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Andy’s Answers: How ComEd made electrical services cool with social media

2 min read

Brands & Campaigns

For an electric utility company, earning fan engagement can be a little difficult. In fact, ComEd’s Senior E-Channel Program Manager, Diana Sharpe,  says some executives at ComEd were wondering if the company should even bother with Facebook and Twitter. But after ComEd’s “Coolest Summer Ever” social media campaign, Sharpe and her team may have changed their minds.

In her presentation at SocialMedia.org‘s  BlogWell conference in New York, Sharpe shares a case study on their Facebook sweepstakes that not only earned them over 31,000 fans, but also let customers know they were there and listening. She explains how ComEd pulled off working with multiple partnerships, preparing for crises, and keeping their new fans engaged — all in 100 days.

Here are three big takeaways from Sharpe’s presentation:

  • Prepare for things to go wrong: Since summer is also ComEd’s busiest season for service outages, Sharpe’s team decided on thresholds for when to slow down, postpone, or cancel the sweepstakes. These guidelines helped them decide which priorities were best for the company’s social strategy (while keeping customers happy).
  • Give your partners tons of ways to share: With prizes at zoos, museums, and ballparks, ComEd’s sweepstakes involved several partners. And while ComEd didn’t enforce any cross-promotion of their sweepstakes, they gave each partner the tools to talk about it, from blog posts and ads to flyers and newsletter content.
  • Don’t let a one-off campaign throw off your brand presence: Sharpe explains that with the sweepstakes taking over their Facebook page, their creative agency also planned to change ComEd’s logo in their profile picture. But to keep things consistent and not confuse their fans, Sharpe pushed back to keep the logo the same and not lose anyone in the process.