Texas Living Waters Communications Guide

What is this guide?
This communications guide has been created as a blueprint for the Texas Living Waters Project communications efforts, particularly across digital platforms. This guide can be referred to for questions about topics including, but not limited to, defining our target audiences; how to use social media most effectively for our audiences; and how to write an effective blog post.

Most importantly, the purpose of this strategy guide is to create a path forward for specific, measured communications activities that can be tracked and evaluated so that we can begin to take more calculated, data-supported decisions. Using the measured approaches outlined in this document, we can have greater impact as we dedicate more of our precious resources towards communications efforts; especially those efforts aimed at reaching new audiences and compelling them to become active stewards of their favorite creeks, rivers and bays.

Because so much of our staff members’ work intersects with communications efforts, this document was also created as a means of establishing an organized approach to our communications efforts that can be accessed at any point, so that our work can persist in the face of staff turnover or illness.

How do I use it?
Click on a topic in the lefthand menu; you will be directed to an overview of the topic. This overview contains the information most relevant to the team as a whole.

If you have a specific interest in diving deeper, the subtopics contain more detailed information about specific strategies. These subtopics will appear on the lefthand menu after you have clicked on a topic.

At the bottom of each guide page is a small line of text that indicates the last time a page was updated.

A note on adaptability
This guide was created in a vacuum of any documented communications strategies; because of this, many of the strategies outlined here are a “first blush” at identifying and effectively connecting with our target audiences. It is important that this document continues to be a living, breathing guide to our communications work; as we use data and results to learn more about our audiences and how we can best reach them, we may decide to take different approaches than the ones outlined here. This kind of change is expected and encouraged.

Talking about TLW

Want to grab language about TLW for a presentation or report? View full list of language by clicking on “Organizational Strategy and Language” from the left sidebar.

Slogan and overarching message: Fresh water forever

Mission: The Texas Living Waters Project exists to transform the way we manage water so there will always be enough for our wildlife, our economy and our kids.

Target audiences (7)

We will engage with some audiences more frequently than others, and we will also reach individuals beyond these audiences; however, these are the key audiences to which TLW will tailor its content and communications strategies.

These assumptions about each audience are based on a balance of research and gut expectations; as we begin to engage more with each audience, we may find that some audiences require a different approach than the ones listed here.

Our outreach channels

Where are we focusing our efforts? How are we reaching people?

Slogan: Fresh water forever

Mission: The Texas Living Waters Project exists to transform the way we manage water so there will always be enough for our wildlife, our economy and our kids.

Objectives

1. Encourage a balanced approach to Texas Water Management.

2. Develop new strategies to protect our freshwater resources.

3. Promote water conservation to meet drought and growing demand.

4. Serve as a watchdog by speaking in the interest of Texas and Texans.

5. Unite Texans to stand up for our freshwater resources.

6. Inspire Texas families to get outdoors and cultivate traditions around the beauty of our springs, rivers and bays.

Value propositions

1. We are a partnership of three highly-regarded conservation groups, each with diverse memberships, joined to speak for all Texans.

2. We are experts in the issues affecting freshwater resources in Texas.

3. We have developed strategies to educate and inform Texans about the threats facing our shared water heritage, as well as innovative approaches to solving these problems.

Emphasis-specific value statements

Natural heritage emphasis: Our springs, creeks, rivers and bays and the wildlife that call them home are natural gifts that define this beautiful state. We owe it to our kids to protect them. Forever.

Threats emphasis: Texas bays are among the most productive in the nation, but they are threatened by pollution, droughts and overuse of the fresh water flowing into them. We must act now to save these natural gifts for our wildlife, our kids and all the kids to come.

Economic threats emphasis: The health of Texas bays depends on the rivers flowing into them. The health of sports, commercial fishing, and recreation industries depends on the health of the bays. We can’t have one without the other.

Aesthetics emphasis: We are blessed to live in a state filled with natural treasures. The waters that flow from our springs to our creeks and rivers are at the heart of that treasure. We must forever protect these places. For our wildlife, our kids and all the kids to come.

Elevator pitches

Short version: The Texas Living Waters Project is a collaboration of conservation groups working together to transform the way we manage water so there will always be enough for our wildlife, our economy and our kids.

Longer version: There is no more important resource than the water that fills our springs, creeks, rivers and bays. The Texas Living Waters Project is a collaboration of conservation groups working together to ensure that there will always be enough fresh water. We do this by using science-based advocacy to encourage balanced approaches to Texas water management. It’s important for our wildlife, our economy and our kids.

Goal: The overarching Texas Living Waters communications goal is to engage with target audiences by appealing to our shared values (see “Core values” below). To this end, all communications efforts must understand their intended audiences, where to reach these audiences and how to measure TLW’s success in communicating our shared value.

Core values

Balance. TLW is committed to honoring our natural heritage and supporting the water needs of wildlife, as well as our state’s human needs.

Respect. TLW approaches its work and mission from a place of respect for our state’s natural gifts.

Integrity. TLW’s work is informed by sound scientific research, as are TLW’s outreach efforts; our messaging will not mislead or misinform.

Inclusion. Our water resources sustain all Texans. TLW’s communications efforts will tell the full story of Texas water by accurately representing our state’s many diverse and important players.

Target audiences

TLW has an array of diverse target audiences. Not all of the audiences identified here will be engaged with on a frequent basis; some of these audiences may be low priority for everyday communications, meaning that while overall brand language will not be tailored to their demographics, they may be a high-interest audience for specific campaigns or issues.

TLW will also reach individuals beyond these audiences; however, these are the key audiences to which TLW will tailor its content and communications strategies.

To reveal more about each audience, click on the questions below each graphic. The listed assumptions about each audience are based on a balance of research and gut expectations; as we begin to engage more with each audience, we may find that some audiences require a different approach than the ones listed here.

Engagement frequency: High

Business leaders, thought leaders and philanthropists

Engagement frequency: Medium

Engagement frequency: Low

Engagement frequency: Medium

Young families that prioritize spending time outdoors

Engagement frequency: High

Engagement frequency: Low

Engagement frequency: Medium

Overall goal: Our marketing strategy goal is to reach, engage with and retain the audiences identified within our brand strategy. We will do this by building upon our existing image as a highly credible and scientific organization, expanding to also use our platforms to invite new audiences to identify as water caretakers. These efforts will speak to our overall goal of cultivating a stronger sense of responsibility toward and value of our state’s water resources.

Channels used

Paid media/outreach

Paid social media advertisements, post boosts
This medium will be important for two purposes: 1) growing initial social media reach by targeting desired new audiences; 2) promoting important campaigns or work.

• Target audiences: Outdoor professionals / enthusiasts, utilities and water professionals, young professionals who spend time outdoors, landowners, citizen activists
• Frequency: We should aim to boost a post or run a growth campaign at least once per month, starting with budgets of about $100 and then evaluating as we go on.

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising
This medium helps us to boost our visibility within search engines like Google, and will help us to be discovered more easily by Internet users searching for information related to Texas water issues.

• Target audiences: All
• Frequency: We should consider running a PPC campaign once per quarter, and evaluating success as we go.

Earned media/outreach

Facebook engagement: Shares, Likes, Reactions, Comments and Mentions
Our success with this medium will depend on the time we put into developing and regularly maintaining our presence, despite limited time resources. To do this, we need to develop a series of best practices.

• Target audiences: Outdoor professionals/enthusiasts, utilities and water professionals, young professionals who spend time outdoors, landowners, citizen activists
• Frequency: The frequency with which Facebook users engage with us will be dependent on how frequently we give them the opportunity to do so; we should aim to post to Facebook about once per day.

Twitter engagement: Responses, Retweets, Likes and Mentions
Our success with this medium will depend on the time we put into developing and regularly maintaining our presence, despite limited time resources. To do this, we need to develop a series of best practices.

• Target audiences: Outdoor professionals/enthusiasts, influential Texans, policy makers, utilities and water professionals, young professionals who spend time outdoors, citizen activists
• Frequency: The frequency with which Twitter users engage with us will be dependent on how frequently we give them the opportunity to do so; we should aim to post to Twitter about once per day.

Instagram engagement: Likes, Comments, Tags and Hashtag Use
Our success with this medium will depend on the time we put into developing and regularly maintaining our presence, despite limited time resources. To do this, we need to develop a series of best practices.

• Target audiences: Outdoor professionals/enthusiasts, young professionals who spend time outdoors
• Frequency: The frequency with which Instagram users engage with us will be dependent on how frequently we give them the opportunity to do so; we should aim to post to Instagram at least three times per week.

Press coverage
This medium will be important for increasing the general reach of our messaging, especially when it comes to touting our successes or raising the alarm for potential issues. Our success with this medium will depend on our ability to establish a press database; cultivate relationships with beat reporters and editors; and craft convincing releases, when applicable.

• Target audiences: All, but especially influential Texans and policy makers; these groups are likely to read the local news
• Frequency: This frequency of this medium will vary depending upon our need to widely disseminate information, but we should expect to have some kind of press presence (including op-eds) once per month.

Search listings
This medium relates to our visibility within search engines like Google, and how easily we can be discovered by Internet users searching for information related to Texas water issues. Our success with this medium will depend upon our success with search engine optimization (SEO).

• Target audiences: All
• Frequency: We should thoroughly evaluate the site for SEO effectiveness once per quarter.

Owned media/outreach

Website
Our website should be regarded as the home for all of our brand messaging and goals. Whenever possible, all outreach efforts should be tied back to the website, whether by including links in social media posts or including our website URL on outreach materials.

• Target audiences: All; high-level content should be written for outdoor enthusiasts, young professionals who spend time outdoors and citizen activists, while content deeper within the site architecture should speak to more specialized audiences.
• Frequency: We should check in on general website analytics on a monthly basis, and thoroughly evaluate the site’s effectiveness based on these results once per quarter (this evaluation should be done alongside the quarterly SEO evaluation).

Blog
Our blog is the designated space where we can shared regular news, interesting content and issue updates.

• Target audiences: All. This medium should be understandable by any audience, but may still contain subject matter of greater interest to specialized audiences. This can be accomplished by “breaking down the issues” and addressing them using language that is accessible for any curious reader.
• Frequency: We should aim to post to our blog twice per week, at least initially. This should be evaluated as time goes on; it may be appropriate to set higher frequency goals over time.

Texas Water Stories series
This medium will live on the TLW website, and will include larger pieces of content that utilize photo, video and interactive design.

• Target audiences: All. This medium should be understandable by any audience, but may still contain subject matter of greater interest to specialized audiences. This can be accomplished by “breaking down the issues” and addressing them using language that is accessible for any curious reader.
• Frequency: This will be determined at a later date, though we should plan to publish at least one storytelling piece per quarter.

Social media
Social media should be considered an extension of our website, that also builds upon our brand by sharing relevant content from other sources. These mediums should be used proactively; we should not just be posting our content, we should also be seeking opportunities to take the first step in engaging other groups.

• Target audiences: See platform-specific information under Earned Media/Outreach
• Frequency: See platform-specific information under Earned Media/Outreach

Email
This medium is important because it is one that people choose to opt in for, and allows us to very directly engage with our audiences. Unlike social media outreach that is at the mercy of algorithms, all of our efforts will be delivered directly to each recipient’s inbox; from there, it is up to that individual whether or not they want to engage.

• Target audiences: Influential Texans, policy makers, water utilities, landowners, young professionals, citizen activists
• Frequency: While much of our email outreach will depend upon specific campaigns or issues, we should send regular emails to a general list of TLW.org subscribers (once per week or every other week) and our leadership circle (once per month).

Copy guidelines

Writing a site page? Here’s what you need to know.

Our site copy should be interesting, engaging and should compel our users to learn more. When drafting new content for the site, the following guidelines should be considered:

Use clever headlines. Don’t be afraid to use less formal words or language.

• Ex: Instead of “Get Involved,” try “Become a friend of fresh water”
• Ex: Instead of “Case Study: Water Conservation in San Antonio,” try “How San Antonio reduced its daily water use by 85 gallons per person”

Rethink long intros. Intros should be short (1-3 sentences), but can be followed by a supporting paragraph that adds more context.

• Example of long intro: Sufficient flowing water is critical to keeping Texas rivers and estuaries healthy; sustaining fish, birds and other wildlife; and ensuring the vitality of Texas’ wildlife-dependent industries. In addition to this critical water “user group,” water is used for a variety of different purposes in Texas, including municipal, irrigation, livestock, manufacturing, mining, and steam-electric power generation. Large-scale reductions in water use by these user groups are possible through the application of water conservation measures, which could potentially allow more water to remain flowing in our rivers and into our estuaries.
• Example of revised intro and supporting paragraph:
  • Intro (1st) paragraph: Many different Texas groups rely heavily on water: in addition to the municipal, agricultural, manufacturing, outdoors recreation, mining and power-generating industries that depend upon it, Texas’ rivers, estuaries and wildlife cannot thrive without sufficient flowing water.
  • Supporting (2nd) paragraph: While Texas’ varied water needs are immense, it is possible for all of these industries to access the water they need, while still leaving enough water in our rivers to sustain our state’s current and future needs. This can be achieved through the widespread adoption of water conservation measures.

Write clear, concise, punctual copy. When it comes to writing online, less is more.

Add bullet points. When possible, pair bullet points with different text weights to signal the most important information.

Google Analytics: Reports and team involvement

Want to know how things are going? Here’s how we’re keeping tabs.

We will generate three different types of reports:

• Story-based. After a week on the site, high-level notes about each story’s initial performance will be delivered to the content’s author by the communications manager.
• Weekly. This will be a basic report that highlights pageviews, top pages and campaign performances for the week. It will be automatically generated by Google Analytics and reviewed by the communications manager.
• Monthly. More exhaustive reports will be generated manually on a monthly basis. In addition to sending the report by email, the communications manager will deliver a high-level overview of highlights and points of interest at each monthly partner meeting.

The following development checklist should be used as a framework for any site updates or redesigns. These are the basic questions that should be asked each time the site is updated, and the site should be evaluated against these questions at least once per year.

1.  Is the site mobile-friendly?

• Features that do not work on tablets or mobile browsers, or that make the browsing experience more difficult or awkward on these platforms, should not be implemented.

2.  Does it work on all modern browsers?

• Browser compatibility can be tested in browserstack.com. When evaluating effectiveness across browsers, it is useful to look at the browsers our visitors most commonly use through Google Analytics, and prioritize compatibility for these.

3.  Does it answer all questions the target user has in mind?

• While Texas Living Waters Project has several target audiences, the main pages of our site should be easily navigable to the most generic of our users — ones without a specialized knowledge of water issues or our organization.
• The following information should be quickly evident to the average user: who is Texas Living Waters Project? What are some of the water issues in Texas that I should be concerned about? Why should I care? How can I make a difference?

4.  Does the site reflect TLW’s brand?

• See brand standards kit. — need to develop this (include info about logos, language, etc.)

5.  Is the site up to date?

• Each page of the site should be evaluated annually to make sure there isn’t any outdated or irrelevant information. Outdated info should either be updated or removed.
• Blog posts do not need to be updated or revisited, though if there are new developments on a topic that has been blogged about before, it is a good idea to blog about the news and then update the older blog post to include a link to the most recent one (this link should be at the top of the blog post).
• Research and publications should be evaluated on an annual basis to determine whether any have become outdated or contain information that has since been invalidated or significantly updated.

6.  Are policies easy to find?

• Even though they’re rarely viewed, our privacy policy needs to be easy to locate (ex: site footer). This is especially important to make sure we are legally compliant as we use third-party user tracking tools like Google Analytics.

7.  Does the user flow make sense?

• User flow is the manner in which users intuitively navigate through content and across the site. If the most important information is not easily accessible, or if users are not guided from one site to another through text, images and buttons, the site is not considered user-friendly.
• User flow can also be influenced by site copy. It is important that our top-level content (the index page) is easily understandable to a wide range of audiences, and that it is clear to users where they can find more detailed information.

8.  Does the site use a SSL certificate?

• If at some point we begin selling items or completing financial transactions through our website that require collecting personal payment information from users, we must implement a SSL certificate so that our users’ information is secure.

Overall site goals

Our website is our public-facing “home.” While we reach audiences through many venues, including social media, direct outreach and in-person events, all of these mediums lead back to our website; this is where people will go with questions about our organization, our mission, or how to get involved with us.

Our site should always aim to do the following:

• Quickly illustrate who Texas Living Waters Project is, and what it is that we do
• Build credibility as the “expert” on our key issues
• Connect with our target audiences by providing valuable content that engages and resonates with them
• Grow our community by encouraging site users toward newsletter subscription and social media platforms
• Grow our individual supporter base by encouraging donations

Each site page should align with the site’s overall goals. The homepage in particular should speak to each of these goals by clearly directing users to relevant pages and calls to action.

Landing page goals

Landing pages (or “standalone web pages distinct from your main website that have been designed for a single focused objective”) may be created for specific campaigns or calls to action; for example, a campaign focused on getting petition sign-ups might include social media posts that all link to a landing page with more information about the petition, and how users can sign.

When creating a landing page for a specific issue, campaign or call to action, the following steps should be taken:

1.  Define goal. What action do you want people to take after seeing this page?

• Examples: signing a petition, sharing a story, subscribing to a newsletter.

2.  Specify info you need from user to complete goal. If you are using the landing page to drive newsletter subscriptions, what information do you need? Name and email?

3.  Outline what user needs to do. Does the user need to fill out a form? Send an email? Make a phone call?

4.  Determine user’s shared value. Understanding what values this user shares with TLW will help shape the landing page copy in a way that resonates with the intended user. First, determine the target audience for the specific landing page, and then view Section 1 of this document to reference that audience’s shared value.

5.  Track results. It is critical to track results so that we can learn from successes and failures. Use Google Analytics to track several things: who is viewing this page (demographic data); does this group align with our target audience for the page? How many people view the page, compared to how many people complete the desired action? What is the bounce rate (how long are they viewing the page before they navigate away? Is the copy grabbing them and making them pay attention)?

Language visualization funnel

Copy guidelines

Our site copy should be interesting, engaging and should compel our users to learn more. When drafting new content for the site, the following guidelines should be considered:

1.  Use clever headlines. Avoid boring or generic headlines; the first thing that a site visitor sees on a webpage should make them want to read more. Don’t be afraid to use less formal words or language.

• Ex: Instead of “Get Involved,” try “Become a friend of fresh water”
• Ex: Instead of “Case Study: Water Conservation in San Antonio,” try “How San Antonio reduced its daily water use by 85 gallons per person”

2.  Rethink long intros. Think like a journalist – write “leads,” not “introductory paragraphs.” Write a page/post intro that is short, to the point, and makes our visitors want to read more. These intros should be 1-3 sentences short, but can be followed by a supporting paragraph that adds more context. This format is more effective for engaging the visitor and guiding them through the content.

• Example of long intro: Sufficient flowing water is critical to keeping Texas rivers and estuaries healthy; sustaining fish, birds and other wildlife; and ensuring the vitality of Texas’ wildlife-dependent industries. In addition to this critical water “user group,” water is used for a variety of different purposes in Texas, including municipal, irrigation, livestock, manufacturing, mining, and steam-electric power generation. Large-scale reductions in water use by these user groups are possible through the application of water conservation measures, which could potentially allow more water to remain flowing in our rivers and into our estuaries.
• Example of revised intro and supporting paragraph:
  • Intro (1st) paragraph: Many different Texas groups rely heavily on water: in addition to the municipal, agricultural, manufacturing, outdoors recreation, mining and power-generating industries that depend upon it, Texas’ rivers, estuaries and wildlife cannot thrive without sufficient flowing water.
  • Supporting (2nd) paragraph: While Texas’ varied water needs are immense, it is possible for all of these industries to access the water they need, while still leaving enough water in our rivers to sustain our state’s current and future needs. This can be achieved through the widespread adoption of water conservation measures.

3.  Write clear, concise, punctual copy. When it comes to writing for online, less really is more. The biggest priority is to deliver the important information as concisely and clearly as possible, so that readers don’t feel like they have to wade through lots of text to get to the information they want.

• HINT: If you’re struggling to find the right length for something, try writing everything down; then, write a much shorter version. Compare the two versions and then add only necessary information back into the shorter version.

4.  Add bullet points. Bullet points help break up a page and give readers’ brains little “breaks” in-between longer paragraphs of copy. This variety allows us to keep readers engaged for longer. When possible, pair bullet points with different text weights to signal the most important information.

With each site page, the following questions should also be considered before writing the copy:

• Who will read this copy? Why are they reading it?
• What should they feel when they read this page?
• What am I trying to accomplish with this copy?
• What do I need them to understand?

Goals

By regularly monitoring and analyzing our website analytics, we will use data to inform strategic decisions that improve the user experience, as well as identify both new opportunities to pursue and failing ideas to discontinue.

Our site goals (defined in Section 3.02) that we will be able to track using Google Analytics are the following:

Build credibility as the “expert” on our key issues. We will measure our success in achieving this goal by monitoring:

• Quantity and quality of referrals, or the sites that are linking to our site pages. If we are frequently included as a reference or citation on other sites and materials, we can reasonably assume we are regarded as a credible source.

Grow our community by encouraging users to join us on our newsletter subscription and social media platforms. We will measure our success in achieving this goal by monitoring:

• Newsletter conversions. By understanding the percentage of our site users that join our newsletter list and the steps they take to do so, we can make informed decisions to increase this conversion rate.

Grow our individual supporter base by encouraging donations. We will measure our success in achieving this goal by monitoring:

• Donor conversions. By understanding the percentage of our site users that submit online donations and the steps they take to do so, we can make informed decisions to increase this conversion rate.

Connect with our target audiences by providing valuable content that engages and resonates with them. We will measure our success in achieving this goal by monitoring:

• Returning visitors. If we are able to continue to increase our number of returning visitors, we can reasonably assume we have been successful in creating content that resonates with visitors and compels them to return.
• Demographics data. By monitoring demographics data including user age and location, we can determine whether we are reaching our target audiences as well as identify opportunities to target new audiences.
• Time on site. This metric generally indicates whether our content is interesting enough to engage our readers for the full duration of the content length. Average times spent on key pages should be compared with our estimates of how long it would take a reasonable person to consume the information in its entirety.

Reports and team involvement

We will generate three different types of reports:

• Story-based. After a week on the site, high-level notes about each story’s initial performance will be delivered to the content’s author by the communications manager. This applies to blog posts and research/publications.
• Weekly. This will be a basic report that highlights pageviews, top pages and campaign performances for the week. It will be automatically generated by Google Analytics and reviewed by the communications manager.
• Monthly. More exhaustive reports will be generated manually on a monthly basis. These reports will cover each of the metrics defined below (see “Key Metrics” subsection), and will be emailed to the team so that those will an interest may review them. In addition to sending the nuanced report by email, the communications manager will deliver a high-level overview of highlights and points of interest at each monthly partner meeting.

Our detailed monthly reports will provide us with information that may inform decisions about our content and its effectiveness; in some cases, it may lead us to pivot our approach to something, or to A/B test (see “A/B Testing” subsection below) the effectiveness of different factors in reaching our goals.

Key metrics

Number of visitors

• What does this tell us? Monitoring this allows us to gauge the success of our marketing/promotional strategies as a whole; when all those efforts come together, how many people are we bringing to our site?

• What changes might we make based on this data? If we are unsuccessful in gradually increasing the number of visitors to our site, we should reevaluate our site promotion strategies to see whether there are any additional steps we should be taking to direct people to our site.

Location of visitors

• What does this tell us? Geographic breakdowns of our site visitors can tell us the country, state and even city from which people are browsing our site. Monitoring this allows us to identify new outreach opportunities based on spikes in interest from a specific area.

• What changes might we make based on this data? If we are drawing large audiences from outside of Texas, we may want to consider building out more content that applies to water topics in general, rather than specific to Texas. If we are drawing large audiences from a specific area in Texas, we may want to evaluate our current outreach to this area and determine whether there are any opportunities to take advantage of this increased interest.

Top pages

• What does this tell us? Monitoring our top pages tells us which site pages are high-performing and popular with visitors, as well as which pages not high-performing.

• What changes might we make based on this data? By identifying our top-viewed pages, we can understand what content is most valuable to our site visitors and find ways to promote this content even more. If any pages that we consider high-value are not performing well, we may need to make these pages more visible on the site or do more to promote them.

Visit duration

• What does this tell us? This metric tells us how long a person stays on a page; based on this information, we can infer whether they are actually engaged in the content.

• What changes might we make based on this data? If users are spending very little time on pages with a lot of information, we can reasonably assume this information is not engaging and may need to reshape its copy or design.

Bounce rate / number of pages per visitor

• What does this tell us? This metric measures how many people view only one site page before leaving. A high bounce rate tells us that people aren’t being effectively guided through the site by our copy and design; ideally, people will view multiple pages and engage with more content before exiting the site.

• What changes might we make based on this data? Pages with high bounce rates may need stronger calls to action, buttons, copy or design to guide them through to another site page.

Abandonment page

• What does this tell us? This metric tells us which pages people are leaving the site after viewing. If a page has a high abandonment/exit rate, that may mean it does not have strong enough ties to the rest of the site or it is not successfully guiding them forward to another page.

• What changes might we make based on this data? Similar to pages with a high bounce rate, pages with high exit rates may need stronger calls to action, buttons, copy or design to guide them through to another site page.

Referrals

• What does this tell us? This metric tells us which sites that are linking back to us.

• What changes might we make based on this data? By identifying sites that direct significant amounts of traffic to us, we can use these as opportunities to potentially create partnerships with other websites that share our values.

Landing pages

• What does this tell us? By monitoring our landing page metrics, we are able to identify which pages users are entering the site through.

• What changes might we make based on this data? We can use this data to ensure our top landing pages have strong design and copy. This is important because these are the first pages people are seeing and forming impressions around.

Search queries

• What does this tell us? By monitoring the most common queries entered on our site’s search bar, we can better understand the kinds of information people want to be find to find on our site.

• What changes might we make based on this data? This information is valuable for understanding our users and identifying opportunities for new content areas, pages or posts.

Conversion goals

Newsletter conversions

• What does this tell us? Monitoring the number of site visitors we receive vs. the number of newsletter sign-ups we receive through the site allows us to evaluate the effectiveness of our efforts in convincing site visitors to also subscribe to our newsletter.

• What changes might we make based on this data? If our newsletter sign-up rate does not meet our goals, we should re-evaluate the ways in which we promote our newsletter on our site.

Donations (after installing donation button)

• What does this tell us? Monitoring the number of site visitors we receive vs. the number of donations we receive through the site allows us to evaluate the effectiveness of our efforts in communicating our value to site visitors and encouraging them to financially support us.

• What changes might we make based on this data? If the number of online donations we receive does not meet our goals, we should re-evaluate the ways in which we communicate our values, as well as the ways in which we encourage donations.

A/B testing

A/B testing is the process of testing different versions of a site, or site elements, to see which variations performs best. While A/B testing can be used to test how numerous factors (including copy, design and headlines) impact user interactions with the website, we will mainly use it to test factors that impact our conversion goals (newsletter conversions, donations).

Factors that may be A/B tested to increase newsletter sign-ups could include:

• Sign-up prompt placement
• Sign-up prompt copy
• Button style
• Form style

Factors that may be A/B tested to increase donations could include:

• Donation form placement
• Copy
• Donation amounts available
• Form style

KPIs, or key performance indicators, are the selected metrics that we will use to keep our website strategy on track so that we have a good idea of whether we are achieving our desired results.

While the “Key Metrics” section above contains KPIs that will be monitored at all times, there may be times at which some KPIs are identified as an important focus in our communications and website strategy. KPIs should also be determined for the launch of initiatives like big outreach campaigns, donation campaigns or the promotion of projects like our TLW video.

Example KPIs: Website launch (2017)

As an example of how specific KPIs may be singled out to measure the success or certain initiatives, this is a list of the KPIs that will be monitored following for the first five months following the launch of the redesigned TLW website:

Goal: Steady website growth; expanding reach of site to recruit new audiences

• KPI goal: increase traffic by 20% month over month

Goal: Improve quality of web experience

• KPI goal: decrease homepage bounce rate by 10%
• KPI goal: increase avg. time on site by 50%

Goal: improve quality of content to better engage site visitors

• KPI goal: achieve monthly avg. of 5 engagements/blog post
  • “Engagements” include social media shares and post comments

SEO, or search engine optimization, is the process of ensuring that a site is search engine-friendly, so that it shows up as a top results when people search for our organization or for search terms relevant to us. The SEO process is ongoing; while there are some effective best practices that should be implemented to increase our likelihood of being ranked highly in search engines like Google, there is an element of trial and error involved.

SEO checklist

The following are SEO best practices that should be applied to the site at all times:

1.  Every site page should be accessible to search engine crawlers (“bots” that navigate the entire web to find and index pages); to ensure these crawlers can access every site page, there should be at least one regular, text-based hyperlink to every site page. If a page is not linked to from any other place on the site, crawlers are unlikely to locate it.

2.  Avoid using Flash software

3.  Use of images in place of text should be very minimal; images should be used throughout the site, but images that include text should be avoided if possible.

4.  Build a flat site hierarchy, not deep site hierarchy; don’t bury pages so that visitors must click through many pages simply to access a specific page.

5.  Page titles (the titles that appear across the top of your browser) should be clear and unique, with the site title at end.

6.  Give each page unique meta descriptions; on WordPress, this can be accomplished using the Yoast SEO plugin.

7.  Keep heading heading tags in hierarchy; for example, do not use the <h3> HTML tag above the <h1> tag on a page

8.  Use <h1> only once on page

9.  Give every image a relevant name and alt tag description

10.  Create sitemap in HTML and XML, and robots.txt file; these files tell site crawlers how to navigate our site. This can be accomplished in WordPress using the Yoast SEO plugin.

Link-building strategy

To figure out which sites to list first on a page of search results, Google places significant emphasis on sites that have been linked to a lot. If a lot of people are linking to a specific site, Google infers the site is credible and has valuable content. Both the quantity and quality of links matter for site rankings.

Internal links

Internal links are important for helping Google crawlers to navigate our site. We should pay attention to building out two different types of internal links:

1. Navigation links – links in the menus, footers and other site frameworks
2. Contextual links – hyperlinks included throughout the site content, linking to other relevant site pages. If something is mentioned on one page that relates to another page we have on our site, we need to be sure to include a contextual link.

External links

External links are created when other websites link to a page on our website. The more different sites that link to our content, the more valuable Google considers our site.

There are multiple strategies for building out the number of external links that point toward our site. The most relevant to us include the following (click the below to expand):

Keyword research

To ensure that our content is ranked highly within search engines like Google, we need to make sure that our site contains the terms for which people are searching. Keyword research is the process of attempting to think like our target audiences to understand what they might be searching for online, and then making sure that our content includes these key words / phrases.

The keyword optimization process includes the following:

1) Consider target audience: What are they thinking?

2) Research best keywords using Google Keyword Planner and Google Trends

3) After identifying high-value keywords, build out the information that brings most value to our audiences. These keywords are the ones with a large number of monthly searches, but low competition.

4) Use keywords in heading tags. Make sure each page has a <h1> title section that includes the target keyword for the page – this is the tag that Google looks for to signify the header, or title, of the page.

Based on preliminary research into water-related keywords (filtered by searches conducted within Texas), these are keywords we should consider.

AdWords

As identified in the marketing strategy section of this document, advertising through Google AdsWords (or pay-per-click/PPC advertising) is a venue that we should explore. Using the keyword research tactics described above, we should select keywords with the most promise and try out a different campaign on a quarterly basis.

Each AdWords campaign should be designed around a very specific call to action or purpose, so that we can ensure we are both able to measure our success, and able to maximize our spending. It may be appropriate to create a new landing page specific to each AdWords campaign.

Examples of possible AdWords campaigns include a campaign focused on driving newsletter subscriptions, a campaign focused on promoting our TLW video, or a campaign focused on increasing attendance for a big event.

Social media optimization

Optimizing a site for social media sharing means making sure that each page contains the necessary elements to be shared effectively on social media – mainly an image, a title and a brief description.

We are utilizing the Yoast SEO WordPress plugin to help with this process; it allows us to set the metadata when each specific post or page is shared on social media. Currently, this plugin allows us to edit the metadata specifically for Facebook and Twitter; Pinterest simply pulls from the same info that we designate for Facebook.

When setting titles and descriptions for these channels, it is a good idea to keep the copy short and sweet so that it isn’t cut off in the social media posts.

Just as important as setting the title and description metadata is setting the images. The following are the ideal dimensions for each platform (as of May 2017):

• Facebook: 1200x628px
• Twitter: 1024x512px
• Pinterest: 735x1102px

While the ideal dimensions for Facebook and Twitter are different, the same image can usually be used for both. Pinterest can also technically use these same dimensions, and will simply pull from the image specified for Facebook; however, this is not necessarily the presentation that is most successful for Pinterest.

Blog: Guiding principles

Are you writing a blog post? Here’s what you need to know.

Don’t forget the overarching message: Fresh water for every living thing

Blog: Structure guidelines

1.  Titles should be engaging and should not contain any language that the general public wouldn’t be able to understand.

2.  Headers and subheaders should be used to break up posts into relevant sections, especially when dealing with large blocks of text.

3.  Bullet points and bolding should be used as another tool for breaking up long sections of text, or for drawing attention to important information.

4.  Images should be used throughout posts.

5.  Calls to Action (CTAs) should be included in posts as often as possible. For posts that lack a clear CTA, it may be appropriate to include a question for the reader and then invite them to include their feedback in the comments or through social media.

Our blog will only host original content. The exceptions to this include:

• Guest blogs
• Op-eds that we have written. To promote an op-ed, we may decide to tease it out on our blog and then link to the full story.
• Commentary. We may decide to pull content from an external source if we have commentary or context to add. This means that although we are pulling portions of content from an external piece and linking to their full story, we are still providing our own original content and perspective as well.

Posting process

Blog contributors

The majority of our posts will be written by TLW team members. If each team member were to contribute one post every other month, we would be able to count on a baseline of one post each week. Some team members, particularly the communications manager, will post more frequently than this.

Post review process

When a post includes science- or policy-centric information, the appropriate expert from our team should review the content. This edit should focus purely on the accuracy of the piece.

The communications manager is the final editor for each post. Their edits may include the following:

• Grammar
• AP Style consistency
• Formatting (breaking up large blocks of text with paragraph breaks, bullet points, subheds, etc.)
• Revising headlines, ledes and kickers to ensure they have the desired impact
• Changing passive voice to active
• Reworking complex or convoluted sentences; making sure sentences are simple, direct
• Recommending a stronger angle or structure
• Adding visuals

The editing process should preserve the author’s tone and style, and should not include subjective revisions related to personal preference.

For the purposes of this document, we are focusing on two specific areas of content: our Blog and Texas Water Stories.

Our blog section focuses on updates about TLW and Texas water news, issue breakdowns and more light-hearted posts, such as Water Hero features and “3 easy ways you can conserve water even if you don’t have a lawn.” While all of our blogs should be written and presented in a way that makes them understandable to a wide audience, this space does allow us to delve into more nuanced content that may be of interest to specific audiences.

Our Texas Water Stories section will be less regularly populated, and focuses on “bigger stories” and narratives. All of the pieces published to this section should be relevant to the general public, and “outdoor-centric” audiences in particular. These pieces should be written in a more journalistic style, and should contain strong visual elements.

Goals

The leading goal of our content development is to cultivate broader name recognition, and to turn this awareness into retention. Creating high quality content is critical to this goal – by focusing on quality above quantity, we make it more likely that the content will be valuable to our readers. This in turn increases the likelihood that our audiences will both share our work and return to our platforms at a later date in search of more content.

Guiding principles

While blog authors are encouraged to use their natural tone and to be authentic, the following terms should guide the creation of our blog pieces.

The above principles should inform the ways in which we approach our blog writing, and the ways in which we decide to tell the stories of our issues. However, the most important thing to remember is that at the heart of all of our content, we should be communicating our most central message: Fresh water for every living thing.

Post guidelines

Audience guidelines

As stated above, all of our blogs should be easily understood by a wide general audience. Our blog space does allow us to delve into content that may be of greater interest to specific audiences, but we should still write these blogs in a way that average readers could understand.

Grammar/style guidelines

While our blog voice should be conversational and genuine in nature, our blogs should still be held to the following standards:

• Posts should comply with AP Style
• Titles should be lowercase
  • Ex: Do this: Your guide to the 85th Texas Legislature’s water bills / Not this: Your Guide to the 85th Texas Legislature’s Water Bills
• Posts should use active voice, not passive voice
• Run-on sentences should be deconstructed into shorter sentences

Structure guidelines

• Titles should be engaging and should not contain any language that the general public wouldn’t be able to understand. However, clickbait-style headlines should not be used. Building trust with our audiences is more important than getting page views.
• Headers and subheaders should be used to break up posts into relevant sections, especially when dealing with large blocks of text.
• Bullet points and bolding should be used as another tool for breaking up long sections of text, or for drawing attention to important information.
• Images should be used throughout posts.
• As frequently as possible, posts should conclude with a call to action (CTA). For posts that lack a clear CTA, it may be appropriate to include a question for the reader and then invite them to include their feedback in the comments or through social media.

Post types and content mix

While it is important that we maintain a consistent presence of fresh content on our blog, it is even more important that we post high quality content. Our blog should be home to a mix of serious, issue-driven analyses and breakdowns, as well as more lighthearted pieces that aim to engage the everyday Texan in water conservation and in enjoying Texas rivers.

The post “topics” our blog will focus on include, but are not necessarily limited to, the following:

Profiles

• Ex: Water Heroes/My Living Waters
• These posts are meant to: 1) recognize Texans who do great work in protecting Texas water; 2) inspire Texans to protect water in their own homes in communities, by showing them their peers in action.

Explainer pieces

• Ex: Are off-channel reservoirs the environmentally-friendly water storage solution we’ve been searching for?
• These posts take an issue and break it down in a way that’s easy for the average reader to understand.

TLW news

• Ex: Posts about awards; webinars/conferences; updates about TLW activities
• These posts keep our readers in the loop about what we’re doing out in the real world, and show potential donors that we are hard at work fighting the good fight. These will generally be brief posts.

Explore Texas pieces

• Ex: Stories about the best water holes for summer days in Central Texas, or pieces that feature photos from a trip along one of Texas’ rivers
• These posts are meant to inspire Texans to get outdoors and connect with our water features. The more people we can get outdoors and on the water, the more people there are who connect with us and our mission.

“Here’s how” / actionable pieces

• Ex: Posts about how to plan out a rain garden in five easy steps, or how to conserve water in your home.
• These posts empower readers to protect water in their own homes and communities. They are also valuable fodder for sites like Pinterest.

Audience-specific posts

• Ex: Your guide to the 85th Texas Legislature’s water bills
• This includes posts aimed to engage very specific audiences (ex: policy breakdowns for political junkies). It may be written in a style consistent with one of the above.

Our blog will only host original content. The exceptions to this include:

• Guest blogs
• Op-eds that we have written. To promote an op-ed, we may decide to tease it out on our blog and then link to the full story.
• Commentary. We may decide to pull content from an external source if we have commentary or context to add. This means that although we are pulling portions of content from an external piece and linking to their full story, we are still providing our own original content and perspective as well.

Posting process

Blog contributors

The majority of our posts will be written by TLW team members. If each team member were to contribute one post every other month, we would be able to count on a baseline of one post each week. Some team members, particularly the communications manager, will post more frequently than this.

We should also pursue guest contributors on a regular basis. Inviting guests to blog for us helps us to build stronger partnerships, credibility and SEO. We should feature a minimum of one guest blog each quarter.

• Example: Guest bloggers could include Texas Parks and Wildlife staff, water utility leaders, reputable gardeners and thought leaders in the fields of water management or low-impact development.

Post review process

When a post includes science- or policy-centric information, the appropriate expert from our team should review the content. This edit should focus purely on the accuracy of the piece.

The communications manager is the final editor for each post. Their edits may include the following:

• Grammar
• AP Style consistency
• Formatting (breaking up large blocks of text with paragraph breaks, bullet points, subheds, etc.)
• Revising headlines, ledes and kickers to ensure they have the desired impact
• Changing passive voice to active
• Reworking complex or convoluted sentences; making sure sentences are simple, direct
• Recommending a stronger angle or structure
• Adding visuals

The editing process should preserve the author’s tone and style, and should not include subjective revisions related to personal preference.

Audit process

Content audits more or less involve taking inventory of the content we produce and evaluating it against our guiding principles. These audits are helpful in making sure our blog is on track with our strategy, and making sure we can have an understanding of what works and what doesn’t.

Audit timeline

On a monthly basis (at the same time as monthly analytics reports are pulled together), that month’s blog content should be audited. This includes filling in relevant information about the content posted that month. This monthly audit should not be time consuming, but should be helpful in determining what our focuses should be in the coming months.

Example audit

Click here to view an audit of site content posted from June 2013-2017.

The guidelines for this content section are more open-ended; this space is for big ideas, big narratives and thoughtful execution. While the blog section can be updated fairly casually, stories pushed to this section will generally require much more time and planning. As such, this section will only be updated about once per quarter.

The following guidelines should be considered when planning for this section:

• Always include at least one human voice. This section exists for storytelling, and that can’t happen without people telling their stories.
• Strong visuals are necessary for this section. If possible, video should be incorporated; clips don’t need to be long.
• Page layout and design should be taken into consideration for each story in this section. The design is just as much a part of the experience as the story.

Social media is a key medium for our communications strategy. Its value is in its ability to reach large audiences with a relatively small investment; its ability to build online communities and to maintain an ongoing, undemanding relationship with followers; and its ability to reach highly segmented audiences when outreach to specific target regions or demographics is needed.

Social media advisory team

Our internal social media team will collaboratively manage our social media presence across platforms. While platform-specific responsibilities will be divvied across the team, with the communications manager contributing to each platform as needed, the team will work together to ensure a cohesive message is distributed across channels.

The team will meet monthly to review the past month’s worth of social media posts; these meetings will focus on understanding what was successful and what wasn’t, and what lessons can be applied toward future postings. The team will also brainstorm creative ways to promote upcoming campaigns or initiatives through social media.

Tone

In three words, our goal “tone” is: Friendly, Conversational and Genuine.

As we try to connect with less wonky, policy-informed audiences, it is important that our cross-platform tone is casual and conversational so that any reader can connect with our content. This does not mean that we cannot discuss complex issues; it does mean that we should explain these issues in a way similar to how we would if we were discussing these things with a friend.

Social media is a key medium for our communications strategy. Its value is in its ability to reach large audiences with a relatively small investment; its ability to build online communities and to maintain an ongoing, undemanding relationship with followers; and its ability to reach highly segmented audiences when outreach to specific target regions or demographics is needed.

Social media should be considered an extension of our website that also builds upon our brand by sharing relevant content from other sources. These mediums should be used proactively; we should not just be posting our content, we should also be seeking opportunities to take the first step in engaging other groups.

While we should have consistent tone across these platforms, our messaging should be tailored for each medium; we should not push out the same exact posts across multiple platforms.

Platform management overview

In order to make the best of our social media platforms in spite of limited time and resource bandwidth, we will organize an internal social media team that will collaboratively manage our social media presence across platforms. While platform-specific responsibilities will be divvied across the team, with the communications manager contributing to each platform as needed, the team will work together to ensure a cohesive message is distributed across channels.

The team will meet monthly to review the past month’s worth of social media posts; these meetings will focus on understanding what was successful and what wasn’t, and what lessons can be applied toward future postings. The team will also brainstorm creative ways to promote upcoming campaigns or initiatives through social media.

Each social media post will be logged and tracked through a spreadsheet prepared and managed by the communications manager. This is so that our social media team is equipped to make data-informed decisions about what content to promote, and so that there is a measured and strategic approach to the time invested in social media. This tracking sheet will be analyzed monthly and a digest will be prepared for each monthly social media team meeting.

Tone

Although we will be pushing our content out to a wide array of diverse audiences through four different social platforms, it is important that we deliver our messages with a consistent tone across platforms. This is a key part of developing our external-facing brand and building name recognition; we do not want our different presences to appear disconnected.

In three words, our goal “tone” is: Friendly, Conversational and Genuine.

Facebook is currently the largest social media network, and is used fairly evenly across the board of age, location and income demographics. Because of its ubiquitous reach, it is the first and foremost focus of our social media strategy.

Platform demographics and audiences

Facebook user demographics

It’s almost a given that if somebody uses the internet, they have a Facebook account – in fact, 79% of all online adults use Facebook. Adults ages 18-29 are the top Facebook users (88% of online adults in this age range use FB), but even the lowest-use demographic, which is adults ages 65+, has a majority of its cohorts on the platform (62%).

The highest-use category by income level is adults earning less than $30,000 each year (84%), though usage rates are fairly evenly distributed across income brackets; the lowest-use income group is those earning $50K-$74,999 (75%). Likewise, there is fairly even distribution across location; 81% of both urban and rural online adults use Facebook, as do 77% of online suburban-area adults.

TLW’s Facebook followers (June 2017)

Our Facebook followers skew female, with 58% women and 41% men. Our greatest age cohort of followers is users aged 25-34 (27%), with a slow decline in followers for each age bracket thereafter. Our lowest age bracket of adult followers is those aged 18-24 (5%).

95% of our followers use English-language settings on their Facebooks; 3% have their language preferences set to Spanish.

Metrics goals and measurements

We will track the following metrics to evaluate the effectiveness of our posts, and to learn which posts our audiences respond to best. These metrics will be recorded for each post.

Followers

• At the launch of our social media strategy, our short term goal is to substantially grow our follower base.

Engagements

• After growing our follower base, the most important thing we can focus on is creating a community where our followers frequently interact with us and our posts. If we increase our engagement levels, Facebook takes that as a cue that we are posting quality content, and its algorithm will increase our reach.
• Refer to our Facebook Best Practices for guidance on increasing engagement.

Reach

• “Reach” is a measurement of how many Facebook users actually see our post; this is an important metric because our post reach is dependent upon the Facebook algorithm’s evaluation of how relevant and useful our content is to its users. Reach can be increased on a post-by-post basis through post boosts, but the better strategy for long-term growth is to focus on driving engagement.

Click-throughs

• Measuring the number of people who see a post vs. the number of people who click on a link provided in the post is important so that we can learn which approaches are most successful in driving traffic from Facebook posts to our website.

A/B testing

Running A/B tests, or “split tests,” is a good way for us to learn more about which posts perform best with our audiences. These tests involve creating two versions of a post and serving the two versions to different users, so that we can monitor reach and engagement to determine which approach performs better. A/B tests help us to build a stronger social media strategy that is specific to our own audiences.

Examples of attributes that we might split test include:

• Post length (short vs. long)
• Videos uploaded through Facebook vs. YouTube
• Location targeting (Texas vs. region-specific)
• Gif vs. still photo
• Emojis vs. no emojis
• Tone (humorous vs. academic)
• Color schemes (one graphic vs. another)

There are two methods for conducting A/B tests on Facebook:

1. Paid. This method runs the tests as Facebook advertisements, and is more hands-off; Facebook runs the test and delivers its results in easy-to-understand data sets. Click for more information.
2. Organic. This method involves more manual effort; the page manager must prepare two post versions, then stagger the posting of the two and then measure the results. Click for more information.

Paid posts

There are two approaches to promoting content through Facebook: posts boosts and advertisements.

Post boosts

This is the simplest method for promoting content on Facebook; it involves simply writing and publishing a post, and then boosting it for any amount you select.

• Why boost posts? Because Facebook pages are set up so that all of the people who follow a page don’t necessarily see every post, boosting posts is a good way to make sure that more people see content that we consider high quality and that we want to get in front of a larger audience.
• What returns can you expect? While boosted posts will drive a greater click-through rate than non-boosted posts, this promotion method is most effective for driving post engagement.

Advertisements

Running a Facebook advertisement allows you to have more control over the post; it involves setting a goal (engagement, event responses, website conversions, click-throughs, video views, etc.) and then selecting where the ad will run on Facebook.

• Why run ads? This option is better when there’s a specific goal we want to accomplish. For example, if we want to get more people to sign up for our newsletter, we could run an ad for that; or if we had a Call to Action that we wanted people to complete, we could run an ad for that.

• What returns can you expect? While the effectiveness of a Facebook ad largely depends on how good of an ad we prepare and how well we target it, this approach is much better for driving specific actions, rather than just general reach and engagement.

Best practices

The following set of best practices should be taken into consideration for all Facebook posts. Because Facebook values quality over quantity, it’s important that we tailor our Facebook posts to the platform and that we deliver content in a way to which Facebook users respond.

1.  Use of imagery. Facebook posts with images see an average of 39% more engagement and interaction than link- or text-based posts; because of this, we should aim to have almost all of our posts (if not all posts) include a visual element. Images could include photographs, gifs, or graphics made through programs like Canva.

2.  Use of videos. Facebook’s algorithm currently favors video posts above other posts. While it isn’t reasonable to include video with the majority of our posts, we should include it when possible. Not every video needs to have production value or even be filmed by a camera; we can also create text-based videos like these ones made using Canva. Other video considerations include:

• When we post video to Facebook, we should upload the movie file through Facebook’s uploader, rather than linking to a YouTube page or any other separate URL. Doing so plays into Facebook’s algorithm preferences and gives us a better chance of reaching more Facebook users.

• When we include voice or spoken segments of our videos, we should include subtitles. While this takes a bit longer to implement, it is important both to make our content accessible to deaf audiences and to make individuals more likely to watch our videos, even if they are in a location where they cannot use sound.

3.  Hashtags and tagging. While hashtags can be a valuable tool in specific situations, they are not native to Facebook and are not typically used by Facebook members. Hashtags should only be used when they relate to a specific campaign (ex: #WaterWiseChallenge) – in this circumstance, hashtags can help us to have cohesiveness across platforms for our campaign messaging.

Tagging, on the other hand, is a valuable practice if we want to get another Facebook account’s attention with our post. We may want to tag another account if we are reposting an article they wrote, or if they are mentioned in the post; this increases the likelihood that they will see and engage with our post.

4.  Asking questions and responding to comments. In the spirit of the ideal social media “tone” identified above, an important part of being conversational is engaging followers by asking questions. Just as important is acknowledging our followers when they respond to a question or post; if we want our followers to engage with us, we need to respond to them when they do so.

5.  Determining post length. While studies generally say that shorter Facebook posts perform better, the ideal post length will actually vary based on the goal of the post and based on our own audience’s preferences.

• When a post’s goal is to drive clicks, the preferred strategy is to keep the post brief and intriguing. If too much information is provided in the post, there is less incentive for the reader to go through the effort of clicking on to read the full story. This goal is most relevant to posts on our own blog that we would like to drive traffic toward.
• When a post’s goal is to inform the public and getting the message out in front of people is more important than getting people to our site (or whatever site the content is posted from), a longer, informative post may be appropriate. This goal is most relevant for when we are promoting content from external sources, and want to use the opportunity to build on our own credibility and engagement with followers.
• These guidelines are not the golden rules for every situation. Ultimately, determining the ideal post length for our audiences is something that we can test and determine over time.

6.  Posting frequency. Ideally, we will post to Facebook once a day. While this should be our goal, quality continues to be more important than quantity; over-posting content that our audiences do not engage with hurts our Facebook reach much more than posting every other day.

7.  Post timing. With the exception of breaking news or time-sensitive matters, posts should not randomly be posted throughout the day. Posts should be scheduled out for the times our audiences are most likely to be online and to engage with them. These times can be determined through Facebook Insights, as well as through our own tracking measures.

Examples of best practices in action

Galveston Bay Foundation

• Uses simple, attractive graphics (most likely produced using Canva) to supplement posts without requiring a lot of additional effort; these graphics use similar templates, help with building a “brand look.”
• Great balance of posts that link out vs. engagement-building posts (ex: 1, 2, 3)
• Consistently respond to comments, messages

Colorado River Alliance

• Strong post mix: there are lots of graphic posts that focus on community-building, rather than traffic-driving (example); also good ratio of posts that link to external (non-CRA) content, which helps build credibility (example).
• Utilize Facebook Live, and not just on their own profile; also partner with other orgs to do Facebook Live on their pages (example).
• Good use of hashtags; use #WaterWednesday hashtags to create consistent branding for these weekly posts.
• Include behind-the-scenes posts and pictures about the staff and CRA programs.

Texas Parks and Wildlife

• Use lots of images and videos of wildlife; these posts drive engagement and balance out posts that promote content (ex: 1, 2, 3).
• Videos always use subtitles, which appeals to those who want to watch the videos but aren’t able to use sound (example).

Post mix / types

It is important to populate our Facebook page with a variety of different post types, not just links to our own content. Posts without any links at all are important for building a platform-specific community, and can take many different forms.

Our Facebook page should include, but is not limited to, the following types of posts:

1.  Images/videos of Texas wildlife and rivers, as well as people recreating on Texas water

• Strong imagery accompanied by fun facts, mini-stories, engaging questions or conversational language

2.  Quotes, preferably in graphic form

• Use Canva to create graphics that include quotes about water, the outdoors, wildlife, etc.

3.  Behind-the-scenes posts about TLW staff

• Images, video clips, and/or mini-stories about TLW staff in action; conferences attended, photos from trip into the field, fun tid-bits about office shenanigans, etc. These posts help our followers connect with us on a more personal level.

4.  Links to external articles

• Promoting articles from non-TLW sources helps us to build credibility by acting as a curator and discerner of valuable content.

5.  “Shares” from other Facebook pages

• Similar to #4, this type of post both helps us to build credibility and helps us make connections with other organizations on Facebook who will likely return the favor.

6.  “How-to” gifs / videos

• Actionable posts that tell audiences how to do something; these posts are engaging and valuable to followers. These gifs / videos can be filmed, or they can be simple, graphic-based videos.
• Consider different audiences with these; homeowners may appreciate a how-to about retrofitting appliances, whereas outdoors enthusiasts may appreciate a how-to about Leave No Trace methods for river trips.

7.  Links to TLW articles

8.  Policy updates / news updates

• While some of these posts may link to TLW or external content, these posts can also be stand-alone; for example, a text-based announcement post that includes a small image or graphic.

9.  Crowdsourcing posts

• One of the advantages of social media is that it gives us an opportunity to not just talk at our followers, but to actually have two-way conversations with them. Crowdsourcing posts involve asking for reader contributions on things, whether for use in a TLW.org article or just for fun.
• Consider different audiences with these; for example, outdoor enthusiasts may want to share photos of their “best catch on the Colorado River,” while landowners may want to share photos of their rain gardens or xeriscaped lawns.

10.  Question posts

• Similar to #9, except the “ask” is usually a simpler one; for example, “What do you think about XYZ?”; “How will you be celebrating Earth Day this year?”

11.  Feature / profile posts

• Standalone posts that give kudos to an entity of individual who did something notable for Texas water. Ex: if a utility has done something impressive or interesting (implementing new water-efficiency tech), do a shout-out to them.

12.  Facebook Live

• These live video broadcasts are great for Q&As, or for streaming an event as it takes place. Facebook Live broadcasts should include one person that manages the streaming and questions as they come in; these broadcasts are meant to be interactive.
• Example Facebook Live opportunities include a “policy breakdown,” a Q&A about new regulations, or even an interactive how-to video. Inviting guests to FB Live sessions can provide more opportunities (ex: a garden specialist for how to choose native plants for your yard).

13.  Giveaway posts

• When there is a big announcement or we are running some kind of growth campaign, we may decide to drive extra attention or incentive to our posts by include a giveaway.
• These typically include requirements that individuals “like” both the post and the Facebook page to enter, and then comment with some kind of prompt response or with the names of friends who may also want to enter the giveaway.

While Twitter has a smaller share of the social media landscape than Facebook or Instagram, many of its users are incredibly active. The platform has gained a reputation for news dissemination; a lot of news breaks on Twitter, and people tend to visit the platform to get a snapshot of that day’s events and to stay up-to-date with the issues they care about. It is a valuable platform for finding a niche of users (such as users with Texas water policy interests).

Platform demographics and audiences

Twitter user demographics

24% of online adults use Twitter. The highest-use age group is ages 18-29, with 36% of those online adults using the platform. There is a fairly steep drop-off from that point: 23% of online adults ages 30-49 use Twitter; 21% aged 50-64; and 10% aged 65 or older.

Twitter users tend to be well-educated and live comfortably. 29% of online adults with college degrees (or more) use Twitter, compared to 20% of those with a high school degree or less. 58% of online adults that make $50K or greater each year use Twitter, compared to 41% of those who make $49,999 or less.

TLW’s Twitter followers (June 2017)

Our Twitter followers are young homeowners who live very comfortably; 32% of our followers are aged 25-34, and 27% are aged 35-44. These are the largest two age cohorts.

80% of our followers are homeowners, and 75% of them earn $75K or more each year. 58% of our followers are married.

The “political junkie” group is core to our current Twitter demographics: 37% of our followers have worked for a political party.

Metrics goals and measurements

We will track the following metrics to evaluate the effectiveness of our posts, and to learn which posts our audiences respond to best.

Engagements

• “Engagement” includes Likes, Retweets and Responses. Improving this metric shows that we are posting content that resonates with our followers.
• Refer to our Twitter Best Practices for guidance on increasing engagement.

Clicks

• Measuring the number of people who see a tweet vs. the number of people who click on a link provided in the tweet is important so that we can learn which approaches are most successful in driving traffic from Twitter to our website.

Followers

• We want to grow the reach of our content by continuing to attract new followers.

Best practices

1.  Use of imagery. We should aim to have almost all of our tweets (if not all tweets) include a visual element. Images could include photographs, gifs, or graphics made through programs like Canva.

2.  Use of videos. Studies have found that tweets that include video receive higher engagement, and people are more likely to remember a brand after seeing a video from them on Twitter. Videos do not need to be complicated; they can be short graphic-based videos.

• Videos that we create should be uploaded natively through Twitter, rather than reposted from Facebook or YouTube.

• When we include voice or spoken segments of our videos, we should include subtitles. While this takes a bit longer to implement, it is important both to make our content accessible to deaf audiences and to make individuals more likely to watch our videos, even if they are in a location where they cannot use sound.

3.  Hashtags and tagging. Hashtags are native to Twitter, and Twitter users expect to see and use them on the platform; however, we should not use hashtags just for the sake of using hashtags. Before using a hashtag, we should do a quick search to make sure it is a commonly used one (ex: #txwater is a good hashtag to use). Most importantly, remember that too many hashtags (or even too many shortened words, or too much “chatspeak”), can make a tweet look cluttered and can actually make it more difficult to read. Use hashtags when they make sense, but don’t forget that you are a human writing for other humans.

Tagging is a good tool for getting the attention of other Twitter accounts, and to provide that “link” between accounts so that users can get extra context for the tweet. It is not necessary to tag ourselves in any of our tweets; instead, use words like “we,” “us” or “our.”

4.  Asking questions and responding to comments. In the spirit of the ideal social media “tone” identified above, an important part of being conversational is engaging followers by asking questions. Just as important is acknowledging our followers when they respond to a question or post; if we want our followers to engage with us, we need to respond to them when they do so.

5.  Posting frequency. Ideally, we will post to Twitter at least once a day. When it comes to posting frequency best practices, Twitter is a bit different from Facebook; even though it has begun to do some curating (see the “While you were away” section), it’s still mostly just a timeline. This means we don’t have to worry about over-posting.

6.  Post timing. Post timing is less important on Twitter than it is on Facebook or Instagram; if anything, we make ourselves more likely to be seen through sheer post volume. Twitter is one of the few platforms where pushing out the same content multiple times does not present any issues, as long as they are not tweeted one after the other.

7.  Live tweeting. Live tweeting is a practice fairly unique to Twitter, and is a great use of the platform. This essentially means posting quotes, photos or relevant information in live time from events, so that interested individuals who couldn’t attend in person can still follow along.

• Live tweeting can be done at events of all kinds, though conferences are the most practical application for us.

8.  Join the larger conversation. Don’t just wait for Twitter users to interact with us; proactively search out relevant conversations and chime in when appropriate. One approach to finding these conversations is by searching popular hashtags, such as #txwater.

Examples of best practices in action

Texas Tribune

• Do an excellent job of using simple graphics to complement tweets. Graphics include more info about something; simple bar charts with interesting stats; quotes.
• Good use of hashtags; they take advantage of commonly-used hashtags like #txlege, or campaign-specific hashtags like #TribFest17, but don’t overdo it by hashtagging random words or phrases.

Center for Public Policy Priorities

• Strong mix of original tweets and retweets.
• Maintain an interesting tone by adding in some commentary or opinions that align with their organization’s views.
• Frequently take advantage or live tweeting opportunities.

Post mix / types

Post Types #1-11 are repeated from the Facebook section; these post types are also applicable to Twitter, though they should be adapted for Twitter before cross-posting. 

1.  Images/videos of Texas wildlife and rivers, as well as people recreating on Texas water

• Strong imagery accompanied by fun facts, mini-stories, engaging questions or conversational language

2.  Quotes, preferably in graphic form

• Use Canva to create graphics that include quotes about water, the outdoors, wildlife, etc.

3.  Behind-the-scenes posts about TLW staff

• Images, video clips, and/or mini-stories about TLW staff in action; conferences attended, photos from trip into the field, fun tid-bits about office shenanigans, etc. These posts help our followers connect with us on a more personal level.

4.  Links to external articles

• Promoting articles from non-TLW sources helps us to build credibility by acting as a curator and discerner of valuable content.

5.  “Shares” from other Facebook pages

• Similar to #4, this type of post both helps us to build credibility and helps us make connections with other organizations on Facebook who will likely return the favor.

6.  “How-to” gifs / videos

• Actionable posts that tell audiences how to do something; these posts are engaging and valuable to followers. These gifs / videos can be filmed, or they can be simple, graphic-based videos.
• Consider different audiences with these; homeowners may appreciate a how-to about retrofitting appliances, whereas outdoors enthusiasts may appreciate a how-to about Leave No Trace methods for river trips.

7.  Links to TLW articles

8.  Policy updates / news updates

• While some of these posts may link to TLW or external content, these posts can also be stand-alone; for example, a text-based announcement post that includes a small image or graphic.

9.  Crowdsourcing posts

• One of the advantages of social media is that it gives us an opportunity to not just talk at our followers, but to actually have two-way conversations with them. Crowdsourcing posts involve asking for reader contributions on things, whether for use in a TLW.org article or just for fun.
• Consider different audiences with these; for example, outdoor enthusiasts may want to share photos of their “best catch on the Colorado River,” while landowners may want to share photos of their rain gardens or xeriscaped lawns.

10.  Question posts

• Similar to #9, except the “ask” is usually a simpler one; for example, “What do you think about XYZ?”; “How will you be celebrating Earth Day this year?”

11.  Feature / profile posts

• Standalone posts that give kudos to an entity of individual who did something notable for Texas water. Ex: if a utility has done something impressive or interesting (implementing new water-efficiency tech), do a shout-out to them.

12. Live tweets

• Live tweeting is a good way to establish yourself as an authority on an issue; for example, live tweeting an industry-specific conference means that if people who cannot attend in person want to keep up with the events, they need to come to us.

Instagram is currently the fastest-growing social media network. It already has a greater user base than Snapchat, Twitter, Pinterest or LinkedIn, and is the third-largest platform behind Facebook and YouTube. While it is a new growth area for our social media strategy, it could easily become one of our most valuable platforms.

Instagram user demographics

32% of online adults currently use Instagram – and that number is only growing. Women slightly outnumber men on Instagram (38% vs. 26%), and the user base skews young, with adults aged 18-29 as the highest-use age bracket (59% of online adults 18-29 use Instagram). However, as it continues to grow, it continues to attract more users from all demographics; 33% of online adults aged 30-49 use Instagram; 18% of those aged 50-64; and 8% of those aged 65+.

Education levels are fairly even across users, with the lowest-use bracket being those with high school degrees or less (27% of these online adults use Instagram). The highest-use category by income level is adults earning less than $30,000 each year (38%), though usage rates are fairly evenly distributed across income brackets.

Metrics goals and measurements

We will track the following metrics to evaluate the effectiveness of our posts, and to learn which posts our audiences respond to best.

Followers

• Because we will be launching our Instagram account and starting from scratch, our initial focus will be growing our follower count.

Engagements

• After growing our follower base, the most important thing we can focus on is creating a community where our followers frequently interact with us and our posts. If we increase our engagement levels, Instagram takes that as a cue that we are posting quality content, and its algorithm will increase our reach.
• Refer to our Instagram Best Practices for guidance on increasing engagement.

Reach

• “Reach” is a measurement of how many Instagram users actually see our post; this is an important metric because our post reach is dependent upon the Instagram algorithm’s evaluation of how relevant and useful our content is to its users. Reach can be increased on a post-by-post basis through post boosts, but the better strategy for long-term growth is to focus on driving engagement.

Branded hashtag use

• Measuring the number of users who use a TLW-specific hashtag that we create is a good way to measure our general name recognition and the reach of our Instagram outreach work. To encourage users to use this hashtag, it is a good idea to offer to feature the best photos with our hashtag.

Best practices

The following set of best practices should be taken into consideration for all Instagram posts. Instagram is owned by Facebook, and now utilizes a similar algorithm to the one that Facebook uses; because of this, it is important that we tailor our Instagram posts to the platform and that we deliver content in a way to which Instagram users respond.

1.  Strong imagery. On Instagram, this is a given; however, we should take extra care that any images we post are high quality. While Instagram began with being sharing cell phone-quality photos of their lunches, the most successful accounts share photos with strong colors, composition and quality. Cell phone photos may still be appropriate in many situations, but they should still meet these standards.

2.  Posting frequency. Instagram does not need to be posted to on a daily basis; instead, our goal should be to post to the platform 2-3 times per week.

3.  Post timing. Though finding the most successful days and times to post is a trial-and-error process to a certain extent, Instagram Insights can provide some insights into the most effective times. Posts should be scheduled out for these times at which our audiences are most likely to e online and to engage with us.

4.  Community interactions. When it comes to building our follower base and increasing the engagement levels on our posts, the most important thing we can do is to be an active Instagram community member. This includes taking time to do more than just post to Instagram; we should also ‘like’ other photos, ‘follow’ other users and ask users if we can feature their images on our account. More than any other social media platform, Instagram is about building communities; we need to treat it as such.

5.  Use of videos. Similar to posting images, we should only post high quality video clips to our Instagram feed. Any lower-quality videos that we would still like to share can be published as an Instagram Story, rather than a post (see “Instagram stories” below). Instagram only allows videos that last 60 seconds or shorter.

6.  Hashtagging and tagging. Hashtags are used very commonly on Instagram – perhaps moreso on this platform than any other. However, hashtag use should be strategic. Hashtags should be researched before including them in posts; generally, a hashtag is a good one to pursue if it’s in a sweet spot between being extremely popular (your work gets lost in the sea of posts that use the same hashtag) and a dud (nobody ever looks up that hashtag in the first place). Entire Instagram communities are built around specific hashtags, so hashtag research is a valuable undertaking (as well as one that should be reevaluated on a semi-regular basis).

Tagging another Instagram account in an image is a valuable practice for getting that account’s attention. This is typically done to provide photo credit to the photographer, or to get the attention of a larger account in hopes that they will feature your photo.

7.  Asking questions and responding to comments. In the spirit of the ideal social media “tone” identified above, an important part of being conversational is engaging followers by asking questions. Just as important is acknowledging our followers when they respond to a question or post; if we want our followers to engage with us, we need to respond to them when they do so.

In addition, we should actively comment on and engage with other users’ posts as well.

8.  Determining post length. While Instagram has not specified that caps caption length at any point, it does cut off after three lines and make readers click “Read More” to read the full caption.

Some Instagram accounts keep their captions short and sweet, while others use that space for to tell stories in a way that compliments the corresponding video or image. It will be up to us and a process of trial and error to figure out what resonates best with our audiences.

9.  Sharing user images. As a “brand” or organization account, one of the most effective ways to get the attention of Instagram users is to offer to feature their images. Many Instagram users hope to grow their followers by having their work featured on other accounts, and so if we identify a hashtag that they can share their work to for a chance to be featured, more users will follow along with us in hopes of this happening.

10.  Linking out of Instagram. Instagram does not activate hyperlinks in captions or comments, making it difficult – but not impossible – to link people to a specific blog post or landing page. Users are allowed to include one link in their bio, and this link can be switched out regularly. Accounts can then include instructions in post captions to click the link in their bio for more information about a specific topic or issue.

11.  Instagram stories. A fairly new feature to Instagram is Instagram Stories. Similar to Snapchat, this is where users can share less polished photos or videos from their daily lives. These “stories” only appear for a 24-hour duration, but offer a unique opportunity for casual, in-the-moment storytelling. See Instagram Story ideas under “Post mix / types” section.

Examples of best practices in action

Texas Parks and Wildlife (@texasparkswildlife)

• Uses high-quality photographs and videos of subjects relevant to their purpose.
• Comments are written with a consistent, well-established tone – friendly but educational.

The Nature Conservancy (@nature_org)

• Uses high-quality photographs and videos of subjects relevant to their purpose.
• Feature other users’ photographs, especially through contests and other fun engagement methods.

Post mix / types

Although Instagram posts have a very well-defined format – a visual with a caption – there is still space for creativity within these parameters.

Our Instagram feed should include, but is not limited to, the following types of posts:

1.  Photographs or videos of the Texas outdoors, especially water features

• Strong imagery accompanied by captions that include fun facts, mini-stories, engaging questions or conversational language.

2.  Photo carousels

• Instagram recently released a feature that allows users to upload multiple photos or video clips to one post as a swipeable carousel. These photo carousels can be used in many creative ways, including showing “before and afters,” parts of a story, sections of a panorama or step-by-step “how-to” demonstrations.

3.  Graphics or photos with text overlays

• Canva or other editing programs can be used to create Instagram-ready graphics, or to overlay text across an image.
• Using graphics or text overlays is a good approach to promoting upcoming events or announcements, or for fun posts like quotes.

4.  Features from other accounts

• It is common practice for accounts to feature other users’ photos (with their permission); this is a great two-way relationship that gives the photography exposure, and provides us with content. We can search for these relevant images using Texas-specific hashtags (#atx, #igtexas, #exploretexas), or using a hashtag that we create.

5.  Instagram Stories

• Instagram Stories appear on a different part of the app than the normal feed, and each “story” only appears for 24 hours. However, Stories are a great way to build engagement and community by showing raw, everyday moments or “behind-the-scenes” looks into our work. These don’t need to be high-quality images or videos.
• Team members could post to our Instagram Story while enjoying Texas rivers with their friends or family; we can also create short video clips talking about “fun facts for Texas wildlife,” or explaining an issue and why it matters.

Pinterest’s user base is roughly the same size as Twitter’s, if not a bit larger – however, our team will not be dedicating a notable amount of time to this platform’s maintenance. Less of our content will be applicable to this platform, and posting our content is a quick task that does not require monitoring or continued engagement.

The payoffs of investing some time into this platform come from the longevity of “pins.” Unlike other platforms where content gets buried under a tide of posts, Pinterest is much more like a search engine – people use Pinterest to search for specific topics, and if our pins appear in their results, they can continue to generate traffic to our site for quite some time.

Pinterest user demographics

31% of online adults use Pinterest. The platform’s user base is largely female; 45% of online women use Pinterest, compared to 17% of online men. Users are mostly aged 18-49, but 16% of online adults aged 65+ do use Pinterest, compared to the 10% who use Twitter and 8% who use Instagram.

The number of Pinterest users across different income brackets is fairly even. When it comes to education, 24% of adults with high school degrees or less use Pinterest, compared to 34% of adults with either some college education or a college degree or greater. Finally, Pinterest usage is lowest in rural areas.

Metrics goals, measurement strategy

We will track the following metrics to evaluate the effectiveness of our time investment on this platform, and to learn which pins our audiences respond to best.

Repins

• The number of times somebody adds one of our pins to their own boards. This is a good indication of whether Pinterest users are finding our content valuable enough to save for later reference.

Clicks/traffic generated

• The number of visitors who come to our site after clicking on a Pinterest pin. This shows us how effective our pins are at driving traffic to our site.

Best practices

The following set of best practices should be taken into consideration for all Pinterest posts (or “pins”). These practices will increase the likelihood that our pins will be found in searches, and that users will want to click on them to visit the corresponding content on our site.

1.  Optimize images. The most popular Pinterest ‘pins’ are designed specifically for the platform; they are usually portrait (or vertical) images/graphics, and they include text overlays that tell the viewer what they can learn if they click through.

2.  Repin other content. A successful Pinterest account doesn’t just pin its own content; it’s a good idea to also pins content from other sources that are relevant to our purpose. This is not something that requires a great deal of time or that needs to be done frequently.

3.  Create multiple relevant boards. Boards are essentially categories, or “pinboards,” used to organize “pinned” content. It’s a good idea to have multiple boards for different topics, so that any page visitors can easily navigate our feed.

4.  Include keywords in metadata. Because Pinterest is almost more of a visual search engine than it is a social media platform, our success with it depends on our ability to show up in searches or as recommended pins. This means we need to be strategic about including keywords in the metadata of the posts or pages that we are adding to Pinterest.

Post mix / types

Pinterest is typically used for very specific purposes. Because of this, not all of our posts will be relevant to this platform. However, the following types of posts are good ones to share:

1.  Curriculum materials

• Many teachers use Instagram to help with lesson or activity planning; because of this, if we have any materials that would be useful or interesting for curriculums, we should share these to Pinterest.

2.  How-to

• Pinterest is a big source of inspiration for projects, lifestyle changes or advice. Posts that focus on how to do different things (like how to design a native plant yard, how to conserve water in your home, etc.) are strong Pinterest fodder.

3.  Travel

• Pinterest is also frequently used for trip planning. Posts that feature different Texas water features and how to enjoy them are likely to play well on Pinterest.

4.  Beautiful photos

• Some people use Pinterest simply to collect and organize beautiful photos, much like taking clippings from a magazine. Because of this, Pinterest is a good place to share beautiful river or bay photography.

5.  Infographics

Email newsletters are an important part of our digital communications strategy. While social media platforms amplify the reach of content, their algorithms also restrict the number of followers that actually see each post; in comparison, if you send an email to somebody, it is guaranteed to reach them. Additionally, today’s internet users spend a great amount of time using email; In a 2015 survey of workplace culture, workers, reported spending about 6.3 hours each day using email.

Our newsletter strategy will consists of four separate newsletters, each with varying frequency and audiences: our main TLW.org-driven newsletter; action alerts; a water professionals-specific newsletter; and an outdoors professionals newsletter.

Main TLW newsletter: Overview

Overall goal: Build a community of regularly-engaged individuals that we can call upon to act when needed.

Why does it matter?: It’s important to give our broader audiences the opportunity to connect with us through our newsletter, because becoming a regular presence in their inboxes gives us a more intimate way to build a relationship with them. It also gives people a touch-point for staying engaged with us and our work, without unrealistically expecting them to constantly check our site for new content.

What will it contain?: This newsletter will essentially be a Texas water roundup; it will include stories from around the web, as well as stories from our own site. In addition, we will publish some newsletter-exclusive content here, such as interactive prompts or questions that readers can respond to so that their answer runs in the next version of the newsletter (ex: “How do you conserve water in your home?”).

Main TLW newsletter: Content guidelines

Tone

Similar to our social media tone, our email newsletter tone should be very casual and personable. Our emails are being delivered directly into somebody’s inbox; because of this, our tone should sound as if we are having a direct conversation with each individual reader.

This includes using pronouns like “you” and “we,” and using merge tags to include name personalization.

Content mix / ideas

While consistency is important with this newsletter – the branding and aesthetic should be cohesive and consistent from week to week, so that readers know what to expect – it isn’t necessary for every email to have the exact same format or to focus on the same kind of content.

Some ideas for main focuses include:

• Teasing out an op-ed that we have published
• Big news updates
  • Ex: there’s a new reservoir being built. What does this mean for Texas?
• Behind-the-scenes stories about what the TLW team is working on
• Promoting recent blog posts
• Showing new TLW videos
• Content included within newsletters in a “list” format

Main TLW newsletter: Growing subscribers

Website-driven: We will prompt site visitors to sign up for our newsletter at several different points on our site (ex: blog sidebar, footer, end of blog posts).

Social media-driven: Social media followers will be encouraged to subscribe to our newsletter through social media-driven giveaways, tweets and posts promoting our newsletter and a Facebook page Call to Action.

In-person: In addition to our digital sign-up prompts, we should also consider events and conferences as opportunities to grow our subscriber lists (sign-in sheets, giveaways, etc. can all require a person to provide their email).

Other email lists / newsletters

Action alerts

How often will it be sent out?: As needed
How will we gather subscribers?: When site visitors sign up for our main newsletter, they will also have an opportunity to sign up to receive Action Alerts.
What content?: This email will be sent out when we need our followers to do something, like contact a decision-maker or write a letter to the editor. These “asks” will also be included in our main newsletter, but this will allow us to send out requests immediately as needed.

Water sector professionals newsletter

JW has spent a lot of time building connections with utility managers and decision-makers; this newsletter will be a tool for maintaining these relationships. This audience is one that is making real decisions about water management today, and it is important that we continue to work closely with them.
How often will it be sent out?: Monthly
How will we gather subscribers?: We have already gathered a significant subscriber base for this group; however, we will continue to grow it by reaching out to key individuals and encouraging them to sign up. Our events focused on water professionals will also encourage participants to provide their email information.
What content?: JW will be the face of this newsletter, and will curate it each month (with the help of others, if desired) to include relevant stories about Texas water and utilities, presentations from events that some individuals from this group may have missed, as well as space to recognize any great work that is being done by Texas utilities.

Outdoors professionals newsletter

This audience is an important one for us to reach; Texans who value the outdoors understand why it’s so important to protect water for wildlife, and have the potential to be natural allies for our work. The outdoors world is also very diverse politically, which is important for us to be able to expand our work and to be effective across the political spectrum. By targeting outdoor professionals (outfitters, guides, shop owners and writers), we are essentially targeting potential “grasstops” activists who can spread our messaging through their work and interactions with outdoor enthusiasts.
How often?: Monthly
How will we gather subscribers?: We will need to create a list of outdoor writers and other professionals with whom we want to connect and establish relationships. As we build these relationships, we will be able to pitch this newsletter as an opportunity to join a community of other like minded individuals.
What content?: LJ will be the face of this newsletter, and will curate it each month to include relevant stories from the Texas outdoors scene as it relates to water, as well as outdoors-focused pieces from our own site. The newsletter will also provide the opportunity to highlight the great work that these individuals are doing.

This newsletter will be open to any interested parties, and individuals will be able to sign up through our website or social media channels. It’s important to give our broader audiences the opportunity to connect with us through our newsletter, because becoming a regular presence in their inboxes gives us a more intimate way to build a relationship with them. It also gives people a touch-point for staying engaged with us and our work, without unrealistically expecting them to constantly check our site for new content.

This newsletter will essentially be a Texas water roundup; it will include stories from around the web, as well as stories from our own site. In addition, we will publish some newsletter-exclusive content here, such as interactive prompts or questions that readers can respond to so that their answer runs in the next version of the newsletter (ex: “How do you conserve water in your home?”).

Goals

Overall goal: Build a community of regularly-engaged individuals that we can call upon to act when needed.

Metrics goals:

• Short term (three months): Grow subscriber list by 50%
• Long term: Maintain open rates and click-through rates through initial growth push, and then increase these rates month-over-month as list growth stabilizes

Content guidelines

Tone

Similar to our social media tone, our email newsletter tone should be very casual and personable. Our emails are being delivered directly into somebody’s inbox; because of this, our tone should sound as if we are having a direct conversation with each individual reader.

This includes using pronouns like “you” and “we,” and using merge tags to include name personalization.

Content mix / ideas

While consistency is important with this newsletter – the branding and aesthetic should be cohesive and consistent from week to week, so that readers know what to expect – it isn’t necessary for every email to have the exact same format or to focus on the same kind of content.

Some ideas for main focuses include:

• Teasing out an op-ed that we have published
• Big news updates
  • Ex: there’s a new reservoir being built. What does this mean for Texas?
• Behind-the-scenes stories about what the TLW team is working on
• Promoting recent blog posts
• Showing new TLW videos
• Content included within newsletters in a “list” format

Newsletters that focus on one of the above topics may also include fun components:

• Opportunities for readers to contribute content
  • Ex: Share your favorite ways to conserve water in your home
  • Ex: How do you get your kids excited about conserving water?
  • Ex: Share your Texas river photos
• Recurring entertainment-based features.
  • Ex: Water-loving critter of the month

Best practices

• Keep it simple. When it comes to newsletters, less is more – people don’t want to read a ton of information in their emails.
• Every newsletter should include a call to action. These can be simple, like “Help us hold LCRA accountable – share this post with your social networks,” or in the very least, a button that prompts them to visit our site to read a post.
• Including GIFs in emails is an easy way to liven up a newsletter. Get inspired here.
• Ask questions and encourage readers to respond with their input. Share some of the interesting responses in the next newsletter as a way to encourage further participation.

Template

Our basic template follows this format; a big story with a few other stories falling in line beneath. It’s not a bad idea to mix things up every once in awhile, but the following things should always be consistent:

• Big visuals
• Big headlines
• Variations in text sizes to create a sense of information hierarchy
• Buttons that link out to external content

For more inspiration, check out these examples.

Frequency / timing

This newsletter will be sent out every other week, at least initially. After the best day of the week and time of day has been determined through A/B testing, this day should be consistent across emails; this gives our readers some consistency that they can count on, and they know when to look for us in their inbox.

Segmentation

“Segments” are special categories that are assigned to some newsletter subscribers on a list. Segmentation allows us to send customize emails to these specific categories of subscribers.

Our subscriber list for this newsletter will include the following segments:

1.  General subscribers. This is the default subscriber category.

2.  Donors. If an individual donates to us, they will be added to this segment. This means that in addition to our normal newsletter, we can also send content specific to previous donors through this segment. This might include special Thank You emails, such as emails that say “Thanks to your generous support, we’ve been able to…”

3.  Volunteers. If an individual volunteers with us, they will be added to this segment. This means that in addition to our normal newsletter, we can also send follow-up Thank You emails from volunteer events, or specific information about next events.

• While we do not currently have any volunteer opportunities, this is an area we hope to expand as we grow our general outreach efforts.

See the next section for more information about how we will grow each of these segments.

Website-driven

Website opt-ins for our main newsletter will be driven with the help of a plugin specializing in newsletter conversions. Using this plugin, we will be able to prompt site visitors to sign up for our newsletter at several different points on our site (ex: blog sidebar, footer, end of blog posts).

• A/B testing is an important part of fine-tuning our website’s sign-up prompts so that we can determine the most effective approach. Attributes that we might split test include prompt copy, button copy, prompt location, how long it takes for a prompt to appear, etc.

Other ways that site users could be added to our subscriber list include the following:

• Online donors will be automatically added. They will be included in our “Donors” segment.
• Site visitors who complete an online action through us will be added.

Social media-driven

Social media can also be an effective medium for driving newsletter sign-ups, though this approach is secondary to our website opt-in strategy. Social media followers will be encouraged to subscribe to our newsletter through the following prompts:

• When we run a social media giveaway, the sign-up form should require them to add their email address with the understanding that they will receive emails from us
• Tweets with graphics that promote our newsletter and link to a sign-up form
• Facebook page Call to Action

In-person

In addition to our digital sign-up prompts, we should also consider events and conferences as opportunities to grow our subscriber lists.

• If we use an online event sign-up service like Eventbrite to collect registrations, we can also use this to capture emails.
• At events, we can host giveaways that require entrants to write their name and email down on a card.
• At events or conferences that we host, our sign-up sheet can also collect email addresses.

Action alerts

How often will it be sent out?: As needed

How will we gather subscribers?: When site visitors sign up for our main newsletter, they will also have an opportunity to sign up to receive Action Alerts.

What content?: This email will be sent out when we need our followers to do something, like contact a decision-maker or write a letter to the editor. These “asks” will also be included in our main newsletter, but this will allow us to send out requests immediately as needed.

Water sector professionals newsletter

JW has spent a lot of time building connections with utility managers and decision-makers; this newsletter will be a tool for maintaining these relationships. This audience is one that is making real decisions about water management today, and it is important that we continue to work closely with them.

How often will it be sent out?: Monthly

How will we gather subscribers?: We have already gathered a significant subscriber base for this group; however, we will continue to grow it by reaching out to key individuals and encouraging them to sign up. Our events focused on water professionals will also encourage participants to provide their email information.

What content?: JW will be the face of this newsletter, and will curate it each month (with the help of others, if desired) to include relevant stories about Texas water and utilities, presentations from events that some individuals from this group may have missed, as well as space to recognize any great work that is being done by Texas utilities.

Outdoors professionals newsletter

This audience is an important one for us to reach; Texans who value the outdoors understand why it’s so important to protect water for wildlife, and have the potential to be natural allies for our work. The outdoors world is also very diverse politically, which is important for us to be able to expand our work and to be effective across the political spectrum. By targeting outdoor professionals (outfitters, guides, shop owners and writers), we are essentially targeting potential “grasstops” activists who can spread our messaging through their work and interactions with outdoor enthusiasts.

How often?: Monthly

How will we gather subscribers?: We will need to create a list of outdoor writers and other professionals with whom we want to connect and establish relationships. As we build these relationships, we will be able to pitch this newsletter as an opportunity to join a community of other like minded individuals.

What content?: LJ will be the face of this newsletter, and will curate it each month to include relevant stories from the Texas outdoors scene as it relates to water, as well as outdoors-focused pieces from our own site. The newsletter will also provide the opportunity to highlight the great work that these individuals are doing.

TLW in the media

When TLW staff publicly represent our project, they should refer to themselves as Texas Living Waters team members (instead of or in addition to naming their employer organization). As we make a public push to increase our broad name recognition and credibility, it is important that Texas Living Waters is cited consistently in the external-facing work that we do.

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Brand colors