IBTTA’s Recipe for Social Media Success

Earlier this month, the Buildfire blog recognized IBTTA consultant Jenise Fryatt of Smarter Shift as one of 26 content marketing experts to follow in 2015. I am very happy that Jenise received this well-deserved recognition. IBTTA is proud of her and her work.

In this Q&A with Tolling Points, Jenise shares IBTTA’s recipe for content marketing and social media success.

TP: How do social media and content marketing benefit IBTTA and the tolling industry?

JF: Social media allow agencies and organizations like IBTTA to engage the public directly, on the social media platforms where they already gather. Instead of interrupting them with advertising that many find annoying, we share information from various sources that we know our target audience finds interesting and useful. By doing this, IBTTA becomes a trusted source for useful transportation information. So when we share information about the tolling industry, our social media friends are more likely to listen and consider it credible. 

TP: How does content marketing differ from traditional outbound marketing, and how does the new approach benefit tolling?

JF: Traditional, outbound marketing is a one-way street: marketers’ blast out messages intended to elicit a specific action (such as a purchase) and hope some of them will find their mark. Content marketing is a process of educating and building trust through relationships over a longer period of time. It’s a more patient, gradual approach. And it delivers solid relationships that are more likely to result in brand ambassadors who thoroughly understand the benefits of tolling, help promote our message online by sharing our content, use the educational resources on the IBTTA website, and register to attend IBTTA webinars and conferences.

TP: How can social media embrace the complexities of toll financing, technology, and management?

JF: It's difficult to imagine a 140-character tweet explaining the benefits of, for instance, road user charging. But a tweet such as "Road User Charging: The Vision and Practicalities" that links to a blog post provides useful information for those seeking to learn about the issue. By creating this type of content, IBTTA helps to educate and build the industry’s thought leadership on social media platforms.

TP: How do you find and reach out to the online audiences that understand those issues?

JF: Social media platforms have search functions that we take advantage of to search for keywords that our niche audience might be using: transportation, gas tax, tollroads, tolling, infrastructure, etc. We also use these words to identify groups on these platforms that we can join. Once we connect with these individuals and groups, we employ a content marketing strategy to build credibility as a useful online community member. 

TP: What do you feel IBTTA has achieved through its content marketing campaign?

JF: Since the Moving America Forward campaign began, we’ve raised the level of public awareness of tolling as a viable option for funding transportation and infrastructure, and helped to dispel many of the myths about tolling. Online platforms have helped us educate the public on more complicated issues, such as electronic tolling and road user charging. The campaign has spurred more conversation to further the discussion on tolling, opened up new channels for public dialogue about tolling, heightened interest and helped increase registration for IBTTA events, and built IBTTA’s reputation in the transportation arena for thought leadership on infrastructure funding and financing.

TP: What’s next?

JF: We continue to build on what has worked in the past and experiment with new techniques in the future. We will be keeping an eye out to see which new social media platforms make the most sense for our purposes. Also, IBTTA hosts many events throughout the year. We would like to improve our ability to effectively make use of conference content for marketing, and to encourage more user-generated content from attendees.

TP: What’s the most important thing you’ve learned about content marketing through your work with IBTTA?

JF: A consistent, well-researched strategy will yield results, even from an audience you wouldn't think would be into social media. When I first started, it seemed that social media was the last thing on the minds of most of IBTTA's target market. But over time, our following on Twitter, Facebook, and especially LinkedIn grew quite steadily. What really got me excited was the amount of online engagement that occurred at the last IBTTA Annual Meeting: so much, in fact, that I was able to create a Storify summary of the social media activity.

TP: What are some of the best examples of content marketing you’ve seen among IBTTA members?

JF: I'm a big fan of the E-470 Team in Colorado. They do an excellent job of using social media to interact with customers. Here's a great example of the kind of user-generated content they spark.

TP: What does a tolling executive need to know before deciding whether to introduce content marketing in his or her agency or company?

JF: Here are the most important opening questions to ask:

·      What are your specific objectives?

·      Who is your target market?

·      What kind of content are they most interested in receiving from your organization?

·      Do you have the resources to create quality content and engage consistently on social media?

·      Can you commit to a long-term content marketing strategy?

For an example of content marketing principles in practice, click here to subscribe to Tolling Points, IBTTA’s blog on tolling, highways, and infrastructure funding.