UTA - Creating brand advocates and controlling your message with social media

Creating brand advocates & controlling your message with social media

1. How many Americans used social media in 2005?    

5 percent 8 percent 13 percent 27 percent

1. How many Americans used social media in 2005?    

5 percent 8 percent 13 percent 27 percent

- Pew Research Center, Jan. 2017

2. What is the most popular social media platform in the U.S.?     

Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube Pinterest

2. What is the most popular social media platform in the U.S.?     

Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube Pinterest

- Pew Research Center Jan. 2017

3. Young adults are most likely to use      

Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube Pinterest Snapchat

- Pew Research Center, Jan. 2017

3. Young adults are most likely to use      

Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube Pinterest Snapchat

- Pew Research Center, Jan. 2017

4. Twitter was almost called    

Chirp Buzz Twitch Shimmy

4. Twitter was almost called    

Chirp Buzz Twitch Shimmy

- LA Times Blog

Objectives: • How UTA uses social media to relay a cohesive message with the public and the media and tell our side of the story • How we use social media to provide a realtime response • How we work to turn social media followers into advocates

• How we use social media to communicate with riders, the media and the general public • The technical and manpower resources we use to make it work • What we’re doing right • What we’re trying to improve

• Future goals

2017: population 3 million 2060: population 6 million

TRAX

FrontRunner

Bus

S-Line

Future Projects: Provo Orem TRIP

UTA service in seven counties: Box Elder, Davis, Salt Lake, Tooele, Utah, Weber, and Summit Total UTA Ridership in 2016: 45.5 million trips

Average Weekday Boardings in 2016: 149,369 per day

Why Social Media?

Customer Service Challenges:

• Customers need info immediately and don’t have time to wait on hold for customer service • Delays impact hundreds of customers simultaneously, increasing phone line wait time • UTA buses and trains run from 5 a.m. until midnight, seven days per week. Staffing customer service during that time isn’t practical.

• On-station signs have limited space. Customers don’t know about delays until they arrive at a station.

Media Challenges:

• Need to communicate service information to media as well as the public so that it can be shared with a wider audience.

• Need to show the positive side of UTA, where hundreds of employees work daily to get riders where they need to go.

• Correct inaccuracies and tell our side of the story.

Blog (www.rideuta.com/news)

Facebook (@RideUTA)

Facebook (@RideUTA)

Facebook (@RideUTA)

Instagram (@RideUTA)

YouTube (@UTARide)

Twitter (@RideUTA)

How it works

Hootsuite

Customer Service Training

• How to plan trips • How to answer questions about all aspects of the system • Tour facilities • Visit all counties to find out how to reach major points of interest • Ride bus routes • Crucial conversations training • How to quickly identify and respond to basic personality types • Shadow other jobs in the system

Where We’ve Seen Success…

UTA Informational Calls 2008 (highest ever): 994,296 2016: 358,802 2017: On trend to be reduced by an additional 17 percent

Leverage the “social” in social media In a social media study by J.D. Power & Associates, 87 percent of satisfied customers said their online interaction with the company “positively impacted” their likelihood of purchase from that company.

“Some agencies use Twitter to pump out impersonal blasts announcing service disruptions. Others make the effort to respond to user complaints and interact with them. That second approach, it turns out, makes a major difference in how the agency is perceived online.�

- Alex Davies Wired.com

“So what’s the takeaway? If you’re looking for a low investment way to improve your public image on Twitter, use Twitter as a tool for conversation, not one-way communication. It may seem that someone complaining to 18 followers that their train is late doesn’t matter, but Schweitzer makes the point that social media does influence broader public perceptions.

- Alex Davies Wired.com

Challenges

Challenges • How much information to share, and how soon?

Challenges • How much information to share, and how soon? • Deciphering technical talk

Challenges • How much information to share, and how soon?

• Deciphering technical talk • Getting everyone on the same page

Challenges • • • •

How much information to share, and how soon?

Deciphering technical talk Getting everyone on the same page Investing our time wisely

Future Goals: More Agents

Future Goals: Influencers

Future Goals: Advertising

Future Goals: Improved Analytics

Case Study

Takeaways • Transparency and honesty

Takeaways • Transparency and honesty • Consistency

Takeaways • Transparency and honesty • Consistency

• Build relationships

Lynze Lenio Llenio@rideuta.com @lynze13