4 Easy Steps to Boost Citizen Engagement

At the top of nearly every public sector organization’s priority list is how to better engage the citizens it serves. Boosting stakeholder engagement was rated the highest communications objective for 2014 among nearly 40 percent of government respondents in a survey by GovDelivery, a digital communications service provider.

Communications that can drive stakeholders to engage with an organization’s mission is a critical factor. This is the case regardless of the mission itself, whether an organization like the Federal Emergency Management Agency is trying to drive citizens to prepare for a natural disaster or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is encouraging people to get their flu shots.

GovDelivery has collected many valuable citizen engagement tips that apply to organizations of all sizes and across all levels of government and put together a checklist.  Here are four steps that can help your organization reach more people than ever before and drive those people to take action.

1. Step Back and Establish Goals

For the most successful communications, you and your team have to start by working backwards toward a goal. Think about the top one to three things you are trying to accomplish with your messages. Do you want people to go to your website? Download a new app? Make healthier food decisions? Volunteer locally? Whatever it is, it’s critical to make sure your messaging strategy is constructed with that goal in mind.

2. Offer Relevant Messages and Topics

Are you offering options for your stakeholders to sign up for specific topics that interest them? Do you communicate with those people according to the topics they signed up for? Most public sector agencies have many different audiences they need to reach. If you’re a health organization, the public is going to be interested in different topics than health administrators or partner medical companies. Respect those differences by delivering relevant information to specific audiences, and you will improve stakeholder satisfaction and engagement.

3. Take Out the Red Pen

When your stakeholders are trying to read a message on a mobile phone (which a growing number of them are) or in between meetings, what they need is a clean, clear design that is easily digestible. So take out the red pen and start slashing. To make your content easier to digest, cut down the text and increase the font size. Add white space, especially around images, links and buttons, so they are easier to click when read on a mobile device.

4. Capitalize on Targeted Messaging

Anytime someone interacts with your organization’s online services, portals or applications you have an opportunity to employ targeted messaging, a message that is personalized to that person’s interaction (sometimes called triggered or transactional messaging). A targeted message is the difference between an airline sending a general email to its subscriber list about a “special fare sale” versus the airline sending you a personalized message to “check in for your flight.” Targeted messages are more likely to drive engagement because the message is relevant, anticipated and personal. You can jump-start your targeted messages by personalizing a welcome or confirmation email to get them further involved in your programs.

Scott Burns is CEO and co-founder of GovDelivery, a cloud-based digital communications provider that helps government organizations connect with more people and get those people to take action. Read more on the latest in government communications and citizen engagement at www.reachthepublic.com.

(Image via Camilo Torres/Shutterstock.com)