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Too big for twitter the superstorm sandy experience
1. A collaboration of:
Too Big for Twitter? The Superstorm Sandy
Experience
Tracy Kirk
Public Service Electric & Gas (PSE&G)
Manager, Customer Technology
2. 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
4. 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?
5. 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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6. 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
ConstituentsCallers / Public
7. 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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8. 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.
10. 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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11. 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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12. 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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13. 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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14. 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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15. 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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16. 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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17. 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.
18. 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.