Marketing BART in a 2.0 World

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Marketing BART in a 2.0 World
APTA Marketing Conference, February 2009

• BART Marketing Research Department

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Go where the customers are

• Channels we use include
• Bart.gov interactive features
• Twitter.com/sfbart microblog updates
• Sfbart.posterous.com blog platform
• Bart.gov/Facebook Facebook fan page

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Rider-contributed photos
A rider shared this photo of his wife on a BART
train. We used it on the bart.gov homepage.
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Lessons from bart.gov website

• Most important having reliable, timely info
  get the basics down first.
• Interactivity increases engagement Flickr
  photos, Seen and Heard anecdotes
• Open data is key third-party developers can help
  expand reach

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Viral, word-of-mouth marketing
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Lessons from Twitter

• Make it a two-way conversation
• Be authentic not overly promotional
• Create ways to share and act on feedback
  involving other parts of your company
  (operations, customer service, public safety)

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Mix up the tweets customers want practical and
quirky
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Especially the quirky!
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Keeping it real
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Another channel a simple blog
We use a very simple platform called Posterous
for a blog that incorporates many photos and
encourages interactivity with riders
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Lessons from the blog

• Distinguish it from main website Not quite as
  official as www.bart.gov
• Use it to answer rider questions and encourage
  interactivity
• Understand resource limitations choose an easy
  platform

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Another channel Facebook fan page
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Lessons from Facebook

• Consider pros and cons of comments
• Repurpose content from other channels to ensure
  fresh material
• Use updates to fans sparingly

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In conclusion

• Transit brands can be seen as bureaucratic and
  institutional social web marketing humanizes the
  brand and builds community.
• ROI in a traditional sense is hard to measure,
  but positive buzz and word-of-mouth viral
  marketing from influencers add value to the
  brand.

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In social web spaces, you have to take the
criticism.
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along with the love!
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Questions?

• For more information, contact
• Melissa Jordan,
• Senior Marketing Representative
• mjordan_at_bart.gov
• [phone]