HootSuite Professional Services: Situational Simulation

HootSuite Media Inc. HootSuite Professional Services Situational Simulation | 1

Only 18% of companies state that their employees have a good understanding of their social media policies

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“Social media was the ideal medium for providing updates, responding to public concerns and connecting a variety of groups to spread vital information”

Social Media for Emergency Response Situational Simulation

In an emergency, it is crucial to disperse information instantly to those who need it most. Organizations are turning to social media as a way to effectively and efficiently disseminate emergency information. At HootSuite we offer Situational Simulations for all Enterprise clients through HootSuite Professional Services. Situational Simulations allows organizations to test procedures and available resources — ensuring your team is prepared for an emergency situation.

Project Storm Owly

A large electric utility company in the United States, serving over 4.5 million customers, needed to launch a storm simulation project. The purpose of Storm Owly was to help integrate social media into the utility company’s emergency response strategy. In any emergency situation, the rapid and coordinated communication of information is integral to everyone’s safety. This company wanted to be equipped to address all the questions and concerns that would be submitted during an emergency situation.

Their goal was to successfully implement a social media strategy that was both efficient in an emergency situation as well as effective. The company knew that social media was the ideal medium for providing updates, responding to public concerns and connecting a variety of groups to spread vital information. To help them become more familiar with using social media, they called on HootSuite Professional Services to help plan a storm simulation where communication through social media channels was crucial.

The Challenge

Emergency response management requires rapid response times and a dedicated team to ensure information is accurate and up to date, and to keep the public informed. To do this, they used HootSuite Professional Services to guide them through a successful social media strategy implementation. If they were successful in their training, they would emerge with an emergency response strategy that would be accurate and reliable.

HootSuite Professional Services:Situational Simulation


Storm Owly Simulation Objectives:

• To test speed and efficiency of their social media processes and plan in storm

• To ensure integration among social media team members

• To drill Customer Service representatives on how to respond using HootSuite

• To drill team members on their roles and deliverables

HootSuite Professional Services created a two-hour storm simulation called Storm Owly. Before simulating the effects of a loss in power in the area, the HootSuite Professional Services team gave an initial kick-off call and presentation, explaining the process and what was about to unfold.

The utility company then put together an emergency response team that was in charge of responding to messages from their customers, while HootSuite Professional Services created and managed a number of customer profiles to simulate the real life interaction between customers and the utility company’s Twitter profile and Facebook page.

This two-hour simulation was created to mimic Day 1 and Day 5 after the storm hit. The first hour of the simulation represented Day 1, imitating the public response with a tone that was anxious and nervous. The second hour represented Day 5, where the response and tone changed to be extremely frustrated and agitated. Their team carefully crafted bulk messages and responses based on the timing and scenarios requested by the client.

Achieving Success

In order to accomplish all of the objectives of their emergency response strategy, the utility company relied on HootSuite Professional Services, as well as the following tools in the HootSuite dashboard:

• Scheduling: Drafted hundreds of messages that were approved by the client and bulk uploaded.

• Teams: HootSuite Professional Services set up all social media profiles for simulation, and added them to an organization and teams in the dashboard.

• Messaging Assignments: Defined processes and workflows to be followed in different scenarios, where some individuals were responsible for certain events. Using assignments ensured the appropriate person was responding to a post.

• Reports: HootSuite Professional Services was able to gauge the utility company’s social engagement and map out internal responsibilities.

• Geo-targeting: Localized messaging to target a specified area ensured that the right people were getting the right information.

Setup

Professional Services

Take your strategy to the next level; partner with our expert social media consultants. Our team has experience working with companies similar to yours, and we’ll help evolve your social media strategy, implementation and analytics.

Leverage best practices and ensure HootSuite is setup for your needs, resulting in long term success. Realize the ROI of your social media investment sooner.

Admin• Organization and team setup

• Team members setup

• Social networks

• Security settings

• Access privileges

HootSuite Optimization• Dashboard customization

• Team collaboration

• Keyword/ industry monitoring

• App Directory Integration

• Reporting/Analytics

Custom reports drill down to the metrics that matter most. With your goals in mind, we build custom reports based on your KPIs and industry best practices.

• Custom reports

• Campaign impact reports

• Twitterprofilereports• Facebook page reports

• Team statistics

• Template building

• Report automation/ scheduling

• Social end-to-end tracking

• Functional reports

• Customer service reports

• Social marketing reports

Weoffercustomizedwebbasedtraining tailored to your HootSuite setupandbusinessworkflowneeds. Have us train your trainers or all your users.

Administration Training• Admin tips and tricks

• Security administration

• Manage social organizations, teams, permissions, access and control

Usage • Effectiveusagetrainingby

function and role

• In-depth product training

• Analytics and reports

• Mobile apps


• Language and geotargeting

• Coordinated Messaging

• Tweet archiving

Setup Training Analytics

“The Professional Services team at HootSuite took the time to listen to our ideas and concerns and gave us actionable feedback, resulting in a timely and engaging Twitter campaign. They executed on a very

short timeline and delivered accurate results. We look forward to working with them again.”– Amanda Vandervort, Director of Social Media, Major League Soccer


Training

We offer customized web based training tailored to your HootSuite setup and business workflow needs. Have us train your trainers or all your users.






• Social networks









• Custom reports



• Team statistics












function and role



• Mobile apps




• Tweet archiving




Analytics







• Social networks









• Custom reports



• Team statistics












function and role



• Mobile apps




• Tweet archiving




Setup







• Social networks









• Custom reports



• Team statistics












function and role



• Mobile apps




• Tweet archiving





Training

We offer customized web based training tailored to your HootSuite setup and business workflow needs. Have us train your trainers or all your users.






• Social networks









• Custom reports



• Team statistics












function and role



• Mobile apps




• Tweet archiving




Analytics







• Social networks









• Custom reports



• Team statistics












function and role



• Mobile apps




• Tweet archiving





HootSuite Professional Services helped to:

• Discuss and plan the overall goals and flow of the simulation.

• Setup all social media profiles for simulation as well as team and organization structure in HootSuite.

• Draft messages that were approved by the client and bulk uploaded.

• Create real-time messages on the fly.

• Perform a live simulation which included a kick off call, real time interaction through fake profiles, live technical support, summary document of overall recommendations, and a wrap up call.

Results

After the Storm Owly simulation was finished, HootSuite’s Professional Services team provided the utility company with the following recommendations:

• Appropriate Team Size: Make sure the size of your team is proportionate to the amount of traffic coming through. After testing their efficiency, they realized they needed a larger team to filter and assign messaging.

• Simplify Messaging: Make sure to fit within Twitter character limits. They initially used abbreviations such as “4”, “Pls” or “B”, but these detracted from a professional appearance.

• Educate: Prepare your team for using social media in emergency situations beforehand as many are not familiar with using social in this circumstance.

• Keep It Simple: Don’t use jargon that the customer might not understand.

Going through the simulation afforded the utility company the insight and practice their team needed to respond well during critical blackout periods. By enlisting HootSuite Professional Services they gained the important experience and understanding of what it takes to be effective during real-time engagement.


About HootSuite Enterprise

HootSuite for Social Media Management

HootSuite Enterprise is designed for organizations that want to drive, and connect, business goals with social media efforts. Securely deploy broad social programs that empower employees to participate in social, regardless of department, function or geography. Provide executive insights on your entire social media footprint, and feed social data into existing systems for CRM, customer service and compliance.

Beyond tools and features, HootSuite Enterprise enhances the value that social media provides by seamlessly integrating all social media efforts with existing systems and structures.

Request a custom demo today by visiting enterprise.hootsuite.com

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