Intel’s light touch editorial approach concentrating on a few issues that are core to their ‘Connecting People, Enriching Lives’ platform helps Intel tell a thought-provoking story to millions of followers and fans. Intel avoids jargon and uses aspirational content to encourage their audience to learn more on issues such as conflict minerals.
Intel Corporation’s strong showing in our SB{influencers}100 is largely due to their impressive reach across multiple social platforms. Their 26 million+ Facebook fans is more than even sports giant Nike, whilst their dedicated @intelinvolved Twitter channel has more followers than any other dedicated sustainability channel in our index. So with more than four million combined Twitter followers, Intel has a huge potential to tell a powerful sustainability story.
The majority of their sustainability communications on social media come through the dedicated CSR handle @intelinvolved, supported by the corporate Twitter account and strong YouTube videos.
Whilst not the most active in terms of the volume of sustainability content, Intel concentrate their sustainability and CSR social media communications on a few core issues that form the strategic elements of the company’s ‘Connecting People, Enriching Lives’ platform. Intel take an active approach to discussing the issue of conflict minerals and supply chain responsibility; and also promote the benefits of STEM skills and technology in education, in particular focusing on closing the gender gap in terms of access.
The style of tweets from @intelinvolved avoids jargon and is often quite aspirational which allows Intel to appeal to a general audience including both consumers and stakeholders. It appears designed to provoke reaction and response to campaigns and initiatives they are associated with. They constantly encourage followers to ‘learn more’ and link to the Intel corporate website through sections such as a resource centre on conflict minerals. In this way, they have more in common with the social media communications seen from Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in style, which may explain the high level of engagement achieved. For example, one powerful tweet promoting conflict-free mining using a Vine video has been retweeted 150 times.
Intel have made Facebook a primary social channel for their product communications which has helped them build up a fan base that falls behind only Coca-Cola and Nike in our list. But during the six-month period in which we analysed posts, Intel made only three references to sustainability topics. Despite this, each of these few relevant posts achieved an impressive rate of interaction. For example, one post on hydrogen fuel-injected trucks was ‘liked’ 5.5k times, shared 200+ times and received 58 comments. Given the potential, Intel’s reach could be its biggest asset in achieving its Living Progress objectives.
