Inside a small room outfitted with a wall of monitors, a team of social media pros are tracking what people are saying about Mall of America, whether those comments are being posted on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or being sent directly by text.
A big bonus of attending United Motorcoach Association’s inaugural Sales Summit at this sprawling retail and entertainment destination was the rare opportunity to peek behind the scenes at how the country’s biggest mall connects with its customers digitally to boost loyalty and revenues.
UMA sales pros were invited to go below the massive four-story, 96-acre complex to the command center. It’s where a communications team staffs the Enhanced Service Portal, or ESP, which is used to quickly answer questions or respond to concerns from shoppers via social media or direct text messages.
“It’s really the cornerstone of everything that we do here at Mall of America,” explained Nate Sandell, senior manager of social media. “Social for us touches on every department at MOA. It’s not just a marketing or PR tool.”
‘Part of the conversations’
MOA launched its ESP in late 2013 to bring together several departments to improve communication with visitors. The cornerstone of the team’s mission is social care, which means engaging with guests and answering their questions about where to stay, dine or shop – and being part of conversations when Mall of America is mentioned on social media.
The team’s five community managers monitor the mall’s social community from 9:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily while it is open. Their tools include the social platform Khoros–similar to TweetDeck or Hootsuite–which puts all of the online social streams in one space, while making it easy to schedule messages and track analytics. Web chat and mobile conversations are routed through Kitsu, a social network that works like Facebook or Twitter. A Chatbot is deployed to quickly acknowledge comments, although the majority is still routed through the social media team.
The team’s text messaging platform started about seven years ago as a housekeeping tool to address complaints about restroom cleanliness that were ending up on social media. In response, each restroom was given a number visitors can text to report issues. Text messaging has expanded to other uses since then. Last year, the team responded to more than 55,000 conversations through text messages.
“It is that one-on-one interaction that is really kind of our ultimate goal of anything we do,” Sandell said. “We’re not always looking just to get on social. We love it when they share it on social, but it’s just to make the guests feel special and to enjoy their visit a little bit more. Taking 30 seconds to respond to a guest who may only have 39 followers may seem trivial, but you can make that positive brand impression that could last a long time.”
The brand voice
Sandell once took the time to respond to a guest who asked for advice by text on surviving the zombie apocalypse at MOA. His response: Head to retailer L.L. Bean for supplies and then to Moose Mountain Adventure Golf up on Level 3 North because the location offered the best vantage point in the mall. It’s also next to a food court to grab rations and has golf clubs that could be used as weapons if needed.
While a brand voice needs to be professional, it can have a sense of humor and even be a little sarcastic at times. That brand voice should also extend to images.
The team recently made the decision to go with a more organic or natural feel with its photos. The decision paid off. An overhaul of MOA’s Instagram account with that new perspective led to a “huge increase” in followers, he says.
When it comes to photos, he encourages his staff to try different angles. Sometimes that means taking a step back or crouching down a little bit.
The secret to social media is not being afraid to take a chance. “Sometimes we fail, but often we find something that really does work and that interaction has made us a fan for life,” Sandell said.
