Communicating in a digital world
By: the Digital Communications Coordination Unit, Privy Council Office
Meeting people where they (already) are: online!
There is an age-old saying in communications: meet people where they are. Today, that means online. In Canada, 94% of people are internet users and 85% are social media users. The Government of Canada’s (GC) web presence, Canada.ca, receives almost 100 million visits each month, and official social media channels have a combined following surpassing 35 million; that reach and impact will likely accelerate in the years ahead.
Our digital channels are therefore most people’s primary interaction with the GC: for information and updates, to access services and resources, and to engage and provide feedback on a variety of initiatives.
But beyond where we meet people, the experience people have with our digital channels is intrinsically linked to trust, confidence, and the successful delivery of GC communications, programs, services, and initiatives. People’s expectations have been set by those who are doing digital well: media and entertainment industries, online retailers, and banks and other institutions that allow secure transactions.
The pandemic has only accelerated this shift toward digital services, which means the GC must continue to advance its efforts to deliver timely, clear, consistent, high-quality digital communications to keep pace with the expectations of those it serves.
Beyond technology, digital excellence is about collaboration, authenticity, user-centricity, interaction, and engagement.
Think digital from the start
As outlined in the context section of the Policy on Communications and Federal Identity, “Using new communications approaches that stem from the rise of digital technologies, balanced with using traditional methods, enables the Government of Canada to reach and engage with Canadians effectively and efficiently in the official language of their choice, regardless of where they reside.”
Digital communications are part of an ecosystem and should never be viewed as the only strategy, isolated from other, sometimes more traditional, communications activities. From announcements and promotions, to issues management, engagement, service delivery, and providing research and insights, there are so many ways that your digital channels can be used to support your organization’s priorities. Web and social media channels should be a key part of your communications planning, delivery, and measurement.
After an announcement is made, people may turn to the Web to get more information, to learn about eligibility or rules, or to apply for programs and services. They may search and land on Canada.ca or see posts promoting a new program on a social media channel or an ad on TV. It is imperative to make sure there is digital content that they can use, trust and recognize as the GC.
From here, digital communications teams can analyze feedback and metrics, not only to report on performance but also to inform and adjust content and messages, develop new themes and tactics, and provide insights to shape the next phases of the strategy.
It is important that digital communicators are engaged early when planning a strategy or initiative. They can bring forward ideas and opportunities to support objectives and contribute to better communications. The earlier you approach an objective through a digital lens, the more effective you will be.
Digital first means people first: tactics for Web and social media channels
Digital excellence is about people. It is not necessarily about using the latest technology or following trends. It means building and shaping your digital content for the way people will experience and consume it.
This means ensuring content is timely, clear, and easy to find, understand, and engage with. No one wants to spend a long time navigating through bureaucratic language.
Your website is where your users come to do something, find something specific, or apply for a program or service. Modern Web content needs to be designed to make people’s experience as easy as possible. User-centric web content should have the following criteria:
- Developed for the Web, based on user needs. Get subject-matter experts, approvers, and writers together with the web team to build your digital content. We should not be putting lengthy text developed as Word documents on the web; rather, we should be writing and formatting content online, designed for the ways people coming to the site will use it.
- Integrated in terms of themes and topics. People see us as “the government” and we should not expect everyone to know which department or program is responsible for a service or information, or what official names to search for. Build for the user experience, not based on government structures. The Government of Canada’s COVID-19 Web presence has set a new standard for an integrated, user-centric web experience. Although the content and subject matter span some 40 departments and agencies, the user can find the information they need based on themes and topics through an integrated, whole-of-government approach.
- Accessible and easy to read, understand, and navigate. Lessons from the Canada.ca Crisis communications content design checklist (2021) can be applied to most Web content. Use plain language that is simple, and easy to scan and understand. Use terms people use when they are searching for information on the topic. Make sure the format is clear and easy to follow. Include long descriptions and alt text for graphics and use formatting structures, coding, and descriptions that everyone can access, including people using assistive technologies. Use lists, bullets, and short sentences rather than paragraphs of text. Have menu titles and links that are clear and intuitive. And use a mobile-first style.
- Coherent and consistent (Canada.ca design system). Consistent formats and structures across all pages help people navigate the website, maximize task success, and build trust by helping users know that they are on a Government of Canada website. Consistency also helps people to better recognize scams or other content that is not trustworthy on non-government sites. The Canada.ca Content Style Guide and standard templates should be applied to all GC websites.
- Co-create for digital. All of the criteria above can be facilitated by taking a more agile approach to real-time collaboration on Web content. Instead of sending around Word documents with multiple rounds of track changes for Web content, holding virtual co-editing and co-creation sessions is an effective way to create better digital content, post updates and make changes quickly, evolve to changing contexts, and ensure that everyone is on the same page. The blog post by the Canada.ca team highlights the benefits of co-designing with approvers at the table.
- Usability test with actual users. Watching people navigate your content is the best way to find problem areas and optimize content for users. Build usability testing into your planning, based on the users’ objectives (key tasks). This will help you make improvements so users can find the information or successfully complete tasks on the website.
Check out blog.canada.ca from the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat’s Digital Transformation Office for a variety of informative, proven, and evidenced-based guidance, tips, and articles on improving your Web content.
Your social media is for engagement (not one-way communication). GC social media channels are key tools for engaging with people, delivering sustained campaigns, listening and responding to questions, and providing more specific advice, tools, and information about programs and services. Here are some key components for delivering an effective social media presence:
- Know yourself. What is your brand? Identify your voice and your channel’s tone and the flavour. Will you use active or passive language? How will you be timely and authentic? What type of content will you post and what is your niche? How will you engage and what are your rules of engagement? Take inspiration from other channels.
- Know your audience. Who do you currently reach? Who do you want to reach? What are they interested in? Where are they online? With a better understanding of your audience, you can engage them in campaigns, invite and inspire user-generated content, and make them part of a larger effort, moment, and community.
- Build for engagement. One tweet may be enough to announce something, but to build and sustain relationships with your audiences, you need to make them a part of your content and campaigns. Find ways to engage with audiences regularly, make them part of the efforts, and genuinely listen and respond to evolving themes and conversations.
- Leverage the community. You may have 10,000 followers, but millions of people follow all of the GC’s different channels. Building campaigns collaboratively with other departments and agencies to coordinate, amplify, and sequence across numerous channels will significantly increase the impact of and outcomes related to your communications objectives. Different channels have different audience bases; they may have a presence on different platforms and may have other ways of engaging with audiences. A coordinated campaign that spans multiple channels will have much better pick-up and visibility.
- Answer people. You can create goodwill, build trust and relationships and, most importantly, help people by answering questions on your social media channels. One answer may help hundreds of others with similar questions. You should actively monitor questions and content to inspire ideas and topics for new content that interests your audiences. Don’t forget to respect the Official Languages Act.
- Use plain language. Avoid jargon, bureaucratic speech, buzzwords, or words that are needlessly complex. Instead, try to write as clearly and straightforwardly as possible so people get it the first time. Use the Hemmingway tool to find out how readable your content is. Your content should be conversational, relatable, and inclusive for everyone.
- Be accessible. Use emojis judiciously in your content. Avoid replacing words with emojis because screen readers will describe them. Use descriptive text to explain visuals and captions for audio, and link to alternative formats.
- Make content visually rich. Images, gifs, and videos capture interest, help communicate and simplify information, and make content more digestible. It’s rare today to see content without a complementary visual. Visuals not only grab attention—virtually every social media platform privileges visual content on its users’ feed—but also help with information retention. Make sure your visuals are of sufficient resolution and that the dimensions are appropriate for the platform you are using. It is not recommended that you use the same visuals across platforms; rather, take some time to develop content that is specific to each platform and customize it for the end users.
- Post regularly. This does not mean post frequently and obsessively; however, social media platforms do algorithmically reward users that post diverse content fairly regularly. This is one of the reasons many organizational accounts have content calendars. If you’re not sure how to “fill your calendar,” look out for days of note (national days or social media days like “puppy day”), emerging trends, or thematic days, such as recurring days when you answer questions, post quizzes, “caption this” photos, etc. Your social media team will be able to recommend how frequently to post, the best time to post, etc.
Collaboration: Building synergies will strengthen your digital content
High-quality content needs to be aligned and integrated. Collaboration is both the goal of and the lever to doing digital right. As previously noted, most people see the GC as one organization, “the government,” and the importance of collaboration, coordination, and alignment across domains and portfolios has been noted repeatedly over the years. The importance of collaborating became even clearer during the COVID-19 pandemic.
With COVID-19, people turned to GC digital channels regularly for timely updates and to access support measures, guidance, and requirements that were continuously evolving. Information spanned numerous departments and agencies working collaboratively.
This gave the GC a no-fail mission to move quickly from silos to a united government-wide approach. The result was unparalleled alignment across hundreds of social media channels and thousands of pages of Web content to make sure people could consistently and easily get what they needed. This helped to amplify the reach of our communications while providing consistent, reliable, and trusted content.
As we look forward, communicators will be able to build on this collaboration and capitalize on changes in culture and practices, and the many relationships, synergies, and workflows that were established during the pandemic to support better alignment, integration, and results. By working together as a community, we benefit from ideas, insights, expertise, tools, and contributions from across the GC. When we bolster our efforts and leverage the talents that exist throughout the organization, it helps us to better reach, engage with, and support Canadians in ways that resonate and reinforce the importance of our collective efforts. Better cohesion leads to a greater impact.
Measure, analyze, adjust: Use insights to inform your communications
Last, but certainly not least: decisions should be based on evidence. When planning your digital strategies, consult different sources to understand people’s needs, topics of interest, and the terminology they use. You can use insights that already exist from many areas of your organization, including public enquiries, program and service data, errors and feedback, Web insights such as top pages and search terms, media and public environment analyses, and results of previous digital campaigns. Referring to data during your planning phase will help you set objectives and plans with relevant and measurable key performance indicators. You may also carry out user-needs research to help design content and conduct usability testing on Web content with actual users during the development phases.
After content is published, regularly review Web and social media analytics, such as page visits, feedback, search terms, on-site search, call-centre enquiries, social media comments, and conversations. Public opinion research insights can also help you to identify and focus on the top information and services Canadians are seeking.
By analyzing insights regularly, you can identify trends and see what works (and what doesn’t!) on your channels. This evidence will help you tailor content based on audience needs and allow you to make timely adjustments to campaigns to reach the set objectives. This information can also help with planning for future campaigns.
Use evidence, measure, and adjust to create successful content and campaigns.
Get in touch!
Over the past year, we have had the privilege of supporting the GC’s digital communications community in breaking silos, creating spaces for collaboration and co-creation, and driving whole-of-government content and campaigns in order to provide those we serve with better digital experiences.
We are eager to learn from you, support you, and welcome you to our wider community in our collective, no-fail mission to advance digital excellence. If you have any questions or simply wish to connect, feel free to drop us a line at DCCU-UCCN@pco-bcp.gc.ca!
References
- WeAreSocial. (2021), Digital 2021: Canada.
- Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat. (2021), Crisis communications content design checklist.
- Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat. (2021), Co-design with approvers at the table.
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