Identified optimal social media strategy to keep customers engaged in latest developments surrounding energy management

Blueocean Market Intelligence designed a three-phased, 360-degree research approach to address the client's challenge. The first phase was the Exploration Phase, where more than 20 focus groups with customers were conducted to gain a qualitative perspective into the social media practices of small businesses and learn about expectations related to the utility company’s potential role. The second phase was the Sizing Phase, where a quantitative study was conducted to assess interest in the utility company providing energy-related information to small businesses via social media platforms. The third phase was the Listening Phase, where Blueocean Market Intelligence implemented a social media listening program to track social media habits and practices of the utility company’s core market. Based on the results of the Sizing Phase, six websites, forums and communities were selected that provided the most engaging platforms for the utility company to communicate to its business customers. The activity and discussions on these sites were monitored over a period of four weeks to qualitatively understand the frequency of participation, topics with the most traction, key influencers and other measures.