At the 2014 Oscars, host Ellen DeGeneres tweeted a picture during the live broadcast with a host of celebrities.
Due to heavy traffic, the tweet broke Twitter and broke a world record for the number of times it was resent. As of now, it has been retweeted more than 2,500,000 times.
Wait, you lost me. Tweet? Twitter? What does this have to do with energy management?
Basics
Twitter is an online service that allows users to post messages of up to 140 characters. These messages are called tweets. Statistic Brain says that Twitter is now in the top 10 most visited internet sites in the world.
But Twitter isn’t just for celebrities. Businesses, nonprofits, higher education, and government organizations are all using Twitter to communicate. Energy managers can use it, too, even if you’re not at the Oscars.
Here are six ways to use Twitter for energy management:
1. Distribute Energy Management Facts
Do you know some interesting energy efficiency facts? Twitter is great for spreading awareness, so let your passion for energy fly. You can use Twitter to distribute facts like the one below. Radiator Labs got fancy and created a graphic, but you don’t have to. What’s important is the message.
2. Share Your Success Story
You should be gathering your own success stories like energy saved, a leak discovered, a utility bill refund. Why keep it to yourself? Share it on Twitter. For example, we’re proud of all the people we’ve served:
3. Celebrate Other People’s Achievements
While it’s good to share your own successes, be careful not to tweet only about yourself. That’s like going on a date and only talking about you–it gets old. Supplement your good news with good news about others. Make sure to include their Twitter account so they know you’re tweeting about them. Cenergistic tweeted about Valencia College:
4. Post Pictures
You only get 140 characters from Twitter, but a picture’s worth a thousand words. Posting a picture is like a cheat tweet–you can say a lot more. Try sending pictures that are meaningful to your job in energy management. For instance, you can send a picture of:
An Energy Management Project
Showcase a project that you’re proud of, for example, an energy efficient building, new lighting, or smart meter. Due to location, your Twitter followers might not be able to see the project in person, but you can bring the project to them, which is what DC Green Schools did:
Energy Waste
Did you discover energy waste? Snap a picture of the offender and spread some awareness. Sometimes images grab attention better than words. For example:
Company News
Or share a picture about your organization like your new office building, new batch of hires, or an award, like when our CEO accepted our third ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year award:
5. Share Resources
One of the main ways Twitter is used in business is to share resources like articles, blogs, case studies, or event signups. Perhaps you read an educational article online and you think it’ll help others, so you share the link. Or you create content or an event and want your Twitter followers to know about it. Most online content has a share button that makes it easy to tweet the content. Noesis Energy tweeted an article from The Economist:
6. Tweet a Coffee
You can even use Twitter to send a $5 Starbucks gift certificate. Maybe you want to recognize a helpful coworker, building manager who’s doing a good job, or a client. It’s very easy to set up, just follow the instructions on Starbucks.com. Here’s an example of a coffee I recently tweeted to a friend:
Conclusion
As you can see, there are many ways to use Twitter to your advantage as an energy manager. You may not break Twitter, but you may break some bad habits in your audience.
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