We’ve long held the view that the web has a real part to play in mobilising support for and interest in bus services. Rather than pick up the phone or stroll into the booking office, a well-designed and accurate website is probably the first port of call these days for people wishing to find out about services and times. Traveline’s web searches, for example, are progressively more popular than its phone service. But what about ancillary web activities?
Last week’s Coach & Bus Week ran an incredible four page spread on the Facebook phenomenon. CBW argued that there was no easier way of targeting the difficult-to-reach 16-25 market segment so fundamental to the industry. CBW reckoned that a medium such as Facebook was something with which youngsters felt at easy. Businesses in general use Facebook to good advantage; why not the bus industry?
That said, the power of Facebook is even better demonstrated by the campaign to retain Plymouth CityBus in its arms length form. Currently, this has 4,268 members in just two weeks.
If, for example, you thought Facebook was just about individuals and their inconsequential chit-chat, it’s actually a powerful, subliminal and possibly a cynical advertising tool. CBW quoted Metrobus who managed an incredible 1.7mil views for a Facebook advertising spend of just £290. We can’t help but wonder, though, whether younger people realise the potential manipulation that paid-for Facebook advertising might involve.
Facebook is therefore perhaps better at broadcasting and engaging, rather than as a purely nu-age advertising campaign. Keeping customers happy, informed, and countering any negativity in a pleasant, honest manner are its main strengths. And feeding back—something often neglected. Virally, it can easily self-promote all by itself, as each Facebook friend apparently has an average of 100 others.
Take up among operators is still slow. The largest number of bus industry fans to date is at The Big Lemon in Brighton. Quite something for a one route operator, though throughout The Big Lemon’s slightly idiosyncratic life it has targeted the Brighton student market very successfully. It’s no surprise that its Facebook page is so popular.
Lemon is closely followed by Metrobus. Aside from First at Bath, it would appear that other than Go Ahead (Bluestar), none of the Big Five have yet to embrace Facebook. That’s possibly because Facebook lends itself to local or individual rather than national identities. Local identities in the bus industry are, of course, now few and far between.
Could it be that blogs and websites are passé? Perhaps in a few years, Facebook, too, will have burnt out, as we all Tweet via Twitter as a means of broadcasting bus industry news. Who knows. It’s interesting that Velvet Bus has regressed (successfully) to old fashioned instant messaging alongside its strong Facebook & web presence. Indeed, after 20 years of IM, it’s the first bus operator to do so proving, again, that web is a fundamentally important tool. Assuming people still us IM.
| Facebook popularity: | |
| The Big Lemon | 931 |
| Metrobus | 903 |
| Diamond Bus | 221 |
| Velvet Bus | 377 |
| Bluestar | 164 |
| First Bath | 50 |
6 comments:
Useful comments as usual, but, dare I say it, an old message: choosing the right media for your message is important. Sadly, there is no single solution. One size does not fit all. It's horses for courses.
Markets are made up of segments and you have to target each segment with the right message via the optimum medium. (And there is no law that says you must address every segment).
The Big Lemon is a good case study. The first iteration - competing head-on against one of the slickest urban operators was doomed from the start.
Targeting an obvious discrete segment - students (who don't care about low-floors and buggy buses, but do care about low-cost)- was almost a no-brainer, and doing so via 'nu-media' ditto.
It's good to see the bus industry beginning to apply some basic marketing principles (having spent far too long deluding itself that the key to success resides solely in flashy branding vinyls).
Operators do not use the web well. Recently I visited an area that I used to know well and looked for information. Timetables were fine, route information a little bit more difficult, but no single fare information. As a reasonably responsible traveller I like to know what ticket I am buying before I board and so would appreciate knowing single, return and day ticket prices. Very few operators do this.
With regards to Facebook, this has been neglected by most operators. They seem content to follow the latest fad for liveries, progressing to some low key promotion and leave it at that. Where there has been innovation, it tends to be a newcomer trying to distance itself from the incumbent.
Social networking sites are more suited to smaller operations that are trying to build awareness and brand loyalty. This cannot be confined to these websites, but should be part of a co-ordinated feel to an operation.
2 POINTS SPRING TO MIND.FIRSTLY TRAVELINE OF WHOM I AM A GREAT FAN STILL DO NOT HAVE A NATIONAL POLICY .DIFFERENT REGIONS USE DIFFERENT METHODS.SOUTHEAST ARE THE BEST THEY LIST OPERATORS ,PLACES SERVED AND COMPLETE TIMETABLES.MANY OF THE OTHERS ARE A TO MANY CLICK OPERATION .IE.SIMPLY NOT FUNCTIONAL BUT SOMETIMES PRETY TO LOOK AT!SECNDLY LOCAL IDENTITY.I AM SUPRISED THAT THAT MANY OF THE BIG FOUR ARE NOT REBRANDING AND RE-LIVERING TO THEY=IR ORIRIGGAL NAMES.EG.STAGECOACH SOUTH WOULD BENEFIT BT RE INTODUCING THE SOUTHDOWN BRANDING.I COULD GO ONTO MENTION MANY OTHERS .I FEELSURE THIS WOULD BE VIEWED AS INNOVATIVE.REGARDS
The interest shown in a small operator like Velvet seems disproportionate in aspects of fleet, mileage, routes to that shown in the likes of BlueStar and Metrobus. Perhaps a matter of the tiddler being less faceless and more concerned for the passenger experience?
I would rather see operators focus on making a half-decent website first rather than messing around with fads and fancies like Facebook and Twitter.
In the whole of York and North Yorkshire, there is only one bus company that has a website I would rate as really good - some are OK, but most are appalling. Badly written timetables, lack of decent maps, no information about fares, no information about service changes, poor visibility in search engine results ... fixing these basic problems would allow the company to target many times more people than a group on Facebook, which is either going to provide tangential and less relevant information or is duplicating content that should be on their main website, where all surfers can access it.
There are others with over 350 fans:
www.new.facebook.com/pages/indigo/27604352323
and
www.new,facebook.com/pages/red-arrow/22685523976
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