Local Initiatives
N.C. Co-ops Examine Social Media Options
Co-op communicators, anxious to get their messages out to busy consumer-members, are looking for ways to use popular social media.
At a recent workshop, nearly three dozen co-op staffers in North Carolina gathered at the statewide association’s Raleigh headquarters to consider what communications tools would work best for their co-ops.
“We wanted to have a spirited discussion on whether or not it’s a good idea for co-ops to go into that new arena,” said Jane Pritchard, the North Carolina Electric Membership Corp.’s director of corporate communications.
Representatives from 16 North Carolina co-ops and the statewide heard a presentation from a communications consultant who advises businesses on the technology.
“There is a conversation about your business online; I guarantee it,” said Lisa Creech Bledsoe, director of Calvert Creative, based in Cary, N.C. “We’re moving from a monologue to a dialogue.”
Concerns about spamming or overuse of social networking remain, but many participants conceded that an interactive presence will likely play a role in their communications plans.
Susan Simmons, electric communications manager of Blue Ridge EMC, Lenoir, N.C., said the co-op plans to use social media to promote cost-saving programs, like prepaid metering.
Lisa Galizia, communications director at Carteret-Craven Electric Co-op, said the Newport-based co-op uses Facebook to promote its scholarship programs and annual youth leadership weekend. “Facebook probably is the new word-of-mouth,” she remarked.