GE’s success stems from a commitment and investment in targeted inspiring micro content that is customised for each platform. The brand strength of the Ecomagination clean technology initiative allows GE to be an authority on the wider energy debate that enhances their reputation through competitive differentiation.
General Electric (GE) break into the top 10 in our ranking based on the brand strength and following of their Ecomagination clean technology initiative, which with its Twitter and YouTube channel is positioned as the go-to hub for GE’s position on clean technology and sustainable infrastructure; sustainability leadership; and global energy challenges.
Energy issues and developments in clean technology are what the Ecomagination initiative and its social channels is known for. The Twitter channel shares news and developments on wind turbine, solar, natural gas, etc. at least twice a day. The tweets are almost exclusively headline summaries of the news articles or content that they link to but they also share insights on the positive outcomes of GE’s own products – often using simple visualisations in videos. The language used is often quite technical, and aimed at a core audience that has an understanding of energy or aviation technology. They don’t tend to include other voices frequently or engage in conversations, live tweet events or Twitter chats, nevertheless still achieve high levels of engagement.
The content from GE that gets shared most often is typically related to their products, especially wind turbines. However, these tweets don’t tend to reference sustainability or energy challenges, or make an overt reference to the importance of clean tech. The sustainability posts that achieve greatest impact tend to contain a bold statistic about energy demands or the renewables mix. Talking about these issues alongside product innovations demonstrates how GE are responding to global trends and future energy needs, ensuring relevancy and linking their brand with the debate around these issues.
Not all of GE’s social media communications follow this same approach: the corporate Twitter channel has relatively few sustainability or clean tech tweets, and of these the content tends towards the efficiency gains of their latest products. On GE’s LinkedIn we see a greater mix of sustainability stories and broader corporate communications. Unlike the Twitter channels, here the Ecomagination brand is rarely used; instead GE uses this channel to discuss sustainability challenges and demonstrate how they as a business are responding through innovations and collaborations and sharing case studies. This channel is one of the most active versions of the professionals-oriented social network we see in our list and as a result GE achieves consistently strong levels of engagement through LinkedIn, with 100+ likes and several comments on average per post.
