Vineyard City just passed the one-year mark working with Podium to create faster and better communication with residents and build stronger relationships with them. We know our residents are using their phones, and Podium enables them to connect with city staff directly on their mobile devices.
How We Use Podium
Vineyard City’s Communications team has assigned representatives from various departments to answer enquiries directly within the Podium Platform. In addition, the Communications team created friendly templated responses to our most asked questions, about issues such as pavilion rentals and splash pad operations. We also rely on staff members from various city departments to respond to specific questions.
A major benefit of Podium is that whether our staff members are sending a templated response or are involved in more in-depth conversations with our residents, all of the communication takes place in the same spot. This means that we can respond more quickly and ensure that no enquiries fall through the cracks.
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This is an important point because we don’t want residents to use another platform (such as social media) to complain that we did not respond to them.
→If you need to reassign the conversation, let them know who you will be connecting them with.
Sometimes people’s questions are complex, or overlap two departments and require more than one response. We want them to know we are working on a complete answer to their questions.
→Do not ask someone to call or email you. If their question is too complex to answer over text, offer to call them by responding, “Are you available for me to call you at this number?”
Since they have already reached out to us through Podium, if the conversation needs to be moved off of Podium, we show them respect by initiating a phone call.
→Ask if there is anything else we can help with before ending the conversation.
This is an important point because we don’t want residents to use another platform (such as social media) to complain that we did not respond to them.
→If you need to reassign the conversation, let them know who you will be connecting them with.
Sometimes people’s questions are complex, or overlap two departments and require more than one response. We want them to know we are working on a complete answer to their questions.
→Do not ask someone to call or email you. If their question is too complex to answer over text, offer to call them by responding, “Are you available for me to call you at this number?”
Since they have already reached out to us through Podium, if the conversation needs to be moved off of Podium, we show them respect by initiating a phone call.
→Ask if there is anything else we can help with before ending the conversation. >>