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ENERGY STAR®: Social Media Metrics

Providing actionable recommendations through social media analytics to EPA’s ENERGY STAR® program

ENERGY STAR® is a voluntary program administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Department of Energy that helps businesses and individuals save money and protect our climate through superior energy efficiency. Since 1992, ENERGY STAR® has partnered with organizations throughout America to implement practical, proven, cost-effective solutions for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions with outstanding environmental and financial success.

Challenge

Driving behavior change among consumers and businesses through social marketing is an essential component of the ENERGY STAR® program. As social media has emerged as an integral component of social marketing campaigns, ENERGY STAR® has built up its presence on major social media outlets. These platforms offer unparalleled opportunities for brands to reach consumers in their day-to-day lives, but also present communicators with greater competition for their audience’s attention. To ensure that ENERGY STAR® effectively promotes its message in a very crowded field, EPA tasked Cadmus with monitoring and evaluating social media communications to provide usable and actionable social media metrics.

Solution

Cadmus chose a single media monitoring vendor that was capable of collecting data from all media types—print, broadcast, Internet, and social media—and could accommodate the high volume and frequency of ENERGY STAR® mentions. Using one vendor instead of several specialized vendors reduced costs and streamlined services, allowing Cadmus to focus on data analysis.

Our strategic communications specialists analyze data for all of ENERGY STAR®’s social media channels to identify relationships between the different social media mechanisms as well as differences in how each is optimally used. By evaluating trends over time, we are able to determine which current topics are driving the conversation, detect common messages, and identify key influencers to better monitor consumers’ awareness and understanding of the ENERGY STAR® brand.

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In addition, we analyze content from each of the ENERGY STAR® social media accounts to identify successful messages and message types by comparing the most relevant engagement metrics. Similarly, we monitor social media metrics for specific campaign initiatives to evaluate the success of a campaign’s messaging and determine if that messaging is gaining traction among the target audience. Viewing these data in context of the wider social media conversation around the brand, Cadmus is able to provide actionable recommendations to EPA on how to most effectively grasp social media’s potential to reach ENERGY STAR®’s social marketing objectives.

Results

Cadmus delivers social media analysis reports on a recurring basis, as well as for specific campaign initiatives tailored to the brand and individual ENERGY STAR® program areas. These reports have allowed EPA to:

  • Better track and understand the effectiveness of campaigns in order to measure return on investment
  • Identify trends in opinions, awareness, and understanding of the program among consumers
  • Track how partners are promoting ENERGY STAR® on social media
  • Distinguish messaging that best resonates with consumers and partners by analyzing engagement on social media

By collecting and analyzing social media results, Cadmus has helped EPA understand how to best use their social media channels and how these channels are connected with one another. Over time, these valuable metrics help EPA save time and money by crafting the most effective social media strategies. ENERGY STAR®’s savvy engagement with social media has allowed the brand to continue to expand its influence, empowering even more businesses and consumers to adopt energy-efficient behaviors.

Learn more about our Stakeholder Engagement and Communications services.

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