December 7th, 2010

Social Media & Cleantech: Why the Latter is Not Using the Former

BOSTON -

As I’ve written in the past about Sustainability and Social Media – the mix works well and should be embraced in particular by new companies looking to effectively connect and communicate with their stakeholders; prospects, clients, press & media, investors, competitors, industry & trade associations, just to name a few. Yet, to my surprise many are dismissing Twitter, Facebook and even LinkedIn as kid’s toys. Uncovering the reasons behind this trend, I turned to some experts to help understand why the adoption of social media (especially within the cleantech vertical) is so low.

Andrew Becker, Director of Business Development at LittleFoot Energy mentioned “difficulty in developing content compelling for customers.” He is also not sure if it reaches his target audience of C level executives, but maintains a social media presence, “to develop targeted recognition for our brand (but) less for landing new clients.” A conversation with Brendan Endicott, Senior Manager, Energy Markets at EnerNOC revealed that he “does not believe that social media will play a significant role in helping the company generate leads until its target audience – mainly energy and facility managers – adopts the new medium.” This seems to be the standard answer.

In my interview with the Queen of Twitter, Laura Fitton, CEO/Founder of oneforty
she explains that it’s “Fear – it’s internal fear. Companies need to open their minds to where these new channels are leading and what now becomes possible.” Laura adds that, “Even if your target audience isn’t even on Twitter – and that’s pretty unlikely these days – there are serious benefits to engaging there. We’ve identified five: SEO, research, content generation, the “word of mouth pass-along” value, and of course the PR value given how many journalists are there researching stories and looking for sources.”

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Tagged cleantech, Marketing, social media |

June 23rd, 2010

What is Content Curation and How Can it Help Shape Green Business

BOSTON -

Tagged content curation, green business, hivefive, information overload, social media, wordpress |

May 21st, 2010

Sustainability and Social Media – A Match Made in Marketing Heaven

BOSTON -

With the constant fluctuation of energy and natural resource prices, more and more companies are evaluating and embracing sustainability not only to cut and stabilize energy costs, but also to drive innovation and ensure competitive advantage. “Becoming environment-friendly can lower your costs and increase your revenues. That’s why sustainability should be a touchstone for all innovation” states a 2009 Harvard Business Review article. Walmart’s new Supplier Sustainability Assessment is the strongest indicator yet that sustainability is quickly becoming a valuable business tool. A well executed sustainability program can reduce employee turn-over and enable for a methodical and process driven approach to evaluating resource use, a prevailing theme at this year’s CRO Summit.

The social media tie-in? A recent Burson-Marsteller study found that “79 percent of the largest 100 companies in the Fortune Global 500 index are using at least one of the most popular social media platforms: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube or corporate blogs”. Clearly, if Fortune 500 companies see value in engaging in sustainability efforts and are communicating about them via social media channels, it is a sure sign that a critical mass has been reached. Just like that lonely tree in the forest, if you’ve got a breakthrough idea and no one knows about it, it may as well be useless. Green and clean-tech companies should be especially in-tune to digital media as it not only allows them to look for prospects, but also funding, partnerships, and visibility. Social media (in conjunction with an integrated web strategy) can provide significant leverage to that effort. Engaging stakeholders about sustainability efforts in a meaningful way helps to build credibility and the sales pipeline. According to McKinsey & Company “Digital channels can unify that experience and prevent the leakage of opportunity. Across a range of B2C and B2B clients, we’ve seen companies accelerate revenue growth by tightening the coordination of the end-to-end experience.” With the potential of a 10-20% revenue increase, social media can make a powerful impact. This free (aside from staff time) low-hanging fruit can also do wonders for overall SEO (Search Engine Optimization) efforts as well.

In Boston (referred to by some as the Silicon Valley of the East) companies like enerNOC, Harvest Power and GreenTech Media these companies speak sustainability and communicate their learnings through social media. As innovators, these companies naturally appeal to progressive, early adopters who are tech-savvy entrepreneurs. Harvest Power provides a good example of a well executed social media campaign because they take the time to share and engage with their online-constituents via Twitter @HarvestPower and their blog. Harvest understands that like any other communication vehicle, Twitter is just another platform where the conversation happens to be just 140 characters in length. Companies who fail to keep up with social media are allowing technology to pass them becoming obsolete and irrelevant. This is a huge mistake as they are passing up an effective, measurable tool that helps with lead acquisition, nurturing, visibility and branding.

While advising clients on how they can start building a social network I always recommend starting with goal setting and developing a solid communications strategy that incorporates various on-line and off-line channels. Starting small and testing the waters is often the best approach. With so many great (and free) ancillary tools available to connect, grade, and analyze, users can quickly fine-tune and optimize online campaigns. At the end of the day communicating about sustainability needs to be succinct and engaging, according to the CSR Reporting blog. Those afraid to harness these new communication tools do so at the risk of alienating their companies from the now mainstream web 2.0 digital world we live in.

Does your company use social media to communicate sustainability initiatives? What were the results and what did you learn?

Tagged CSR, harvard business review, Marketing, social media, Sustainability |