The U.S. Census Bureau launched a new virtual hub this year that aims to inform citizens how they can make use of the data the bureau collects, said Census Bureau Digital Marketing Lead Anthony Calabrese at the Granicus Annual National Summit today.
The Census Academy hub features free digital content – particularly courses, webinars, and instructional videos – that provide information about how individuals can access and use census data.
Calabrese spoke about the transformation of Federal websites over time, particularly the Census’ website, and how developing those sites in a way that engage citizens and provide transparent information and easy-to-use tools are key to reimagining how the government presents itself online.
“We’re using modern, digital story-telling techniques,” Calabrese said, adding that the bureau has explored new marketing tools, social media, and search engine optimization techniques to expand census communications strategies.
In particular, Calabrese said that finding new ways to use email marketing has been important for disseminating information about the census and that recently, the bureau broke the one million subscriber mark. Moving forward, Calabrese said the bureau’s emails will include links to new courses and information on the Census Academy website.