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How to Better Follow Up with Your Elected Officials Now

July 21, 2020 By Patrick L. Burns Leave a Comment

elected officials

After a successful meeting with an elected official to discuss an issue that is important to you, it is in your best interest to follow-up with that official in a timely fashion. This allows you to keep track on where the issue stands and what is being done to address it; as well as show your dedication to the issue. Below are steps to ensure your follow-up is successful and your issue remains at the forefront.

  1. Send a Thank You Letter

Promptly after the meeting, you should send a personal thank you letter to the elected official. They took time out of a busy schedule to meet with you about your issue, and even if they disagree with your stance, thanking them for their time and being courteous goes a long way. They will be more likely to listen to you on future issues. Be sure to proofread your letter and address to the correct location that ensures it gets into the right hands. Pro-tip: all elected officials, both past and present, are addressed as “The Honorable” instead of Mr., Mrs. Or Ms.

  1. Send Any Information and Materials

In a meeting with an elected official, you may offer or be asked to send additional information and materials on your issue. If there was something you couldn’t answer at the time of the meeting, or if the elected official requested additional information on the issue, make sure you send these in a timely manner. This will show you are credible and dedicated to the issue you are addressing. With these types of follow-ups, make sure the information and materials are clear and well organized and that the information given is cited with sources and credible. Giving inaccurate information can greatly damage your reputation with elected officials.

  1. Set Deadlines, Follow-up

During your meeting, if the elected official is unsure of their position, give them time to think on it and offer to provide them with more information. Inquire about when you should check back in to find out what your official plans to do regarding your issue. When the time agreed upon comes, send a follow-up email and make a phone call checking in on the issue. Be patient but be persistent, remember these officials are busy, if they have not reached a conclusion yet, set a new timeframe in which you can expect to check back in. Keep this process running so you and your issue don’t get overshadowed and forgotten.

  1. Attend Community Events in the District

Town hall meetings and other events are great opportunities to follow-up and touch base with elected officials and gather new information on your issue. If you participate and are engaged in a constructive way, you will build relationships and a reputation that will benefit you. These relationships will not only help you with your current issue, but you are more likely to be heard on future issues as well.

  1. Keep in Touch

You do not want to randomly contact your elected officials too much where you become a nuisance, but a regular well-timed check in email and phone call is recommended. Also, if you learn any new information regarding your issue that you feel may be of help, make sure you contact the office to be sure they are aware of this new information. If these communications are informative and direct, they can go a long way in helping keep your issue on their agenda.

Elected officials are not going to side with you on every issue, but if you always carry yourself respectfully and dignified, they will be more likely to hear your stance. They will also be more likely to view you as a credible source for information on future issues that they may agree with you on. How you follow up with your elected officials at the federal, state or local level after a meeting is important in advocating for your issue and building a strong relationship long term.

Filed Under: Government, Public Affairs Tagged With: Advocacy, Digital and Government, Elected Officials, Gov 2.0, Government, public affairs, Virtual Meetings

How to Safely and Securely Use Zoom for Government Meetings

July 14, 2020 By Patrick L. Burns 1 Comment

The video-conferencing app, Zoom, has become a daily tool for many people during the COVID-19 pandemic. As cities and state across the country were shutting down to protect against the spread of the virus; state and local governments were trying to find ways in which they could move forward with important meetings while being unable to meet in person.

Zoom became a go-to due to its ease of use; ability to have up to 100 people attend a meeting; and free use for up to 40 minutes. A problem that arose was what became known as “Zoom bombing” where a person or persons gains access to the Zoom meeting by hacking or obtaining the Zoom chat information and causes disruptions to the meeting.

One example of this was during a Kansas City Council committee meeting when a hacker or hackers infiltrated the meeting and began cursing and using racial slurs until the committee was forced to shut down the meeting. Another occurrence was during a Maine’s Children’s Behavioral Health Townhall in which a hacker or hackers gained access and began displaying deeply disturbing and offensive images forcing the meeting to be shutdown.

In addition to Zoom bombings, there have been instances of camera and audio high jacking, in which hackers can take control of a user’s camera or audio device to bug a meeting or even install harmful spyware and malware onto a user’s device.

Instances like these have caused many governments to rethink whether they want to use the platform to conduct meetings. Luckily, there are steps you can take to ensure your government Zoom meeting is protected against these unwanted Zoom bombings. Below we provide a how-to on securing you state and local government Zoom meetings.

  1. Always Password Protect Your Meetings

The easiest way to prevent unwanted intrusion into your government meetings is simple and easy to do; set a password. You have the option to set the password at the individual meeting, user, group, or account level and it is suggested to use a different password for each meeting. In order to do this, log into your Zoom portal and go to the “settings” tab. From there enable “require a password when scheduling new meetings” and Zoom will generate a password each time a meeting is scheduled.

  1. Use a Randomly Generated Meeting ID

When creating a Zoom account, you are provided with your own personal meeting ID you can use to set up meetings. These are not ideal for use for government meetings; especially if planning on public input attendance. It is suggested you do not make your personal meeting ID public. Once someone has your personal meeting ID it can either be leaked or used to gain access to future meetings; instead it is suggested you use a randomly generated meeting id. You can select this option when setting up your meeting.

  1. Utilize the Waiting Room Feature

The waiting room is normally used for individual interviews or one-on-one sessions, it can be utilized to screen participants as they join before allowing them to come into a meeting. This gives the host greater control over session security and prevents anyone who may have obtained the login information dishonestly from joining.

  1. Disable Participant Screen Sharing, Mute Upon Entry

In order to avoid people showing inappropriate things such as happened in the aforementioned examples, disabling attendant’s ability to use screen share can help prevent that. Unless someone is scheduled to share a presentation or visual, going under the “security” tab during your active session and disabling screen share can help avoid unwanted disturbances. Also remember, as a host, you can choose to mute people upon entry or manually mute or unmute a participant during the meeting.

  1. Lock the Meeting Once it Begins

Once the time for the meeting has arrived and everyone is in attendance who is meant to be there, it is a good idea to “lock” your meeting to prevent others from joining. This can be done once the session has begun by going to the “Manage Participants” tab and clicking on “more.” From there you can click on “lock” and this will prevent anyone else from joining the meeting. It can be unlocked at any time if you need to admit anyone.

  1. Evict Troublesome Participants and Report

If someone happens to come into your meeting uninvited or a participant begins causing trouble, you, as the host, can remove that person from the meeting. This should be done immediately upon noticing an issue. All you have to do is mouse over the participant’s name and with the option pop-up chose the “remove” option. After you have done this you can report them to Zoom’s Trust and Safety team who will take appropriate action.

  1. Keep Your Zoom App Updated

As security and functionality issues arise, patches and updates are regularly released to combat these issues. Each time before using Zoom, you should always check to make sure you are updated to the latest version. This can be done by opening your application, going to your profile and selecting “Check for Updates.” The app will automatically scan and install any updates.

Using Zoom for government meetings is a good way to continue with important policy and public engagement processes during these trying times. Zoom is an ever-evolving platform that continues to take steps towards a more secure meeting experience. Making sure you take all precautions to secure your meetings will help prevent bad actors from gaining access and wreaking havoc. Government meetings are essential to keep state, cities, and counties running smoothly, and Zoom is one means to keep the wheel turning until we can all safely meet in person again.

Filed Under: Government, Public Affairs Tagged With: Advocacy, Arc 3 Communications, Digital and Government, Digital and Public Affairs, Gov 2.0, Government, public affairs, ZOOM

This Week in Digital and Public Affairs – Algorithimic Feeds, Twitter and YouTube Connect

April 2, 2016 By Patrick L. Burns Leave a Comment

YouTubeDigital and social media are changing 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

In TechCrunch, Josh Constine writes  about how Instagram and Twitter’s adoption of algorithmic feeds will force social media marketers to step up their content game on these platforms. Constine argues that the creation of a Facebook News Feed-esque ranking system for Instagram and Twitter will result in brands needing to post high-quality content and receive a consistent stream of Likes from people in order for their content to keep being seen by those that follow them. He argues that the free ride is over and that the quality of each gram and tweet will matter as to how the content is placed in front of consumers on their feeds. Constine points out that Snapchat will be the only major platform to remain authentic, serving content to users as its created and posted.

In VentureBeat, Ken Yeung highlights how Google is building YouTube Connect, a live streaming app product to take on Periscope and Facebook Live. The product which will be available on Android and iOS devices and is likely to be released at Google’s I/O developer conference in May. The app will allow users to login via a Google or YouTube account and immediately begin streaming from their mobile phone. According to Yeung, videos will be viewable live within the app, as well as on the YouTube site in the users’ respective channels. It will also be possible to store previous broadcasts in the app, which will make it possible for users and their friends to watch replays of their videos.

Gov 2.0 and Public Affairs

In DigitalGov, Jessica Milcetich, who manages social media for USAGov, provides a step by step guide to government agencies for making Snapchat stories as accessible as possible. Milcetich points out that in its current form, Snapchat isn’t a highly accessible platform that is up to to government accessibility standards (a situation that is not unique for emerging technologies). Her step by step guide figures out how to address these accessibility issues on Snapchat, so that government agencies can use the app.

In Associations Now, Ernie Smith explores that while email is a big workhorse for associations, sending too much email can lead to members tuning the association’s email communications out. He points to a recent study by the email marketing firm First Insight that shows that sending too much email can not only hurt engagement, but lead to complaints from recipients. The report recommends a strategy of sending fewer, more targeted messages to segmented audiences which leads to more effective results.

Campaigns and Elections

In the Atlantic, Vann Newkirk writes that in its 10 years of existence, Twitter has given rise to forces that are completely reshaping the course of political dialogue. Newkirk argues that Twitter’s impact in politics became very clear early on with President Obama’s adoption of Twitter and the rise of the Tea Party movement on Twitter in response.  Newkirk points out that the Tea Party’s rise to prominence mirrored the virality and exponential message growth that Twitter creates. According to Newkirk, Twitter is now engrained as a must have political tool with candidates, voters and commentators engaging with each other in candor, frankness and geniune back and forth dialogue.  He points out that the amount of discursive access to politicians is unprecedented in the past century of American politics and that this transfers power away from politicians and empowers groups and citizens who are Twitter savvy.  He argues that America’s early politics of the leaflet and town-hall based democratic scrum has been re-purposed and hyper-focused on Twitter, and that this has democratized modern political dialogue.

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.

Filed Under: Campaign Management, Campaigns and Elections, Civic Innovation/Gov. 2.0, Content Marketing, Government, Public Affairs, Social Media Relations Tagged With: Campaigns and Elections and Social Media, Email Marketing and Trade Associations, Gov 2.0, Instagram, Live Video, Snapchat, Snapchat and Accessibility Standards, Twitter, Twitter and Political Discourse, YouTube Connect

Arc 3 Communications’ Monthly Top News Reads in Digital, Social and Public Affairs – February 2014

February 6, 2014 By Patrick L. Burns Leave a Comment

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

Digital and Social Media

Mashable reports on 9 ways that social media will change in 2014. New ways include the rise of graphic software and the use of visual content to support social media platforms such as Pinterest and Tumblr.

In the Guardian, Scott Monty, who heads global digital communications for the Ford Motor Company, explores the question of whether or not marketers can learn digital restraint. Monty advocates for a less is more strategy for marketers.

Social Media Today offers six social media mistakes to avoid in 2014, which include many recommendations for digital restraint. These include avoiding tweeting too often, using too many hashtags and joining too many social media websites.

Gov 2.0 and Public Affairs

Huffington Post reports on 15 photos from the U.S. Department of Interior Instagram account that will make you want to travel the country. The Department of Interior account has over 200k  followers and includes scenic photos from the public lands, national parks and wildlife refuges that it manages.

Associations Now  offers advice on how to handle the good, the bad, and the ugly of online comments on a trade association’s website, social media or blog.

The New York Times  reports on the Twitter conversation surrounding the President’s State of the Union address and how the White House’s bully pulpit has lost its strength due to other voices shaping the conversation.

Campaigns and Elections

ABC News interviews Adam Sharp, Head of Government and Non-Profits at Twitter, regarding how Twitter will continue to shape political discourse, campaign advertising and election 2014.

Social Media Today  explores 5 ways in which social media will change political campaigns in 2014. One of these ways includes the greater use of visual and video content on campaign social media networks.

In Huffington Post, Milind Deora, India’s Minister for Communications, explores the impact of social media on electoral politics in light of the upcoming elections. Deora points to social media’s effectiveness in raising issues, but questions how it may be affecting the quality of political discourse and disrupting the social order.

These were some of Arc 3’s most interesting reads in digital and social and public affairs in early 2014. What were your favorite stories? Let us know. We’d love to hear from you.

 

 

Filed Under: Blogger relations, Campaign Management, Campaigns and Elections, Civic Innovation/Gov. 2.0, Data Visualization and Infographics, Digital Marketing, Public Affairs, Social Media Audits and Listening analyses, Social Media Relations, Uncategorized Tagged With: Facebook, Gov 2.0, pinterest, Social Media and Campaigns, Social Media and Election 2014, Social Media and Politics, State of the Union and Social Media, Trade Associations and Social Media, Tumblr, Twitter, U.S. Department of Interior

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Arc 3 Communications

December 19, 2013 By Patrick L. Burns Leave a Comment

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Business Advocacy, Campaign Management, Campaigns and Elections, Civic Innovation/Gov. 2.0, Coalition Building, Digital Marketing, Government, Grassroots Mobilization, Message Development, News, Our Work, Public Affairs, Social Media Audits and Listening analyses, Social Media Relations, Uncategorized, Website Development Tagged With: Content Marketing, Content Marketing and Campaigns, Content Marketing and Gov 2.0, Content Marketing and Trade Associations, Digital Media and Campaigns, Digital Media and Public Affairs, Digital Media and Trade Associations, Gov 2.0, Social Data, social media, Social Media and Campaigns, Social Media and Gov 2.0, Social Media and Trade Associations

Happy 4square Day 2012: The Power of Social Media and Gamification

April 25, 2012 By Patrick L. Burns Leave a Comment

This month marked the 2nd annual celebration of Foursquare Day on April 16th. The day honors the social media platform Foursquare and its users. Hundreds of cities around the world held Foursquare Day events from Kennesaw, Ga. to Portland, Ore. to Istanbul, Turkey.

What is Foursquare?  Foursquare is a location-based social networking platform for mobile devices.  Users “check in” on their mobile phone at different places visited, from restaurants to parks, museums and retails stores. Foursquare rewards users for checking in with badges, points and mayorships. Users can choose to have their check-ins, mayorships and badges posted on their Twitter and/or Facebook accounts.

Foursquare also allows users the ability to leave tips about a venue. People can leave tips about their favorite dishes, things to do, and how to get a discount.  Users can also track things that they have done by clicking “I’ve done this” next to a tip or can add something that sounds good to their to do list. Lists are collections of tips and venues created by users. Lists range from the Best Museums of New York City to Gone With the Wind. Each is created by a local expert, giving unique insight into the best places to visit in a city

To get users interested in the social media app and to keep them checking in (and thus providing more data to the recommendation engine), Foursquare has developed a unique set of “games.” The badges, points and mayorships are ways in which users can compete against friends. The mayor is the person who’s checked in the most times at a venue over the past 60 days.

Foursquare was started by Dennis Crowley and Naveen Selvadurai in the fall of 2008 in New York City. Foursquare was launched at South by Southwest Interactive in Austin, Texas in March 2009.

Foursquare has grown into a community of over 20 million people worldwide with over 2 billion check-ins. Half of Foursquare users are in the United States while the other 50 percent are international. Over 750,000 businesses are using the Merchant Plaftform.

So, how did April 16 become 4sqDay? Back in 2010, Tampa, Fla. optometrist Nate Bonilla-Warford realized that 4² = 16 and that April 16 would be a perfect day to celebrate Foursquare. He got together with some friends and started putting together a worldwide movement. Other cities quickly joined in and parties were held all over the world that first year. It’s grown since then to include cities in every corner of the globe.

Foursquare Day is a worldwide movement and the social app is being embraced around the world by political leaders and the media. All major media and news outlets currently have a Foursquare brand page. In August of 2011, President Barack Obama joined Foursquare and other world leaders including Prime Minister of Great Britian David Cameron and French President Nicholas Sarkozy followed suit.  All of these leaders are using Foursquare to check-in to places they visit.  The Republican candidates for President, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry joined Foursquare before the start of the first presidential caucus in Iowa. NBC News and Foursquare have teamed up to map out the 2012 presidential election. Visitors are able to see where candidates are making campaign stops in real-time, and where they’ve been throughout their entire election campaign.

In addition to checking-in at events, the gamification aspect of Foursquare is being used by politicians and the media in creative ways to engage the public in the political process. For instance, French President Nicholas Sarkozy recently rewarded campaign volunteers with cookies for checking into his campaign headquarters. Time Magazine will reward attendees to the respective Democratic and Republican National Conventions with a badge. NBC Politics recently established 3 badges for checking-in to Presidential campaign events.

In the same way that Foursquare makes buying a cup of coffee a competitive event, political operatives and the media are trying to harness the power of games to collect data and engage potential voters, readers and viewers. Foursquare and gamification can actually be a powerful tool for identifying and engaging the public.  As the over 16,000 participants in Foursquare meetups around the world can attest, social media married with gamification is a powerful tool for mobilizing people and driving results for your organization.

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Campaigns and Elections, Civic Innovation/Gov. 2.0, Digital Marketing, Mobile Application Development, Public Affairs, Social Media Relations Tagged With: Campaigns and Elections, civic innovation, Entrepreneurship, geosocial strategy, Gov 2.0, interactive marketing, mobile marketing, public affairs, public relations, social media, Start-ups, technology

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