Tweets from Utility Companies? Sloan Says Yes

Social media isn’t going away any time soon—and, in fact, it will expand in industries like utilities and be used in new ways—according to a new MIT Sloan Management Review (SMR) research report.

Those insights come from annual surveys on social business conducted over the past three years by SMR and Deloitte. The report defines social business as “activities that use social media, social software, and technology-based social networks to enable connections between people, information, and assets.” This year’s survey, which included 4,803 business executives, managers, and analysts, found that social business use is deepening across industries.

The report, authored by Gerald C. Kane, Doug Palmer, Anh Nguyen Phillips, David Kiron, and Natasha Buckley MBA '97, notes that some industries that have eschewed social media in the past—like consumer finance and utilities—are increasingly social.

Consumers are increasingly demanding that utilities connect with them via social media, and utilities report seeing social’s value in improving crisis communications and educating consumers about energy efficiency.

In fact, many businesses are now using social media to problem-solve and address needs outside of promotion. For example, the Red Cross used social media outlets to alert those affected by Hurricane Sandy to the locations of Red Cross trucks. They even helped people who did not engage the organization directly—like a babysitter that took to Twitter with questions during a tornado warning. The organization connected with that tweeter by tracking Twitter keywords like “tornado.”

Social business success stories have a lot to do with leadership, the report concludes. Not surprisingly, a majority of survey respondents from companies with effective social business strategies have leaders who support their ideas. Companies where leadership embraced a vision “premised on the belief that social can fundamentally change the business” found greater success with social business than other respondents.

Companies can no longer ignore social business, the SMR report notes. As consumers are increasingly deciding when and how social business happens, more industries can be expected to engage socially.

Read the complete findings and the supporting research.

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