Action for Renewables – Connecting with the digital audience RenewableUK Annual Conference, November 2014

Who are the digital audience? 73% of population go online every day 36 million people in UK are online - 52% of men online, and 55% of women use social networking Younger you are, more likely to be social networking – 93% of year olds use the web for social networking, 11% 0f 65+ (but more of latter group getting online)

How do they consume digital media? Facebook – (still) king in the UK. 31 million users, highest YouTube – 19.1 million unique visitors per month (59% music) Twitter – 15 million, up 50% in 18 months. (Half readers not do’ers) Linkedin – c.10 million] Pinterest – 2 million (major grower) Instagram – 150 million global Plus.. Snapchat, vine, WhatsApp, flickr, reddit, tumblr, ask,fm, buzzfeed, forums like mumsnet…

Why does digital matter? Because newsprint matters less – Sun dropped below 2 million for first ever last month. Mirror – below 1 million. Mail 1.6mn, Telegraph 500k, Times under 400k, Guardian 180k, Independent 61k. Attitude of newspapers in the UK on climate and wind With digital you get to choose your content exactly:

Action for Renewables approach on digital – choosing the platform You can’t be across everything! Look for your target audiences – who are you trying to attract and where do they hang out? What are you trying to make your audience do? Look at your resources – how much can you feasibly do? Facebook, twitter, web

What happens when you’ve identified your platforms? – Proactive posts Engagement = good, relevant content at the right time content calendar, measure success of different types of posts When is the right time – FB – 1pm-4pm, Twitter – M-T 1-3pm And not when they’re out having fun! FB – weekends, before 8am, after 8pm, Twitter after 8pm, Fridays after 3 Find a way to schedule posts

Timing is everything!

Reactive work You will have constraints dependent on resource Graphics on news stories work well On twitter pick up key hashtags or tweets about positive elements – more likely to find your possible campaigners then

Building a community. Facebook Initial very stylised campaign to try and draw in supporters Moved now to different style graphics Encourage your supporters to like and share – especially given facebook’s changes Advertising may be worthwhile. Is it as valuable going forward?

Twitter Mix up campaign posts with interesting facts or news stories Seek retweets from influential bodies or individuals – greenpeace, Bianca Jagger Spread your tweets throughout the day/week – 5 minimum per day. Look for good times to tweet – e.g. during question time, marches etc. Links get higher engagement Less than 100 characters – make it easy to RT.

Website and Aim for the A4R campaigns across social media to get people to join the database Website will be where your strongest supporters are You need to encourage repeat visits Forums can be best way, but need moderating Blogs – mixed experience Campaigns – set time for them to run, comms strategy around them, and let your supporters know how they progress Have a limited number running at any one time Make the action simple – the easier the better

Current campaigns

Conclusion Decide who your audience is and what your REALISTIC resource limitations are. PLAN – content calendars and posting tools Measure – find the content your audience likes best. Be ready to react when necessary/able Maximise the opportunities – digital should sit alongside media and public affairs.