Social Media in the Workforce: Tweet, Tweet, Tweet, Tweedly-Deet

By Kennedy Maize

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Social Media Let You Learn from Your Customers

Ochman also raises the issue that these technologies allow customers new and faster ways to trash the company, saying “mean, nasty things about our brand” online. Perceptively, she notes that this is useful information. “Well,” she says, “there may be things you need to change about your brand, and in that case, you should thank them for letting you know what they are. Then you should make changes.”

Soren Gordham, a columnist for Mashable, The Social Media Guide, commented in early 2009, “Gone are the days when companies could rely on carefully crafted press releases or flashy ad campaigns to communicate with their customers, often in an attempt to convince people that their products are the best in the field. In the age of social media, the rules have changed radically, and people today demand a more honest and direct relationship with the companies with which they do business.” (See the sidebar for an example of one utility’s social media efforts.)

Salt River Signs Up for Social Media

Phoenix-based Salt River Project (SRP), a large public-power agency, is now using Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to reach out to its 930,000 customers. In Mid-October, SRP began tweeting live from the dedication of the Dry Lake Wind Farm, Arizona’s first wind energy farm.

In a press release, Salt River said it “currently communicates to its customers using newsletters, advertising, email, and its websites (www.sprnet.com and www.savewithsrp.com).” Gena Trimble, the utility’s communications and community relations manager, said SRP sees social media as new ways to interact with customers. “A new generation of customers is actively using social media to engage with peers and sometimes with companies,” said Trimble. “We want to provide them with an opportunity to have conversations about our products and services, and share their opinions directly with us.”

Trimble said social media could increase customer participation in energy efficiency programs and response to money-saving rebates.

SRP will post some of its future news releases to its social networking sites an hour before emailing and faxing them to the media. The utility also is considering using Twitter to “help communicate the status of major power outages and power-restoration efforts during storms.”

Salt River’s social media sites are www.Twitter.com/srpconnect, www.Facebook.com/srpconnect, and www.YouTube.com/srpconnect.

I was at a hearing before the West Virginia Public Service Commission not long ago concerning a proposed high-voltage transmission line crossing private land in West Virginia and Maryland. One of the opponents to the line cited the fact that her power—supplied by Allegheny Energy—dropped off daily. It was a brief outage, but enough to require her to restart her computer and reset her clocks.

I’ve had the same experience, although not quite as frequently. When Allegheny Energy was running radio ads awhile ago, they called their ads “Allegheny Energy moments.” That’s how I referred to their tiny outages in my blog.

I doubt if the company knew about, or paid attention to, these brief but annoying outages. The complaints get the attention of low-level management, at best, and are not part of a pattern. But I bet if they were paying attention to Twitter and Facebook, the company might have a better sense of how its customers and employees viewed the company. (A check of the Allegheny Energy web page gives no indication of any kind of awareness of social media.)

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