What can we learn from the fake news approach?

• The problem: Nowadays, citizens are engaging more with fake news than with government communications, highlighting the challenges in our campaigns.
• Why it matters: Ensuring that citizens are aware of the services, benefits, and initiatives provided by their government can help combat the spread of disinformation and enhance trust in public authorities.
• The solution: Adopting strategies from the fake news model in our communication efforts to effectively reach our target audience every single time.

Context

Despite awareness campaigns, fake news are spreading at an unprecedented rate. These false stories quickly capture attention, are widely shared, and even receive significant media coverage. As people increasingly engage with disinformation, we must re-evaluate our strategies. By understanding the methods used to spread fake news, we can enhance our communication efforts and better engage with our public. Our credibility as communicators and the public's trust in the government are at stake.

What should happen?

“Here is our solution to solve your problem”

Our citizens are most concerned about the issues they understand. Sometimes, they are unaware that their problems are not unique and that there are solutions available to solve them. That is why the fake news approach effectively uses a simple two-part model: 1) Here's your problem; 2) Here's our solution. We can use it too!

Often, we avoid addressing our citizens' issues directly, even though those are the driving force behind our projects. That is a huge mistake. By acknowledging their challenges, we can help alleviate their burdens and demonstrate our commitment to addressing their needs. We need to be bold in our communications, clearly explaining when and why citizens should use the new service we are introducing.

By framing our communications from a problem-solving angle, we address our citizens' emotions directly, which is one of, if not the biggest, factor in engagement.

What is in it for our citizens?

Our citizens are concerned about their own problems and realities. They do not care about what we have accomplished. They are interested in what is in it for them in terms of new services, benefits, tools, and opportunities. When writing your communication products, ask yourself at every stage why what you're saying is of interest to them.

Our strength as communicators is summarizing information and making sure it is accessible. In addition to requiring no prior knowledge, fake news are presented in simple and very clear language. Please, say goodbye to acronyms, endless program names, and unknown project titles. They make the text incomprehensible when repeated.

You can take it for granted that citizens won't remember the title of the initiative, the name of the tool, or which department is responsible for it, let alone the official name of the team in charge. They have other things to think of. They'll likely retain just a snippet. Which detail do you want to stand out?

Yes, it takes time, rephrasing and the ability to synthesize. But bringing our citizens and partners back to the heart of our communication strategies is the way to go.

You Have 8 Seconds to Convince Them

The exact number remains a subject of debate, but several studies and reports suggest that the average online attention span is around 8 seconds. That means forgetting about 10-minute videos, multi-page news releases, and hard-to-navigate web pages aimed at an audience that isn't already involved in the project daily.

We often ridicule the publications of fake news because they are simplistic. That's exactly why they are so successful. They are the most inclusive thing on the market today. Rather than hammering out heavy content, they are built around key messages. As communicators, we're used to writing them, but do we use them effectively?

Use a few short descriptive sentences like key messages, an open question, a fun fact, a quote, or an important figure to grab attention quickly online. The how and fine details of your announcement can be presented at a later stage to those who will enjoy reading you longer.

Main takeaway

Remember, fake news spreads for a reason, and we can use some of those techniques to our advantage. For example, we should frame our communication to present our new product as a solution to the challenges our citizens face. Additionally, our focus should be more on our audience than on ourselves. As the voices of the government, we need to prioritize their interests, not our own. Finally, to ensure our message is crystal clear, we should use summarized information, key messages, simple facts or numbers, and straightforward visuals like a single question or a quote.

(Image credit: Unsplash)