The Social Media Stadtwerke Check
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Social media is of central importance for the communication of public utilities nowadays. But are the regional electricity suppliers also using this potential, or is there a gaping void on their social media pages? At flank 7 we specialize in modern jamstack websites and performance marketing for public utilities. Of course, we always keep an eye on the digital competition. That's why we took a close look at the social media presence of all municipal utilities in Baden-Württemberg on Facebook and Instagram. Discover the surprising results in our large social media Stadtwerke Check.
Why social media is so important for municipal utilities
Nobody doubts that presence on social media plays a very important role in corporate communication these days. The fact that this also applies to municipal companies and in particular municipal utilities should not come as a surprise. The public utilities are often perceived by the customers as a dusty institution that one only has to deal with once a year when the meter reading is read or an additional payment is due. Active communication on social media is ideal for polishing up this false image.
Here, customers can experience how sustainably the local municipal utilities work or in which future-oriented projects they are investing. Stadtwerke stand for some of the most exciting and important topics of our time: Renewable energy, sustainability, e-mobility and regionality. If they succeed in communicating this on social media, the public utilities can stand out from the low-cost providers that customers find on Check24 or Verivox.
But have the municipal utilities already recognized this? To answer this question, we took a close look at the social media presence of all municipal utilities in Baden-Württemberg. In our social media municipal utility rankings, you can see which municipal utility companies are already doing a good job on social media and which ones still have room for improvement.
Methodology
We concentrated on the Facebook and Instagram pages of the municipal utilities. Some municipal utilities are also active on YouTube, Twitter, XING and LinkedIn. However, the number of followers here is usually still rather low. The exceptions are Stadtwerke Ulm/Neu-Ulm and Stadtwerke Tübingen, which have already generated impressive five- or even six-digit hits on some of their YouTube videos (including catchy tunes like this one).
It is not surprising that municipal utilities in a larger city also tend to have more followers. That's why we also compared the number of followers per inhabitant. In this way, it can be seen what proportion of the inhabitants of a place follow their regional municipal utilities.
Since the distinction is sometimes somewhat difficult, we used the list of municipal and municipal utilities from Wikipedia for this comparison and added some municipal utilities that we know. Feel free to contact us if you miss a Baden-Württemberg municipal utility on the list.
Stadtwerke on Facebook
The front runner on Facebook is by far Stadtwerke Tübingen. Not only that, with 22,094 followers, they have more than twice as many followers as the second-placed Stadtwerke Ulm/Neu-Ulm. At 24%, they are also more than clearly in the lead when it comes to the proportion of the population. This means that every fourth resident of Tübingen follows Stadtwerke on Facebook! Of course, not all followers actually come from Tübingen, but probably the majority.
It is striking that the two largest cities in Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart and Karlsruhe, have significantly fewer followers in relation to their population than one might expect. The proportion for Karlsruhe is only 1.56% and for Stuttgart only 0.29%!
Stadtwerke on Instagram
Wirft man einen Blick auf die Seiten der Baden-Württembergischen Stadtwerke bei Instagram, fällt direkt auf, dass die Followerzahlen hier durchweg eher niedrig, im Bereich von unterhalb 5.000, liegen. Auf Instagram liegen die Stadtwerke Konstanz mit 4.275 Followern vorne. Die beiden Spitzenreiter auf Facebook Ulm/Neu-Ulm und Tübingen sind auch auf Instagram verhältnismäßig gut aufgestellt und belegen die Plätze 2 und 3. Das beste Verhältnis von Instagram-Followern zu Einwohnern hat diesmal ein Stadtwerk aus einem eher kleinen Ort: Sigmaringen. Bei 1.029 Followern und 17.125 Einwohnern liegt der Anteil bei starken 6,01%.
Die Stadtwerke Stuttgart liegen mit nur 0,17% hier sogar auf dem vorletzten Platz, wenn man nur die Stadtwerke betrachtet, die überhaupt eine Instagram-Seite haben. Nur knapp 1.000 der 635.911 Stuttgarter folgen ihren Stadtwerken. Die Landeshauptstadt vergibt also noch viel Potenzial auf beiden Plattformen. Eine Erklärung dafür: Die Stadtwerke Stuttgart sind auf organische Follower weniger angewiesen, da sie stärker als andere auf bezahlte Anzeigen bei Facebook und Instagram setzen können. Die ermöglichen es, auch ohne eine bestehende Follower-Basis viele Nutzer zu erreichen. Dank des Standort-Targetings ist es dabei natürlich auch kein Problem, nur Nutzer in der eigenen Region anzusprechen. Wenn ihr dabei Unterstützung benötigt, könnt ihr uns gerne kontaktieren.
If you take a look at the pages of the Baden-Württembergische Stadtwerke on Instagram, you will immediately notice that the number of followers here is consistently rather low, in the range of less than 5,000. Stadtwerke Konstanz is ahead on Instagram with 4,275 followers. The two frontrunners on Facebook Ulm/Neu-Ulm and Tübingen are also relatively well positioned on Instagram and occupy places 2 and 3. This time the best ratio of Instagram followers to residents has a municipal utility from a rather small town: Sigmaringen. With 1,029 followers and 17,125 inhabitants, the proportion is a strong 6.01%.
With only 0.17%, Stadtwerke Stuttgart is even in the penultimate place if you only look at the Stadtwerke that have an Instagram page at all. Just under 1,000 of the 635,911 people in Stuttgart follow their public utilities. So the state capital still has a lot of potential on both platforms. An explanation for this: Stadtwerke Stuttgart is less dependent on organic followers because they can rely more on paid ads on Facebook and Instagram than others. They make it possible to reach many users even without an existing follower base. Thanks to the location targeting, it is of course not a problem to only address users in your own region. If you need assistance with this, please feel free to contact us.
By the way: Of the 58 municipal utilities in our comparison, 15 do not have a Facebook page at all and 35 do not yet have an Instagram page!
