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Social Media’s Role in Cost-Effective

Digital Communications

Scott Burns

CAPIO

April 19, 2012

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Knowledge network across all

levels of Government

• Prominent in the U.S. and

International

• 50,000+ Members

• Specialized Communities with

6 different topics: i.e.

Communications and Technology

Maximizes direct connections with

the public through digital

communications.

• More than 500 public sector

organizations manage their digital

communications though GovDelivery

• More than one billion messages

are sent quarterly by government

agencies through GovDelivery

• 30,000 people sign up every day

through GovDelivery to receive digital

messages from the government

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If Facebook was a country...

Population: 850 million

It would be the world’s 3rd largest country

Bigger than North and South America combined

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If Twitter was a country...

Population: 200 million

It would be bigger than Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan

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If Email was a country. . .

It Covers Continents It would be an empire: 2.9 Billion users

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What does social media have to do with puppies?

… even when they are free, they are a lot of work.

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Social Media in Government 2008

“We should try this!”

“Have you heard of Twitter?”

“Are we allowed to use Facebook?”

“My boss told me to put up a YouTube channel,

but YouTube is blocked on my work computer.”

“Our department will never allow this?”

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Social Media in Government 2012

“We need to justify everything.”

“We have no funding for this.”

“We are getting real value from…”

“If we’re trying to reach that group, we know

where they are.”

“We have really figured this out.”

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IMPACT

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Savings to the state FSA could be significant.

Statewide mailings to farm operators alone are $8,000

in postage and a state office newsletter with program

deadlines and eligibility requirements. The state sends

at least six of these a year to all farm operators, or

25,000 to 30,000 recipients.

Once or twice a year, that goes to all owners and

operators, about 90,000 per time at 22 cents per

mailing, or $19,800 per time.

ND FSA trims, shifts costs

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What if

only this

guy

cares?

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Leverage the

trust that this

guy has been

building up for

years.

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“I’m worried about you. I think you

should check out this article from the

CDC with links to resources on

dealing with depression. You have

some good options.”

-Dad

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MAKING MESSAGES COUNT

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Speak with an Authentic Voice

While NASA is run

by some very

smart people, their

Facebook posts

aren’t essays on

space technology.

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Consider the Delivery of your Message

• You have one shot at delivering your message, so enhance what you’re posting with a pithy title or headline.

• San Francisco’s descriptions and titles are short and to the point.

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Top 11 Shared Updates of 2011

• Offering generic updates is not enough

• Citizens are most likely to share compelling, specific information that is timely and relevant: o Small business tax credits

o Keeping state parks open

o Public safety alerts in your city

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Be Timely and Informative

The City of

Minneapolis uses their

Facebook page to

remind and alert

citizens when snow is

forecasted and

provides them with

more avenues to get

up-to-date

information.

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Regularly Post Content

• Washington

Department of

Transportation(@

wsdot) keeps

citizens updated

with traffic and

road closings.

Their active and

engaging Twitter

feed has attracted

over 24,000

followers.

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Post a Variety of Content

A quick glance at

Mayor Rawlings-

Blake (@MarySRB)

Twitter feed shows

that she posts about

a variety of topics,

from Farmers

Markets, Huffington

Post Links and even

responds to her

followers.

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Pinterest

• Pinterest is currently the 17th most visited website in the US and 81st worldwide. Over the last 3 months, site traffic has grown by 226%!

• Pinterest is driving more referral traffic than Google+, LinkedIn and YouTube combined! Source: Shareaholic’s Referral Traffic Report

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THINK LIKE MCDONALDS

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“Would you like fries with that?”

Deploy the age-old art

of cross promotion in

every thing you do,

within every channel,

and across your entire

organization.

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Grab the Subscriber at the Time of Greatest Interest

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Quick Signup with “Upsell” of Other Options at City

1

2

3

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Gather More Information, If You Need It

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“Upsell” Content and Collaborate to Increase Reach

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Impact of Working Together to Reach More People

• 114,247 new subscribers in first half of 2011

• Accounts using the network got 47% of new

subscribers from the GovDelivery Network

17 Texas Agencies

use GovDelivery

1.5M total subscribers

• The Governor of TX gets over 90% of new

subscribers from the GovDelivery Network

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USING COMMUNICATION TO

DRIVE RESULTS

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Can this all fit together?

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What Matters to Your Agency?

Mission

Results Clicks, Opens,

Subscribers,

Page Views

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“You can’t manage

what you don’t

measure.”

You can’t measure everything

in $

“Our ROI is more lives saved and less property

and fewer homes destroyed or damaged.”

Eugene Luke, Emergency

Management Specialist, FEMA

"Most people I've known in the private sector

are just much too accustomed to linear

processes where they're clear decision makers

and they make a decision and things more or

less then happen. In government, the

decisions you make very often are much less

direct in their effect."

Robert Rubin

Former U.S. Secretary of Treasury

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The Scientific Formula for Measuring Mission

Value from Digital Communications

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Where to Start?

Effectiveness: What is our total

reach?

Engagement: What is the value of

each connection we’re

making?

Value Created

Efficiency: What was the total cost

of the communication? Net Value

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What is that we’re trying to do here?

What matters most to my agency and the public?

What are the specific outcomes this program is looking for?

What are realistic contributions that communication can make to

the outcomes?

Improve public health

Provide for secure

retirement

More people get flu

shots

More people apply for

benefits online

Awareness of benefits

of flu shots, clinic

locations, and free shot

programs

Awareness of benefit

application form online

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The Impact of Better Communication Translates to

Real Value for Agency & Public

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

And more…

Upstream Metrics Easy to measure, but only

the communications and

Web team care… clicks,

opens, subscribers,

followers, friends, visits, etc.

Downstream Metrics These really matter, but they

are super hard to measure.

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Connecting Upstream to Downstream…

Start with Logic

More Rain Upstream…

Means Deeper Water Downstream

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Private Sector, Non-Profits,

Politicians use Simple $ 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

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Mission (im)Possible in Public Sector

• Use targeted surveys online:

– “Did you take a flu shot after visiting our website?”

– “Did your experience on our website impact your decision to get a flu shot?”

• Use them offline:

“What sources of information caused you to get a flu shot?”

• Find other points of correlation. Example: “Do you trust the information

you see on Healthagency.gov?”

• Use logic!

Why?

Judge outreach in real-time based on upstream metrics that can be tracked

because you know they impact downstream metrics that drive mission value.

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Go Back to Real Objectives in Everything You Report

and Share

Page Views are Up

Subscriber #s Just Passed

100,000

We have 5,000 Followers on

Twitter and 2,000 Fans in

Facebook

We are increasing flu vaccinations by

getting >25,000 people/day to view flu

information online

We are improving regulatory compliance

by directly reaching 100,000

stakeholders with each new regulation

We responded directly to comments

through social media and redirected

responders to where they were most

needed

To Mission Results From Nerd Metrics

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Creating mission value: U.S. local examples

Grown from 200,000 messages per year in 2006

to more than 10.7 million annually in 2010

Higher renewal revenue and >$100K in cost savings in

the first 3 months through reduced print costs '511 Notify’ alerts deliver accurate and timely

alerts on more than 220 distinct roadways

Connects directly with over 1.3M people

Eliminating traditional print, fold and mail

resulted in an annual savings of $265,000

Communicates with residents on more than 90

unique subscription topics

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“Our ROI is more lives saved and

less property and fewer homes

destroyed or damaged.”

Eugene Luke

Emergency Management Specialist, FEMA

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Digital Communication Management Value

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.

Goal of maximizing direct connections with the public through digital

communications. We accomplish that in three ways:

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Lessons Learned on Opportunities for Better Results

Reach Matters

If you are able to communicate with many relevant people on the issues that matter to

your organization, your odds of success are high.

The B+ Rule

You shouldn’t have to be a genius or an expert to get a “B+” in your communication if the

tools are doing their job.

It’s Okay to be Greedy

You want to do amazing things. You might want and need 90% automation and want

most things going on autopilot, but when you want to step back and make a stunning

newsletter or send a targeted message to the people who opened your last message, you

need a system that can do that too.

Nothing Stands Alone

Systems need to be open in every respect so they can work together and be easily

customized to fit different needs and missions.

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Areas of Functionality We’ve Found Critical

GovDelivery Network Cross-promote for more impact

Emergency Notification

Analytics & Filtering

Mobile

Automation

Social

Messaging Reach more people

Drive deeper engagement

Enable tight integration

Communicate anytime, anywhere

Measure the impact

Keep the public safe and informed

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Summary & Actions

Social Media’s Role in Cost-Effective Digital Communication is:

Help build audience / reach to drive effectiveness

Encourage content sharing and trust

Enable user interaction with content

Reach users that will not otherwise signup for updates or

visit website

Actions:

1. Increase focus on the #s that drive value (#1 is reach)

2. Get your organization thinking “Would you like fries with that?”

3. For GovDelivery Clients: Schedule time with us to review your

challenges and needs as well as new capabilities available to you

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Contact

Scott Burns – CEO & co-Founder

scott.burns@govdelivery.com

(651) 726-7303

@smburns

Visit us at Booth 3 to pick up your copy of Social

Media Best Practices.