Social Media & Customer Service in the Transport Sector
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How to use social media as part of your customer service channel as a bus or coach company. Considerations for app use (WhatsApp, Snapchat, Messenger) and what the future may hold.
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Social Media & Customer Service in the Transport Sector
- 1. Social media for customer service And what the future may hold
- 2. About Us Social You are a digital marketing agency based in Andover, Hampshire. We offer web design, web development, user experience and social media strategy. We put a large focus on analytics across all channels to ensure they are working together as effectively as possible. www.socialyou.co.uk 129/03/2016
- 3. Coming up • Expectations • Grumbles • How do you include social? • How should you use your channels? • Integration, personalisation and time • The future www.socialyou.co.uk 229/03/2016
- 4. With social media well and truly embedded in our culture, there are high expectations of companies on the quality and speed of responses from brands. The public nature of social media means that everyone can see the customer service you are offering - good and bad. www.socialyou.co.uk 329/03/2016
- 8. ‘There’s a large queue of people standing outside in the middle of a bad storm. We deserve more explanation than “operational reasons” ‘What do you mean by all the “technical difficulties” you say your buses suffer from? Seems to always be the same excuse.’ www.socialyou.co.uk 729/03/2016
- 9. ‘What operational issues cause a bus to fail to operate? These updates border on the farcical.’ ‘No explanation here as to the “no show” of the bus, again! Was it operational reasons like all the other cancellations today? A proper explanation I think is in order instead of keep hiding behind that excuse.’ www.socialyou.co.uk 829/03/2016
- 11. How can you include social media? www.socialyou.co.uk 1029/03/2016
- 12. As a 7 day a week service, the most useful way to engage with your passengers is to provide service updates and information. www.socialyou.co.uk 1129/03/2016
- 14. Long- term, how can you tap into tech developments, personalise the information and build trust in customer service? www.socialyou.co.uk 1329/03/2016
- 15. 1. Communication 2. Response www.socialyou.co.uk 1429/03/2016
- 17. Real, live-time information feeds Quick responses www.socialyou.co.uk 1629/03/2016
- 18. • Direct and helpful – Short, sharp information providing useful alternatives • Timely – Accurate facts in real time • Synchronised – The same message across all channels • Informative – Talk to them as passengers, not politicians or technicians! • Set expectations – Response times, scripted, operating hours www.socialyou.co.uk 1729/03/2016
- 20. • Complaints – Rank the type. Rant, mention or direct question? • Compliments – Feed back to staff if they’ve done a good job • Improvements – Take on board feedback and comments www.socialyou.co.uk 1929/03/2016
- 22. Non-service, promotional information Longer responses with more copy space www.socialyou.co.uk 2129/03/2016
- 23. • Ticket promotions • Competitions • Local events • Long-term work plans www.socialyou.co.uk 2229/03/2016
- 25. • Attracting people • Advertising costs • Unofficial Pages www.socialyou.co.uk 2429/03/2016
- 28. Once you’ve determined your channel purpose, create some scenarios. How does social media integrate with your traditional customer service channels and marketing? www.socialyou.co.uk 2729/03/2016
- 29. Scenario Overnight storms cause road closure on major routes • Twitter – alternative routes, stops affected, delays likely, retweet passengers giving info • Website – update on status, sign post to Twitter live updates • Facebook – share updates on issue directly or share local publication posts • Display boards – ensure all communication is the same • Staff – are they trained in channel use? Are they in the know? www.socialyou.co.uk 2829/03/2016
- 31. Who are your customers? • Students - Timetables, bus passes, fresher week transport, wifi • Commuters -Timetables, wifi, traffic updates, connections • Shoppers - New routes, offers, promotions www.socialyou.co.uk 3029/03/2016
- 33. • Resource allocation • Work with traditional channels – not instead of • Trusted sources – user accounts, publications • Live vs automation of posts www.socialyou.co.uk 3229/03/2016
- 35. • Don’t automate too much • Set expectations • Build foundations • Share useful and relevant information • Be consistent and coordinated • Train staff • Get feedback www.socialyou.co.uk 3429/03/2016
- 38. WhatsApp “Starting this year, we will test tools that allow you to use WhatsApp to communicate with businesses…that could mean communicating with your bank about whether a recent transaction was fraudulent, or with an airline about a delayed flight. ” www.socialyou.co.uk 3729/03/2016
- 39. Future • Messaging to multiple customers • Analytics • Automated messages • Inbound messages from passengers www.socialyou.co.uk 3829/03/2016
- 41. Future • Toolkit for devs to build bots • Send text messages • Automated responses • Payment systems • No additional apps to build or download www.socialyou.co.uk 4029/03/2016
- 42. Contactless – Apple pay, watch, smartphone www.socialyou.co.uk 4129/03/2016
- 43. Reward systems – NFC, check-in, social connect, loyalty www.socialyou.co.uk 4229/03/2016
- 44. Cheaper tech – “Where are you?” “Just around the corner, estimated 3 minutes away” www.socialyou.co.uk 4329/03/2016
- 45. User crowd data to feed into drivers / HQ – Waze app, use people’s social information to provide update to customers waiting. www.socialyou.co.uk 4429/03/2016
Editor's Notes
- Emily Welcome Thank previous speakers
- Dan Digital Marketing Agency – Andover 2 Key Streams of Work Web Development Social Media Analytics across all marketing channels
- Dan Compliment the work you already do Considerations you need to think about Improve sales and marketing Improve customer engagement Finish looking at the future
- Emily SM isn't new anymore Everyone is connected around the clock with leads to high expectations for companies Everyone can see what you’re up too. This doesn’t mean you have to be perfect, all the time, but you need to consider why and how you’re approaching this interaction with your customers.
- Dan Last year this tweet did the rounds It’s fairly self explanatory Great moment for Virgin Trains One of the great recent examples of Social Media working Has this improved their brand?
- Dan A year later, still lots of unhappy customers Social Media is on-going work Social Media needs to integrate with the team on the ground They’re clearly not joined up in approach / thinking / job satisfaction
- Emily Dark side - grumbles! The following quotes are from a selection of bus companies social feeds….
- Emily
- Emily As you can see... The bus companies have got an account set up, but they are not telling people what is really going on. This leads to frustrations – if the bus has broken down, why not say so? If a driver called in sick – why not tell people? We all get sick, delayed and sometimes things are out of our control. Don’t lie to customers, it only makes it worse.
- Emily Maybe you should just stop replying altogether?
- Dan
- Dan How can you include social media? The most obvious area is customer service – highly reactive. Provide information at the right time. Example : Oxford Bus company tells customers when they’re online sets their expectations
- Emily Another side to social is listening - tap into conversations, not just wait for mentions. Tools - Hootsuite, Tweet deck, localise So real examples of an open search on ‘bus service’. Listening can be as important as direct comments, giving you info on what is going on.
- Emily Longer term, how can you use the tech available? How can you build customer service to gain sales and create positive brand reinforcement?
- Emily Two areas of focus
- Dan How many customers contact you a day? What channels do you use? Email Phone Post Facebook Do these channels vary on a day-to-day basis? By time of year? By Weather Important to give channels purpose and direction Lets look at the top 2 channels (most familiar)
- Dan Twitter Supply information to your audience As a public transport service, delays, traffic are inevitable – good place to start Twitter is a great channel to use for this It’s a channel for information and discovery, rather than a light browsing photos/pictures type channel Tweets fall off newsfeed – so keep regular
- Dan Thinking about earlier examples (Virgin Trains) Some were quick wins Stop customers feeling disgruntled Address immediate issues Can’t be expected to provide 24/7 response Determine when you’re available Make sure you let customers know Decide what you can automate (e.g. relaying information) Be informative Vague abstractions ‘an incident’, ‘an issue’ some like you’re hiding something If there’s a road closure or broken down bus – be honest about it Set expectations Customer at a stop asking about a late bus – want an immediate response. Replies and hour later is no good.
- Dan Short, direct, bite sized information – limited space Be to-the-point As well as ‘the problem’, Give information about what the passenger should do Ensure synchronization Make sure messages are the same Across all channels Align with other social partners (councils)
- Dan Inbound posts Potentially negative in the form of complaints and rants Hugely varied Understand how you’re dealing with them Specific problems or questions can be responded to (even via another channel) Rants usually are left alone Threatening and abusive posts addressed
- Dan It’s not all bad Some people want to compliment you Retweet or post this Say thanks Engage with the user Just being there, responding, can prevent a larger complaint
- Emily The other popular channel is Facebook. This channels allows for more room and greater copy It may have a different audience to your twitter channel. Facebook keeps its emphasis on the user who wants to connect to their friends and family, which means as a business paid advertising plays a big part in being seen in news feeds.
- Emily Facebook is used moto keep in touch with friends and family With a heavy personalisation focus (think about security, lists, privacy settings). People connect with businesses here users are unlikely to expect it as a live feed for delays, updates or disruptions to service. The platform doesn't base its updates on a linear timeline, it is achieved on popularity and trending which means using this as your sole platform for timely updates, might not be the best system. People are likely to have a moan about a delayed train or bus to air to their friends, but they are unlikely to expect that business to interject with the conversation. Unless it was posted directly to the Page of that business. Facebook can be used to help increase your marketing efforts, but don’t forget they you may have to consider ad spend to get more people viewing your promotions.
- Emily A couple of examples – Virgin trains promoting their advance ticket purchase and National Express running a competition.
- Emily The downside to Facebook? Attracting likes you may have low numbers unless you spend time and money promoting your Facebook Page. Setting up a vanity url for your Page will make it easier to use in marketing. Advertising Organic reach for Pages is low. In order to gain exposure (for areas such as sales) you will need to ensure you have budget to pay for ads. These could be via boosted posts, sponsored stories or media ads. If you’re using Instagram, you can also control your ads via your Facebook advert manager. Adverts can be localised to; you can select the distance from your ‘business’ you would like to reach. This means you don’t have to spend money advertising to people out of reach of your bus network.
- Emily Unofficial Pages. On Facebook, you are able to ’Claim’ a page set up by a a previous owner. There is plenty of guidance on this from Facebook. Sometimes, this might just be a mistake and people have accidentally created a Page for your business. Pages can also be merged so you can control your branding and messaging. As the months roll on, abuse of Facebook is constantly under scrutiny to tighten up on fake profiles and trolling. You can report false activity to Facebook but the response isn't always instant. A s a Page admin, you can always verify your Page so that your customers know that your Page is the official one.
- Emily
- Emily Does weather play a part in how customers contact you? How do you quickly response to reactive incidents? What happens with longer-term, planned maintenance and disruption?
- Emily Co-ordination is key. If you have multiple channels, make sure everyone is giving the same message.
- Dan
- Dan Once you’ve got a hand on your strategy and channel use, start to look at your different audiences. Do they travel at certain times of the day? What is most useful to these audience at their commuting hour? Can you develop marketing campaigns aimed at your different markets? Partner opportunities? Can you start to personalise your messaging or channels, depending on who they are?
- Emily
- Emily Social is not free and it isn’t quick. Who is going to look after your channels? What policies do you have in place to help staff use these channels? Who has skills across multiple departments in your business? What hours will you operate? How will this work with your existing channels such as a helpline, email and your drivers? Steer away from too much automation - people like to interact with humans. (Some posts are fine to schedule but others should have a human on the other end.)
- Dan
- Dan Train staff this is a new way of talking and interacting so give your team the skills to use the channels correctly. Get feedback after a couple of months, ask your customers how you’re doing. Drive business change are these channels giving you clues to what the future customer would like form your service? Steer away from too much automation people like to interact with humans. (Some posts are fine to schedule but others should have a human on the other end.) Be co-ordinated if you have multiple channels, make sure everyone is giving the same message.
- Emily What does the future hold for social channels?
- Emily A few key platforms that are growing. WhatsApp – 1 billion users (2016) WhatsApp Messenger is a cross-platform mobile messaging app which allows you to exchange messages without having to pay for SMS. Snapchat – 100 million daily users (2016). Snapchat highest demographic is 13 – 34 year olds. You can send a photo or video snap to friends that has a time limit. You can discover local information and brands can use it for marketing ads. Twitter - Micro-messaging platform. 80% of UK Twitter users access via their mobiles, making it a key channel for influencing brands and purchase. It is constantly evolving and has recently included customer tools to allow businesses to raise tickets and issues directly. Messenger – 800 million monthly active users. This is a key area of growth for Facebook over the next 5 years, encouraging small businesses to become advertisers and move into mobile and live-video streaming.
- Emily Previous for the customer This year, WhatsApp announced they are opening their platform to businesses – but it wont be driven by ads
- Emily Messaging to multiple customers – send out updates, service updates, offers, information Analytics – find out who is connecting and Taylor your messaging Automated messages – key times, when your service isn't operating. Inbound messages from passengers – help with individual issues and questions.
- Dan 2015 - Allowed Uber to access the messenger service and develop the app to allow users to track and hail a ride from Messenger, rather than launching a different app.
- Dan Bots are the simpler cousin of apps and are being used on chat services and app stores as standalone digital-assistant apps. The Chat SDK allows developers to create bots that users can send text messages to directly and that automatically respond with information, images, location services, product prices, Buy buttons, and more. The Chat SDK can also tap into Messenger built-in payments system to let users make purchases via bots.
- Dan Thinking bigger Technology plays a big part. Contactless payments are well used now NFC/ Watches / Apple pay are becoming bigger capture useful data about your customers as well as their fare.
- Dan Feeds into personalisation and targeting your audiences differently.
- Emily As technology gets cheaper, possibilities start opening up for users and businesses. Voice activation – siri style. Google data – walk to bus stop, leave your house – reminders. Time for one more pint? Don’t leave your sofa or bar until it’s time, especially when it is raining.
- Emily Waze – community based traffic app Use crowd data to feed into drivers / HQ Waze app, use people’s social information to provide update to customers waiting.
- Emily Any questions?