American Gas - October 2011 - (Page 20)

G r E AT I d E A S SOLuTIONS to be the best Mobile Warming MLGW relays why and how it has embraced mobile technology. #3 on the list. The top two activities? Checking the time and texting. Simply put, mobile technology is here to stay, and we have to change the way we think about it. Market research firm In-Stat estimates there will be 975 million mobile users by 2012. AP ran an article in February about how smart phones are now outselling personal computers. So if you haven’t done so already, it’s time to change the way you think about mobile technology. At MLGW, I think our moment of truth came in June 2009 after a tornado and straight-line winds knocked out power to more than 140,000 customers, about onethird of our overall base. We decided to use Twitter to help provide outage updates. In less than a week, our number of followers exploded from a little over 200 to more than 1,500. On June 15, 2009, at the height of the restoration process, we had a record 435,000 hits on mlgw.com and a record 10,000 visits to our blog. How was this happening with 33 percent of our customer base without power? Mobile phones. GLEN THOMAS is supervisor, communications and public relations at Memphis Light, Gas and Water. You can follow MLGW at www.twitter.com/mlgw. 20 october 2011 couple of years ago, I discovered I was no longer cool. It was a painful realization. My moment of clarity came when I chastised my 20-something nephew for never responding to my emails. With a mixture of disdain and pity, he said, “Uncle Glen, nobody emails anymore. We text.” And there it was: a splash of cold water on the “Cool Uncle” façade I had so carefully crafted. As I fumbled with my Van Halen eight-track, I realized that technology was one step ahead of me. I was instantly put off by texting: the inconvenience of pecking through letters at a much slower pace than a simple phone call could provide. And the writer in me bristled at the slang. But a funny thing happened since then: Not only did I become familiar with texting culture, but I got assimilated into it. Chances are you have, too. Why? Because it’s become a normal part of the way we communicate. Do you know what the third-most-popular cell phone activity is? Talking on it! That’s right—the purpose for which phones were created is now A social Media It’s easier than ever to access the Web through your cell phone, and the influx of smart phone options will only increase these numbers. According to Nielsen, social media is the most popular online activity, and social media is very mobile friendly. I’ve written in the past about how important social media has become to MLGW’s communications efforts (see “Take Time to Tweet” in the May 2010 American Gas), and it’s now a daily part of our communications routine. As of August 2011, MLGW has more than 5,000 followers on Twitter and about 2,000 “Likes” on Facebook. But we’ve also had to take a step back and look at how customers are accessing social media and the Web. There is a bigger opportunity to reach customers than simply interacting through Facebook and Twitter, and that’s reaching them where they are at the moment— through their mobile device. AmericAn GAs http://www.mlgw.com https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/aga/201005/index.php#/24 http://www.twitter.com/mlgw

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Gas - October 2011

American Gas - October 2011
Contents
President's Message
In the News
Safety First
To Be the Best
Set to Sell?
2011 Buyers Guide
Marketplace
Places to Be
Noteworthies
Jobline
Advertisers' Index
Facts on Gas

American Gas - October 2011