The Social Side of Saia
A look at Saia LTL Freight's social channels and its effort to consistently produce valuable and useful content that make our customer's shipping experience that much better, and our employees informed and recognized.
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It’s not all cat videos, sunsets and memes. At first glance, social media can come across as an untamed, even wild, mixture of videos, images and messages that somehow represent today’s opinions, interests, and culture. But, if you know where to look, there’s an incredible amount of valuable information to be found on nearly any topic — LTL shipping included.
For shippers and employees looking for current information about the LTL industry or a particular business within the industry, a carrier’s social media channels can be the ultimate tool in education, customer service and company news. However, navigating the constantly growing amount of available content can be difficult.
In order for social media consumers to make the best use of their time, following and using channels that are credible, dependable and actually helpful are the keys to efficiency. We can’t speak for every LTL carrier that has a Facebook, Instagram, Twitter account or blog, but we can certainly speak for ourselves. Through the Saia LTL Freight social channels, we strive to consistently produce valuable and useful content that make our customer’s shipping experience that much better, and our employees informed and recognized. If your shipper isn’t following some of these social media best practices, it might be time to consider another source of information.
It seems there is always a new networking channel being introduced to the public, but we know that shippers generally only concern themselves with the big three—Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Saia, for example, has made itself available on all of these channels, including a second Facebook and Twitter channel (@SaiaCareers) for current and prospective employees. Additionally, YouTube provides our audience with even more content that provides both relevant information and entertainment. The point is, in order to be the most useful to the public, carriers must make themselves available across every major channel as each one tends to addresses different topics.
Facebook: @SaiaLTLFreight provides informational content for prospective and current customers with “How-to” type articles, expert insight on industry topics and behind-the-scenes looks at the business side of Saia. @SaiaCareers reaches out to our current and future employees and is an arena for celebrating and recognizing employees for their hard work, safe driving and positive results. Employee pages like these give a place for employees to come together and help give a voice to them as a whole.
Instagram: @SaiaLTLFreight is another channel that celebrates our culture and employees from different terminals all over the country. Instagram also offers a great opportunity for customers to connect directly with Saia by leaving comments or sending direct messages.
Twitter: @Saia_Inc offers links to external industry news and stories from trade publications and is also a great resource to keep in touch with Saia during events such as recruitment fairs. Twitter is yet another tool for contacting Saia with employment or customer service related inquiries. @SaiaCareers provides additional info for future and current employees.
YouTube: Saia, Inc.’s channel is used as a recruitment tool as well as a way to promote the many benefits and options available when shipping with Saia. YouTube is capable of reaching and connecting with a wider audience. Here, we’re able to shed some light on the people that make Saia what it is by telling their stories, while also informing shippers on why shipping with Saia may be their best option.
At the heart of it, these are more than just channels to promote a brand. When used to their fullest capabilities, these are communication and customer experience tools. One way to pick and choose from a list of credible social channels is to determine those that are engaged with their followers. Social media is meant to provide a two-way conversation — it takes two to be “social.” For instance, we encourage customers who have questions, suggestions or shipping challenges to contact Saia through one of our many channels. Our goal is to respond to every comment we receive as quickly as possible (usually within an hour), resolve any issues (within 24 hours) and create a smoother shipping experience all while learning from and being educated by our customers. Oftentimes, leaving a direct message and waiting offline for a response is the easiest option for them.
The over-saturation of social media channels and pages can often make it difficult to determine which content is worth your time. Auditing your LTL shipping partner’s pages as a customer or potential/current employee can be a useful exercise in making sure you’re getting the most out of what they have to offer – it means you’ve found a social media channel that can offer more than pictures of cats or funny memes.
To explore and follow Saia on all of its social media channels, follow the links provided above to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.