The 5 New Messaging Rules

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Shauna Harris
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1 The 5 New Messaging Rules for Community Engagement by Dr. Steven B. Goldman

About the Author DR. STEVEN B. GOLDMAN is an internationally recognized expert and consultant in Business Continuity, Crisis Management, Disaster Recovery, and Crisis Communications.

2 About the Author DR. STEVEN B. GOLDMAN is an internationally recognized expert and consultant in Business Continuity, Crisis Management, Disaster Recovery, and Crisis Communications. He has over 35 years experience in the various aspects of these disciplines, including program management, plan development, training, exercises, and response strategies. His background is comprehensive yet unique in that he has been a professional engineer, corporate spokesperson, manager of media relations, business continuity planner, crisis responder, consultant, and a Fortune 500 Company s Global Business Continuity Program Manager. He has been invited to speak at industry conferences globally. Dr. Goldman is a cofounder and Senior Lecturer at MIT s Crisis Management & Business Continuity Professional Education summer course. Currently he provides expert hands-on consulting services to corporations, non-profits, and government agencies worldwide.

3 The 5 New Messaging Rules for Community Engagement Introduction Back in the early days of United States, many towns employed a Town Crier. He made public announcements in the streets or marketplace of a town. The Town Crier would read a proclamation or the day s news, usually at the door of the local inn, and then nail it to the doorpost of the inn. The tradition has resulted in the expression "posting a notice" and the naming of many newspapers as "The Post (1). Thus the Town Crier might be considered the original mass notification system! We have come a long way since then. So in this Everbridge white paper, I would like to address the New Messaging Rules for Community Engagement. This paper is based upon my recent Everbridge webinar (2). No bell is necessary. Caveat No two communities are the same; even within a community, organizations and departments can vary. So please adapt the information in this document to your specific situation/organization/community. 1. Communicate For All Events The first thing to think about is what kinds of events should be communicated? The answer is easy: All of them! But categorize and prioritize them. For example, consider categorizing them into emergency and non-emergency categories and sub-categories as follows:

4 Emergency High impact Fire, hazmat, police action, riots, terrorism Medium Impact Severe weather, major road traffic/closures; utility outages Non-Emergency Community meetings, town events Planned outages for utilities, roads Outreach events Low impact Amber alerts, lost individual Utilize a Priority Scheme, as suggested here: Priority 1 Immediate / Emergency Evacuation, shelter, shooter, fire, Amber alert Priority 2 Short Term / Needed Information Traffic problem; area avoidance Priority 3 Long Term / Announcements Road to be shutdown, bad weather forecast, community meeting 2. Utilize several contact paths In those olden days, the only tools you needed were a robust voice and a hand bell. Today you can select one or more communications tools to get out your message. Old School Tools but Still Effective Person-to-Person (P2P): Phone (voice), fax, , texting, personal conversation

5 Agency-to-Person (A2P): Web pages/site, podcast, blast fax, robo-phone calls, mass notification systems Targeted communications (special groups) Town Hall meetings Traditional Media (real and virtual): Newspapers, Radio, Television, Printed materials Mobile Apps EAS (Emergency Alert System) IPAWS (The Integrated Public Alert and Warning System) Town Crier (Hey, if all else fails....) Social Media Blogs, Internet Forums, Message Boards Collaborative Sites Wiki Microblog e.g., Twitter, Yammer; YFrog Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds Social Bookmarking Sites Digg, Delicious Social Network Sites Facebook, MySpace, Pinterest Business Network Sites LinkedIn, FastPitch Video-Sharing Sites YouTube, Flickr Aggregator and Trending Sites: NetVibes, TweetDeck, Tootsweet Use the right tools: It is important to leverage a solution that allows you to automatically post to several channels at once. This not only is more efficient but can spread your message faster and ensure consistency

6 3. Adapt messaging to different channels and modalities; cater messaging to specific audiences AN EVERBRIDGE SOLUTION Since you have many different options for communications tools, you also have the flexibility to message target audiences depending upon the event. If circumstances permit, you can send messages and alerts to specific communities, neighborhoods, groups, stakeholders, contact databases, or opt-ins (citizens signing up to be notified under designated circumstances). So for example, you could post an Amber Alert via SMS or Twitter for fast distribution, and an upcoming road outage on FaceBook for more leisurely consumption. Your messaging can set the tone for public response. A message that is terse, instructional, and demanding for an active shooter event would of course differ from a lah-de-dah message about the upcoming Fourth of July parade. Social media equipment and software can be used by public safety staff to open/maintain two-way communications with general or specific communities, neighborhoods, groups, stakeholders, opt-ins, and contact databases. You can actually ask users for updates to incidents in the field such as traffic congestion or crowd behavior. Public Agencies can also use two-way communications to ask for and collect anonymous tips. 4. Set Goals and Track Them Some messages can be tracked for subscribers or opt-ins. You can develop data and metrics to determine who received the messages, who responded, message effectiveness, reach, improvement items, best practices, and setting benchmarks for your notification and response systems. Most communications tools and apps have several embedded features and menu items for implementation and tracking use them! 5. Answer these Ten questions to answer I have found that the following questionnaire (3) helps agencies and companies determine if their messaging strategy is a good one. If you cannot answer one or more questions, you may need to rethink your messaging. Why are we engaging? Who is our audience? What do our audiences want or need to know?

What do we want to get across? How will we engage? How will we listen? How will we respond? What problems or barriers have we planned for? Who will carry out the plans? When? Have we succeeded?

7 What do we want to get across? How will we engage? How will we listen? How will we respond? What problems or barriers have we planned for? Who will carry out the plans? When? Have we succeeded? How do we know? Who does follow up? Summary The New Messaging Rules for Community Engagement Today we have many new community engagement systems, tools, targets, audiences, and available options. All of this may appear complicated, but it is really not. We just need to learn about what s out there... and take full advantage of it. But just in case, keep a hand bell in your emergency kit! References 1. The profession still thrives for example see 2. Managing Incidents and Events through Resident and Community Engagement by Dr. Steven Goldman (SteveGoldmanAssociates.com) and Claudia Dent (Everbridge.com); Everbridge webinar October 22, Chess & Hance, Rutgers University, modified by Dr. Steven Goldman

8 About Nixle Community Engagement, by Everbridge Engaged and active communities are built on a commitment to transparency and safety. Our Community Engagement application helps public safety and emergency management agencies to easily create a resident opt-in database, while providing you with control over authoring and publishing your message directly to the public. Community Engagement enables: Easy Resident Opt-in: Easily increase resident opt-in s at an exponential rate. Maintain a robust database of resident contact information to foster a community dialogue or provide effective emergency notifications. A Force Multiplier: Publish and distribute public information at scale, with the push of one button, via social media, websites, , text, OneBridge mobile app, and Google Alerts. Leverage residents to act as force multiplier to assist in preventing and solving crime. Ideal when internal resources are limited. Control Public Information Dissemination: Maintain complete power and control to author messages and disseminate information to the public at will. Precise Neighborhood Targeting: The most precise neighborhood-level geographic targeting system available. Send messages to specific communities or neighborhoods. Focus on Public Safety: The most trusted public safety product on the market, as used by over 8,000 public safety agencies. Completely focused on helping agencies keep residents safe and informed.

Solutions for Critical Communications. Managing Incidents and Events through Resident and Community Engagement October 2015

Solutions for Critical Communications Managing Incidents and Events through Resident and Community Engagement October 2015 Webinar information Use the Q&A function to submit your questions. We ll send