It has been a couple of months since Hurricane Sandy blasted her way onto the East Coast—a storm forever etched in our hearts and minds. She joins Katrina as a major natural disaster in our lifetime that not only impacted many thousands of lives, but that left a permanent imprint on our topography.
One significant difference between the storms, other than wind speed, was the speed at which
information traveled. Social media took center stage in the days leading up to Hurricane Sandy, during and even after as people picked up what Sandy tore down. In fact, a Google search of “Hurricane Sandy Social Media Statistics” brings up 3.1 million hits. A post-Sandy article on the Digital Trends website reported that about 10 photos per second were uploaded to Instagram alone.
But this post isn’t about stats (there are tons) or the importance of social media (duh). If you are reading this, I’ll assume you already know that much. I’d like to delve a little deeper into how businesses that provide essential services, such as utilities, can use social media every day to inform, build customer engagement and position themselves as trusted providers of services.
Having worked at a power company in its corporate communications department, I know that when storms hit resulting in massive power outages, it’s all hands on deck. Customers need and want their power back and the company is judged from the moment the storm hits for how long it takes to restore services. I should also add that my husband is a lines supervisor for a major electric utility, so I know a thing or two about how this all works.
Some utilities have social media accounts set up which they activate during major outages to distribute information. So, in addition to watching TV news reports (if that is even possible) and calling the company for updates, customers can check the Facebook page or follow tweets. While that sounds ok in theory, it’s not a smart strategy for long-term engagement and may actually do more harm. Let me explain…
We all know how angry we get when something we rely on isn’t working—whether our water is shut off due to a burst pipe in the neighborhood or our power is out because a squirrel committed suicide in a substation. (Trust me, folks, it happens.) It is a natural reaction to shift the blame to the company, regardless of the cause, and to have unrealistic expectations for its resolution.
Unfortunately, in this case, the utility’s only real experience with customers on a social network is when they are the most angry and therefore most likely to rant about their experience—and then share it. A much better strategy is to use social media channels consistently throughout the year—perhaps starting out by doing more listening than engaging—and then progressing from there.
Listen
Social media listening involves searching social networks, public blogs and other sources to see what people are saying about your company. Following keywords (or hash tags) or setting up Google alerts are two additional ways to get a glimpse of what others are saying. At WordWrite, we use Radian6 (now Salesforce Marketing Cloud) to find and analyze those conversations. Clients receive a detailed report that allows them to address negative posts, engage with those who’ve shared positive experiences and ultimately create the content users/customers are looking for.
Develop Content
Far too many businesses dive right into social media without a plan for their content and are quickly overwhelmed. Many times they abandon their efforts and ultimately end up dismissing social media altogether. It’s not a race—the one who does the most in the quickest amount of time is not declared the “winner.” This is a process and one that should be incorporated into your entire communications plan.
Finding content is the easy part—it’s all around you. Look at your website, your newsletters, bill stuffers, news releases, talk to front-line employees, participate in industry discussions, provide safety tips and link to resources, share images/presentations—the possibilities are truly endless. But, it’s important to listen and engage and not just blast out messages people don’t care about.
Publish
With quality content ready, start publishing—via blogs, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, etc. Be a reporter for your company and industry. Make it compelling so your customers and stakeholders want to read and share it. Gone are the days of waiting for a journalist to write an article about a press release you sent three days ago. With social media, you have control over your message and it’s easier to reach your target audience.
Share
It’s not just about your company and your message, however. Share news from others—in your community, within your industry and even reporters. This is a great way to engage with influencers who can also help share your messages.
Social media is here to stay and it’s not waiting for companies to get on board. Pike Research expects the number of worldwide utility customers using social media to reach 624 million by the end of 2017.
If you want to develop true fans and customer ambassadors, it’s imperative that you provide interesting, useful content on a regular basis—not just when you are in crisis mode. The long-term benefits will pay off later when the next storm hits or when some pesky squirrel chews some wires.
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Hollie Geitner is vice president, client services for WordWrite Communications. You can find her on Twitter @JustHollieG.
