Utilities Facing up to Social Media
Companies continue to find innovative ways to use leverage social media channels, and this certainly has not been lost on the utility sector. Using Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook and other social media can help utilities build interactive relationships with customers through responsiveness and engagement.
Utilities are increasingly using social media to make customers aware of outage restoration updates, energy efficiency tips, renewable energy activities and other company news.
Southwestern Electric Power Company (SWEPCO) and the Arkansas Electric Cooperatives Corporation (AECC) started a Facebook page to educate and bolster support for the John W. Turk Jr. Power Plant, a coal-fired power plant currently under construction in Arkansas.
SWEPCO, an operating unit of American Electric Power (AEP), and the cooperative utility founded the Arkansas Coalition for Affordable and Reliable Electricity (ACARE) in January of 2011, and began their eponymous site on Facebook in March.
According to ACARE's Facebook page, the organization was formed as a result of feedback from local supporters and research that showed strong support in Hempstead and surrounding counties, but low awareness of the project elsewhere in the state.
The mission of the organization is to educate the citizens of Arkansas about the benefits of the new power plant to the economy and to meeting the state's future energy needs.
In addition to educating the public about the new power plant project, ACARE also hopes to educate its members and the citizens of Arkansas about the "benefits of a balanced energy policy that includes the utilization of all resources for electric power, the value of a robust transmission system and the need for fair permitting processes for future projects." ACARE has also developed a web site and a Twitter account (@ArkansasCARE) to assist in the education efforts.
The education efforts are in response to plant opponents that are continuing legal challenges to stop construction. The legal challenges claim that the plant is a threat to the environment. The plant's opponents include Sierra Club, Audubon Arkansas, Hempstead County Hunting Club and others.
"Before ACARE was formed, you would read the news stories and think the majority of people were against the Turk Plant," said Kacee Kirschvink, senior communications consultant at SWEPCO. "But the economic revitalization it has brought to southwest Arkansas with nearly 1,900 employees working at the site is amazing. ACARE now gives those Turk supporters a voice for not just their area, but for the future energy needs of the state."
According to Kirschvink, 1,422 individuals, 44 businesses and 19 government officials have joined ACARE via the Web site. In addition, 435 people "like" ACARE on Facebook.
Venita McCellon-Allen, SWEPCO's president and chief operating officer, frequently posts to ACARE's Facebook page. "Venita is way ahead of the game when it comes to executives using social media. She has the right tone and style, and she always identifies herself as a SWEPCO employee," Kirschvink said. "Venita likes to communicate with those who live near the plant, and Facebook is just another way she can do that."
ACARE is one example. But there will be others, all of which will try to establish closer links with their customers as well as create support for causes that are critical to their companies. In an era with direct access to the public, social media is proving to be a valuable tool for utilities.
Christopher Perdue is Vice President of Sierra Energy Group
Ken Silverstein is taking a break.
Comments
Communication is a Leadership Skill
Good leaders are good communicators. Call it new. Call it silly if you want, but savvy leaders are using social media as a communication tool.
Experience shows that messages are better received if communicated through several media. This used to mean memos, letters to home address, briefings, notes on bulletin boards, one-on-one, videos, faxes and so on. Today, the same tools work in conjunction with techy tools and social media.
Do you think you should wait until everyone else is using social media? Do you think you need a full-blown list of thousands before you start putting the message on social media? Would it be good to get started and learn how to maximize the tools before you get thousands of people watching you?
Watch this short clip and decide for yourself whether your utility should engage customers with social media http://snurl.com/s-media
http://municipalu.com
Utilities Face Up to Social Media
Social Media as a marketing tool is still developing. A year after the Wright Brothers flew for the first time, they would have to pay people to take a ride at Fairs. New methods take time to mature. I think any utility that is attempting to use Social Media is forward thinking. It will interesting to see if such efforts as ACARE will catch on and become an effective information source for speciality issues.
How Many Friends?
SWEPCO has 504 Facebook "friends" as of this morning. I can't find AECC's Facebook page at all. ACARE has 482 Facebook "friends".....so does my daughter.
My guess: most of these utility "friends" are employees or vendors.
I'm prepared to call the "social media outreach"....silly.