CASE STUDY: How Statoil Uses Social Media

Social media play an increasingly large role in corporate communication and stakeholder relationship management. Whereas previous research has mostly focused on different communication strategies used by companies on a specific social media network, few have analyzed and mapped stakeholder engagement and response within a social network. Companies are increasingly using social media platforms to bolster stakeholder relationships, yet companies are not using these platforms to their fullest extent, as they leave out communication strategies that have shown to be effective in terms of relationship management. 

Best in class social media strategies include Statoil.  Statoil ASA, which was established by the Norwegian government in 1972, has grown to become one of Europe’s leading oil and gas companies, The company is operator for 60% of all Norwegian oil and gas production, and its international production is rising steeply. Swfinstitute.org estimates that the Norway Government Pension Fund Global is currently worth $882 Billion.

Statoil is present on most of the most popular social media networks, but LinkedIn is their preferred platform. This article will explore how Statoil use social media as a tactic to reinforce their brand repositioning campaign, and dissect how they use the different social media networks.

Continue reading for some insights on…

• How and why Statoil partnered with LinkedIn to build their community;
• Why Statoil’s brand positioning is playing with social media fire;
• An example of a bilingual corporate Twitter account.

LinkedIn

Statoil partnered with LinkedIn in 2012 with the goal of reaching and engaging with oil and energy professionals around the globe. LinkedIn’s solution was to create the ‘Energy Innovation Group‘; a Custom Group where professionals can share the latest about innovation in the energy sector. Unlike normal groups, Custom Groups includes exclusive branding, which means that LinkedIn uses the tools it’s got available to promote the Group to Statoil’s target demographic. An example of this is how LinkedIn initially drove people to the group by targeting people at specific companies, with specific job titles and locations using InMail. The group has since it’s original targeting efforts grown organically to 61,290 members.

In comparison, Statoil’s company page on LinkedIn has currently 332,207 followers. If we assume that everyone who are following the official page are also following the Energy Innovation Group, it might indicate that every 6th Statoil follower on LinkedIn is interested in interacting more closely with the brand.

However, there is very little correlation in the growth rate between the profile and the group. Currently social media research shows there was no relation found between a company's communication strategies and the formation of communities, except with single posts that evoked high engagement levels. Those posts are typically either social, interactive or information dissemination in combination with CSR.

To learn more about the Energy Innovation group, I conducted an audit. The following are the key take-aways:

1. The group seems to be mostly self-driven, with vast majority of contribution coming from the members.

However, the brand manager promotes users’ contributions and discussions to promote the company’s latest innovation initiatives.

2. Statoil’s brand manager actively tries to spark discussions by asking questions.

The Brand Manager encourages the group’s members to speak their mind, and come up with innovative solutions.

3. Statoil delivers evidence of Statoil’s engagement in promoting energy innovation by sharing campaigns from Statoil Innovate.

Statoil Innovate is a sub-division dedicated to tying partnerships with organizations in the oil and gas sectors by launching challenges to specific problems that must be solved through innovation.

4. Statoil employ Hill+Knowlton Strategies UK, whom                     co-manage the group

A few years back, H+K was retained as Statoil’s primary communications agency for an extended period. H+K Strategies company helped Statoil launch the Sheringham Shoal offshore wind farms, which was officially opened in 2012. They also provide Statoil with incident response PR and help promote Statoil’s profile as a natural gas supplier to the UK. 

5. The group has a total of 9 managers:  2 from LinkedIn,                 2 Statoil Brand Managers, 4 from Hill+Knowlton 

The number of group managers is a little surprising. The Shell equivalent, Future of Energy, a similar LinkedIn custom group was initially only managed by 3 people (5 group admins today), and they are all Shell employees. Unlike Shell, and perhaps most other big brands today, it does not appear that Statoil has dedicated social media managers for their LinkedIn activities, perhaps due to outsourcing to H+K Strategies.

Statoil’s key objectives for their LinkedIn community:

The Energy Innovation group has the following four key objectives, according to a case study published by LinkedIn in 2012:

1. To position Statoil as an innovator and thought leader;
2. To increase brand awareness to support expansion into new territories;
3. To reach oil and energy professionals and influencers;
4. To engage the aforementioned group in an open discussion about issues affecting the industry.

Years after LinkedIn released their case study, one can definitely state that objectives #3 and 4 on that list are continuously met. Regarding #1, Statoil started their repositioning campaign in 2010/2011. They wanted to reposition their brand to be perceived as innovative and more sustainable. Statoil launched not only the new Linkedin Group, but also initiatives like the thought leadership platform www.energyrealities.org to build awareness and knowledge of the company to support international growth. The LinkedIn group, along with their social media profiles, reflects this goal perfectly. While there’s no publicly available statistics on shifts in perception of Statoil’s brand, the size and growth of their community on LinkedIn would suggest that they are well on their way to being perceived as a thought leader in their field. However, Statoil is in many regards being overshadowed by Shell, see below.

Overall, Statoil’s LinkedIn presence is, unsurprisingly, strictly professional. They share only the biggest, most important company news on their profile, and the most innovative CSR initiatives the company is involved with in the Energy Innovation group.

Twitter

Statoil first joined Twitter in 2009 with their main account @statoilasa. They have since added regional accounts @StatoilUK and @StatoilNorthA, along with@StatoilArtProg; a Statoil initiative dedicated to promoting, supporting and collecting art and @statoilventures: Statoil Energy Ventures is Statoil's corporate venture unit dedicated to investments in the New Energy space.

Perhaps the most surprising aspect of Statoil’s main Twitter account is that it’s bilingual. The most important tweets are posted in both English and Norwegian.

As with all other Statoil social media accounts, there is a strong focus on promoting renewable energy and sustainable climate friendly solutions. This reflects Statoil’s consistency in their positioning as a thought leader and a sustainable oil and energy organization. Not everyone’s convinced by Statoil’s sustainable initiatives, however. Like the Energy Innovation group on LinkedIn, Statoil avoids controversial debates surrounding climate issues also on Twitter. The company seems to have a good sense of which conversations not to enter. While this might make Statoil appear less “social” and responsive, it makes sense from a PR perspective. A potential social media scandal could damage the brand’s image, especially when their positioning is tied so closely to a controversial topic like sustainability in the oil, energy and gas sector.

The Twitter account posts a combination of company information, events and general media coverage.

Facebook

Facebook is Statoil’s third most influential network. However, the Facebook audience is interacting with the brand more on Facebook, relative to the size of the followers on the two networks. By looking at five posts that were cross-promoted on both platforms, one can see that the follower/like rate is much lower for Facebook posts. The Follower/Comment rate is more varied, and seems to be higher on Facebook for more informative posts, but not necessarily so on on LinkedIn.

Statoil also posts a mix of stunning, high-quality and behind-the-scenes types of photos on Facebook by cross-promoting photos from Instagram, Flickr and original sources. These photos are generally getting lots of likes and are frequently shared by Statoil’s Facebook audience.

Other networks

Statoil is also on Instagram and YouTube. Cross-promoting their Instagram photos to Facebook seems like a good way to encourage its Facebook audience to follow them on Instagram. Statoil’s YouTube content, like Instagram, is being cross-promoted to other, bigger channels, and generally lacks exclusivity. Statoil’s been on YouTube since 2010 and has 490 videos posted.

Competitor comparison

How does Statoil’s reach on Social Media compare to their competitors? By looking at the social media presence of a compilation of oil and gas companies on social media including exploration and production, refining and marketing, integrated, service and supply organizations, industry publications, including Shell and Total, leading global oil and energy brands on social media, it’s clear that the trend amongst the energy and oil companies is to position their brand as innovative and climate conscious. 

Conclusion

Today, many oil and gas companies are still failing to provide basic content and functionality on their corporate websites and missing the opportunities offered by multi-platform communications.

In an industry of exploration, social media has been just that – exploration. The uncharted waters of social media can provide a lot of value, but not in a way seen in most other industries. In order for any oil and gas company to see success in social media, people have to stop seeing social media in the context of car companies, beverage manufactures and consumer electronics firms.

It’s no secret that social media is powerful in business-to-consumer (B2C) industries. In the business-to-business (B2B) space, the direct return on investment can be fuzzy. The key for the oil and gas industry is to not view social media the way B2C firms do. You most likely won’t win new business through social media. Contracts for offshore rigs aren’t awarded based on a Facebook post and Twitter isn’t going to sell a lot of drilling equipment. To see success in social media, oil and gas companies need to think about the outcome differently. Social media is not designed to be a money machine, it’s designed to create a deeper bond between people.

Partnering with LinkedIn, and building a community on LinkedIn was a smart move from Statoil. The community has grown exponentially since 2012 and is as active as ever with its 61,000+ members. B2B companies can follow Statoil’s example when repositioning their brand as a thought leader. Creating a community by and for professionals and influencers in their field on LinkedIn is an ideal place to spark debates and engagement around your cause and brand. That said, I will say however, that Statoil's Linkedin group is extremely similar to, and smaller than, Shell’s Future of Energy Group, with 75,000+ followers, despite being created first.

Companies that operate in industries that are dependent on extractive natural resources have learned how damaging bad PR can be. Interestingly, Statoil seldom responds to tweets or engage in conversations on social media. While it makes the company appear less social, it appears the Norwegian oil and gas giant has picked the safer option — they very well may be playing with fire here. Pressure groups and public opinion can affect companies on a large scale and Statoil is most likely just happy that attention on occasion is directed elsewhere since they pulled out of the Arctic.

For the past several years, the energy industry has faced a reputational crisis related to the equally inflammatory issue of the industry’s role in climate change. Much of the public views the industry as monolithic and untrustworthy, and energy companies have responded to this criticism with insularity, withdrawal and safety in numbers.

However, energy companies also have been pioneers in areas such as social impact, ethics and human rights. Their reluctance to share this experience on social media indicates concern that explaining the nuances of the industry’s challenges only will breed further confusion and more attacks. This is a problem because the issues in question could not be more important for the future of the planet.

While the push for more transparency has irreversible, positive momentum, it is unsurprising that energy companies regard it as all-encompassing and threatening. Each concession makes the next more inevitable.

In choosing to differentiate itself, Statoil raised the stakes for the whole industry. While this might be seen as a threat, it is a much bigger opportunity for oil gas and energy companies to create positive momentum and tackle their reputational challenges in the process.

Overall, it’s hard not to think of Statoil as a company that is playing second fiddle to Shell. The two companies are trying to occupy the same space (innovative and sustainable) in the same industry, with an extremely similar community. As such, it’s hard to see the unique value offered by Statoil, but regardless, it’s worth asking whether or not Statoil actually want more followers?

While Statoil has also experienced negative publicity over environmental and political incidents, the company had only to a very small extent been subjected to social media and international public scrutiny.  Attention had been usually been limited to Norway or the Nordic countries. These were the company's main markets until they started to pursue oil and gas in the U.S. Arctic Ocean. Enter Greenpeace et al. and its ‘save the arctic’ campaign, (#StopStatoil) which soured Statoil's social media presence considerably.

Greenpeace targets companies like Shell partly due to their sizeable audience on social media; thus, their message reaches more people. While the two companies are relatively similar on social media, Statoil’s accounts overall do appear more harmonious and positive.

In order for any oil, gas or energy company to see the social media benefits, they have to move past “exploring” social media to fully leveraging its power. Failure to leverage it by the industry and its supporters, actually may prevent oil and gas activity from occurring (i.e. as seen with fracking in various regions). 

Companies (and the trade associations that represent them) need to develop social media-specific strategies as part of their non-technical risk management plans. The most effective approach is to focus on regional assets and address specific local concerns.

From a social media perspective, oil and gas companies are an example of where brands have to work extra hard to make social into a beneficial influence on their brands. The oil and gas industry has an overwhelmingly positive (and broadly supported) story to tell. That story — job creation, economic growth, social and humanitarian impact, energy security — has not changed much over the decades, but the way people look for and share news has.

Those who are interested in “getting the story right” about their companies or organizations cannot afford to ignore social media, especially if competitors — or advocacy groups fighting against corporate interests — are themselves actively engaging in those channels. Ignoring social media simply allows others to shape the public narrative.

Social media engagement is arguably more crucial for oil and gas companies than for many other corporates – particularly for integrated companies. Failure to engage on social media opens companies up to the risk of missing negative discussion and to accusations of having something to hide. There are also positives, not least in communicating the company’s true position and positively influencing public opinion.

Get a game plan and jump in.