Title
Recommendation to Accept a City of Alameda Communications Report. (City Manager)
Body
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
From: Jennifer Ott, City Manager
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This annual Communications Report is a project in the City of Alameda’s (City) adopted Strategic Plan and outlines communication practices, utilized platforms, analytics, and insights from internal and public surveys. A comprehensive communications plan is under development and will include strategies to increase the timeliness, reach, and cadence of City communications.
BACKGROUND
The City’s adopted Strategic Plan prioritizes strengthening public communications and resident engagement. This includes developing a Citywide communications plan, publishing an annual communications report, and investing and expanding media programming and access to Alameda updates.
The Strategic Plan also includes planning the implementation of the City’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) plan, which includes internal communication strategies to foster internal engagement between City staff and all departments.
Following a 2023 request for proposals (RFP), the City partnered with SGA Marketing to develop a citywide communications and engagement plan. This plan builds on the City’s robust pandemic communications efforts (Exhibit 1) while addressing the need for ongoing strategic communication.
The plan will enhance communication between City staff and residents, improve operational efficiency, and strengthen community engagement efforts. It serves as a roadmap to build a stronger communications capacity and brand for Alameda.
Communications Survey Key Findings
As a first step to developing the strategic communications plan, the City worked with SGA Marketing to develop internal (staff) and external (community) surveys:
• External survey included more than 1,000 individual respondents.
• In-person survey presented in various locations (e.g., West End Farmers’ Market) with 51 responses.
• Internal survey sent to all City staff with 116 replies.
• The City’s Communications Team (with staff representatives from all departments) engaged in a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis of City communications.
• The City’s Executive Team (which includes all department heads) met with SGA Marketing to review overall communications needs.
Overall, community members are satisfied with Citywide communications. Using a 5-point scale, only 11% were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied. 67% agree or strongly agree that the communication they receive is useful. Facebook and email were noted as the top two most used sources for City communications. However, 80% of survey respondents were over age 40, showing the need to do additional outreach to create a plan that reaches all audiences.
The survey identified areas where improvement is desired. Community members want to be made aware of initiatives or projects at the outset of implementing them. There is a need for more frequent communications. A feedback loop is desired for people to ask questions outside of reporting problems on SeeClickFix.
To achieve this, City staff will prioritize celebrating Alameda’s successes, showcasing departmental achievements, providing multicultural engagement, and producing a digest of City Council meeting actions. Additionally, City staff will leverage data analytics to be nimble and adjust our limited resources accordingly.
Internally, staff values inter-departmental communications and would like to hear more from the City Manager’s Office and City departments. We’ll work to develop best practices and templates, as well as branding and style guide direction. Ongoing training on the website and communications platforms are needed, along with a communications digital asset management system for photographs, graphics, and videos. A robust Intranet site for employees is strongly desired, where information can be shared including department news, health and wellness, training opportunities, new hires, and employee events.
DISCUSSION
Currently, the City has three primary categories of communications:
1. Alerts: Urgent updates such as road closures, environmental hazards (wildfire smoke, power outages), planned construction and noise advisories, and safety issues (gas leaks).
2. Project & Program Updates: Information on upcoming events, community outreach surveys, business initiatives, transportation projects, safety tips, job openings, legal issues, climate education, and more.
3. Crisis Communications: Timely updates on critical situations such as police activity, flooding, public unrest, accidents, and infrastructure issues.
The City uses the following communications platforms:
City Website
The City’s website, www.alamedaca.gov <http://www.alamedaca.gov>, is the primary place to house information about the City. The website uses the OpenCities content management system, which is ADA compliant, easy to navigate for the user, and easy to update for City staff. Nearly 2/3 of the website traffic is from people searching for the City on internet search engines. In 2023, the website had 519,000 unique users, with Home, Recreation and Parks, Police Department, and the Permit Center being the most viewed pages.
Website communication tools include the call-to-action feature on the homepage, alert bar highlighting important information, and translation tool. The City will update the homepage design later this year to keep the website feeling fresh.
Social Media
The City regularly uses Facebook, Instagram, and Nextdoor. Some City departments also have their own social media accounts, including Recreation and Parks, Library, Alameda Municipal Power, Fire, Police, and the City Attorney’s Office. The City has 15,000 Facebook followers, 8,200 Instagram followers, and 34,110 Nextdoor members. Engagement with the City on social media is very strong and provides a quick way to share information and stream live City Council and Board and Commission meetings.
Email Newsletters
The City uses Govdelivery, a software built for governments to send communications that bypass spam filters, to allow people to subscribe to topics and create and send press releases, email newsletters, and department bulletins. The City’s use is successful and growing, with 1.66 million views in 2023 and more than 80 topics for users to subscribe to. Emails have a very high average engagement rate of rate 65.7% and subscribers increased by 4,697 in 2023.
AC Alert
The City uses AC Alert to send emergency notifications by text, voice, and email, and has 17,020 subscribers. This platform is owned by Alameda County and is used in coordination with the Alameda County Office of Emergency Management. A strategy in the draft communications plan will be to create new templates and trainings so the different departments that use AC Alert utilize the same communication protocols.
Online Engagement
Often the City expands its online engagement beyond the City’s website. This includes building splash websites, developing online surveys, and producing videos that help meet people where they are.
In-Person Engagement
The City is committed to providing in-person engagement. Multiple departments regularly host City events, meetings and open houses, participate in community events, and seek out opportunities to exhibit information. City staff create signs and banners, posters, flyers, and provide promotional items to increase community engagement. In 2023, City events coordinated by the Communications office included the Bohol Circle Immigrant Park grand opening, Quilters of Gee’s Bend reception, Winter Lights celebration, Strategic Plan pop-up events, and the Estuary Safety & Clean-Up meeting, among other events.
Earned Media
While traditional media is evolving, the City maintains positive relationships with local news outlets and shares regular updates via media advisories and press releases, while being highly responsive to inquiries. The media coverage Alameda receives expands our audience and amplifies the City’s messages.
Swag
Alameda residents and businesses love Alameda, and City staff love to help them show it by making car magnets, stickers, keychains, pins, bike bells, and other fun giveaways. (While you regularly see Alameda magnets around town and driving in the East Bay, City staff have seen them all the way in Santa Cruz, Lake Tahoe, and even Disneyland!)
2023 City Communications At A Glance
|
Platform |
Analytics |
Additional Notes |
|
Website |
519k users 1 min 7 sec average time 54% mobile users 44% desktop users 1% tablet users |
Top pages: home, rec and parks, search results, departments, police, permit center, parade |
|
Facebook |
15k followers 464k reach 56k interactions 22k link clicks |
Top posts: parade program, January storm update, AC Alert promotion, water shuttle announcement, water shuttle photos, Dignity Village opening, restriping at Spirits Alley |
|
Instagram |
8.2k followers 37k reach 5.2k interactions |
Top posts: Atmospheric river, Restaurant Week, Storm update, meet Woodstock (water shuttle), SF Opera coming to Alameda |
|
Nextdoor |
34k subscribers |
City Agency account includes posts from multiple departments |
|
TikTok |
15 posts |
Launched in 2023! Content created by student interns |
|
AC Alert |
17k current subscribers 23 alerts in 2023 |
|
|
Govdelivery |
50k subscribers 4,697 new subscribers in 2023 86+ topics 441 bulletins sent to 1,769,197 subscribers 50.3% open rate 72k link clicks 9 monthly email blasts sent to all subscribers |
Launched monthly crime update in July 2023 |
|
Press Releases |
70 press releases issued |
|
The City’s draft Communications Plan includes the following goals:
• Improve timeliness and delivery of City communications to residents with particular attention to impacted groups and diversity, equality, and inclusion.
• Enhance trust and transparency in local government, City departments, and City projects.
• Increase reach and positive constructive engagement and trust from residents on primary social media channels like Facebook and secondary channels like Instagram and Nextdoor.
• Provide recommendations on internal communications for the organization as a whole and within departments.
The communications plan will identify tactics to meet these goals, and staff will return to the City Council annually with a communications update.
ALTERNATIVES
• Receive the annual communications report and update.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
There is no budget impact in accepting the annual communications report.
MUNICIPAL CODE/POLICY DOCUMENT CROSS REFERENCE
The City’s FY 2023-26 Strategic Plan Priority to Practice Fiscally Responsible, Equitable & Inclusive Governance includes the following communications projects:
• GOV 11: Create Citywide Communications Plan
• GOV 11a: Create annual communications report
• GOV 11b: Invest and expand media programming and access to Alameda updates
• GOV 14: Complete and plan implementation of the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Plan
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
This action does not constitute a “project” as defined in California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines Section 15378 and therefore no further CEQA analysis is required.
CLIMATE IMPACT
There are no identifiable climate impacts or climate action opportunities associated with the subject of this report.
RECOMMENDATION
Accept a City of Alameda communications report.
Respectfully submitted,
Sarah Henry, Communications and Legislative Affairs Officer
Financial Impact section reviewed,
Margaret O’Brien, Finance Director
Exhibit:
1. COVID-19 communications