Johnson & Johnson (J&J) make 6th place in our ranking as one of the most active contributors on social media about sustainability issues. With multiple profiles across different social networks, J&J share insights and commitments to advancing global health, well-being and development in an accessible way to thousands of followers.
Johnson & Johnson (J&J) make 6th place in our ranking as one of the most active contributors on social media about sustainability issues. With multiple profiles across different social networks, J&J share insights and commitments to advancing global health, well-being and development in an accessible way to thousands of followers.
The example of J&J in our top 10 demonstrates that organisations don’t have to target specific audiences to engage in a meaningful dialogue on sustainability issues that are material to the business.
Unlike many of our top 10 brands, J&J’s sustainability content on social is not oriented towards stakeholders or opinion leaders interested in the subject areas. Instead, language is emotive, accessible and often includes a call to action. This is characterised by the description for the @JNJCares handle “Our company, our partners and our communities are caring for the world, one person at a time. You can help!”
As a result, @JNJCares has an impressive follower base of almost 46,000 – almost half of the 95,000 that follow the corporate handle @JNJnews. This is the highest proportion of followers of a dedicated sustainability account relative to a corporate account in our top 10 companies. For contrast, Microsoft and HP’s dedicated Twitter handles manage to achieve less than 1% of the followers of their corporate handles.
J&J show how social media can be used to establish a dialogue on issues that are important to the business whilst also appealing to customers and followers. On Facebook, content is strongly directed at parents, and relates to caring for their families by discussing issues such as safety and healthy living. Whilst much of the content is less about corporate sustainability and more around either philanthropy or family issues, J&J reach out on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and their commitments to support them in a way that appeals emotively to Facebook fans. J&J also managed to create significant consumer engagement (retweets, comments etc.) from discussing the Ebola crisis, and how the company was contributing its expertise.
J&J use an approach based around a central channel (@JNJNews) and distinct issues-specific streams such as @JNJGlobalHealth. The @JnJNews channel supports the strategy by acting as a hub that connects the issues and highlights key content. This amplifies the reach of the initiatives whilst also connecting the diversified corporate structure of consumer products and the pharmaceuticals business.
LinkedIn and YouTube are little used for sustainability content, generally limited to position pieces around advancing health or progress made in combatting diseases on awareness days.
