Case Study - Metro - Amazon S3 · [email protected]! 646345032267!! ! ! 2!...

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Copyright Boot Camp Digital 2011 All Rights Reserved

Boot Cam

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Metro

Search & Respond Search for mentions of your brand online and respond quickly. This helps diffuse situations and gives you information about issues.

Find the Problem Don’t just say sorry – work internally to understand the problem. Show that you care by taking steps to understand and act.

Follow Up Follow up and let people know that they are heard. People want acknowledgement and resolution. Help them!

Learn how Cincinnati Metro is using Twitter to handle complaints and connect with riders Complaints on Twitter can be a nightmare! Learn how to turn haters into lovers with 3 simple steps.

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The Cincinnati Metro transit system is using social media to strategically engage with its riders. Jill Dunne, Metro's Public Affairs Manager, is leading the effort and has seen surprising results. Dunne realized that they had an opportunity to use social media to provide updates on services, share information about marketing initiatives and resolve issues. She quickly realized that responding to complaints was a big part of using Twitter and Facebook.

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"Twitter and social media in general has been a very helpful to us. It's a great way to get feedback. People might not be willing to go to our website and click on "Contact Us" to tell us what they think, but many times people won't hesitate to share good or bad experiences on Twitter," says Jill Dunne, Public Affairs Manager for Metro

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Learn about how Metro uses a 3-‐Step method to respond to customer issues, and how they effectively deal with complaints. One rider even shared photos when she was reunited with her umbrella after Tweeting about losing it on a bus.

Since becoming active on Twitter, Metro has grown to over 3,000 Twitter followers and nearly 1,000 Facebook fans. In addition, they are able to share information faster and learn about issues. The two-‐way communication has helped both Metro and the riders.


www.KristaNeher.com www.BootCampDigital.com

2 Copyright Boot Camp Digital 2011 All Rights Reserved

Background

Metro is Cincinnati and Southwest Ohio’s fixed route bus service. They provide over 17 million rides a year and brings approximately 20% of downtown Cincinnati’s workforce to the city.

In 2010 when Jill Dunne joined Metro as the Public Affairs Manager they had little presence on Twitter and Facebook. Metro had 40 fans and the Twitter account was only used to post bus detours. There was little interaction with riders.

The Challenge

Connect with riders in a relevant and useful way using new media channels.

The Concept

The concept for using Twitter for Metro was to do more than just provide detour information.

The goal was to use social media and Twitter in particular to build deeper and more positive relationships with riders, resolve issues, and live the vision of Metro to “become a world class, intensely customer focused, multi-‐modal, regional transportation organization”.

Learning Note:

While many companies have vision statements that include customer care, customers first and customer service, social media gives them the opportunity to put their money where their mouth is. Rather than just saying you care, show customers that you care through social media.

Goals:

The goals for Metro’s efforts on Twitter were:

• Customer service

• Engage riders

• Communicate information quickly

• Promote marketing initiatives

Replying in a timely and relevant way is crucial to success.

"We reply to messages as much as we can. We try thanking people who say good things, and if someone has a complaint we try to help resolve the issue, if possible,"

-‐ Jill Dunne Public Affairs Manager, Metro

Check out Boot Camp Digital’s training programs to learn how you can do more with your social media marketing and buy our book The Social Media Field Guide.

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Implementation

Dunne started by searching for mentions of Metro and responding. Due to the nature of the industry (public transportation) customer service was a big issue.

Dealing with complaints and negative comments is one of the biggest concerns for most companies using social media.

So how does Metro handle complaints?

Step 1: Understand the Issue

The first step is to ask questions to try to understand the specific issue. People with complaints on Twitter want to be heard and know that you really actually do care. When a customer has a complaint or issue, Dunne will follow up and ask questions to get to the root of the issue.

This has a number of benefits:

• The focus of the conversation is on resolution vs. complaining

• Customers are less angry because they see that you care

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Step 2: Find the Problem Internally

The next step in dealing with a complaint is to follow up and find the issue. Bus is late? We’ll figure out why so that we can make sure it isn’t late again. Lost something? We can see if it is still on the bus and get it to you? Problem on a bus? We can pull video footage to see what happened.

To do this effectively the social media manager must be connected internally and be able to work with multiple departments to solve issues.

Learning Point:

The key to managing customer service on Twitter is to actually take action. Rather than saying “sorry” demonstrate that you are sorry by working internally to resolve or at least understand the issue. You can’t please all the people all the time, but you can care enough to try to actually address their issue vs. paying lip service.

Note: read the Tweets from the bottom up




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Step #3: Follow Up with a Clear Explanation

The final step in responding to issues on Twitter is to follow-‐up with a clear explanation (and sometimes an offer).

Metro often offers free ride tickets to riders who had a negative experience (although not until after looking in to it) when it was caused by a fault on their end.

What is interesting is that most customers aren’t too interested in the free tickets (although it is a nice bonus) they are just happy to be heard.

“People are really positive and surprised that we respond to them” says Dunne.

Learning Point:

People don’t just want free stuff, they want to be heard, and they want you to fix their problem. Don’t resort to coupons or freebies. Show that you are fixing the issue and explain what caused it. Most people just want acknowledgement.

Metro receives many positive responses from riders because of their quick and helpful responses on Twitter.

Responsiveness is key to success.

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Tips for Success

• Respond quickly – if you take more than a few hours it is already irrelevant

• Be connected internally – so that you can actually solve problems, follow up and get to the bottom of things

• Explain why – Most people are impressed that you care enough to look in to issues

• Monitor comments directly to you and your keywords – Cincinnati Metro looks for people who directly Tweet at them (@cincinnatimetro) as well as for people using the words Cincinnati + Metro in Tweets.

• A good response should demonstrate that:

o They are heard

o You want to help

o You will actually do something

• Good responses can diffuse the situation and prevent a bigger problem later

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“In addition to customer service, we use Twitter to keep our riders informed” Metro can send out information about route changes or delays on Twitter faster than they can update their website.

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How Twitter can Reunite You with Your Umbrella

People lose stuff on busses all the time. Most of them probably never expect to see their lost item again.

In one case, a rider Tweeted about losing her umbrella on the bus. It wasn’t just an umbrella to her – it was a uniquely designed umbrella that meant a lot to her.

Dunne asked for the bus and time, and was able to contact the driver who searched the bus for the umbrella. Later that day, the rider was reunited with her umbrella. She shared photos and posted about it on the internet.

Learning Point: Rather than sending someone with a complaint to a 1-‐800 number or an online form, deal with their problem for them. Have customer service linked in so that you can solve their problems for them.

Going above and beyond shows that you really care and can help drive word of mouth.

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Results Metro has seen a variety of positive results from their efforts in social media.

• Increased following on social networks. Metro now has over 3,000 followers on Twitter and nearly 1,000 on Facebook.

• Gain support for marketing initiatives. The loyal riders help spread the news about new services.

• Focus group participants. As Metro builds relationships with their more frequent riders they are able to ask them for feedback.

• Many positive mentions about Metro

• Riders are more informed about service updates and changes

• Metro uses feedback from Twitter to improve their services

Social Media doesn’t have to be Time Consuming. Dunne

manages Twitter and Facebook in less than an hour a day

(unless there is a snow storm).




As Public Affairs Manager for Metro, Jill Dunne is responsible for media, public and community relations as well as social media efforts. Metro is a non-‐profit, tax-‐funded public service of the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority. Jill is responsible for managing Metro’s website redesign as well its Facebook page, Twitter, Flickr page and YouTube channel. She has grown the Facebook page from 43 to 900+ “Likes”, and increased Twitter followers from fewer than 1,500 to nearly 3,000. Before joining Metro, she was Senior Account Executive for O’Keeffe Communications. She was also Public Relations Manager and spokesperson for the Newport Aquarium for five years. She was interviewed live on The Today Show and Good Morning America (with Scuba Santa), and was quoted in the New York Times. She is also Membership Chair for the Cincinnati Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America.

Jill Dunne, Metro Public Affairs Manager

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Case Study - Metro - Amazon S3 · [email protected]! 646345032267!! ! ! 2!...

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