Every morning, before most residents check their phones, government communicators are already at work. A water main breaks at dawn — they're drafting the alert. A council vote passes — they're writing the press release. A road closure affects the school route — they're coordinating the message across SMS, email, social media, and the city's mobile app.

Today is Government Communicators Day, presented by 3CMA and CAPIO and held annually on the third Friday of February. It's a day dedicated to recognizing the PIOs, communications directors, city clerks, and comms staff who operate as the voice of local government — often without the spotlight they deserve.

At GOGov, we work with 600+ municipalities, and some of our favorite conversations happen with the people in these roles. This post is for them.

What Government Communicators Are Up Against

The role of local government communicator has evolved dramatically. Residents now expect real-time updates on the channels they already use — push notifications, text messages, social media, and email — and they expect them to be accurate, fast, and professional.

Meanwhile, comms teams are managing more channels than ever with the same (or smaller) staff and budgets. The fear of sending a message with a typo, wrong date, or outdated information is real. So is the challenge of coordinating approvals across departments when speed matters.

Julie Duewel, Communications Manager at the City of Sparks, Nevada, knows this well. When Sparks was evaluating platforms, her team had a clear priority: "We wanted a trustworthy platform where residents could report issues." Sparks now uses GOGov Citizen Notifications daily to distribute media releases, community updates, and real-time alerts — and the branded mobile app has become a core part of how the city connects with its community.

In Sanford, Florida, Communications and Marketing Manager Lisa Holder approaches the mission with the same clarity. "We want to reach everyone," she explained. "Not everybody's on social media, but everybody has a phone." Through their GOGov-powered app, Sanford Connects, the city delivers real-time alerts across push notifications, SMS, and email — and has leaned on the platform during some of its most critical moments, including hurricanes, boil water notices, and widespread water pressure issues. With over 200 community events annually, Sanford's comms team uses GOGov Citizen Notifications to keep residents consistently informed and engaged year-round.

Don Harvey, Town Clerk in Winterville, NC, described his team's previous approach simply: "Before GOGov, our notifications were essentially phone calls and emails." After implementing Citizen Notifications, his advice to other municipalities? "Promote it constantly."

What's New in GOGov Citizen Notifications — Built for Your Workday

Our Q1 2026 release of GOGov Citizen Notifications was shaped by months of conversations with communications directors, PIOs, and city managers across our network. Here's what's new — and why it matters for your daily workflow.

Approval Workflows: Catch Errors Before They Go Public

The new approval workflow feature lets you route draft messages to designated reviewers before anything reaches residents. Publishers can approve, request edits, or reject with feedback — all tracked with a full audit trail. For communications directors managing multiple staff members or departments, this is the quality control layer that eliminates the "send it too soon" problem.

Draft Management: Full Visibility into Your Communication Pipeline

A centralized draft section with auto-save and version control means no message falls through the cracks. View notifications by status — Drafts, Pending Approval, Scheduled, Sent, and Archived — so you always know exactly where everything stands.

Smart Scheduling: Work Ahead Without Thinking Ahead

Pre-schedule routine communications — council meeting reminders, weekly updates, seasonal alerts — weeks or even months in advance. Set automatic archive dates so your public feeds stay current without manual cleanup.

Social Media Auto-Generation: One Message, Every Channel

This one gets a lot of attention in demos. The new social media auto-generation feature creates platform-ready graphics using your headline, tagline, logo, and imagery — then cross-posts to Facebook, Twitter/X, and Instagram with a single click. For comms teams spending real time reformatting content for every channel, this is a meaningful time save.

Mobile-Ready Authoring: Send from Anywhere

The complete notification lifecycle — from drafting to approval to publishing — now works seamlessly on phones and tablets. For staff in the field or responding to urgent situations away from the office, this capability is critical. Brookfield Township in Ohio illustrated this perfectly: when a natural gas leak threatened residents, a township official pulled over and sent an alert to 8,400 residents from an iPhone — in seconds.

The Bigger Picture: Multi-Channel Communication in One Place

Beyond the new Q1 features, GOGov Citizen Notifications continues to support the full range of channels government communicators need to reach every segment of their community: SMS, voice calls, email, mobile push notifications, social media publishing, and embeddable web feeds — all from one dashboard, with no per-user fees and unlimited sends.

That matters in a role where no two days look the same and every message has to land.

Happy Government Communicators Day

To every government communicator reading this — the 6am alerts, the press releases no one sees your name on, the community updates that prevent the angry calls — it matters. You are the reason residents trust their local government.

Today, we celebrate you.

If you're ready to see how GOGov's latest tools can simplify your workday, schedule a free 15-minute demo with our team. We'd love to show you what's new.

Ready to modernize how your municipality communicates? Explore GOGov Citizen Notifications or schedule a demo today.

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