San Joaquin Regional Transit District (RTD) has received an AdWheels award from the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) for its social media story-telling campaign, “RTD Stories.”

Customer Engagement Analyst Kelvin Cao conceived, developed, and executed the campaign.

“I was engaged and fascinated by the study of mass communication dynamics and its influence with audiences across digital media. I honed in on the idea that successful social media engagement requires an emotional and interpersonal connection between individuals,” Cao explained. “I saw the opportunity to develop a social media campaign focusing on effective storytelling of customers and their genuine stories called #RTDStories. This strategy helps to build the desired connection with our customers and further advance our engagement.”

Cao created #RTDStories, a social media campaign that highlights the population served by public transit in San Joaquin County. RTD customers are students, artists, environmentalists, elders, working families, and ADA riders; nearly 75 percent earn less than $35,000 annually. Their authentic stories inform the greater community of who RTD serves, and why it is crucial to invest in public transit.

The category for the award is “Best Marketing and Communications Educational Effort.” Through the use of effective storytelling, RTD gained stronger brand awareness and built goodwill, earning over 200 new likes and followers. Twitter posts reached over 49,700 cumulative impressions. Facebook posts reached over 19,100 impressions. The #RTDStories social media campaign was a pure success, transit officials said, receiving positive responses and strong engagement from their audience.

San Joaquin Regional Transit District (RTD) is the regional transit provider for San Joaquin County. RTD’s mission is to provide a safe, reliable, and efficient transportation system for the region. For more information, visit sjRTD.com, follow RTD on Facebook and Twitter, or call (209) 943-1111.