Alex Schott of Entergy, an integrated energy company, knows the importance of serving customers where they are.
During inclement weather that can - and does - lead to power outages, the company's customers are on Twitter and other social channels where they expect the company to provide up-to-the-moment information.
In this convo, Schott, Entergy's Manager, Social Media & Multimedia, describes a framework for managing the weather conversation - preparing before, reporting during and solving after the storm. He also shares how the company integrates broadcast and social media to reach as many customers as possible during a storm.
Crisis communications is only one element of Entergy's expanding social media activities intended to provide information, improve support capabilities and, in time, sell energy services.
Schott speaks of credibility being key, as honest, two-way communications are expected and being phony is not tolerated on social channels. He also describes the need for "bright lines" between various channels to avoid chaos or dilution of purpose, acknowledging, for example, that people use Facebook differently than Twitter.
Is your company ready for the weather conversation?
This convo is sponsored by:
Vitrue, an original Facebook Preferred Developer Consultant, is the leading social marketing platform facilitating relationships between brands and their fans across multiple social networks via its software-as-a-service solutions. Social marketers and agencies world-wide use Vitrue's Social Relationship Management (SRM) platform and its Publisher, Tabs, Shop and Analytics products.
Brandwatch is one of the world's leading social media monitoring and analysis tools, with offices in the UK, US, Germany and Brazil. Global brands and agencies use our tool to cut through the noise on the social web and find the conversation that matters, empowering decisions that improve their business.
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Neil Glassman is principal marketing strategist at WhizBangPowWow, where he delivers integrated social, digital and linear media solutions. Join his conversations on Twitter and Google +.