A Social Utility: How Many Ways Can We Communicate With Customers? Social Media Ups The Count.
Originally posted on National Grid's Connecting site
Chartwell Inc. recently featured our social media transformation as a best practice. Here’s the full article as it appears in the Chartwell Inc. Best Practices newsletter.
Careful monitoring and evaluation of customer engagement and satisfaction through social media channels have allowed National Grid to not only continue delivering relevant and timely information, but garner an enhanced understanding of communications performance. Cutting-edge technology and employee involvement are propelling the utility’s social media presence and overall responsiveness, leading to an upward trend in customer sentiment and feedback.
Over the past several years, Waltham, Mass.-based National Grid has aimed to enhance its U.S. brand strategy through a community-focused campaign – “Here with you, Here for you.”
Concurrently, the utility is working to bolster customer service by connecting with customers more swiftly and directly. “We are embarking on a very customer-focused digital transformation right now,” said Rafael Sulit, National Grid’s Director of U.S. Brand Strategy and Implementation. Social media is “front and center of that transformation,” he added.
Social media maximizes customer engagement
For National Grid, delivering information and visual storytelling through its social media channels – including Facebook,Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube – is just one facet of the utility’s mission to engage customers on a more comprehensive basis. Considerable planning ensures that National Grid is maximizing its social media presence.
According to Sulit, National Grid’s U.S. social media function falls under the utility’s customer and brand marketing department umbrella, a strategic decision designed to ensure the organization’s social media presence is a key component of the company’s customer-focused strategy. The team partners hand-in-hand with the corporate affairs team on all social media communications.
As for information delivery, National Grid has developed a channel ecosystem to maximize audience connection. For example, the utility’s Twitter presence is utilized primarily for customer service, its Facebook accounts serve as community outreach communications vehicles, and Instagram is leveraged as a forum to connect with millennials. The photographs displayed on Instagram allow National Grid to reveal the humanity of the organization through human faces, Sulit said.
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