digisoc1 — Manchester Metrolink
Taylor Swift, Kanye West and Donald Trump all probably spring to mind when you hear the phrase “effective online presence”. So why should Manchester Metrolink be ranked among these social media behemoths? Well if we’re measuring effectiveness purely by follower/ subscriber numbers then quite frankly they’re not. Where Metrolink excels online is engaging with it’s customers. They maintain a much more streamlined online profile than your typical celebrity, clothing company or president. They only have a website, Twitter, and Facebook to speak of. However, when implemented well these can be sufficient for customer engagement, as this blog will demonstrate. Let’s be honest, public transport doesn’t belong on Instagram and YouTube.
The inspiration for this blog actually came from this website, which counts every time a company apologises on Twitter:
As you can see, Metrolink aren’t afraid to say sorry. Having an active social media presence allows customers to connect directly with Metrolink on their own terms. This makes the company more transparent and accountable, as their faults are visible to all when someone takes to Twitter to complain. Opening themselves up like this helps to maintain reputation and keep a positive focus, as grievances need to be addressed swiftly online. It’s testament to their efforts that the Manchester Metrolink Twitter account has more followers than TFGM (39k to 24k as of 09/02/2017). Yes, it’s mainly a back and forth exchange of complaints and apologies, but that doesn’t change the fact that so many people use the platform to engage with the company. Twitter is the go to place for a good rant, and angry tweets to Metrolink don’t fall on deaf ears — you’ll always get a personalised apology and sometimes an explanation.
Metrolink also use Twitter effectively for getting real time information to passengers. Since many people already have the app on their phones, it allows Metrolink to push out travel notifications without passengers needing to revert to the website. However, Metrolink has no equivalent Facebook page, which going by the numbers is a mistake; more people have Facebook accounts, and some people have a Facebook account but no Twitter account, meaning a large potential audience is missed. While there is an official Metrolink Facebook page, posts are infrequent and aren’t useful to commuters, which is reflected in the fact that they only have 43 followers (09/02/2017). To have an effective online presence, an organisation needs to engage customers with useful and relevant information. The disparity between their Twitter and Facebook accounts highlights this perfectly.
Metrolink are on track to establish an effective online presence, but they still have work to do. They demonstrate that it isn’t necessary to take an all guns blazing approach to social media. No Instagram. No Snapchat. No YouTube. They maintain a Twitter account that is, most importantly, useful to their customers. With over 100k tweets since joining in 2013 (more than Taylor, Kanye and Donald combined) they have certainly used their Twitter presence to it’s maximum potential. However, they also show how is it necessary to reach out to people on more than one platform. A good start would be to keep the Facebook account as up to date and relevant as the Twitter account.
