Often government engagement is done as a one-off. A one-time call for feedback. A one-time challenge. However, I think government should think more about building long-term
relationships and engagement with stakeholders.
Think about it in a non-profit, political, or for-profit model:
-For-profit – Does Groupon want you to just buy today’s deal? Nope – they want you to sign up for a relationship with them where they will offer you a deal a day.
Whether you buy today’s deal or not, they’ve figured out the life-time
value of a subscriber and it’s way more than a one-off. That’s why they
advertise so frequently with Google ads to get you to subscribe.
-Non-profit –
Pick a non-profit like Big Cat Rescue in Tampa. Yes, they’d love if you
did a one-off activity (visit their park, give $5) but really they are trying
to build a community engaged around rescued cats. That’s why they have a
daily picture on their FB page and an engaged email campaign. In the end,
the stronger the community is, the more visitors they have, the more recurring
donations.
Here’s my idea around the Government Engagement Funnel.
It’s still rough so I’d love feedback
1) Get Information – Stakeholder gets information they are pro-actively looking for:
-via search
-via gov’t website
-in-person at gov’t building
-via social media channels
Size of audience – for a big brand like EPA, State = 5-20M visitors monthly
2) Hook Them – Once the stakeholder finds information, your goal is to hook them
-Get them to subscribe to receiving regular updates (in any format – email, Facebook, Twitter, text)
-Agree to ongoing relationship with you rather than one-off (otherwise you can’t reach them again)
Size of audience – 1-10% of number above if optimized correctly (make it super easy to opt-in and remind them)…Maybe 50k to 500k folks
3) Engage Them – Once hooked, you have to engage them
-Provide regular compelling content
-Provide personalized, relevant content that they care about
-Engage with community – two way conversation, ask for feedback
-Don’t overengage, spam, etc
Size of audience – 10% of number above hooked if optimized correctly (great compelling content, titles, etc). Depending on format (email open rate, FB post) – maybe 5 to 50k folks
4) Action – Once engaged, move them to the action you want (tied to mission)
Size of audience – 1-10% of number above if optimized correctly (make it super easy to opt-in and remind them)
-Ask them to help out (citizen corp)
-Ask them to do a gov’t activity (pay DMV renewal online, replace batteries in radon detector, apply for gov’t jobs)
-Ask them to
participate in a challenge
-Ask them to share content (via social media channels and more)
Size of audience – 20% of number above if optimized correctly (clear calls to action, incentives). Depending on format – maybe 1 to 10k folks
What do you think?
This ties into some of thoughts on 90-9-1 with communities and engagement.