LONDON, April 15, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- GovDelivery, a leader in cloud-based communication solutions for government, announced today availability of a series of white papers by Liz Azyan focused on maximising citizen communications in an online world. The first in the series of white papers, entitled "Digital Communications and Channel Shift in Government" discusses the opportunities and challenges for government organisations embracing digital communications. Additionally, the paper addresses the value of an integrated digital communications strategy, particularly in overcoming some of these challenges. To that end, the other papers in the series, entitled "Integrating Email in Government Communications" and "Integrating Social Media in Government Communications," focus on email and social media, and their roles in an integrated digital communications strategy.  

In one of the white papers, Liz states that, "My observations of government communications in the digital age is that there is far greater opportunity to engage with citizens more efficiently and more effectively provided government organisations are willing to go beyond just the channel shift of how engagement occurs to increasing the frequency of engagement. It is absolutely essential that government narrow the 'communicative distance' with its citizens and make the interaction more personal."

Liz notes that public sector organisations can achieve this goal by integrating social media and email into their channel shift initiatives, and ultimately cultivate better relationships with citizens as a result of more frequent, consistent and measurable communication. Furthermore, she demonstrates how this can be accomplished while saving money, which is clearly important as resources continue to be constrained by budget cuts and increasing demand.

"We are excited to bring back Liz's expertise and innovative thinking on government communications to government agencies as they work to maximise direct connections with citizens and stakeholders," said Dave Worsell, Director of Government Solutions, GovDelivery. "Liz brings a unique perspective and we greatly appreciate her experience and willingness to share ideas, helping practitioners realise the true benefits of an integrated communications strategy in an increasingly challenging environment.  We firmly concur with her conclusions that frequent and meaningful communication drives citizen engagement and that an integrated digital communications strategy is at the heart of a successful government communications strategy."

Download the white papers at:

Digital Communications and Channel Shift in Government:
http://direct.govdelivery.com/integrating-email-in-gov-pr

Integrating Social Media in Government Communications:
http://direct.govdelivery.com/social-media-in-government-pr

Integrating Email in Government Communications:
http://direct.govdelivery.com/channel-shift-gov-pr

About the Author: Liz Azyan

Liz Azyan is an independent consultant, researcher and blogger specialising in government communication and engagement online. Liz also has extensive experience working in other areas of government, namely open data, open source, personal data, CRM, public consultations, identity assurance, web usability & accessibility, web design and digital campaigning. For more information, visit www.lgeoresearch.com.

About GovDelivery

GovDelivery, the leading provider of government-to-citizen communication solutions, helps more than 550 government organizations transform their communications by maximizing direct connections with the public while reducing communications cost. Clients, including more than half of major U.S. federal agencies, as well as state, county, and city governments in the U.S., and local authorities and central government agencies in the United Kingdom, use GovDelivery solutions to optimize their effectiveness, efficiency, and engagement in communications with the public. GovDelivery is an ICG (Nasdaq:ICGE) company. For more information, visit www.govdelivery.co.uk.