assessment and Strategic Plan Deliverables: • Written report with prioritized recommendations based on impact, level • of effort, and return on investment. Report to include benchmarks • against best practices of organizations with similar missions and size • Actionable roadmap and framework for tracking post-implementation • Results • 90-day review of progress and strategic recommendations

49. Professional Services -Training Packages • Training Packages: • How to Use Social Media to Jeopardize Your Job • Effectively building audience and engagement with Email, Facebook, and Twitter • How-To Optimize Communications to Decrease Costs & Increase Revenue • Building and Sustaining Online Community Engagement • Social Media Security Awareness – How to Use it Safely and Securely • Customized trainings • Deliverables: • 90-minute webinars • 60-minute onsite presentation • On-site half-day training • 40-hour phone support, Skype, Adobe Connect, or email support pack

50. Professional Services - Execution Packages Execution Packages: • Outreach Acceleration • Digital Conversion • Revenue Optimizer (for organizations with revenue opportunities) • Community Management Execution Packages • World Class Administration on Demand • Custom Policy Development • Program and Pilot Launch Execution Packages Deliverables: • Short-term project production (5 hours per week) • Part-time staffing (20 hours per week) • Full-time digital producers and community managers (40 hours per week)