Digital campaigns are one of the most visible ways New York State connects with the people it serves. At the February 3, 2026 Digital Innovation Lab, agency staff came together to discuss how paid and organic social media campaigns can support public outreach, program awareness, and service delivery. As agencies continue to expand their digital presence, the need for shared strategy, tools, and best practices has never been more important.
This session brought together communications, digital, and program staff from across agencies to explore how paid social media campaigns can better support service delivery goals. Like previous labs, the emphasis was not just on presentations, but on practical insights and peer learning, creating space for teams to share what’s working, where challenges exist, and how to move forward together.
The session featured two complementary perspectives. Ben Bober and Scott Stevens of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) shared their experience managing in house, smaller-buy, digital marketing campaigns, offering a closer look at how agencies can build internal capacity, execute campaigns, and measure performance. Their discussion grounded the conversation in day to day realities, highlighting both opportunities and constraints agencies navigate when running campaigns internally.
The conversation then expanded to paid strategy at scale. Carol Breen, Director of Marketing at the New York State Department of Transportation, led a session alongside Dessy O’Keefe and Sarah Adamo of OpAD. Together, they explored how agencies can strengthen paid campaigns through more intentional audience targeting, creative optimization, and cross channel coordination. Their insights reinforced the value of combining data with strategy to improve reach, engagement, and overall campaign effectiveness.
Across both sessions, a common theme emerged: successful digital campaigns are built through collaboration. Whether campaigns are managed in house or with external partners, aligning on goals, sharing knowledge, and continuously learning from performance data are key to delivering meaningful results.
The Digital Innovation Lab continues to evolve as a space for connection and shared learning across agencies. By bringing together the people doing this work every day, the lab supports a broader goal, to strengthen how New York State communicates, engages, and delivers services in a digital-first world.
New York State employees can stay involved by signing up for future labs and submitting topic ideas through the feedback form. Materials from previous sessions are also available for anyone who wants to learn more or revisit the conversations.