Utility companies are facing increasing challenges because they have an aging workforce, increasing demands on their resources, and poor customer image.
Clever use of social media strategies can help utilities significantly alleviate these issues.
Abdul Kader Baba- Managing Cybersecurity Risks and Compliance Requirements i...
Potent Social Media strategies for Utility companies
1. Potent Social Media Strategies for
Brand and Customer Loyalty
Tom Raftery
RedMonk
A collaboration of:
Tuesday 20 September 11
2. Tom Raftery
• Lead analyst, energy and
sustainability practice,
RedMonk
• tom@redmonk.com
• GreenMonk.net
• twitter.com/tomraftery
• +34 677 695 468
• SlideShare.net/TomRaftery
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3. Who are you?
Photo http://www.flickr.com/photos/warmestregards/2789694551/
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Work for a utility?
Co. that uses Social Media internally/externally?
FaceBook? YouTube? Twitter?
Block them?
4. Power of Social Media?
Photo http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iWq3vSDxhfRBUycN8lnup8PjiLGw?docId=CNG.4738bb3bfe08893b892ccf69563ecc85.3d1&index=0
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President of Egypt from 1981-2011
Ousted in an uprising which would not have been possible without social media
5. Social Media
Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpMZbT1tx2o
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7. Aging Workforce
Photo http://www.flickr.com/photos/gagilas/3501432476/
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In the U.S. energy sector, more than a third of the workforce already is over 50 years old - http://hbr.org/2008/02/managing-demographic-risk/ar/1
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: In the US approx 30-40% of the work force in the electric utility sector will retire in the next 10 years
And aging infrastructure
8. Image
Photo http://www.flickr.com/photos/photofarmer/3303387519/
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At best, boring
9. Image
Photo http://www.flickr.com/photos/undertow851/5964155985/
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Sometimes, not trustworthy
10. Increasing Demands
Images http://www.paulchefurka.ca/EnergyGap.html
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Increasing demand for dwindling energy sources
EIA: world energy use to increase 53% by 2035; China and India account for half of growth
11. Increasing Demands
Photo http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeremybrooks/2473047860/
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Also other demands -
- Customer service
- Reduced environmental impact
- Energy consumption information
13. Aging Workforce - Recruitment
http://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=67258&trk=anet_ug_hm
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Generate a presence where the experts are -
14. Aging Workforce - Retention
Photo http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephanridgway/4110712532/
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David Legge of FortisBC - guy walking out of interview - prob apocryphal but...
Rotary dial phone - padlock on the dial
15. Image
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owGykVbfgUE
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Old spice sales up 100% in month that followed
Still up 50% a year later (with help from coupons) http://adage.com/article/viral-video-charts/spice-killing-youtube-sales/229080/
This ad alone has had 35m views (how many for playlist?)
16. Image
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owGykVbfgUE
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Sales up 100% in month
Up 50% a year later (with help from coupons) http://adage.com/article/viral-video-charts/spice-killing-youtube-sales/229080/
17. Internal
Communications
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18. Aging Workforce - Knowledge
Photo http://www.flickr.com/photos/dabhaid/314923760/
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In the U.S. energy sector, more than a third of the workforce already is over 50 years old - http://hbr.org/2008/02/managing-demographic-risk/ar/1
In the US only approximately 30-40% of the work force in the electric utility sector will retire in the next 10 years - U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Social Media for Knowledge management
Company blogs / Wikis / Co. video
Raise hands if your co has an internal knowledge mgmnt program
Keep hands up if co has knowledge sharing KPI’s?
19. Internal communications
http://www.Dilbert.com
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Done right - SM is good for employee morale (retention)
And knowledge management
20. Internal communications
Internal IBM blog
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Knowledge sharing - you as blogger become acknowledged expert
Rated by peers
21. Internal communications
Internal IBM blog
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IBM has 18k internal blogs - running blog program 8 yrs
22. Internal communications
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAP_AG
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Wikipedia - Election of Benedict story
26. Internal communications
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRdxXPV9GNQ
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Video blogs - rich medium
Some find it easier to talk than to write
27. Internal communications
https://www.chatter.com/
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SalesForce’s Chatter now deployed by over 100,000 co.’s worldwide
Free private social network for your co.
28. Internal communications
http://www.huddle.com/
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Internal AND External
Project management
29. Internal communications
http://www.sapstreamwork.com
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Internal AND External
Project management
30. Internal communications
http://rypple.com/
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Performance management
Watch a couple of the Rypple videos!
31. Internal communications
https://docs.google.com/
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2 ppl working on a spreadsheet remotely
In a browser
And chatting
33. Customer Service
http://bit.ly/KLM-Ash
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KLM and the Ashcloud
120 people in shifts for 7 days on FB & Twitter
Now has 23 strong social media dept
“customer service agents in the social media dept are 75% more productive than those in call centres”
34. Customer Service
http://www.bge.com/Pages/default.aspx
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25 videos on Irene - 9 on preparation, 16 on power restoration
35. Customer Service
http://www.youtube.com/user/BaltimoreGasElectric#g/c/F403154CEA64F176
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25 videos on Irene - 9 on preparation, 16 on power restoration
36. Customer Service
http://twitter.com/#!/mybge
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% customers restored
Replying to queries
“DM your address and we ...”
4040 followers
37. Customer Service
http://www.facebook.com/myBGE?sk=wall
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Restoration updates
Replying to customers
5841 likes
38. Customer Service
http://www.facebook.com/myBGE?sk=wall
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158 Photos tagged Irene
39. Customer Service
http://www.youtube.com/user/BaltimoreGasElectric#g/p
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Playlists for Safety, Smart energy, conservation, news coverage, community programs
40. Customer Service
http://www.youtube.com/user/DomCorpComm
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Check out number of views!
Provide info & ppl will stop calling call center & go to SM sites
41. Customer Service
http://www.youtube.com/user/DomCorpComm
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Check out number of followers & tweets
42. Customer Service
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0D9kEuqfb0
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picked up & run by local media
Ensure every truckroll has a smartphone...
43. Customer Service - Crowdsourcing
http://www.ideastorm.com/
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Social customer service - crowdsourcing ideas/feedback
The Dell Community has:
• Contributed 16,076 ideas
• Promoted 746,441 times
• Posted 93,195 comments
Dell has:
• Implemented 467 ideas
Starbucks also
44. Customer Service
http://getsatisfaction.com/
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Social customer service - crowdsourcing ideas/feedback
52. Energy Management
http://www.oracle.com/us/industries/utilities/turning-information-power-195649.pdf
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95% are interested in receiving detailed information on their energy use
53. Energy Management
http://www.meregio.de/en/index.php?page=index
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Minimum Emission Region - MeRegio - Baden-Württemberg
Research project involving SAP Research & 5 partners
54. MTKD
http://www.flickr.com/photos/collinanderson/2696845391/
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Mean Time to Kitchen Drawer
aka MTJD
55. Energy Management
SAP Smart Meter Analytics
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SAP Smart Meter Analytics
Centrica demo at Sapphire - largest SAP customer
! - 18m residential customers
! - 1m business
Going from 75 million meter reads per annum to 120 billion meter reads a year
56. Energy Management
SAP Smart Meter Analytics
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SAP Smart Meter Analytics
Centrica demo at Sapphire - largest SAP customer
! - 18m residential customers
! - 1m business
Going from 75 million meter reads per annum to 120 billion meter reads a year
58. Energy Management
http://foursquare.com
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iPhone app
Awards - Mayor
Points
Leaderboard
59. Energy Management
http://foursquare.com
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Achievement badges
60. Energy Management - What-if?
http://www.meregio.de/en/index.php?page=index
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With increased information and ‘fun factor’ - people become more engaged -> the MTKD is prolonged
61. Energy Management - What-if?
What-if Energy apps had:
•Ability to share to Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc
•Leaderboards?
•Achievement badges?
•Targets and scores?
http://www.meregio.de/en/index.php?page=index
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With increased information and ‘fun factor’ - people become more engaged -> the MTKD is prolonged
63. Challenges
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Capture knowledge before people retire
Attract high quality new hires
How many times have you heard ppl say - “You work for XYZ utility - wow, that’s soooooo cool”?
KPI’s for quantity & quality of knowledge shared