TransLoc Marketing - Twitter for Transit Agencies

WEBINAR SERIESNicole Guernsey, Brand & Media Specialist

Nout Boctor-Smith, Marketing Specialist

WHY USE SOCIAL MEDIA?

One of the best ways to reach your passengers and potential passengers is through social media.

1. Engage customers

2. Keep stakeholders updated

3. Allow customers to bypass agency bureaucracy

4. Appear more “hip” when communicating with a large student population

5. Reach people where they are already are

5 CATEGORIES OF SOCIAL FOR TRANSIT

1. Timely updates—Share real-time service information and advisories with riders

2. Public information—Provide the public with information about services, fares, and long-range planning projects

3. Citizen engagement—Interactive aspects of social media provides an informal way to connect with customers

4. Employee recognition—Recognize current outstanding workers and recruit new employees

5. Entertainment—Display a personal touch and entertain riders through songs, videos, images, and contests

“ALL [SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNELS] CAN HELP AGENCIES PERSONALIZE WHAT CAN OTHERWISE APPEAR LIKE A FACELESS BUREAUCRACY.

– Susan Bregman, The Transit Wire

HOW EFFECTIVE IS IT?

58%very effective

Communicationwith current riders

58%effective

Agency Imageimprovement

55%effective

Customer Satisfaction

improvement

>50%effective

Reaching All Constituencies

Agencies rated the effectiveness of social media toward various goals:

Minorities especially rely on smartphones for internet access & rate the need for agencies to be active on social media the highest

SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNELS

• Twitter

• Facebook

• Instagram

• LinkedIn

“SOCIAL MEDIA CAN ACT AS A MONITORING TOOL… AND EVEN INCREASE TRUST BETWEEN PASSENGERS AND AGENCIES.

– Tod Newcombe, Government Technology

SOCIAL LISTENING

• Gain valuable insight

• Gauge community sentiment

• Inform planning strategies

• Better influence your audiences

WE’RE HERE TO TALK ABOUT twitter

WHY TWITTER?

• All of the top 50 transit agencies and 98% of State DOTs use Twitter

“If planners seek to support strong public transit systems as a key element in building equitable and sustainable communities, they should encourage positive public sentiment about the service, in part by encouraging public transit agencies to use interactive social media approaches.”

-Lisa Schweitzer, University of Southern California

• Yet, the sentiment surrounding public transit on Twitter is overwhelmingly negative

TWITTER BASICSBasic vocabulary:

• “handle” = username

• “follow”

• “mention” = user mentions your handle

• “reply”

• “retweet” = user shares your tweet

• “direct message”

• “hashtag” = # (i.e., #publictransit or #WMATA)

For more information, check out this great resource on Twitter for Beginners from Mashable:

http://mashable.com/2012/06/05/twitter-for-beginners

ANATOMY OF A TWEET

Twitter username and handle

Favorite this tweet

Retweet (2 users have retweeted this)

Reply to this tweet

Click here for more options

Time of tweet

User profile image

ANATOMY OF A TWEET

ANATOMY OF A TWEET

ANATOMY OF A TWEET

Original tweet

User that retweeted a tweet

User that replied to this retweet

Replied to both twitter users (via mentions)

DIVERSE CONTENT

TWITTER BASICS

• www.twitter.com

• 3-5 tweets per day, plus conversational interaction

• Peak time to post for important announcements: 12-1pm

• 70-100 characters (140 character max)

• 1-2 hashtags

• Use images as much as possible

JOIN THE CONVERSATION.

TAKE CHARGE AND PARTICIPATE

• Acknowledge riders' frustration

• Educate about root causes

• Be conversational

• Be personable

• Use humor when appropriate

• Respond, respond, respond

SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS

Free social media tools to assist you with tracking, scheduling, and creating images:

• bitly.com

- link shortening and tracking

• hootsuite.com

- social management and scheduling

• canva.com

- images and design

MAKING YOUR LIFE EASIER

Social traffic and referrers

• bit.ly is a link shortening tool that allows you to track social traffic

MAKING YOUR LIFE EASIER

Social traffic and referrers

• bit.ly is a link shortening tool that allows you to track social traffic

MAKING YOUR LIFE EASIER

Social Accounts

• Hootsuite is a free tool that allows you control all your social media in one place.

Scheduling Options

MAKING YOUR LIFE EASIER

• Canva is a free design tool enabling you to add pizazz without having a graphic designer on staff.

Pre-sized Media Options

WHY?

“WHY FEED THE TWITTER TROLLS”

“WHY FEED THE TWITTER TROLLS”

More available at http://gizmodo.com/i-would-like-to-buy-a-drink-for-the-poor-soul-who-ran-t-1765477706

FOLLOW US:twitter.com/transloc – @transloc

facebook.com/transloc – @transloc linkedin.com/company/transloc – @transloc instagram.com/transloc_inc – @transloc_inc

Contact us – marketing@transloc.com

QUESTIONS?

SOURCES AND RESOURCES• Antrim, A. (2013, April 8). Getting real about the utility of social media for public transit. Retrieved April 19, 2016, from http://trilliumtransit.com/2013/04/08/social-media-analyzed/

• Bregman, S. (Ed.). (n.d.). TCRB Synthesis 99: Uses of Social Media in Public Transportation - A Synthesis of Transit Practice (Research Sponsored by the Federal Transit Administration in Cooperation with the Transit Development Corporation). Transportation Research Board. Retrieved April 19, 2016, from http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/tcrp/tcrp_syn_99.pdf

• Kaufman, S. M. (2014, February). Co-Monitoring for Transit Management [Scholarly project]. In NYU Wagner School. Retrieved April 19, 2016, from https://wagner.nyu.edu/rudincenter/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/CoMonitoringForTransit_web.pdf

• Keatts, A. (2016, January 19). Why Transit Agencies Should Feed Twitter Trolls. Retrieved April 19, 2016, from http://urbanedge.blogs.rice.edu/2016/01/19/2048/#.VxEhgBMrKuU

• Marshall, A. (2015, February 16). How Public Transit Agencies Deal with All Your Angry, Mean, and Terrible Tweets. Retrieved April 19, 2016, from http://www.citylab.com/tech/2015/02/how-public-transit-agencies-deal-with-all-your-angry-mean-and-terrible-tweets/385373/

• Newcombe, T. (2015, March 30). Social Media Keeps Transit Agencies Informed About its Riders. Retrieved April 19, 2016, from http://www.govtech.com/dc/articles/Social-Media-Keeps-Transit-Agencies-Informed-About-its-Riders.html

• Patterson, M. (2015, May 04). Social Media Demographics for Marketers. Retrieved April 26, 2016, from http://sproutsocial.com/insights/new-social-media-demographics/

• Poston, B. (2016, March 18). With its back against the wall, BART tweets like a boss. Retrieved April 19, 2016, from http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-bart-twitter-battle-20160318-snap-htmlstory.html

• Raschke, K. (2011, July 24). 41 of the top 50 transit agencies use Twitter. Does yours? Retrieved April 19, 2016, from https://kurtraschke.com/2011/07/transit-agencies-twitter

• Schweitzer, L. (2014). Planning and Social Media: A Case Study of Public Transit and Stigma on Twitter. Journal of the American Planning Association, 80(3), 218-238. doi:10.1080/01944363.2014.980439

• Starcic, J. (2015, May 20). How Transit Agencies Can Manage the "Blizzard" of Negativity on Twitter - Mobility Lab. Retrieved April 19, 2016, from http://mobilitylab.org/2015/05/20/how-transit-agencies-can-manage-the-blizzard-of-negativity-on-twitter/