What is your job title? How do you use social listening in your work?
As the Manager of Social Media Strategy and Analytics, I have two teams under my tent: editorial (publishing) and the Social Business Intelligence team. The former manages the content of our 18 accounts on six platforms. They also manage the ZONE, our social media ambassador program for employees. It is the first, and so far the only, one in the US federal government.
We are based in the Communications Department in a Center of Excellence model. The SBI team works with communications (HQ and field), operations, government relations, HR, marketing, legal, and the Postal Inspection Service. Our focus is brand protection, crisis mitigation, and a better customer experience. With issues ranging from COVID to election mail, it is never the same day twice.
The two teams work in concert. SBI will inform the content of our publishing team, responding or anticipating customer concerns. And when SBI identified a number of well-intentioned, “rogue”, employees on social media, we channeled that enthusiasm by creating the ZONE program.
What’s your background? How did you get into social listening?
I got into social listening by accident. I’m an Associate Professor at Georgetown University School of Medicine. I still teach. But after committing my entire adult life to the fight against HIV/AIDS since I was 17, I was really burnt-out. Really burnt-out. I needed to do something completely different. So I signed-up with a temp agency to meet new people and learn new things. They noticed that I have experience managing teams and asked me to manage the first
group of contractors working in social customer response at USPS. I started in January and by October I was creating their social intelligence program. By the following February I was an official employee. Two years ago I started the newly-created position I currently occupy.
The moral of the story is that if you are good at program development, managing teams, and believe that decisions should be based on data, not instinct, there is a place for you here. Because this is a relatively new field, and because organizations have relatively new programs, this is an opportunity to define what your work looks like. People don’t know what they don’t know. This is your chance to tell them.
What has been your biggest achievement?
Professionally, it has been the heatmap (see below). We have completed the one-year preliminary process for filing a patent. Never in my wildest dreams did I see this happen. But personally it has been building-up SBI from scratch, from myself and one other person to a group of ten. I’m proud of the fact that during a time of reorganization, I not only kept the team together, but secured raises for all of them. I think that speaks a great deal about the extent to which our team is valued. I love the fact that we don’t feel like our work is going out into the world like a “message in a bottle”, hoping someone will see what we have done. We feel that our work makes a difference. I’m really grateful for the team I have: how well they work together, their commitment to excellence, their passion and curiosity. Those things don’t happen by accident; there is an intentionality that is brought, every day. I think one of the best examples is our SBI U which occurs 3-4 times a week. We will hash-out issues, watch videos, or check out a webinar. I’m not the dean of SBI U. A member of the team is.
What’s the boldest mistake you’ve made? What did you learn from it?
This is the question I answered first. I believe that the definition of an expert is someone who has made every possible mistake in a given field. And I have developed some expertise. I wouldn’t describe this as bold, but it was an important lesson to learn. When I first started this work, I was new to the field, new to the organization, and eager to please. So when another department asked us to do a report, I was thrilled. I offered them a virtual takeout menu of options. They chose them all, leading to HUGE reports which took up a lot of my team’s time. Seeing my team becoming demoralized, doing a lot of work for little return, I met with this internal customer, bringing a print-out of the report with me. I asked (politely) if they realized they were requesting a 90+ page report, if they were using every element they asked for. Silence. We went through it, section-by- section, reducing it to ten pages.
Now I ask not what type of information they want, but what question they are trying to answer. If it is data masking as window dressing for a report, I’ll develop a dashboard they can access at their convenience, freeing-up my team for more satisfying work.
What would be your dream project to work on?
Actually I’ve already done it. The work responding to COVID speaks to my values and background. But working on USPS’ Operation Santa was so uplifting. This is a 100+ year-old program in which people anonymously adopt letters, making Christmas wishes come true. We used listening to anticipate and respond to participants concerns. When we noticed that there were more people wanting to adopt Spanish language letters than there were letters, I insisted that all of our social media content be in both languages. The result is 54% more letters were adopted this year. It doesn’t get much better than that.
Do you think there’s a right way and a wrong way to use social data?
Yes! Aside from the obvious unethical use of the sin of omission due to confirmation bias, data should not be about looking good, but doing better. I’m not interested in data for the sake of data or vanity metrics which are more sizzle than steak. It’s a wasted opportunity to be a numeric cosmetologist for someone’s ppt presentation.
The question I always ask is how can the data be used to make (our corner of) the world a better place? As someone with a background in medicine and public health, I believe that the data tells a story. Our job is not to “blind them with science” but to present the information in such an accessible and compelling manner that it inspires action.
I’ve presented quite a bit on how social intelligence informed our response to COVID. Being able to identify locations short on PPE, and seeing operations reach out to say, “Hey I hear there is a problem. How can I help? Do you need me to send supplies to you? Do you need permission to use your gas card?Do what it takes for your team.” Using data to take better care of our frontline workers meant a great deal to us in a situation over which we had little control.
Are there areas where you think you should be using social data for but aren’t currently?
Product development. But the development of new stamps is a very formal, very official process. We had released summertime scratch-and-sniff stamps featuring popsicles. I think a great follow-up would be winter stamps featuring scratch-and-sniff hot beverages determined by social intelligence data. Yes I am suggesting Pumpkin Spice Latte scented stamps. I was immediately shot down. And even though I got a fantastic response after “complaining” about it on Threads, the answer was still “no”.
Another aspect is licensing. We have had some great partnerships with Vans and Forever 21. After E.L.F cosmetics partnered with Chipotle, I presented other examples for cosmetics, including nail polish. We have official shades of blue, grey, and red. Think of the decals! I’m still a willing prisoner of hope on this one.
What’s your favourite data source to use and why?
Reddit is a great place for unvarnished conversations. You don’t see as much of the chest- beating, performative content for the user’s personal echo chamber there. There is honesty and vulnerability there. This is where we went to find out what employee’s concerns were during COVID and how we could best serve them. It informed over 200 articles for an internal audience, led to the creation of educational videos reminding customers to socially distance, and inspired our “thank you for the thank-you’s” campaign (featuring customer expressions of gratitude from sidewalk art to balloon animals) which boosted morale during a difficult time.
We developed an interactive heatmap which maps-out online reviews and concerns coming to us on our social media accounts. Searches can be performed by date, zip code, or topic. It has been used, among other things, to identify customer service hotspots, the needs of those affected during natural disasters, respond to congressional inquiries, determine the success of interventions, and recognize excellent performance. It is designed for those who are not data scientists. It’s my favorite source because it democratizes access to the data. And most importantly because we have seen dramatic, tangible results. It is also just great fun to see how a single data set can be applied in so many different ways. We very intentionally did not use the data to create a “the beatings will continue until morale improves” dynamic among employees. In addition to improving things for the customer, it honors great work done by good people.
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