How Energy Companies Can Step Up Their Game With Social Media

The energy industry is perhaps one of the most distrusted industries of the decade, with only 16% of UK customers trusting providers to give them energy advice (according to Accenture). This comes from a long trail of bad press, with rapidly inflated prices, terrible customer service and a blinkered view of the customer having an extremely negative impact on our perception of the industry today.

The use of social media has been one area over the years in which the utilities have struggled to get on board with. Whilst many of the Big Six are now regularly active on social, it’s only in the last couple of years that customers have had a choice about whether to call the E.ON contact number or tweet their problem instead.

Social media puts energy providers in a strong position to revamp their reputation and begin to repair years of damage to their customer relationships. But are they doing enough?

Response Rates

It’s no surprise that a fast and helpful response is the only thing customers want from social media, yet many brands struggle to provide it. Although companies may be inundated with countless queries and complaints via Twitter and Facebook combined, it’s up to businesses to expand with their client base so they are always able to hire enough staff to meet the demand.

In a 2014 week-long study by Customer Service Guru, E.ON was found to have the fastest response rate of all the Big Six on both Twitter and Facebook, whilst British Gas was able to answer the highest proportion of complaints daily (98% for Twitter;  92% for Facebook).

It goes without saying that answering every post or tweet is essential, with no query being left unanswered. SSE’s response rate was just 84% on Twitter and 83% for Facebook; however these queries may have required more expertise and care when formulating a response.

Listening to Customers

Social media is never a one-sided conversation. As well as using it to respond to customers directly, utilities should also be using it to gauge customer needs and desires, and measure current opinion surrounding their brand at any one time.

In 2012, E.ON created ‘Innovation Community’ to gather consumer ideas on using energy more efficiently. Not only did this make consumers feel involved, it also helped E.ON become a source of useful help and advice among its audience.

British Gas, on the other hand, could have paid more attention to how customers really felt about their services before rolling out the hashtag campaign #askBG. Although the well-intentioned strategy was intended to give social followers a voice after the company’s vicious price hikes, it only served to give them free reign to unleash a public tirade of complaints and jokes about the brand.

If there’s one thing British Gas could have taken away from the experience, it was that they still had a lot of work to do.

Facilitating Debate

As well as use social media to be a source of information and advice, utilities can also use the channel to encourage honest and open debate about issues facing the energy world. This would not only help consumers better understand the challenges of keeping costs low, but also demonstrate that the company itself takes these issues seriously.

Companies should also be demonstrating their efforts to salvage some of these issues, whether it’s by announcing milestones, posting photos of community projects, or introducing new energy-saving products.

Welcoming Transparency

Through regular, honest and transparent engagement on social media, energy companies can slowly start to win customers round again and regain that once-lost trust.

As well as maintaining a genuine, conversational tone in all of their posts (like E.ON, British Gas and First Utility), companies should be striving to keep customers in the loop about anything that might affect their service, and why a particular problem or unforeseen circumstance might have occurred.

When it comes to crisis management, social media really comes into its own. During the Hurricane Sandy disaster, a utility supplier in New Jersey dedicated 22 staff members to its Twitter feed and sent out 9000 tweets during the power outage. This simple yet effective move gained the company 44,000 new followers…and no doubt a whole load of loyal customers.

Another part of being transparent is not being quick to hide one’s negative perceptions or misgivings. Both Scottish Southern Electric (SSE) and nPower have their Facebook posts hidden from view from basic users…which doesn’t exactly promote either page as a forum where ideas and feedback are welcomed.

The Need for Social Media in the Energy Industry

When it comes down to it, energy companies should continue to perfect and hone their social media presence until they are using it to a fine degree. Although many of the larger suppliers are already making substantial progress in engagement, there is always room for improvement, and smaller suppliers (which have greener credentials, no doubt) should be throwing themselves into the platform to promote their advantage over big corporates.

Social media will enable companies to:

Build trust with customers that has been shattered by years of increasing price hikes
Solve simple problems quickly and efficiently, without needing to divert to a phone line or other customer service rep
Increase transparency, giving a glimpse into the inner workings of a company
Better understand the needs and opinions of customers, as well as how they feel about your brand
Facilitate debate and bring about real change (rather than allowing external debate to take the spotlight)
Manage crises and keep customer expectations under control in difficult circumstances.

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