Passenger information
Staff are assigned to man zones rather than specific lines which Gumbrell says helps to provide relevant traffic updates to passengers who might be using more than one mode of transport in a particular area of the city. Gumbrelll says that TfL established a Social Media Working Group to manage its strategy, which he describes as a loose
DB Regio says it
emphasises fun in its
Bayern-ticket Facebook page which is targeted at young people and now has 57,000 likes.
the benefits of social media were felt during the London Olympics when up to 10 million people were using the network every day. “Twitter became an integral tool for many everyday as well as Olympic passengers to identify hotspots on the network early and arrange alternative routes which eased pressure on the network,” he says.
Staffing
In terms of staffing these feeds, Gumbrell says that no new staff have been hired specifically “to do social media.” Instead eight people from its customer service team have received training with 30 people overall able to post tweets on TfL’s behalf. He says that it is an “evolution” of its customer relations strategy with Twitter in particular having a noticeable effect in reducing the number of calls to TfL’s customer relations centres. The training process for individuals using social media focuses on the tone of voice used in Tweets, guaranteeing accuracy in what is posted, and how best to respond to certain complaints. This training emphasises pacifying aggressive tweeters by presenting information in a positive but firm way.
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coalition of representatives from different sections of the business. During its meetings discussions have focused on how social media can
potentially save costs and be better applied. Decisions taken include dropping the robotic voice of early tweets in favour of a human presence.
The discussions also look at new ways of using social media, recently prompting an increase in the use of LinkedIn as a resource to post jobs, and using YouTube more to promote public information. While TfL is very active on Twitter, Gumbrell admits that it is less so on Facebook. He says that the operator has yet to decide the best way to utilise the platform with its current presence no more than a corporate page. Yet TfL does recognise Facebook’s potential. Dobson says that with women between the ages of 18-34 making up 50% of Facebook users, promoting TfL’s “Book a taxi” campaign, which highlights the dangers of late-night illegal cabs, is a logical subject for a Facebook campaign, but a decision has not yet been made on how to approach this. Mr Anatol Scholz, passenger and
product marketing manager at DB Regio, says his company had similar concerns about its presence on Facebook, with a DB page seemingly coming across as conservative and not attracting many likes. Its solution was to target specific niches in the market with campaigns rather than organisations. The result is the Bayern-ticket page which is targeted
at passengers under 18-years-of-age in Bavaria and now has 57,000 likes. “We decided to launch the Bayern- ticket page around the time of the Chiemsee Reggae Summer festival which is very popular with young people, and was a way of attracting a core group of followers from the start,” Scholz says.
He added that the page emphasises “fun,” because “fun things are what draw engagement”. For instance a white sausage with a caption of “typical Bayern” drew 408 likes and 64 shares. A quick scan of the Bayern-ticket feed also shows photos of young people having fun in Bavaria, rather than the train service itself which is presented as the enabler of a good time. Wiener Linien similarly emphasises fun in its posts, and Riegler says Facebook is now the company’s primary social media portal, with around 32,000 current likes. She says the aim of its strategy is to develop an understanding audience by posting announcements and pictures of what is going on. Like the Bayern-ticket page, not all the posts are about the service itself, but about things taking place in Vienna which can build loyalty and expand the public’s view of Wiener Linien as being more than just a transport operator. This approach is shared by RATP, which Tweets about leisure activities and specific events taking place in Paris, while São Paulo transport authority’s BOM card is marketed as a ticket to free and fun activities in the city. It provides a reason for people to travel through its related social media sites which promote events and offer information relevant to the area. Clearly railway operators are still testing and developing their social media marketing strategies. Yet the rewards are potentially very attractive. A Twitter survey, or “Twervey,” conducted for TfL found that 72% of people believed that its activities on Twitter had enhanced its reputation, while 81% check the feeds at least once a day and have changed their travel plans as a result. With more and more operators looking to use social media in more and more creative ways, transport operators appear to be on the verge of taming marketing’s new frontier. But as they do, Scholz warned that they should not lose sight of their overall strategy, and not do too much too soon. “Be easy going, relevant and above all keep it simple,” he says. “And at the same time be prepared for the hard questions.” IRJ
IRJ April 2013
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