If you’ve ever experienced London in the midst of a Tube strike, you’ll know that it can be a lot trickier to get around the city. London Underground handles almost 5m passenger journeys per day and when there’s a strike all those people have to find alternative means of transport. Inevitably commuters become frustrated and turn to social media for information or to vent their anger.

So spare a thought for Transport for London’s social media team, who see their daily tally of 2,500 Twitter mentions increase by a whopping 2,000% on a strike day.

I recently spoke with TfL’s social media and content lead, Steven Gutierrez, to find out about the network’s approach to crisis communications, specifically when it comes to dealing with strikes. Here’s a summary of what he said, as well as a bit of further insight into the topic in general.

Multiple lines of communication

The OMD Group suggests that just 54% of companies have a crisis plan in place. Unsurprisingly, it’s a necessity rather than an option for transport networks, with TfL taking steps to ensure there are multiple lines of communication open in the event of any planned or unplanned events.

In total, TfL has 21 Twitter accounts, including individual accounts for Tube lines, rail lines, as well as dedicated channels for customer service such as @TfLTravelAlerts and @TfLBusAlerts.

Despite offering multiple ways for users to check the status of the network, however, Steven suggests that manpower is still pretty limited.

TfL’s First Contact team is made up of just a few members of staff – an amount that stays roughly the same during strike days. Similarly, each bus or rail line is manned by one or two people, meaning that there are usually around half a dozen people dealing with a huge volume of queries.

Broadcasting info and prioritising mentions

So, just how does TfL cope with the 2,000% increase in mentions when there’s a strike?

With such a massive influx, it’s impossible for the team to reply to questions individually. In order to cover all bases, TfL broadcasts an overview of information to followers via its social channels and links to the website with is kepy up to date with live information, with the aim of reaching customers before they feel the need to reach out to the network.

TfL’s brand mentions on Twitter

While TfL might not answer every question, impressively every single mention is still checked by an agent. To streamline the process TfL’s social team uses a tool called CX Social, which is also used by O2 and McDonald’s.

According to Steven: “It makes it possible to handle many accounts, collaborate and triage messages to the most relevant team. I don’t think we’re limited by any tech our teams are well equipped.”

Of course, not only does this give the team insight into what kind of information customers are actively seeking out, but it also means TfL is privy to people’s anger and frustration, too.

That being said, Steven suggests that the majority of feedback is based on customers needing information, meaning a relatively small amount is actually abusive. “Increasingly customers thank the social media team because I think some realise how hard it is to work through a strike!”

Sentiment analysis of TfL brand mentions on Twitter

Perhaps TfL’s commitment to communication is part of the reason why. In contrast, you’ve only got to look at an example like Southern Rail, which has come under fire for an inconsistent and incompetent approach to crisis communications.

Even after it received complaints for a lack of visible compassion, Southern Rail angered commuters even further with its misjudged call to ‘strike back’ at RMT.

.@SouthernRailUK When people waited three hours at Brighton last night, was that because of strikes? — Cr O’Grizimov (@Mr_Ogrizovic) October 3, 2016

Reversing the message

As well as using broadcasts to pre-empt and stem the flow of incoming customer queries, TfL’s strategy for strike days is to reverse its working message. In other words, instead of telling customers what Tube lines are not working, it tries to tell them what ones are still running instead.

Alongside this, it typically stops or reschedules any promotional campaigns in order to allow more pressing news to cut through.

Together, this approach is effective for instilling trust and encouraging a positive mood, with TfL promoting the fact that it is working hard to help the customer – not pushing its own agenda.

A possible Tube strike will significantly affect services from Sun eve to Wed morning. Stay up to date here: https://t.co/9bQz35k9Xa pic.twitter.com/DOKNlcdR0B — TfL Travel Alerts (@TfLTravelAlerts) 3 February 2017

According to Steven, a strike isn’t necessarily the most stressful event that a transport network like TfL can encounter. With storms, flooding or snow having a massive impact on the running of Tube lines, winter is typically the most demanding season.

Meanwhile, with unforeseen accidents often harder to deal with than planned strikes (such as the helicopter that crashed in Vauxhall a few years ago), the team is essentially on constant standby throughout the entire year.

In order to deal with an unplanned event, TfL has a defined process in place:

One of the first steps is usually an acknowledgement of the issue.

The next step is to coordinate a response based on verified information.

At the same time all unnecessary activity (promotions, advertising, etc) is stopped

TfL’s main accounts including @TfL and the TfL Facebook will lead on news and customer service accounts like individual Tube lines will broadcast service updates.

TfL’s website will usually carry a dedicated webpage with more detailed travel advice and the Press Office will provide updates to the media.

TfL continues providing updates from all relevant accounts and update the website regularly until things go back to normal.

Maintaining a genuine tone of voice

During busy or stressful times, rushed responses could potentially mean brand tone of voice goes out of the window.

However, Steven emphasises that the network strives to maintain a genuine and friendly tone no matter what, with staff encouraged to be genuine and express themselves.

He says that it helps that the majority of social media agents are part of the company’s wider contact centre, meaning they also deal with calls, emails and letters as well as social media platforms. In turn, this encourages them to maintain a natural-sounding and friendly tone regardless of the channel.

Good afternoon all, Mark and Tariq are here to help. pic.twitter.com/JfJ3ETqwIX — TfL Travel Alerts (@TfLTravelAlerts) 20 February 2017

While TfL clearly prioritises one-to-one human interaction, that doesn’t mean it dismisses automation in all senses. Alongside automated ‘welcome’ messages on both Twitter and Facebook, TfL recently partnered with Twitter to offer a chatbot ‘status checker‘ that users can interact with via direct messages.

Interestingly, Steven hints that it’s not the only bot in the works. “We are developing chatbot experiences on other platforms… and our editors are working on the script to ensure it has a friendly tone of voice throughout.”

However, TfL is likely to rely on its distinctly human approach a fair few more times in the future at least.

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