Arc 3 Communications

Website Development Case Study: Georgia Secretary of State

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Georgia Secretary of StateProject Goals

For several years, the Georgia Secretary of State  conducted the Peanut Poll, a straw poll held every year at the Georgia National Fair in Perry. Each year, the straw poll focused on participant’s choices for federal elected office such as President and U.S. Senate. One of the most successful straw polls in the country, the poll was a part of the Georgia Secretary of State’s mission to raise awareness about elections and encourage voter registration.

However, in 2017 with no major election pending, the Secretary of State’s office sought to re-brand the Peanut Poll to be a contest to have Georgians pick the best high school football team in the state. In addition to a re-branding to reflect the change in direction of the poll, the Secretary of State sought to develop a new website and online polling system that would allow Georgians to vote for one of the 460 high school football teams online and on tablets at the Georgia Grown booth at the fair.  After voting, participants would be directed to the Secretary of State’s online voter registration page to check their registration status and register to vote if they had not already. The new “Gridiron Showdown” Peanut Poll sought to engage high school students who were now eligible to register to vote, but had not yet done so.

Our Solution

With the Georgia National Fair coming up quickly, the Arc 3 Communications team worked expeditiously with the Secretary of State’s Outreach Staff to create a new and unique brand for the Gridiron Showdown Peanut Poll. A new mobile first website was developed that incorporated a polling system that allowed for visitors to quickly vote for one of Georgia’s 460 high school football teams. Upon voting, Georgians were directed to the Secretary of State’s online voter registration page. At the Georgia National Fair’s Georgia Grown Booth visitors were presented with i-pads upon which they could visit the website and vote for their favorite team while voters from across the state also submitted their ballots on the website. The website polling system calculated and displayed the results in real-time as they happened. Each day at 5 p.m, a special guest would announce the results at the Georgia Grown Booth at the Fair. Voting results announced on the website were easily able to be shared on social networks.

Results

The new Peanut Poll brand incorporating a football referee raised awareness about the new nature of the poll and athletic directors from across the Georgia High School Association were excited about the poll and encouraged students, athletes and parents to participate. The Georgia National Fair also publicized the straw poll and the opportunity to vote at the Georgia Grown booth.

By the time of kickoff and voting began, media outlets around the state had already started talking about the Gridiron Showdown Peanut Poll and social media was buzzing. After ten days, over hundreds of thousands of votes had been cast making the Peanut Poll one of the most successful straw polls and voter registration efforts in the country. The Peanut Poll was embraced not only by high school communities in and around the Georgia National Fair in middle Georgia, but by 460 school communities from across the entire state. Participants from all walks of life participated in the Peanut Poll, including some celebrity voters such as U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue who visited the Georgia Grown Booth and cast his vote for his favorite team. Special guests who announced the daily results included Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black who also cast the first vote at the fair online.

In the end, the new Peanut Poll was a success in its ultimate goal of encouraging folks to register to vote. The Georgia Secretary of State’s online voter registration page saw not only a surge in visitors, but also an increase in voter registrations. Because of the 2017 Gridiron Showdown Peanut Poll, new voters will cast their ballots in the 2018 Elections for the first time. These new voters will cast their ballots for something more important than their favorite football team; they will have the opportunity to vote for who will serve them in public office at the local, state and federal levels.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Anniversary Arc 3 Communications!

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Happy Anniversary Arc 3 Communications Arc 3 Communications Celebrates Its Sixth Year in Business!

Happy Anniversary Arc 3 Communications! As we celebrate the 6th year of our agency, I wanted to stop and reflect on those things that I’m grateful for as its founder. My entrepreneurial journey has been an amazing ride of ups and downs, but I have so many things to be grateful for. Here are some of those things that I’m most thankful for:

1. I am grateful for our clients in the public affairs space that have entrusted us over the years to help with their content, digital and analytics needs. We have worked with clients ranging from government agencies to trade associations to political campaigns at the local, state and national levels. We have developed new websites, social media campaigns and all types of amazing content to help them accomplish their legislative, policy, electoral and civic engagement goals.

2.  I am grateful for the talented team of designers, developers, social media, technical and public affairs experts at Arc 3. I am also thankful for our interns that breathe life into our agency with their new ideas and energy. Our current interns from Kennesaw State University, Paul McNally and Kirbe Bostick are doing an awesome job for us.

3.  I am grateful to our trusted partners in helping us to carry out our mission. These knowledgeable experts in accounting, law, finance, human resources and technology are invaluable.

4. I am grateful to the great team at Ignite HQ who provide us with an affordable and innovative office space to work in that is filled with other startups. The shared learning from other entrepreneurs has been immeasurable. I’m especially grateful that its located off of historic Marietta Square and close to home.

5. I am grateful to the many innovators in digital, social media and technology that have transformed media and marketing to a world driven by content and sharing. This includes not only the creators of well-known platforms such as WordPress, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn; but the countless other innovators who developed lesser known platforms that have helped to create a competitive marketplace that produces amazing channels for communication and sharing. Most noteworthy of late are those who have made website hosting extraordinarily better such as Flywheel.

6. I am grateful to our agency competitors, who by their efforts in the marketplace, push us to do better and strive to be our best.

7. I am grateful for the digital, social media, creative and tech start-up community of Atlanta in which we are constantly learning new tools and tactics through shared knowledge and learning. I am most grateful to the WordPress community.

8. As Founder of an agency focused on the civic space, I am grateful for the many long-standing institutions in government, politics and civic life and the people and ideas that sustain them. While its been under siege by a time of technological transformation, the great civic life of our country depends upon engaged citizens, media, candidates, elected officials, association executives and government public servants at all levels.

9. I am grateful for mentors, friends and colleagues throughout my career in government, politics, academia and the agency world who have offered sound advice and encouragement. Many have also referred business our way and I’m thankful.

10. I am most grateful to my family for their constant love, patience, prayers and support throughout my entrepreneurial journey. My wife Mary and our four children have shared this experience with me every step of the way. Mary has been a sounding board, critic, and cheerleader. Her kindness, patience and love has been the rock upon which my successful agency has been built.

Most of all, I am grateful to God for these last six years and the opportunity to embark on my entrepreneurial journey. Without his love and my faith in him, nothing is possible.

WordPress Maintenance Is Important for A Secure Campaign Website

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WordPress MaintenanceReliable WordPress Maintenance Keeps Your Site Safe

Since even before the movie War Games in 1983 with Matthew Broderick, cyber security has long been a concern for governments, corporations and small businesses. However, in the last election cycle of 2016, the issue of cyber security and political campaigns came to the forefront.  With hacking of the Democratic National Committee in the 2016 election, the hacking of the Marcon campaign and release of emails days before the French Presidential Election, and the breach of millions of voters’ data by a contractor for the National GOP, cyber security has become a critical, timely and urgent issue for campaigns, parties and candidates at all levels. While education and training for staff regarding two-step authentication of third-party systems and avoiding phishing attacks are all important for a campaign’s cyber security, a WordPress Maintenance program is a vitally important way to keep local campaigns and county political parties from being hacked and is often overlooked usually to the peril of those organizations involved.

The majority of local campaign and party websites are built on the WordPress platform. In fact, over 28% of the world’s websites are built on WordPress. This includes big brands like Disney, Sony, and The New York Times just to name a few. There’s a reason for this – WordPress is simply the best content management system out there. Its ease of use, functionality and affordability make it of one of the best CMS systems for the fast paced world of campaigns and elections. There are so many themes and plugins for WordPress that enable folks to create awesome websites with little or no hard coding involved.  The open source community of WordPress, which includes the developers of the many themes and plugins for WordPress websites, is a treasure trove of resourceful information and can serve as a guide for web designers through any questions and problems that they may encounter in creating a WordPress website.

However, new versions of WordPress and the plugins and themes integrated with the platform are constantly being issued. For busy political operatives, state legislators, and county party officers, finding the time to do routine WordPress website maintenance is not easy. In a preliminary analysis of local campaign and county party sites across the country, it was found that many have outdated WordPress versions and are vulnerable.

Outdated versions of WordPress core, themes, and plugins can result in potential hacking. According to quarterly reports from the security company, Sucuri, three out of four websites hacked in 2016 ran the WordPress platform with 25% of these sites having the plugins TimThumb, GravityForms, and RevSlider. According to Sucuri, a majority of these hacked sites were running outdated versions of WordPress and the popular plugins. The majority of Word Press core, theme and plugin updates have to do with patching security vulnerabilities. WordPress and theme and plugin developers are always striving to make their products better and improve their features with new versions, but security is a paramount issue and dominates new releases.

Political hacking is on the upswing and WordPress sites are the most vulnerable when not updated. A WordPress maintenance program that provides updates to your site on a routine basis is affordable and the best way to avoid hacking.  A WordPress maintenance program is proactive, smart and provides peace of mind.

A safe, secure, and fast performing campaign website is vital to being able to raise awareness about your campaign’s message to voters, donors, and potential volunteers and grassroots supporters. It is crucial in achieving your subscriber, volunteer, fundraising and electoral goals. In today’s new paradigm of electoral hacking, a WordPress maintenance program is an easy way to keep your site intact, free from danger and a quick read for viewers.

What should a WordPress maintenance program entail? A couple of key things should be provided by your vendor. First and foremost your agency should be accessible by phone and email and provide customer service that answers technical questions, provides prompt bug fixes and enhancements, and is willing to communicate with your website’s hosting provider when there is an issue. The agency should also do daily backups of your website files and database that are independent of the back ups that are done by your hosting provider. WordPress core and your site’s plugins and themes should be regularly updated to the latest version. Real time up-time monitoring and security scanning should also be provided along with regular site speed and performance testing. Your vendor should also do regular site optimization through the cleaning of your database and any post revisions. Finally, a monthly analytics and performance report that includes minor design and content update recommendations to help you achieve your subscriber, volunteer, fundraising and electoral goals should be provided.

Interesting in learning about our WordPress website maintenance program for campaign websites? We have experts who have been tested in the crucible of political campaigns, public service, technology and digital. Our passion and experience in WordPress website development and maintenance makes us the right choice for any political campaign. Contact us here or via Facebook Messenger now.

 

Website Development Case Study: Georgia Construction Aggregate Association

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The Georgia Construction Aggregate Association (GCAA) is the leading advocate for the construction aggregate industry in the state. It is a member-driven association with producer members, associate members and trucking companies. The mission of the Georgia Construction Aggregate Association is to advocate for expanded use of aggregates in the private and public sector; educate the public on the value of construction aggregates; and educate industry employees on safety, health, and environmental compliance. Over 100 million tons of aggregate is produced each year in Georgia.

The aggregate industry has a long history in Georgia, with the first commercial rock quarry coming into operation in 1925. As Georgia has grown, so has the aggregate industry, growing from 25 million tons production in 1967 to its present day production of 100 million tons. The aggregates industry is not only the foundation for highways and infrastructure construction in Georgia, but also a foundation for economic growth in the state.

With a steady improvement in the aggregates industry due to an improved economy and the passage of the Georgia General Assembly’s Transportation Funding Act of 2015, a funding measure providing dedicated, predictable and sustainable revenue for the repair and maintenance of statewide roads and bridges, a renewed optimism has pervaded the industry.

To reflect this new optimism, the leadership at the Georgia Construction Aggregate Association wanted to update its communications with a new logo, redesigned website and e-newsletter design that was mobile friendly and contained engaging content that reached their members. In addition, the Georgia Construction Aggregate Association wanted a new brand, website and e-newsletter to better harness the power of online content to recruit new associate members; publicize events and support fundraising and policy initiatives.

Arc 3 Communications worked with the Georgia Construction Aggregate Association to develop a content strategy and plan for developing a new website and e-newsletter to educate and inform association members, stakeholders, state legislators and regulators. In addition they conducted a brand ideation session and worked with GCAA leadership on the creation of a new brand and logo. Through the development of a content strategy which included an identification of key messages, audiences and tailored content, Arc 3 helped the Georgia Construction Aggregate Association launch a new brand, website and e-newsletter that reached key audiences and reflected the new optimism in the industry.

The Georgia Construction Aggregate Association’s new website has resulted in substantial growth in unique visitors and page views to the site, and its new e-newsletter has seen a dramatic increase in open rates, click through rates, referrals to the website and new subscribers. GCAA’s new logo has given the association distinction and a strong new visual identity.

Most importantly, GCAA’s new logo, website and e-newsletter has resulted in an increase in member engagement, greater awareness about the aggregate industry among key partners, state legislators and civic leaders; and more associate membership leads.

This Week in Digital and Public Affairs – Instagram, Snapchat and The BuzzFeed Dossier

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buzzfeed-logoDigital and social media are transforming how government institutions, political campaigns and trade associations are communicating and marketing to their key audiences.

Below is a roundup of key stories in digital and public affairs for this week:

Content, Digital and Social Media

Facebook announced the hiring of Campbell Brown, a former NBC News correspondent and CNN prime-time host, to lead its news partnerships team. While Facebook indicated that she would not serve in a role as editor-in-chief, she would work as a liaison with news organizations so that Facebook can better meet their journalistic and business imperatives.

Snapchat announced the launch of universal search to simplify navigation on the platform. This move was clearly to ward off competition from Instagram’s Stories which has hit 150 million users.  Instagram has now offered an advertising product on Stories that has the targeting capabilities offered in Facebook.

Medium, a platform for long form content, announced it was laying off a third of its employees, mostly in sales. CEO Ev Williams stated that Medium would be renewing its focus away from an ad-driven model to one that rewards writers  “on their ability to enlighten and inform, not simply their ability to attract a few seconds of attention.”

Gov 2.0 and Public Affairs

On DigitalGov, Julia Jackson with the National Institutes of Health explores how social media platforms are becoming one-stop shops for information needs as the platforms become more feature rich and audience share falls away from search engines. Jackson recommends that federal agencies should refocus their attention on content created for social media in 2017 and use the platforms as one of their primary communication strategies.

In Social Media Today, Alan Rosenblatt talks about how public affairs organizations should consider self-publishing strategies to achieve their objectives. Once dismissed by professionals as less worthy than earned media, Rosneblatt argues that self publishing on your own website, blogs and social media is an effective strategy in achieving goals and can have greater impact than placing stories in the news media.

Speaking of effective, self-publishing strategies in public affairs, Associations Now reports on how the American Medical Association created a new content strategy that provided the framework for its website redesign. The new site is easy for its key stakeholders to navigate to content that is tailored to their needs.

Campaigns and Elections

Buzzfeed draws criticism for its publishing of a unverifiable secret dossier on President-elect Donald Trump and Russia. After its posting, BuzzFeed editor-in-chief, Ben Smith took to Twitter to explain how they made the decision. Smith stated that even though “there is serious reasons to doubt the allegations”, he noted that “publishing the dossier reflects how we see publishing in 2017”.

Writing in The Atlantic , staff writer, David Graham agrues that BuzzFeed sidestepped a basic principle of journalism in publishing the dossier. He argues that a reporter’s job is not simply to dump information into the public domain, but to gather information, sift through it and determine what is true and what is not.

On Federalist.com, lawyer turned writer Leslie Loftis argues that BuzzFeed’s decision to publish the dossier may lead to a defamation lawsuit. Loftis argues that BuzzFeed Editor in Chief Ben Smith’s rationale for publishing was the same rationale Rolling Stone’s Will Dana used to justify publishing a fake story that ended in a major court loss in Eramo v Rolling Stone. 

On a side note, Nieman Labs reports on the success of BuzzFeed’s Tasty customized cookbook product which has sold enough copies to make it one of the best-selling cookbooks of the year. Tasty: The Cookbook, a choose-your-own categories, print-on-demand cookbook,  sold over 100,000 copies in the last two months of 2016, earning BuzzFeed an estimated $2.4 to $4 million in sales.

These are some of the reads that matter to us for the week in digital and public affairs. What do you think? What are your favorite stories? We’d love to hear from you!

This Week in Digital and Public Affairs – BuzzFeed, Mobile Websites and Twitter

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buzzfeed-logoDigital and social media are changing how government institutions, political campaigns and trade associations communicate and achieve their goals. Below is a roundup of the more interesting stories that we read over the last week:

Content, Digital and Social Media

Gawker reports that BuzzFeed deleted posts under pressure from its own business department. An internal review found at least 3 instances in which complaints from the site’s business and advertising departments led Editor-in-Chief Ben Smith to delete posts by staff. The 3 deleted posts criticized or mocked an Axe body spray ad campaign (a brand of Unilever), Pepsi’s Twitter account and Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser. Unilever, Pepsi and Microsoft all are major advertisers with BuzzFeed.

TechCrunch reports LinkedIn’s launch of Elevate, a paid mobile and desktop app for social media management. The app suggests articles to its users based on algorithms from its news recommendation services Pulse and Newsle as well as “human curation”. Users are then able to schedule and share those links across LinkedIn and Twitter.  The app will be available to users in the 3rd quarter of this year.

Gov 2.0 and Public Affairs

Ernie Smith, the social media journalist for Associations Now provides an analysis of Google’s implementation this week of an update of its algorithm to favor mobile-friendly websites and its impact on trade associations. Smith provides things for associations to consider as they redesign or retrofit their mobile unfriendly site.  Smith notes the challenges facing associations who have lots of legacy content on their websites.

William Powers and Deb Roy of MIT’s Laboratory for Social Machines provides insights on Medium into their research of the town of Jun in southern Spain. For the last four years, the town has been using Twitter as its principal medium for citizen-government communication. Leading the effort is Jun’s Mayor, José Antonio Rodríguez Salashas  who has been recruiting the town’s 3,500 residents to join the social network and have their Twitter accounts locally verified at town hall.

Speaking of municipalities, the City of Philadelphia unveiled on its website this week a real-time analytics tool showing how people are visiting city websites. This tool may promote better civic engagement between staff and residents.

Campaigns and Elections 

Dave Weigel reports in Bloomberg Politics  on the launch of the app Clear by Ethan Czahor, the former CTO for Jeb Bush’s presidential exploratory committee. The free app which works as an add-on to Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram allows users to scan their social media for a series of problematic terms that could harm their public reputation in the future. Czahor resigned his position with Jeb Bush earlier this year after it was discovered he had sent tweets disparaging women. Czahor believes that the app can help millennials avoid repeating his fate.

These were some of Arc 3’s most interesting reads in digital and public affairs over the last week. What were your favorite stories? Let us know if there is a neat story that we missed! We’d love to hear from you.

 

Happy Thanksgiving! 10 Things I Am Thankful For

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ThanksgivingHappy Thanksgiving from Arc 3 Communications! As we celebrate the 3rd anniversary of our agency, it is good to reflect upon those things that I am thankful for.

1. I am thankful for our clients in the civic space that have entrusted us over the years to help with their content, digital marketing and social media needs. We have worked with clients ranging from government agencies to trade associations to political campaigns at the local, state and national levels. We have developed digital marketing and social media campaigns, new websites, content marketing plans and all types of amazing content to help them accomplish their legislative, policy, electoral and civic engagement goals.

2.  I am thankful for the talented team of creatives, digital marketing, social media, technical and public affairs experts at Arc 3. I am also thankful for our interns that have breathed life into our agency with new ideas and enthusiasm for our mission.

3.  I am thankful to our vendors who have become trusted partners in helping us to carry out our mission. These knowledgeable experts in accounting, the law, banking and technology are indispensable.

4. I am thankful to the awesome team at Strongbox West who provide us with an affordable, fun and innovative office space to work in that is filled with other startups in the creative, digital and technology space. The shared learning from other entrepreneurs has been immeasurable.

5. I am thankful to the many innovators in digital, social media and technology that have transformed marketing from a traditional marketing model to a world driven by content. This includes not only the creators of the well-known platforms such as WordPress, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and Tumblr; but the countless other innovators who developed lesser known digital and social media platforms that have helped to create a competitive marketplace that produces amazing channels for communication and sharing.

6. I am thankful to our agency competitors for new business in the content, digital marketing and civic space who by their efforts in the marketplace, push us to do better, innovate and strive to be our best.

7. I am thankful for the digital, social media, creative and start-up community of Atlanta in which we are constantly learning new things through shared knowledge and crowd sourced learning. I am most grateful to the Social Media Club of Atlanta, SouthWired (former Digital Atlanta) and the many Meetups around the city that are ongoing.

8. As Founder of an agency focused on the civic space, I am thankful for the many long-standing institutions in government, politics and civic life and the people and ideas that sustain them. The great civitas of our country depends upon engaged citizens, media, candidates, elected officials, trade association and non-profit executives and public servants in government at all levels.

9. I am thankful for the countless numbers of friends and former colleagues throughout my career in government and politics, academia and the agency world who have offered encouragement and referred business our way.

10. I am most thankful to my family for their constant love and support through my entrepreneurial journey. My family has shared this experience with me every step of the way. It is hard to express my gratitude and thanks to my four children and most especially my wife Mary. My wife’s selflessness, determination and love for me has been the rock upon which my success has been built.

Finally, I am most thankful to God to whom all thanks must be given. Without his love and my faith in him, my entrepreneurial journey would have never gotten off the ground 3 years ago.

What are you most thankful for this year? Please share with us!

Patrick L. Burns, Founder and President of Arc 3 Communications

 

 

 

 

 

 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Arc 3 Communications

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Thank you to our clients, friends and colleagues who have helped to make Arc 3’s 2nd year a great success. We set out to do ambitious and interesting work in 2013, and our clients have entrusted us to do just that.

Over the last year, we have done innovative work in the area of content marketing, digital and social media for clients in the political, public affairs and government space. It has been our passion to help trade associations, right-center campaigns and local and state governments evolve their communications and marketing strategies to fit the digital age.

Content and measurable data are both important to us. Arc 3 has helped clients to develop and implement effective strategies and campaigns that help them to achieve their organizational goals in a complex media and public affairs landscape. Content marketing and digital and social media only work if they help an organization to reach those real world objectives that result in a return on their investment.

The golden age of mass media communications through print, television and radio has begun to fade, and a new multi-platform and digital age has begun. The digital age has resulted in new ways in which people – especially millenials – are processing issue and policy information.

Over the last several years, businesses have been going through a transition from traditional marketing to content marketing out of necessity in order to reach consumers. Our civic institutions, campaigns and trade associations will have to change as well in order to sustain their key roles in the public square.

As our agency grows and evolves in the dynamic landscape in media and public affairs, we look forward to another year of fun, interesting and purposeful work.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Patrick L. Burns, Founder and President, Arc 3 Communications

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Arc 3 Communications’ Monthly Top News Reads in Digital, Social and Public Affairs – November 2013

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Digital and social media are changing how government institutions, political campaigns and trade associations communicate and achieve their goals. Below is a roundup of the more interesting stories that we have read over the last month:

Digital and Social Media

Business Insider provides an analysis of social media demographics and the surprising identity of each major social network.

Gigaom reports on Google’s new ad policy and how to avoid appearing in Google ads.

Alan Mutter of Reflections of a Newsosaur , asks the question “Are newspapers losing their mass media mojo?”

Gov 2.0 and Public Affairs

Nextgov reports how thwarted users vent about the Obamacare website on Facebook.

The Atlantic Magazine reports how the City of Chattanooga, Tennessee developed its own font “Chatype” through a Kickstarter campaign.

Nextgov reports how Congress.gov replaces Thomas.gov as the source for legislative bills and committee information on Capitol Hill.

Campaigns and Elections

Advertising Age examines how data is redefining political TV ads.

TechPresident analyzes the role of digital and big data in election 2013.

Politico reports how Twitter is a mixed blessing for political flacks.

In a Foxnews.com  opinion piece, John Jordan, a member of the Hoover Institution’s Board of Overseers at Stanford University, offers a donor’s guide to making your money count in politics.

These were some of Arc 3’s most interesting reads in digital and social and public affairs over the last month. What were your favorite stories? Let us know if there is a neat story that we missed! We’d love to hear from you.

 

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