{
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    "title" : "Webinar Recap: Social Media + External Affairs = Outreach Success |Digital.gov",
    "description": "Webinar Recap: Social Media + External Affairs = Outreach Success",
    "home_page_url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/","feed_url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/11/17/webinar-recap-social-media-plus-stakeholder-engagement-equals-outreach-success/index.json","item" : [
    {"title" :"Webinar Recap: Social Media + External Affairs = Outreach Success","summary" : "Summary: How to leverage your resources to reach Spanish-dominant Hispanics online. A recent DigitalGov University (DGU) webinar provided an introduction to the intersection of two teams with different audiences reaching consensus on goals to maximize insight and outreach effectiveness. Social Media Outreach Goals What does social media outreach success look like? Success is when agencies","date" : "2016-11-17T14:00:46-04:00","date_modified" : "2025-01-27T19:42:55-05:00","authors" : {"victoria-wales" : "Victoria Bitzer-Wales"},"topics" : {
        
            "content-strategy" : "Content strategy",
            "multilingual" : "Multilingual",
            "research" : "Research",
            "social-media" : "Social media",
            "user-experience" : "User experience"
            },"branch" : "bc-archive-content-3",
      "filename" :"2016-11-17-webinar-recap-social-media-plus-stakeholder-engagement-equals-outreach-success.md",
      
      "filepath" :"news/2016/11/2016-11-17-webinar-recap-social-media-plus-stakeholder-engagement-equals-outreach-success.md",
      "filepathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/blob/bc-archive-content-3/content/news/2016/11/2016-11-17-webinar-recap-social-media-plus-stakeholder-engagement-equals-outreach-success.md",
      "editpathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/edit/bc-archive-content-3/content/news/2016/11/2016-11-17-webinar-recap-social-media-plus-stakeholder-engagement-equals-outreach-success.md","slug" : "webinar-recap-social-media-plus-stakeholder-engagement-equals-outreach-success","url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/11/17/webinar-recap-social-media-plus-stakeholder-engagement-equals-outreach-success/","content" :"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eSummary: How to leverage your resources to reach Spanish-dominant Hispanics online.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA recent \u003ca href=\"https://digital.gov/digitalgov-university/\"\u003eDigitalGov University\u003c/a\u003e (DGU) webinar provided an introduction to the intersection of two teams with different audiences reaching consensus on goals to maximize insight and outreach effectiveness.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"social-media-outreach-goals-hahahugoshortcode3061s0hbhb\"\u003eSocial Media Outreach Goals \u003cdiv class=\"image\"\u003e\n  \u003cimg\n    src=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/digitalgov/_legacy-img/2015/04/600-x-450-Social-Network-Rach27-iStock-Thinkstock-457041031.jpg\"\n    alt=\"Social Network\"/\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat does social media outreach success look like? Success is when agencies and stakeholders have developed relationships that support each other’s social media and digital campaigns. Success also consists of partners consistently inviting your agency to its social media activities in advance and regularly sharing the agency’s social media content as well.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eExternal affairs can share social media content to its network of partners—and vice versa, partners can ask that external affairs also communicate to their social media shop when they have social media events.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith a limited budget and few resources, \u003ca href=\"https://www.CuidadodeSalud.gov/\"\u003eCuidadodeSalud.gov\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href=\"https://www.healthcare.gov/\"\u003eHealthcare.gov\u003c/a\u003e‘s Spanish language sister site, had to first rely on organic relationships to amplify their social media reach. The main objective set out to increase enrollment, but also to inform, educate, and gain email subscribers so that CuidadodeSalud.gov could regularly communicate with them.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eChallenges in Stakeholder Engagement\u003c/strong\u003e**—**\u003cstrong\u003eConsider:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAs federal government agencies, we are limited as whom we could partner with. We must make sure we support but not endorse partners.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eStakeholders have competing priorities to be mindful of, what can they commit to as a minimum to support your campaign?\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eConsumer advocacy groups speak for their constituents\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNot always in agreement with agency priorities\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCapacity of stakeholders to engage\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNot all partners created equally; staffing and budget size vary\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePolitical environment especially controversial public opinion of government programs.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSocial media teams don’t know which partners to work with.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eKnow which partners are politically active or have certain agendas.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eParticipating in or hosting social media events activities can be time consuming.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRequire both social media and external affairs to coordinate messaging.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNeed for agency subject matter expert (SME) input on content you’re sending out.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ol\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"in-language-outreach-challenges-hahahugoshortcode3061s1hbhb\"\u003eIn-Language Outreach Challenges \u003cdiv class=\"image\"\u003e\n  \u003cimg\n    src=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/digitalgov/_legacy-img/2012/10/600-x-400-keyboard-Translating-Concept-Tashatuvango-iStock-Thinkstock-178134476.jpg\"\n    alt=\"Keyboard key conceptualizes accessible translation\"/\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eYou can be creative in your messaging, but just be careful to stereotype or over generalize. Don’t literally translate sayings or idioms. For example “apples to apples” does not have the same connotation in Spanish; it’s not a point of reference that is used or recognized. While you want to be catchy, balance being serious with being engaging. Vet your ideas with a native speaker who has cultural competencies and keeps up with topic trends regularly. How are people referring to the Affordable Care Act in Spanish? Can you do some focus group testing?\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/04/08/transcreation-why-do-we-need-it/\"\u003eTranscreation\u003c/a\u003e is more important than translation. When you’re accurate and precise, leadership will trust your judgement and levels of approval will make the process much faster and smoother. For CuidadodeSalud.gov, messages are drafted in Spanish, and then translated to English for clearance.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMessage test with target audience to find out what resonates, from literacy competencies to making sure what is also recognizable. For instance, would it be better to use “health coverage” or “health insurance”?\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"opportunities-for-win-win-collaboration\"\u003eOpportunities for Win-Win Collaboration\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhere there are available opportunities to support your stakeholders or agency partners, take them. Invite them to speak at one of your agency’s webinars, panels or other presentations. Publicly support their social media campaigns when possible, promote their blog posts on your blog or vice versa by giving them content or subject matter experts they might be seeking. Many if not most partners support agency activities for free, so these are some ways of giving back.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"case-studies-facebook-and-twitter\"\u003eCase Studies: Facebook and Twitter\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/Cuidadodesaludgov/posts/1173399182742071\"\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"image\"\u003e\n  \u003cimg\n    src=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/digitalgov/_legacy-img/2016/11/600-x-584-Screen-Shot-of-CuidadoDeSalud.gov-Facebook-post.jpg\"\n    alt=\"Screen capture of a CuidadoDeSalud.gov Facebook post.\"/\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn order to boost engagement on \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/CuidadoDeSaludGov/\"\u003eFacebook\u003c/a\u003e, CuidadodeSalud.gov participated in several chats and shared stakeholder events. They included visually attractive graphics that asked questions that were specific to the target audience; Spanish-dominant Hispanics. The messages were originally written in Spanish. Partners, such as Enroll America, Latina Today, and others, shared this content. Working with community influencers and leaders is extremely effective. They have large and engaged followings; where you can establish and nurture those relationships, you’ll find success.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTo date, CuidadodeSalud.gov’s Facebook page boasts the largest following of all government Spanish-language accounts. This success is attributed mostly to organic efforts, partner amplification, and some Facebook boosting, also known as “pay for play.”\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor Twitter, CuidadodeSalud.gov kept its outreach efforts simple. The team researched audiences on Twitter, considered the relevancy and popularity of hashtags, whether to use an English one, one in Spanish, or both. The team also considered trends and what people were already talking about on Twitter as related to the topic. Partnerships are critical to Twitter outreach success. And in the cases where partners didn’t have Twitter handles, they would include the chat events in their newsletters and this would also help drive interest and participation.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cblockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\"\u003e\n  \u003cp lang=\"es\"\u003e\n    \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/BacktoSchool?src=hash\"\u003e#BacktoSchool\u003c/a\u003e significa nuevos libros, mochilas y cobertura! Estamos participando en la chat de \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/OurSalud?src=hash\"\u003e#OurSalud\u003c/a\u003e \u003ca href=\"https://t.co/A39BSNoWjf\"\u003epic.twitter.com/A39BSNoWjf\u003c/a\u003e\n  \u003c/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003e\n    \u0026mdash; CuidadoDeSalud.gov (@CuidadoDeSalud) \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/CuidadoDeSalud/status/765972565303107584\"\u003eAugust 17, 2016\u003c/a\u003e\n  \u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLast but not least, the team uses Twitter to engage at conferences so that attendees can learn about things like a cabinet-level official speaking events or how to visit CuidadodeSalud.gov’s booth. This is a great way to form a personal connection to followers on these accounts, besides simply letting them know that you have a presence there. Also, letting the conference organizers know that you’re there will provide an opportunity for them to support you by retweeting you.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"lessons-learned\"\u003eLessons Learned\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSocial media is always evolving, but planning accordingly should always be part of your strategic efforts.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHave an organized plan for your social media events, toolkits are often a great way to share with partners and external stakeholders.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHave a process for routing partner invitations to social media teams. External affairs and social media teams must work together to coordinate what is feasible to do and what isn’t.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCollaborate ahead of time on drafting responses for Twitter chats. There are character limits, so short and sweet is best—130 characters is ideal. Have your URLs ready, shortened, and with the corresponding messages you want to share.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eEstablish necessary lead time guidelines for agency participation; some agencies cannot participate last minute in social media events.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDecide who is leading the event and how supporting agencies will contribute.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHave subject matter experts anticipate potential questions that come up. Educate the SME’s that aren’t doing social media on the value in these channels to reach the public.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIdentify in-language subject matter experts to review content.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"audience-qa\"\u003eAudience Q\u0026amp;A\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eIn your experience, which social media activity have you found little success in that you were surprised by?\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThunderclap, they’re a feel good tool, but the lift is too high to set up for its ROI.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhen you’re the only one in your agency that happens to speak Spanish, and you’re asked to review content and send it up to management to approve but they might not necessarily speak Spanish. How do you handle this?\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eHaving your translation reviewed and then adapted to English is usually the best way to communicate it up the chain. Having an editor you can rely on that is familiar with your content is key. Sending this with time ahead of having to publish it definitely helps. Get buy-in from leadership and establish trust with management that gives them the confidence to rely on your expertise for accuracy. Also, identify one or two champions that will promote your content initially and will help build your case for translating content or social media activities. A tweet that has 10 retweets for example, shows evidence for what’s working that you can share.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhat’s a good strategy for reaching Hispanics online?\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eDepends on the audience and whom you’re serving. Video is very attractive for example; consider the channels you’ll be sharing those on. A large group of Hispanic millennials also prefer content in English, but there are many still that prefer Spanish. Should you consider Facebook first, Twitter? Learn more about the audience you want to reach.\u003c/em\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"image\"\u003e\n  \u003cimg\n    src=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/digitalgov/_legacy-img/2014/05/600-x-400-Friends-Looking-At-Cell-Phone-Ridofranz-iStock-Thinkstock-166121799.jpg\"\n    alt=\"Young Hispanic millennials looking at cell phones\"/\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHow do you measure success with Twitter chats?\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eDefine your goals first. Are you trying to raise awareness of your handle first and foremost? Or of your topic? Or both? Drive people to a landing page? Increase awareness of a product? Or even build relationships? Relationships are key for future social media events, so this is always a good objective to have. Find out who are influencers and what conversations are taking place around your topic. Social media is a conversation, do some social listening too.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eBeing nimble and flexible yields high returns. Jumping on Twitter chats that are taking place makes other accounts aware that you exist, and creates momentum for your account and outreach efforts.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHow do you educate an SME about social media and its value? When none of them are on social media.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eSharing with them the possibility of reaching a large amount of people, this helps. Data always makes a good case as to why something works. Create a partnership, the subject matter relies on the social media expert, they get their messages across more channels, you engage your audience. It’s a win-win.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eSocial media also provides insight and direct input into your content. That is very valuable when you’re interested in knowing how people are responding to your messages.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAny suggestions on how to specifically target Spanish language audiences, such as Mexicans for example?\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eResearch what areas have higher concentrations of that population. What wording is used in that community, reach out and learn more. Learn more about the behaviors of those audiences, are they on social media? What social media platforms do they use? Find out what influencers are effective in those areas. Find champions in those communities. There is a lot of research on the web including the Pew Research Center as well as many other resources available to agencies.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThere are several interagency listservs and communications managers across government that have experience with these efforts, reach out and discuss your ideas with others.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eConsider positioning your experiment as a pilot. Your learn, you iterate, and then you implement accordingly.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAre there guidelines for how to set up your agency’s communications efforts?\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eEvery agency sets this up differently and depends on the size of your agency too and how you want to organize your efforts. There are often several stakeholders involved. Consider your bandwidth first and what you can realistically achieve. Medicare recipients years ago were not on Facebook, and now they are and sharing content; research is everything. Start where your audience is.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eIn terms of building social media presences amongst Spanish language communities, or Low English Proficiency (LEP) communities, how do increase engagement without generating negative feedback from English speaking audiences along the way?\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eOur job at Healthcare.gov was to follow our mission, which meant reaching people in the United States, educating them and getting them enrolled. There will always be critics and questions as to why you’re doing outreach in different languages. There were also health literacy challenges we needed to address, so we made sure that materials were well done. Stay focused on the goal, CuidadodeSalud.gov’s goal was to educate and raise awareness.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhich social media platforms are most likely to reach Hispanics and have good ROI?\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eAlways consider your target audience, whom do you want to reach and why? What is your goal and objectives? Facebook tends to skew for older demographics, younger audiences are on Instagram and Snapchat. Twitter nowadays can be leveraged more to communicate with partners and media. Social media platforms evolve in step with audience behavior.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eIs it effective to have a Twitter feed on your homepage or site in general?\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eUSA.gov hasn’t experienced success with it in terms of driving traffic to Twitter, for example. While CuidadodeSalud.gov has not experimented with this, it’s noted that it is a good way to inform your visitors of online events and other timely information. You also have to be sure to keep tweeting regularly so the feed looks up to date.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDo you tweet only during the day or after hours?\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eRemember your audience. Mix it up. Consider east coast, central time, west coast, you can also use tools to schedule posts. Some tools are free. Tweet at least 3-6 times a day to establish the account.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eKeeping up with trends and engagement. Making sure you are responsive to direct messages, mentions are helpful. Metrics or analytics of your channels is critical to finding out when your posts are performing best.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eDepending on your agency’s social media policy, always respond to questions or comments you receive from the public.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhich entities do you recommend working with in Puerto Rico?\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eIt depends on the age bracket you’re trying to reach. Connect with other government agencies that are working there, such as the CDC with Zika awareness, to find out whom they’re partnering with. On social media, follow hashtags and trends that are popular there, as well as geo-target your Facebook posts for PR.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHave you developed an ROI framework? How do you determine whether something will be successful?\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eAt the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid’s perspective, a need to reach Spanish language audiences was identified. Look at your data such as Google Analytics and how people are getting to your website and what they’re looking for. The more outreach you do, the more people you will reach. In addition, lean on stakeholders to support the campaign and help amplify your brand and messages.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhere do you start if you don’t have any partners? Where do you start to build those relationships?\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe National Council of la Raza has on their site many of their partners listed, find the regions and types of organizations you’d be interested in work with. You can also start with program managers in your agency that most likely already have those relationships at the national, regional or even local level. If you support other agency’s efforts and have an established relationship, ask them to introduce you to that partner.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCould you share your experience with Facebook ads? How do you target them? Have you found them to be successful?\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eCuidadodeSalud.gov did some fan acquisition for a short time. Google ads and banner ads on search engines may be more effective, however. Google is using Twitter trends to pull in content from this platform. Word trails are trending and it’s because of Twitter.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eVictoria Wales is a member of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.usa.gov/explore/\"\u003eUSAGov\u003c/a\u003e Outreach Team at the U.S. General Services Administration.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eIf you’re interested in learning more about how to connect with Hispanics on social media, follow \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/somossocial\"\u003e#SomosSocial\u003c/a\u003e, and check out our other \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/topics/multilingual/\"\u003emultilingual articles on DigitalGov\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/em\u003e \u003cem\u003eIf you’re a government employee, consider joining one of our \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/communities/\"\u003eCommunities\u003c/a\u003e, such as the \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/communities/multilingual/\"\u003eMultilingual Community of Practice\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/communities/social-media/\"\u003eSocialGov\u003c/a\u003e, and the \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/communities/web-content-managers/\"\u003eWeb Content Managers Forum\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n"}
  ]
}