Once your MetroQuest Survey is ready to release to the public, you’ll want to strategize and promote your project.
Be sure to prepare:
- Project Website
- Outreach Plans
Project Website
Always send your visitors to the Project Website, not MetroQuest directly!
On your Project Website, create a visible call to action. Using existing email lists, including that of key stakeholders, is still the most effective way to reach interested potential participants. More and more, social media and advertising on Facebook and Instagram have become important and cost-effective ways of reaching an audience.
Once your MetroQuest Survey has launched, check your participation numbers to see how effective different outreach campaigns are and to create calls to action based on preliminary data – for example, if a specific scenario seems to be the most popular, tweet about that and ask if followers agree. And finally, be sure to celebrate your successes!
The Importance of a Project Website:
- Your project webpage will be available longer than the MetroQuest Survey’s engagement period. This way, you can communicate updates long after the survey closes, providing a potential for follow up and searchability.
- It allows you to build a brand around your project rather than around MetroQuest. While we are a tool you use for public engagement, the tool's name isn’t relevant to participants.
- A Project Website allows you to provide background information about the project before visitors are asked for input.
- Participants are more familiar with your organization name and will be more open to visiting your project site than one with a brand name they don’t recognize.
Outreach Plans
Once your MetroQuest Survey is ready to release to the public, you’ll want to have your own outreach plan in place. Be sure to use any email lists you have, social media platforms, and partners, and see if there’s any way to get involved with your local news media. Some ways to make sure additional communities are engaged are:
- Additional language options: if your contract includes additional languages, you can request a translation table from us as soon as your content is finalized when you enter the Pre-Launch Phase. You’ll be responsible for getting translations done, and you’ll send the document back to us. We will create the new Survey in the additional language and add buttons to link the different language Surveys. Be aware that this process often adds about a week to the process once the English Survey is in the Engage Phase.
- Accessibility options: MetroQuest is a highly visual, detailed, and interactive web experience (i.e., placing Markers on a Map). By definition, much of this highly visual and detailed would have to be removed to meet all accessibility standards, which defeats the purpose of these product capabilities. Our clients address accessibility needs by ensuring on their community or project pages that they provide alternative means by which the public can participate. These means might include providing a phone number for a phone survey or a simple text survey link.
- Usage of social media:
- Nextdoor: Nextdoor is a social media platform connecting people based on their geographic locations, with the intent to "empower neighbors to build stronger, safer, and happier communities." Using Nextdoor's engagement tools, public service agencies, including planning, utilities, police, and other local authorities, can communicate with residents within their specific area or neighborhood. To learn how to use Nextdoor effectively, please refer to our blog post [TIPS] 6 Tips to Engage Thousands using Nextdoor to Promote Your Agency's Survey.
- Facebook and Twitter: Facebook and Twitter offer one of the most cost-effective ways, from free to boosted posts, to broaden the reach to promote public input from public meetings to online surveys.
- Useful Resouces:
- 5 Tips for Using Facebook to Effectively Promote Your Public Engagement Survey
- 9 Steps to Engaging the Environmental Justice Community During COVID-19
- Takeaways on Virtual Public Involvement and Engaging Environmental Justice Communities
- 5 Tips for Using Facebook To Effectively Promote Your Public Engagement Survey
- SCDOT Said Goodbye to Public Meetings, Engaging 13,000+ Online with Facebook and a MetroQuest Survey!
- Uncovering Future Transportation Needs with Reimagine I-10, TxDOT’s Corridor Feasibility Study
- Survey incentives: You may have considered providing incentives for the public to complete the survey in the form of a reward draw for anyone who enters their contact information. However, we do not recommend providing a reward that anyone can use, regardless of location (ie. an Amazon gift card). We've found that this can encourage Ballot Box Stuffing. If you are set on providing a reward, consider using a gift card to a local restaurant or store that only an individual in your community could use.