In an era of digital transformation, the public sector has an unprecedented opportunity to connect with citizens in meaningful ways. From our perspective, being able to give public sector leaders more understanding of the importance of utilising subscribers and better leveraging their data for future engagement is key
By harnessing the power of subscribers and data, local government and public sector organisations can drive engagement, improve public services, and build stronger relationships with their constituents.
How local authorities can utilise a captive audience
Public sector organisations have unique access to a broad and diverse community, yet many fail to fully capitalise on the sheer scale of users they can engage with. When we look at critical events in recent years, from the global pandemic to natural disasters caused by flooding, for many local authorities, having access to a captive and engaged audience is more important than ever in reaching the right people at the right time. Especially with big changes coming down the line for local government restructure, the need for direct access to citizens, to share important updates around policy and impact on services is vital.
Databases are built over the years and accumulate valuable contacts, and many public sector organisations don’t know when and why they might need to reach their audience, so ensuring it is up-to-date and accurate holds a new level of value.
Whether it’s signing up through government websites, social media, or offline interactions around specific services, the potential to reach these pre-engaged users provides endless opportunities. But with a large audience available at the fingertips of local authorities, how can they better engage with this community to ensure key initiatives land with much more impact and engagement?
Leveraging email and redefining communication channels
While the traditional newsletter has proven useful for many a marketing department, its place in modern-day communication is dwindling. With citizens demanding more targeted, relevant, and pertinent information, the time has come to think more strategically about communications. Not only do you need a large, prequalified audience, you need to know how to segment them and identify common interests. Do they have children in primary and secondary education or work in care as a social worker? Understanding what they care about and allowing them to self-select topics will provide valuable future insight.
In addition, leveraging intel in a proactive sense allows local authorities to pre-manage demand ahead of time, which is incredibly effective. Whether there’s a burst water main in the road of a particular area or damaged cabling impacting broadband services, proactive communication can pre-empt inbound contact from the public and reduce demand, leading to cost savings for councils and increasing citizen trust and satisfaction.
Leveraging email as a key platform shouldn’t be overlooked. People of all generations generally trust email, and it provides a foundation for persistent communication – it has a provenance that many other channels lack. It’s easily searchable and saveable and enables local authorities to drip feed complex subject matter (such as policy) over a series of time or correspondence.
Not only that, but you can also collect rich data from email subscribers to inform your communications strategy going forward. These are the areas that are lacking in the public sector and in public agencies in terms of transparency and explaining the strategy and launch of council initiatives. Strategic communications can reduce demand and cost. Sharing drip-fed hyper-personalised content to individuals or communities with complex needs, allows local authorities to nudge and change behavior and drive action in an audience. This shows how strategic communications provide a myriad of benefits above and beyond the newsletters of old.
Using data and AI to personalise the citizen experience
Citizens today expect personalised experiences, and the public sector is no exception. By leveraging data and AI, local government can tailor communication and services to individual needs, improving satisfaction and efficiency. Despite councils having a huge amount of data at their disposal, they’re typically data-rich but often insight-poor.
Looking at AI and data more broadly, citizens could be targeted around key local issues through a more personalised approach. By combining multiple sources and third-party databases, AI and machine learning can be applied to use natural language to interrogate data and generate insight. Applying natural language enables the development of questions to automate insight rather than sitting behind a report generator, saving the council valuable time. This could be utilised to optimise a communications rollout of a particular campaign to improve engagement or increase the number of subscribers in a specific demographic group.
At Granicus we have experienced high demand from local authorities for increasing engagement with newly launched services. By integrating AI and data-driven insights into communication strategies, public sector organisations can create a more citizen-centric experience, ultimately improving trust and engagement.
In all, the public sector has a unique opportunity to harness the power of subscribers and data to transform citizen engagement. By cultivating a large and engaged audience, expanding beyond traditional newsletters, and leveraging AI for personalisation, local government can enhance communication, drive efficiency, and build stronger relationships with the public. The future of digital governance lies in strategic, data-driven interactions that put citizens at the heart of the experience.
