I have a hate/loathe relationship with the MBTA.

A few weeks ago I wrote a blog post that talked about how the MBTA is living in a strange world where investing in an AM radio frequency somehow makes financial sense. But really, that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

If you read my Twitter stream, you’ll see me complain about the MBTA and how it is run. I figure, rather than blindly yell into the darkness about it, I should put together a list of things to change. No point in being anything but constructive, right? Here’s what I came up with:

1. FIX YOUR PRODUCT

This is a blog about marketing and communications. You, MBTA employees who are reading this, have lots of problems with marketing and communications. But those problems aside, your product stinks. Trains break down, avoidable delays are a near-daily occurrence, train interiors are frequently unclean and in disrepair, stations are filthy and poorly lit, train intercoms are poor quality at best and non-functional at worst, bad attitudes seem to be a job requirement for bus drivers, and on and on and on. You know all of this. So fix it. If your product sucks, there’s no kind of communication in the world that can save you.

2. LISTEN TO YOUR CUSTOMERS

I know what you’re going to say here. You’re going to say that you DO listen. You have “customer lunches,” you send your executives to terminal stations to talk with people, etc. But we rarely have time to stop and talk with you on our way to work or home to our families. Listen to us where we are trying to get your attention: Twitter, Facebook, blogs like this one, community forums, and so on. Invest in good social listening software like Radian6 or Sysomos‘s suite of tools. Learn how to use them. And make sure that when your social media manager hears about a problem, EVERYONE hears about it. Immediately.

3. BE ALWAYS-ON

I know whoever monitors your Twitter account checks out at about 6:00. I wouldn’t mind that so much if your product was something that was generally used during business hours. But it isn’t. By definition, the opposite is true. So why only monitor social media between 8 and 6? Why not create an empowered community management team that works in shifts to address problems whenever they occur? What, exactly, is the downside to this approach?

4. GET BETTER AT COMMUNICATING

I will say this for you, MBTA: you’ve taken the first step toward social greatness by understanding the need to apologize when people complain, and say thank you when people say nice things about you. (You could be better at both of these things, but it’s a start.) The next step on this path is taking customer service issues and turning them into public, real-time service tickets. When someone complains about a long wait for a train on Twitter, for example, this is what your Twitter stream should look like:

@johndoe Hmm… Let me look into that for you.

@johndoe Sorry about the delay. Looks like there was a small electrical problem. We’re fixing it now. Next train should be there in 5 minutes.

@johndoe Train should have just arrived. Anything else I can help with?

All of this communication should happen in public. It should be one person’s (or team’s) job to have these conversations — and it should be his (their) ONLY job.

5. EMPOWER YOUR COMMUNITY MANAGERS

You know what sucked? Dealing with all the delays on the commuter rail this winter and getting one lousy round trip ticket and a gosh-we’re-sorry letter as compensation. That sucked a lot. You need to get better at giving back to your customers, dissatisfied or otherwise, and you need to empower your community managers to do the giving.

So if someone complains that the terrible wi-fi is making their Pandora playlist skip, send them a $5 iTunes gift card. If someone complains that standing on a crowded train is making their feet hurt, give them a $5 gift card to Sports Authority toward the purchase of some comfortable shoes. And no, you don’t have to do this for everyone; your customers don’t expect it. But that’s the point: it’s the kind of thing that shows that you care about your customers.

6. MAKE THE DATA FLOW

I said before that as soon as the community manager knows about something, EVERYONE should know about it. That means everyone in marketing should know about it, everyone in PR/communications should know about it, everyone in operations should know about it, everyone in sales and finance and legal should know about it. And every CUSTOMER should know about it. (We pay your bills, after all.) This information is important — it’s a status update on how your business interfaces with your customers, and it’s a health check not just for your social presence, but your ability to run a profitable company that consistently provides a valuable product.

And in case it was still unclear, you are failing at this task.

I Can Help You.

I don’t want to blow my own horn here. There are few things in this world that I claim any kind of expertise in, but this is one of them. I want you to read the backlogs of this blog. I want you to read other blogs, too — start with the AdAge Power 150, and follow links to other upstart blogs of note. And if you still have questions, I want you to contact me. I can’t promise that I’ll have a comprehensive solution for you, but I can definitely put you on the right path when I have spare time. Like on my train ride home, for example.

Provided the wi-fi is working, of course. (See #1.)

Image Credit: bradlee9119