Social Media has revolutionized the way people communicate around the world. It’s used as a way to connect with family, friends, consumers, businesses – worldwide. Because of its importance and impact on global communications, World Social Media Day was born on June 30, 2010 and has been recognized ever since.
For many, social media means staying connected to your friends and family, sharing recent milestones in order to be present in each other’s lives. While this is certainly something to celebrate, social media also offers the massive potential to transform the way PSEG Long Island— and utility companies worldwide — communicate with customers. Since 2014, we have strived to be at the forefront of how electric service providers interact with, and make things better for, the people they serve.
Today, PSEG Long Island has a presence across a wide-range of social media channels, each one reaching a different audience and serving a slightly different purpose. Collectively though, we are able to communicate with anyone across Long Island and the Rockaways as long as they are online and connected! From important storm and restoration updates to billing inquiries and account assistance, our social media team is here and ready to help when it comes to your service.
Social media has the power to assist with problems as well as the ability to educate. We’re proud to power education and customer service across our service area; it’s a role that not every utility chooses to take on, but one we take seriously. Our fully-dedicated social media customer service team was introduced in 2016, starting with monitoring just Facebook and Twitter. Prior to this, social media response was a function of Corporate Communications. While customer comments were monitored and responded too, we weren’t providing the level of in-depth service and care that we do now. Since then, we launched our Instagram feed, LinkedIn page, Flickr site and YouTube channel. Currently, Facebook is our largest platform but Instagram is our fastest growing. According to ESource, a solutions-based research, consulting, and data science firm for the utility sector, only about 63% of utilities surveyed have an Instagram presence. Today we have more than 84,000 followers across our platforms, and in 2022 alone we’ve had more than 4,000 conversations with customers through social media.
While our Call Center still handles the majority of customer service requests, social media offers an important alternative for some customers who work unusual hours or don’t feel comfortable talking on the phone. We are proud that the social media operation we have built is able to help these customers, especially those struggling with their bill.Our dedicated team of four full-time representatives are available from 7AM to 11PM, and available 8AM to 8PM for assistance with billing questions during the week. During the weekend and on major holidays our team is available from 9AM- 6PM. Friendly, reliable assistance is just a private message, or direct message away! Of course, there is still an important place for curated, engaging proactive social media that educates customers.
To ensure that customers are provided with an array of powerful education it is of utmost importance that our departments work closely. It is just as important on a blue sky day as it is during storm response to keep customers updated with the latest information available. During storms, proactive posts inform customers on a variety of topics ranging from storm restoration and safety, to outage info and crew locations. Outside of storms, our proactive social team create, design and post unique messages everyday ranging from company announcements and community events to energy efficiency tips and money saving advice. Each social media channel has its own audience, voice and visual appeal. PSEG Long Island’s Facebook page has a highly active audience and more traffic than any other network. Our content is light and entertaining. Our Twitter feed is hyper-local, news and event driven. Instagram is photo heavy and very visual. We utilize Instagram stories, videos, hashtags, and socially trending topics. Lastly, LinkedIn is our professional network that highlights our industry info while being very data driven.
The benefits of social media are undeniable. Reputation management, crisis communication, direct customer engagement, pin-point targeted marketing and measurable results and detailed analytics – the list truly goes on. An organization that understands and embraces the power of social media will reap these benefits while achieving the larger objectives of the company. Effective social media management helps lower customer service costs while increasing the level of service. It fortifies brand presence while improving brand perception. Finally, it humanizes the company while establishing trust – a trust that goes beyond the commitment of reliable service. Social media is a powerful tool and one that we are proud to utilize.
