answer, the landowner will be skeptical of all of the information provided at the open house meetings. To help mitigate the problem of inconsistent messaging, media and public meeting training is essential. The more comfortable project team members are with their messages and talking points, the more likely their answers will be delivered. Listening is even more important than messaging. You can be sure that with pages of messaging developed for a project, there are bound to be questions or issues that arise during the life of a project. A project team must employ avenues to listen, track and respond to the conversation. Each stakeholder may not be involved in the outreach process from start to finish and additional stakeholders may weave in and out throughout the process. Tracking stakeholders’ participation, understanding their
issues and location within the project area allows the project team to review the outreach strategy and develop messaging that addresses the stakeholder’s concerns. Reviewing messaging should be an ongoing component of successful communication.
SOCIAL AND INTERACTIVE. MEDIA. The free social tools available today surpass anything companies were using 10 or 15 years ago. Consider how many times a day you search for information on the internet. Do you have a personal Twitter account? Are you frequently on Facebook? If you are using these tools to gather information, don’t you think a stakeholder would be interested in using these same tools to hear about your company or upcoming projects? A tweet about an upcoming open house meeting is a quick and easy communication avenue. Social media should be used as a form of two-way communication. If the tools are only being used to push information out, the social and community aspect are lost. Use social media such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, as a critical listening tool, where you can manage, monitor and adapt your message. If you aren’t listening, you may miss a post from a project supporter or be disengaged when an opposition group forms against your project. Listen and engage! It’s the most valuable aspect of social media.
RETURN ON INVESTMENT. (ROI).
Corporate Office 562.220.1450 www.total-western.com Contact Ezra Jenkison or Ron Matson 22
ELECTRIC ENERGY | SUMMER 2014
Understanding the true cost of an open house meeting, newsletter mailings and tweets can assist in selecting the most appropriate methods of communication. Just as a project tracks and adapts messages, a project team must also understand the costs associated with the outreach strategy and modify tools and techniques if the return is lower than expected. If the data shows your tool has a low return, go back to the drawing board, identify a new approach and try it. Ask stakeholders how they prefer to be contacted. Review the analytics