Vestas: Expanding communication via Social Media

More than 5,000 people have hit ‘Like’ on Vestas’ page on the Social Media service Facebook to date. And more than 4,000 now ‘follow’ Vestas on Twitter. And finally, Vestas’ uploaded films on YouTube have been viewed more than 140,000 times by users from all over the world.

A year and a half ago, Vestas’ use of Social Media was scarce despite the fact a majority of employees were already using services like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube.

Today, Social Media is becoming a part of how the company communicates externally.

“At first, we spent quite some time actually getting our hands on the URLs: facebook.com/vestas, twitter.com/vestas and so on. They were all taken by other Social Media users,” says Kasper D. Borch, Web Editor of Vestas.com, who admits that Vestas was not a first mover in the area of Social Media.

“We approached it with curious caution and slowly started to build a presence. If you engage in Social Media activity, you need to have some interesting and substantial content for the other users. We needed to know what that was before we wanted to hit the throttle,” Borch says. “Done wrong, Social Media can backfire and create badwill and angry users instead.”

In the beginning, Borch and a small ad hoc crew in Group Communications were mostly listening in to the ‘talk of the town’. And soon, a clearer picture of the online perception of Vestas occurred.

“We followed what the rest of the world was talking about regarding Vestas and wind energy. Now, we’re also engaging in dialogues – and that is, in fact, what Social Media is all about. Still, there is a lot to be done going forward; we are only at the very beginning.”

Sky News contacted Vestas on Twitter

Being present, creating content and not least participating in talks online pays off. Recently, Sky News contacted Vestas via Twitter for facts about a burning turbine in Scotland.

“They just wanted to get their facts straight, and instead of picking up the phone or writing an email, they used Twitter,” Borch says.

Recently also, Vestas P&C and Global Marketing & Customer Insight (GMCI) picked up Social Media for connecting with more defined target groups online. Kasper D. Borch sees this trend expand even more.

“Basically, I see all the Vestas Ambassadors involved too. I would love to see them engaging in dialogues, writing blogs, blog posts, or commenting in other forums.”

Borch just has one simple piece of advice for anyone who wants to participate in the online conversations, regardless of topic.

“Listen! – and always be humble and polite when asking or answering questions.”

www.facebook.com/vestas

www.twitter.com/vestas

www.youtube.com/vestas