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News: Monday, February 8, 2010
Customers Not Yet Flocking to Social Network Sites for Utility Usage Data
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According to a new report by Chartwell, North American utilities remain highly interested in using social media as a communications tool with customers about such issues as energy conservation and power outage restoration. Utilities must manage their expectations, however, because customers are not yet flocking to networking Web sites to receive updates from their electricity and natural gas providers, as noted in the report, Social Media: Utility Customer Acceptance and Trends.
Utilities should adopt a social media strategy, though, as there are enough customers on board to warrant a plan of action, Chartwell found when it polled 1,500 North American energy customers in late 2009 about their views on getting utility information via popular social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.
The vast majority of respondents reported they were not interested in receiving information from their utilities via the two most-popular social messaging sites. Still, the growing numbers of younger customers who are "interested" or "very interested" make utility social media efforts worthwhile, according to the report.
The research report breaks down survey respondents by age, gender and location to aid utilities in getting a better idea on which customer groups should be targeted with social media messaging. The report also includes highlights from a recent Chartwell webinar on social media strategy and is a companion publication to the Social Media Utility Industry Update published by Chartwell in July.
For more information on the report, contact Kristy Dickens at (404) 237-9099, ext. 25 or visit Chartwell's EnergyLibrary at www.energylibrary.com.
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