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29 IntroductIon The survey results provided an excellent overview of the use of social media among transit agencies, including goals, benefits, challenges, and resource requirements. Following a review of the survey results, six agencies were selected as case example sites. The case examples are intended to explore issues raised in the survey in more depth and to provide additional details on successful practices, challenges, and lessons learned. They represent transit agencies of different sizes in different parts of the United States and Canada, both early adopters of and newcomers to social media, and agencies using different social media strategies. The six participants are: ⢠Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART)âSan Francisco, California ⢠Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART)âDallas, Texas ⢠Lehigh and Northampton Transportation Authority (LANTA)âAllentown, Pennsylvania ⢠Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA)â New York, New York ⢠Mountain LineâMorgantown, West Virginia ⢠TransLinkâVancouver, British Columbia. Interviews were conducted by telephone with one or more representatives from each agency and are summarized here. In some cases, information is also presented from the agencyâs survey responses. The introduction to each case example includes a basic description of the system, with data taken from fiscal year (FY) 2009 National Transit Database reports or another official source. Bay area rapId transIt BART provides heavy-rail transit service in the greater San FranciscoâOakland metropolitan area, serving 93 square miles with a population of 834,000. In 2009, BART provided 114.7 million unlinked passenger trips. social Media overview Agency staff reports that BART uses the following social media platforms: agency blog (see Figure 9), Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, LinkedIn, and Foursquare. The agency sees different advantages for each of these channels and uses them accordingly. Twitter is best for immediate customer communication and service updates. Facebook is better suited for affinity relationships, brand building, and creating community. YouTube allows BART to tell stories and to illustrate concepts that cannot easily be conveyed with the written word. BART uses its blog for what it calls âmedium-formatâ communications that are too long to be summarized in a Facebook or Twitter post. LinkedIn is used for job listings, but otherwise is not part of BARTâs social media strategy. BART also uses its social media channels to push users to the agencyâs website, which BART considers the primary source of âserious nuts and bolts information,â including service updates, fare information, and public meeting notices. agency considerations In the survey, BART indicated that communications with current riders and providing general service information were the agencyâs most important goals and that social media were âvery effectiveâ in achieving those goals. Also important for BART is the ability to bypass traditional media outlets and to communicate directly with customers. Another priority for BART is to make the agency âmore approachable.â Agency research has shown that when BART carried its first passen- gers in the 1970s, locals considered the project a marvel of technology. But after decades of familiarity, residents have come to treat BART as a utility. The agency is working to change this perception and to reposition itself as a regional mobility partner. Overall, BART estimates that social media account for only about 6% of the impressions generated through electronic media. For this reason, BART has worked to create as many channels of communication as possible. Customers expect to interact with BART in the social space, so employees work to find the balance between cus- tomer expectations and resource limitations. Live Twitter updates are available during regular business hours and the occasional special event or emergency. Train status and other alerts are available through the agencyâs official update channels at all times; BART does not rely on social media for these core services. When marketing staffers sign off from Twitter, they provide followers with direct links to these auto- mated updates. Thanks to these clearly defined boundaries, chapter five case exaMples
30 BART says that the amount of time that employees spend in the social media space has leveled off. Because resource allocation is typically a zero-sum game, BART believes that agencies need to focus on the basics before moving into social media. Organizations would provide what customers needâonline trip-planning tools, real-time information, service advisories, and way-finding resourcesâ before turning to social media. BART does not have a formal social media policy, but does have a comment policy. Inappropriate comments will be removed, but BART welcomes feedbackâthe good with the badâsaying that it is important for agencies to have a thick skin. Equally important is presenting information in a straightforward way. Readers may not always agree with the message, but they will respect honesty. lessons learned BART offered the following advice and lessons learned. ⢠Keep social media in perspectiveâWhile BART has no doubt that social media will become even more important in the future, for now social media users rep- resent only a small segment of the rider population. ⢠Get your house in order firstâIf your website does not have trip planning, real-time information, and devel- oper tools you should not be spending a great deal of time in social media. ⢠Acknowledge your mistakesâEveryone makes mis- takes and BART believes it is important for organizations to own up to their errors. ⢠Find the right toneâBART urges agencies to avoid jargon and âagency-speakâ and to use a human touch when connecting with readers. social Media links Website: www.bart.gov Facebook: www.facebook.com/bartsf Blog: sfbart.posterous.com/ Twitter: www.twitter.com/sfbart YouTube: www.youtube.com/bartable Foursquare: foursquare.com/sfbart. dallas area rapId transIt DART is a multimodal transit agency serving the Dallas metropolitan area. DART provides bus, light rail, commuter rail, demand-response, and vanpool services over 689 square miles with a population of 2.4 million. In 2009, DART pro- vided 65 million unlinked trips. social Media overview According to agency staff, DARTâs social media activities include Facebook, Twitter, YouTube (see Figure 10), and RSS feeds. The agency believes that each medium is effective in its own way, and tries to match the medium to the message. DART uses its main website for providing general informa- tion and relies on Twitter and the e-mail/text messaging tool GovDelivery for service updates. DART also sees Twitter as an emerging platform for one-to-one conversations, whereas it values YouTube for one-to-many communications. A few years ago, DART saw the potential of YouTube as a new way to talk to its customers without spending a lot of money. The agency already had a talented videographer and photographer on staff, and YouTube enabled DART to work with existing FIGURE 9 BARTâs blog covers service-related topics. FIGURE 10 DART posts instructional videos on YouTube.
31 resources. The barriers to entry were low, and the only invest- ment needed was a consumer-grade camcorder. DART tries to make sure that its social media channels complement one another. YouTube videos are promoted on Facebook and Twit- ter, and all platforms encourage users to visit the main website. âItâs all connectedâ DART started using YouTube as part of the outreach efforts for its Green Line light rail project. The goal was to build excitement for the project and to sustain that interest over the 18-month construction period. Media relations staff developed a YouTube campaign called âIâm Connected,â which was part of the broader marketing theme, âItâs All Connected.â The video campaign was designed to engage customers and employees by creating and posting short videos showing how employees were connected to the Green Line project. For example, a DART police officer talked about her role in ensuring passenger safety, while a graphics designer high- lighted his behind-the-scenes role in updating the system map. DARTâs goal was to post one update per week until the project was completed. By featuring its employees in the videos, especially those who normally did not work with the public, DART was able to âput a human face on a bunch of steel, concrete, and cop- per.â Media relations staff met with senior executives at the early stages of the project to garner internal support for the project, and DART characterizes employee response to the project as âterrific.â Once the Green Line opened, DART found other ways to use YouTube and, in particular, opportunities to feature oper- ations personal. Because the new rail line resulted in many bus route changes, for example, DART created videos with bus operators showing customers how to make connections at the new stations. Using operators allowed DART to continue its efforts to build a personal connection with its riders. agency considerations Acknowledging that customers have multiple transportation alternatives, DART hopes to use social media platforms to personalize the riding experience. In the survey, DART rated social media âvery effectiveâ for communicating with riders and with distributing real-time information and âeffectiveâ for other goals, including improving customer satisfaction and improving the agency image. Also in the survey, DART reported using Facebook, Twit- ter, and YouTube to reach everyday riders, students, young adults, seniors, people with disabilities, low-income com- munities, and external stakeholders. The agency considered social media tools âeffectiveâ for reaching these groups, with the exception of seniors and low-income communities. For these markets, social media were âslightly effective.â DARTâs social media policy is an addendum to the agen- cyâs communications policy and governs employee access and online behavior. Only members of the media relations staff are authorized to publish official communications; according to DARTâs survey responses these employees spend about 180 hours per month on social media activities. Any DART employee posting to social media sites is required to identify himself or herself as an employee and to refer readers to the agencyâs website. DART tracks page views and followers for its social media activities. The primary goal is to make sure that traffic continues to grow. lessons learned DART offered the following advice and lessons learned. ⢠Recognize the strengths of each social media platformâDART tries to take advantage of the unique strengths of each social medium platform and says, âIf youâre using everything for everything, youâre not using everything effectively.â ⢠Emphasize the message, not the technologyâDARTâs videos showcasing bus operators are deliberately informal. ⢠Consider long-term costsâAlthough the barriers to entry are low for Facebook and Twitter, the costs of staying are high. Social media sites require active mon- itoring and maintenance. social Media links Website: www.dart.org Facebook: www.facebook.com/DARTDallas Twitter: www.twitter.com/dartmedia YouTube: www.youtube.com/dartdallas. lehIgh and northaMpton transportatIon authorIty LANTA operates bus and demand-response services in Penn- sylvaniaâs Lehigh Valley, including the cities of Allentown and Bethlehem. LANTAâs service area covers 106 square miles with a population of 389,000; in 2009, the agency pro- vided 6.0 million unlinked passenger trips. social Media overview According to agency staff, LANTA currently uses the follow- ing social media platforms: agency blog, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. The agency uses Facebook (see Figure 11) and Twitter to provide service information, both real-time alerts and general information, as well as news, meeting notices, contests and promotions. LANTAâs blog covers less time- sensitive information, including feature stories, agency news,
32 press releases, and public hearing comments. The agency uses YouTube for news, contests, how-to-ride videos, and televi- sion commercials. Generally, LANTA updates its Facebook page first and uses an automated service to distribute the posts to other social media channels. Service alerts are updated as needed, and LANTA posts updates for news items a few times a week. Other features are generally updated once a month or less frequently. agency considerations LANTA made the decision to use social media after an infor- mal assessment of the Web 2.0 environment. As other public agencies began to enter the social space, LANTA recognized the potential benefits of joining the conversation. Initially con- cerned about a digital divide, the agency researched the charac- teristics of social media users and saw the level of penetration across all markets. Convinced that people in all demographic groups were engaged with social media, LANTA moved ahead. The agency first started with MySpace, but quickly moved to Facebook to take advantage of the better infrastructure, additional utilities, and the flexibility to create a page more suitable for a government organization. The transition to Facebook is now complete and LANTA no longer uses MySpace. LANTA officials perceive the difference as follows: âFacebook was serious; MySpace was more social.â The agency struggled a bit at first, and did not consider the MySpace interface to be intuitive. However, LANTA observed how other organizations used social media and quickly adapted to what an executive called âa whole new world.â Twitter also had a learning curve, with its 140-character limit and special- ized style and syntax, but again the agency found its voice. The agencyâs use of social media outlets supports a num- ber of strategies. These include building stakeholder and general support for public transit and presenting transit as a âhipâ and relevant entity within the community. The social media campaigns also address funding issues, both locally and on a state level. Finally, the intent of LANTAâs board of directors is to expand use among discretionary or choice riders to increase ridership and to add value to the product itself. Although the board fully understands the role of transit in meeting social service needs, they also see the attraction of choice riders as essential to the growth and improving the image of public transit. Accordingly, LANTAâs Facebook fans include a mix of consumers, employees, and stakeholders (e.g., chamber of commerce, organizations promoting downtown, environmen- tal groups, restaurateurs, and advocates for regionalization). Although most of LANTAâs riders have cell phones and Internet connections, the agency estimates that only 20% to 30% of its social network followers are consumers. Six col- leges are located in the Lehigh Valley. Because these insti- tutions provide their own transportation services, LANTA does not perceive area students as the primary target market for its social media strategy. However, the Lehigh Valley is home to many young adults who have opted to remain in the area after graduating from college or who chose to return or relocate to the community because of economic and lifestyle goals. These 20- to 34-year-old young professionals expect area service providers to offer online access to information as well as to participate in social media. LANTA does not have a social media policy, but the agency may develop one in the future. Although the agency initially anticipated some negative postings from disgruntled employees, this has not been the case. The agency also dis- misses concerns about cybersecurity, saying that this is an issue for all Internet use, not just social media. LANTA tracks fans and followers, but does not use detailed analytics to measure the performance of its social media activities. Saying that no one can predict what the constantly evolving social media space will look like in five years, LANTA prefers to âgo with the flow.â Social media comple- ment other communications channels for LANTA, but do not replace them. The ability to use social media at no cost to the agency was a major consideration for LANTA. A senior manager creates the updates with support from administrative staff; together, they spend about 16 hours per month on social media activities. lessons learned LANTA offered the following advice and lessons learned. ⢠Find the right voiceâGovernment agencies have to adopt a voice for social media. It can be humorous and FIGURE 11 LANTA uses Facebook to connect with its community.
33 light-hearted, but also serious and reflective of the organization. ⢠Find the right personâFind someone on staff that enjoys social media and make sure that individual knows the parameters for the agency. ⢠You do not have to be an innovatorâLANTA learned about social media by following what other agencies were doing. ⢠You have nothing to loseâIt can be a little scary at first, but social networking is worth trying. social Media links Website: www.lantabus.com/ Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/LANTA-Lehigh- Valley-Metro/129767331032 Blog: lantanews.blogspot.com/ Twitter: www.twitter.com/LANTALV YouTube: www.youtube.com/LANTALehighValley. MetropolItan transportatIon authorIty MTA is a multimodal transportation organization in the New York metropolitan area. MTA has several operating sub- sidiaries, including New York City Transit (NYCT), Long Island Railroad (LIRR), Metro-North Railroad, Long Island Bus, and Bridges and Tunnels. NYCT provides bus, subway, bus rapid transit, and demand-response service to an area of 321 square miles with a population of 8 million, and it pro- vided 3.2 billion unlinked passenger trips in 2009. social Media overview Agency staff reports that MTA uses the following social media channels: Facebook (see Figure 12), Twitter, YouTube, and Flickr. In addition, the agency has a Google group for applica- tion developers. While recognizing that each platform is suited to different purposes, MTA considers Twitter the most effec- tive platform because it is up-to-the-minute and allows one- on-one communication. Flickr has been the least successful channel because it lacks the kind of user interaction available with Facebook and Twitter, but it has served well as an edu- cational and cultural resource, as an online gallery, and as a way for the press office to quickly share photos with editors. MTA will continue to post photographs on Flickr, especially for events. However, the agency will use Facebook and Twitter for in-the-moment connections, saying âThe home run hits are there.â Although the MTA posts some service alerts on Twit- ter, the agencyâs overall strategy is to use Twitter to promote the automated SMS and web-based alerts. In addition, MTA also uses social media to foster goodwill among customers, to share information about agency services, and to notify riders about special deals, such as discounts for passholders. agency considerations As a large agency with multiple subsidiaries, MTA faces a set of unique challenges. The various subsidiaries have an online presenceâincluding (but not limited to) separate Twitter feeds for NYCT, LIRR, Metro-North Railroad, and MetroCardâ and ensuring a consistent message is critical. MTAâs press office typically defines and distributes the common agency message within MTA (especially important for weather- related information), whereas staff at the subsidiaries take responsibility for developing mode-specific messages tai- lored to their customers. Despite its size, MTA does not have dedicated staff for social media. Employees from marketing and communications (including the press office) and admin- istrative offices have primary responsibility for MTAâs social media activities. Marketing and communications employees dedicate about 40 hours per month and administrative per- sonnel allocate 20 hours. These individuals frequently call on workers in other groups within the MTA to provide informa- tion for the authorityâs social media channels. âWe donât usu- ally lack for content,â one communications employee said. MTA staff took steps to receive all necessary internal reviews and approvals before moving into social media, working with in-house counsel to review the legal implications, including censorship and privacy issues. Although MTA does not have a written social media policy, the agency has developed certain agency practices concerning records retention. MTA retains electronic and paper copies of social media posts and staff members summarize social media activities for senior man- agement in monthly reports. Personnel use readily available statistics to track social media activity, to assess the impact of changes, and to identify successful practices. FIGURE 12 MTAâs Facebook page shows photographs from a track replacement project.
34 As a public authority, MTA welcomes feedback while acknowledging that it is difficult to dissuade people from posting negative comments. The agency accepts the good with the bad, but reserves the right to delete inappropriate content. NYCTâs Facebook page posts the following com- ment policy: Please respect your fellow readers and exercise appropriate restraint in drafting and submitting a post. In that regard, MTA New York City Transit reserves the right to delete any post that contains language or imagery which: is off-topic, is defamatory, compromises public safety or operations, disparages a group or individual on the basis of ethnicity, race, gender, religion, age, disability or sexual orientation, is commercial, contravenes law, contains spam, invades personal privacy, has sexual content, is obscene, includes any link to another site, or infringes on a copy- right or other proprietary right. Inappropriate comments notwithstanding, the MTA strives to maintain an open online dialogue and believes that its riders would not accept anything less. The agency responds to comments on a case-by-case basis and encourages read- ers with specific questions to contact customer service directly. MTA has learned that social media can be especially effec- tive during emergencies. In the winter of 2010â2011, MTA had to deal with the impacts of several major snowstorms and tried to stay in touch with customers before and dur- ing the weather emergencies. Before the storms, MTA used social media channels to show customers how the authority was preparing its equipment to operate during the inclement weather. During the storms, MTA tried to communicate as openly and honestly as possible despite difficult conditions. Social media updates encouraged passengers to travel safely and to check the MTA website for updated service informa- tion. Staff posted messages every hour or two, with a goal of keeping customers informed, and took advantage of incom- ing messages to identify trouble spots. MTA also used its social media channels to post photographs and video clips showing crews working during the storm to demonstrate the âherculean task our operations folks faced to keep service running.â On an everyday basis, social media benefit the MTA by allowing the agency to distribute its message unfiltered by reporters or traditional media outlets and provides other chan- nels for individuals to get information. This, in turn, has helped personalize an agency that many perceive as a âbig faceless bureaucracy.â One challenge for the MTA is managing customer expecta- tions. The more the agency uses its social media channels, the more the public expects. The agency posts a disclaimer on its social profile pages saying that the sites are only monitored during business hours, but perhaps because MTAâs service runs around the clock, customers still expect responses to their questions and comments on a 24/7 basis. lessons learned MTA and NYCT offered the following lessons learned: ⢠Cover your basesâMTA took pains to get all necessary reviews and approvals from the agencyâs chain of com- mand, including in-house counsel, before going online. ⢠Take things one step at a timeâMTA says that the agency crawled for a good period of time, then walked, and now is running. ⢠Donât overlook the value of incoming messagesâ During a series of snowstorms, messages from customers helped MTA identify trouble spots in the field. ⢠Set clear boundaries and guidelinesâThe MTA is a victim of its success. The more the agency uses its social media channels, the more the public expects. MTA has posted disclaimers saying that its social media sites are not monitored outside of business hours, but customers want responses around the clock. ⢠Have some funâFor a while, MTA posted a series of themed Twitter tweets keyed to days of the week, such as âWhatâs Up Wednesdays.â These were discontinued because of staffing limitations; however, MTA would like to reinstate the series should resources become available. social Media links Website: www.mta.info Facebook: www.facebook.com/MTA.info Twitter: www.twitter.com/mtainsider YouTube: www.youtube.com/mtainfo Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/mtaphotos. MountaIn lIne The Monongalia County Urban Mass Transit Authority, known as Mountain Line, provides bus and demand-response service in Morgantown, West Virginia. Mountain Lineâs ser- vice area comprises 201 square miles with a population of approximately 73,000 and includes the campus of West Virginia University (WVU), with a student enrollment of about 28,000. Ridership was 1.1 million trips in 2009. social Media overview Mountain Line staff report using the following social media applications: Facebook, Twitter (see Figure 13), and LinkedIn. The agency uses Facebook for communicating both real- time and static information, agency news and press releases, meeting notices, contests and promotions, and job listings. Twitter is used for time-sensitive information such as ser- vice updates, weather and traffic alerts that affect bus ser- vice, agency news, and contests and promotions. LinkedIn is reserved for general agency information. Mountain Line
35 also monitors its presence on Foursquare by verifying its sites and posting tips, but the agency has not formally taken over the sites or made offers through the application. agency considerations Mountain Line updates service information and alerts several times a day through Twitter. Other items are updated less fre- quently, typically a few times a week for agency news and press releases and less often for other items. Mountain Lineâs Twitter account is configured to feed posts automatically to the agen- cyâs Facebook page. Senior management, marketing staff, and customer service share responsibility for generating the content for social media posts. The general manager usually provides the early morning Twitter updates and turns the responsibility over to the marketing officer during working hours. Mountain Lineâs manager takes a hands-on approach to social media for two reasons. First, updating the Twitter account is not time-consuming. Second, as a small agency, Mountain Line does not have many employees who are both qualified and available to post social media updates. Out- side of business hours when live Twitter posts are not avail- able, customers can access the agencyâs automated service updates on the main website. Mountain Line estimates that staff spends about 36 hours a month on social media updates. Mountain Line describes its strategy for using social media as follows: ⢠Find the best way to communicate with riders using the tools they already use. ⢠Make it easy for the customers to get the information they need. Mountain Line believes that university students along with choice, or discretionary, riders constitute the primary audience for its social media communications, especially Twitter updates. Although these individuals may have bet- ter access to technology than some rider groups, the agency believes that its social media strategy does not exclude other riders. Most customers can receive text messages on their cell phones, enabling them to subscribe to Twitter sta- tus updates as text messages. In addition, customers can access real-time service updates by means of telephone, on display boards at several locations, and on the agencyâs website. Mountain Line does not consider social media an effective way to reach stakeholders such as community- based organizations; overall, these groups have not adopted social media. Mountain Line does not have a social media policy. Only two people generate the online content for this small agency, and they can easily discuss issues or concerns on an infor- mal basis. If the agency developed a policy, it would most likely focus on messaging, image, and information control. Although such a policy could be beneficial, the general man- ager questioned whether a social media policy alone could take the place of hands-on training and experience. FIGURE 13 Mountain Line uses Twitter to provide service updates and general information.
36 As with most transit properties, Mountain Line has received negative comments on Facebook and Twitter. Although the agency deletes or edits material it considers offensive, man- agers treat criticism as an opportunity to offer an explanation and to correct misinformation. Social media allow Moun- tain Line to answer rider questions in a public forum, on the assumption that if one individual has a question, it is likely that others want to know the same thing. Mountain Line uses several approaches to track the effec- tiveness of its social media activities, including built-in statistics and third-party analytic applications. The agency believes that the combination of social media and service updates on the website has reduced the burden on its receptionists, who also serve as customer service agents. No formal metrics are avail- able to document the impact, but the agency estimates that it sends out about one to five tweets per day to approximately 500 followers. Although social media activities may not reduce the number of completed calls, particularly during snowstorms or similar times of high demand for information, these updates may help Mountain Line share information with more people than would ordinarily be possible with phone calls alone. lessons learned Mountain Line Transit offered the following advice and lessons learned. ⢠Focus on your target marketâFor Mountain Line, social media have been a critical component of timely and effective communications with the WVU commu- nity, and many of the agencyâs electronic communica- tions focus on the student population. ⢠Treat negative feedback as an opportunityâOnline criticism provides managers with an opportunity to answer questions, offer explanations, and correct misinformation. ⢠Donât annoy your audienceâTry to find the fine line between providing customers with helpful information and bombarding them with too many posts. ⢠Have funâMountain Line never forgets that it oper- ates in a university town. College students appear to appreciate receiving the occasional status update, for example, when a beer truck blocks the bus. social Media links Website: www.busride.org Facebook: www.facebook.com/MountainLine Twitter: www.twitter.com/mountainline. translInk The South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority, known as TransLink, is the regional transportation operator for the Vancouver metropolitan area, delivering bus, subway, commuter rail, and ferry services through a series of subsid- iary companies. The authority reported 189.1 million revenue passengers on scheduled and paratransit services in 2009. social Media overview TransLink staff reports using the following social media applications: agency blog (The Buzzer), Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Foursquare. TransLink moved into social media as part of an overall strategy to become a more customer-focused organization, and Twitter is a key element of that approach. In addition to using Twitter to offer transit service information and updates, TransLink now provides customer service through Twitter as well, as described in the following section. TransLink was the first Canadian transit agency to develop a partnership with Foursquare and launched its own badge in February 2010. TransLink initially began to use Facebook as a way to generate interest in the agencyâs new fare card by holding a contest for a new name. With that campaign com- plete, employees are looking into new ways to take advan- tage of Facebookâs potential reach, which they believe is substantially larger than Twitterâs audience. using twitter for customer service TransLink began using Twitter in preparation for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games. Initially, media relations staff used the service to communicate with the press; however, customer questions soon started appearing, especially about service delays and interruptions. During the Olympics, TransLink staffed its Twitter account from 5:30 a.m. to 1:30 a.m. with about a dozen people from the communications department. After the Olympics ended in February 2010, Twitter use declined and the account reverted to the media relations depart- ment with reduced staff coverage. Looking for other opportunities to use Twitter, employees saw an opportunity to tap into their experience connecting with riders during the Olympics. Staff proposed developing a Twitter communications channel to complement the agencyâs customer service call center. They built a business case to get internal approval to add a dedicated position, including statis- tics about the growth in the volume of Twitter followers and the number of commendations the agency received lauding its social media efforts. In November 2010, TransLink inte- grated Twitter into its customer service group for one-month pilot test, which was subsequently extended indefinitely. Now each customer service shift has one individual responsible for following and responding to customer com- ments and questions through Twitter. Figure 14 shows the trend in TransLinkâs tweets from January 2010 through May 2011. As the chart shows, tweets spiked in February 2010
37 during the Olympics and again in November 2010 when the customer service pilot was implemented. The number of tweets has grown nearly every month since then and by May 2011, six months into the program, the total was more than double the November volume and roughly twice the number of tweets in February 2010. TransLink has not seen any change in the volume of tele- phone calls coming into the customer service center since the agency increased its use of Twitter. Instead, the agency believes that using Twitter has allowed TransLink to reach new customers who were not previously contacting customer service, including students and young working professionals, those under 35 years old (see Figure 15). agency considerations TransLink believes that social networking is not just a way for agencies to repackage their traditional customer communica- tions. Instead, agencies have to be prepared to respond to cus- tomers in the social space and to engage them in conversation. FIGURE 14 Average monthly tweets posted by TransLink, January 2010âMay 2011. FIGURE 15 TransLink responds to customer comment via Twitter.
38 A key benefit of engaging customers is the unparalleled oppor- tunity to gain insight into customer attitudes and priorities. In the survey, TransLink said, âSocial media is a little like having a direct line into what customers are thinking.â Agencies that know how to tap into that information can learn a great deal about âcustomer pain pointsâ and how to improve service. TransLink allocates considerable resources to its social media activities. Individuals in customer service dedicate about 200 hours per month to social media, as do marketing and communications personnel. Also participating in social media activities are senior managers (30 hours per month), information technology staff (10 hours), and consultants (5 hours). However, even with this level of commitment, TransLinkâs survey responses emphasized the importance of working closely with staff throughout the entire organiza- tion to follow through on the conversations initiated in the social space: Donât think that social media is just another tool limited to the communications department. Itâs a whole new channel through which your customers can reach you, and if done right, their questions and prompts will affect how other business units work. Constant questions about slow service should prod transit depots to analyze and respond; questions about policy should receive answers and consideration from policy makers. Although TransLink tracks basic metrics, the agency sees the need for analysis that goes beyond tracking the number of followers and volume of tweets. The next step would be to identify key goals and set up measurements to track prog- ress toward those goals. TransLink would also like to bet- ter integrate social media into its call center and customer service processes to ensure central collection of issues and consistent responses. TransLink was initially concerned about attracting criticism and negative feedback through its social media activities, but instead found an audience eager to par- ticipate in conversations. The agencyâs concerns have shifted from worry about online criticism to questions about how to engage a very large audience. So far, TransLink has focused on listening to its followers with a goal of delivering the information they are asking for. Over time, the agency hopes to tap into its base of social media followers to help change customer behavior and encourage people to travel smarter. However, in the short term, social media also provide the agency with an oppor- tunity to have fun. Free from the constraints of traditional media, The Buzzer âtackles all kinds of stories about tran- sit history, the SkyTrain chime, oddities of the system, and more.â Taking the opportunity to celebrate transit in a light- hearted way allows TransLink to build relationships with its customers and enhance its own reputation. lessons learned TransLink staff offered the following advice and lessons learned. ⢠Social media platforms are not a new pipe for old messagingâCustomers expect two-way conversations, and they expect to talk to you on the same level. ⢠Build your brand by building relationships with customersâAs you treat people well and respond thoughtfully, your customers will come to trust and rely on you. ⢠You can educate, inform, and delightâProducing entertaining content helps build real relationships with customers, makes them happy, and ultimately builds your brand. ⢠Social media provide insight into customersâ Customers will immediately tell you what you are doing wrong and, occasionally, what you are doing right. ⢠Social networking is harder than it looksâBuilding relationships through social media is basically mak- ing friends with people one by one. It requires a lot of patience, endurance, and good humor and a lot of knowl- edge about the organization. ⢠Social media will (and should) affect your entire organizationâIf you use social media correctly, the questions and comments will prompt responses from departments throughout the organization. Legitimate questions and complaints can lead to real change or thoughtful responses from the relevant departmentsâ not just sympathy and excuses from communications or customer service staff. ⢠Set the toneâAfter a customer reads your comment, he/she should have the impression that you listened, that you care and respect customers, and that you are someone the rider would not mind talking to again. social Media links Website: www.translink.ca Blog: buzzer.translink.ca Facebook: www.facebook.com/translink Twitter: www.twitter.com/translink YouTube: www.youtube.com/translink Foursquare: foursquare.com/translink