Too big for twitter the superstorm sandy experience

A collaboration of:

Too Big for Twitter? The Superstorm Sandy

Experience

Tracy Kirk

Public Service Electric & Gas (PSE&G)

Manager, Customer Technology

PSE&G at a Glance

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• New Jersey’s oldest and largest

regulated utility

• Provide service to 75% of New Jersey’s

population

• 2.4 million customers – 2.2 million

Electric customers and 1.8 million Gas

customers

• Robust Appliance Service and HVAC

competitive business

• Nation’s most reliable electric utility 5 of

the last 8 years

• PSE&G ranks 3rd among all utilities in

installed solar capacity

Our Social Evolution

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Explore

• 2009 One-Way Messaging

• @psegoutageinfo and @psegnews

Experience

•2012 Piloted Two-Way Communications •@psegdelivers, @psegcares, @psegnews

Expand

• 2013 Facebook Launch

• Expanded Coverage

Lessons from the Two-way Pilot

Developing relationships with influencers

Consistency of tone

Engaging field groups for service

Coordination and feedback between Customer Solutions and Corporate

Communications

We could have transparent, rewarding dialogue with our followers without

legal/regulatory/public affairs problems

How to quickly ramp up staffing

Handling extended events

Handling volume

Routing / workflow handling

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What hadn’t we experienced yet?

Superstorm Planning

Secured executive buy-in. “This storm is too big for Twitter.”

Maintain a tone consistent with our overall communications:

Empathy - We Are Together in This - We Hear You - We Care – We’re On It

Knowing that we would not be able to respond to every customer, we established a criteria

for responding to tweets:

Influencers

Situations where we could make a difference

Broad application to our followers

Gathering field intelligence

Threats

Educating customers on the most appropriate ways to communicate with us

Not a primary channel for reporting outages

Types of information provided: links to work plans, restoration pictures and updates, safety

info, assistance resources (e.g. FEMA, disasterrecovery.org, ice and water).

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Part of a Cohesive Communications Strategy

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Coordinated Content

PSEG.COM

External Affairs &

Other Stakeholders

CSRs & Front Lines

Press Release &

Email Blasts

Twitter Link

Constituents Callers / Public

Keys to Success

Rapid on-boarding of volunteers

Close coordination between Customer Solutions and Corporate

Communications for consistency and accuracy

Adjusting on-the-fly

Tweet limits

Combination of virtual team and face-to-face

Flexible scheduling

Leveraging influencers

Amplifying the positive, moving detractors off-line

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A New Storm Communication Channel is Born

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Storm Daily Average

Total Peak Day During Sandy Blue Sky Day

Twitter Impressions 53,667,331 8,700,244 3,577,822 20,325

Twitter @Mentions 90,639 14,809 6,043 5

New Followers 52,944 12,411 3,530 12

Retweets 8,406 1,234 560 5

Twitter provided instant feedback from customers as events unfolded, and a broad reach that traditional one-on-one interactions can’t achieve.

Net Sentiment Score

• Average = 39, Peak = 59

• (US Corporate Average 32)

Mobile Technology is

a Game Changer Mobile technology is a game changer. More than half of Americans

have a smart phone, and more

and more people, in almost

every age demographic, are

active on social media.

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People have an increasing and insatiable

need to be connected. an increasing and insatiable need to

be connected.

Even more so in times of

emergency. They want to be

heard, to be validated, to help

and to influence.

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The number of people on social media

spikes in times of disaster. The number of people on

social media spikes in times of disaster. People flock to Twitter and

Facebook because they are

searching for immediate

information that they can’t

get via traditional broadcast

channels.

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Engaging Influencers is

Critical Engaging influencers is critical. It’s just as important to grow

the influence of your online

community as it is to grow the

size. Connecting with people

who have credibility in their

local communities is critical to

an organization’s ability to

spread its message

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The public respects and rewards consistent,

transparent interaction and cooperation between

the private sector and community leaders. The public

respects and rewards consistent, transparent interaction and The public respects and rewards consistent, transparent interaction and cooperation between the private sector and community leaders. cooperation between the private sector and community leaders.

Using your social media networks

to amplify messages from

municipal and state officials,

police departments, Offices of

Emergency Management and

social service agencies can help

grow your audience and get

valuable information out to those

who need it while its needed.

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Tone Mattersers.

People respect a social media effort that is

continuously empathetic, authentic and helpful.

(A sense of humor helps, too.)

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Public notes of appreciation matter too. appreciation matter too, especially to the fiercely proud people who work in the utility industry.

We regard ourselves as first

responders, and supportive messages

can go a long way with a weary

employee base in need of a boost.

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Maturing our Social Strategy

• Today we have 60,000 + followers in our social community

o Focused on growing both the size and the influence of our community. Mayors, towns and

OEMs are key to expanding reach.

• Using Sprinklr, new tool, to manage growth

o Workflow management, Engaging influencers

o Tracking and measuring, so that we can see which messaging our audience most wants

• Moving forward:

o Increasing after-hours support

o Focusing on “blue sky day” stakeholder education through social campaigns that include

infographics and video

o Using Twitter to notify about residents about road openings and tree trimming (Q3)

o Expanding to LinkedIn and Instagram to reach different audiences.

Parting Thoughts

• Customers are increasingly seeking social media interaction with their utility- and their expectations have dramatically increased.

• Customers who interact with the enterprise via social channels are more satisfied than those who reach out to the company in other ways.

• Customer service results are harmed when customers reach out on social media and don’t receive a response.

• It is vital that utilities prepare for impending growth in customer interaction via social channels.

• Twitter is the better channel for outage communications and service interaction. Facebook is best suited for communicating utilities’ products and services, pricing programs, etc.

A collaboration of:

Tracy Kirk [email protected]

Twitter.com/tracykirk