Our Blog

Lessons Learned While Balancing a Part-Time Job with USAGov and Being a Full-Time Student

USAGov tries to incorporate unique perspectives into our program from different team members. One way we do this is by working with college students and recent grads on specific projects or through long-term programs. They join the USAGov family and contribute to UX research, social media management, and many other projects. 

When hosting students at your agency, these tips from our own USAGov intern, Jessie Chen can help both students and agencies be successful contributors and managers.

October 26, 2020 Read More

Topics: Marketing, Content

Facebook, Twitter, and Short Links: What USAGov Learned from Social Media Users

How do people use Facebook and Twitter differently? Do they know which accounts and links in social media posts they can trust? What started as a USAGov study of people’s thoughts about short links in Facebook and Twitter posts taught us more than we were expecting.

September 30, 2020 Read More

Topics: Marketing, Content, User Experience and Accessibility, Performance and Analytics

Six Things We Learned From Our @USAGov Instagram Audit

Social media is a key part of the USAGov outreach strategy. It helps us share quick and clear information directly with the public. We regularly review our social media channels to see where we’re getting the best return on our investment.

August 25, 2020 Read More

Topics: Marketing, Content, User Experience and Accessibility, Performance and Analytics, Multilingual

What Do People Ask Us About the Most? Two Top Five Lists from the USAGov Contact Center

The USAGov Contact Center helps people find information on federal agencies, programs, benefits, services, and more by phone and chat in both English and Spanish. Each month, we do a deep dive to analyze what kind of information users are looking for, so we can learn about them and their needs. 

August 04, 2020 Read More

Topics: Content, User Experience and Accessibility, Performance and Analytics, Multilingual

When’s the Best Time to Tweet? @USAGovEspanol Experiments with Twitter

A good following on social media is fundamental to USAGov’s goal of getting clear and helpful government information to Spanish speakers around the country. To make sure we’re reaching the right people at the right time with valuable content, our team began to rethink our USAGov en Español Twitter strategy.

July 22, 2020 Read More

Topics: Marketing, Content, User Experience and Accessibility, Performance and Analytics, Multilingual

Giving Users the Information They Crave: Data and Analytics Tips From USAGov en Español

User data guides what we do at USAGov. Without it, we wouldn’t know what government questions people are searching for. And we wouldn’t know how to design our content to make it easier for people to find and understand the answers.

June 30, 2020 Read More

Topics: Content, Design and Development, Performance and Analytics, Multilingual

“Diga o marque 2": USAGov en Español’s New Approach to Interactive Voice Response

USAGov receives and responds to questions directly from the public in many ways: through social media, on page surveys on USA.gov and USAGov en Español, and through chats and calls. One powerful tool in the USAGov toolbelt is our interactive voice response (IVR) system in both English and Spanish through the USAGov Contact Center.

June 23, 2020 Read More

Topics: Content, User Experience and Accessibility, Design and Development, Multilingual

How USA.gov Is Making Its COVID-19 Content Easier to Find

During the coronavirus pandemic, government websites are working to make their COVID-19-related content easier for people to find in search engine results. They’re doing it by using SpecialAnnouncement schema.org tags.

Visit this blog post from Digital.gov to get a clear explanation of how these tags work, and find out what USA.gov is learning by using them.

 

June 02, 2020 Read More

Topics: Content, User Experience and Accessibility, Design and Development, Multilingual

Let’s Talk Shop: How USAGov Outreach Connects With Agency Partners

Throughout USAGov’s history, we’ve relied on the expertise of federal agencies to help fulfill our mission of giving the public clear, accurate information about government services and programs. Connecting regularly keeps us up-to-date with agencies’ priorities and activities. We do this in many ways.

April 21, 2020 Read More

Topics: Marketing, Content, Multilingual

Press or Say 1: USAGov Expands Its Use of Interactive Voice Response

A significant part of USAGov’s work is to answer the public’s questions about government through our USAGov Contact Center. In 2019, we received more than 430,000 calls. Our agents answered many requests for other agencies’ phone numbers and questions about the status of applications, payments, or personal information. We believed that we could answer these requests more efficiently by expanding our use of interactive voice response (IVR). An IVR is an automated system that routes callers on a phone tree, based on their voice responses or pressing a specific button on their phone keypad.

March 24, 2020 Read More

Topics: User Experience and Accessibility, Design and Development, Multilingual

About this Blog

USAGov, Search.gov and Vote.gov work to make it easier for people to find information from their government about the services they need. Follow our journey and help us learn as we go. 

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