Social Media Tools for Energy Access Practitioners—Featuring Facebook

The Clean Energy Solutions Center, in partnership with the United Nations Foundation’s Energy Access Practitioner Network and Facebook, hosted this webinar to showcase how energy service providers and practitioners can effectively use social media tools, in particular the Facebook platform, to increase the reach of their energy access work.

The United Nations Foundation works to help tackle global issues including energy access, climate change, poverty eradication, and women’s empowerment. UNF considers digital media to be an essential tool in communicating with target audiences—the 17 campaigns and initiatives that comprise the UN Foundation have a digital reach of nearly three million individuals around the world. The UN Foundation and the Energy Access Practitioner Network use social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Google+ to educate, inspire and activate.

Facebook’s goal is to make the world more open and connected. Organizations can use Facebook to educate supporters, inspire advocacy and put people the general public at the center of the issues they care most about. Currently, 1.49 billion people are monthly active users on Facebook, with 1.31 billion accessing via mobile. Many energy access practitioners already use Facebook as a productivity tool, for example using Messenger to communicate internally with remote colleagues, using Pages to run campaigns, and more. But did you know that running an ad campaign in developing countries can also be cost-effective in boosting product sales and reaching new customers? In addition, Facebook as a work tool can offset many operational expenses such as communications, marketing, and web development.

In this webinar, the United Nations Foundation provided basic media training encompassing Google hangouts, Twitter chats, and other resources applicable to energy practitioners. Participants learned the top tricks from Facebook employees on how to use the Facebook platform, and they learned about Facebook’s internet.org initiative, which is bringing together technology leaders, nonprofits, and local communities to connect the two-thirds of the world that does not have internet access.

• Justine Sullivan, Producer, Digital Media, Climate and Energy Initiatives, Public Affairs, United Nations Foundation will introduce UN Foundation’s expertise and use of social media concerning energy issues, and provide basic social media training.
• Aneri Patel, Energy Access Program Manager, Facebook will present top tips on Pages, Groups, and Messenger, as well as share case studies from energy access practitioners.
• Shaunt Attarian, Sustainability Analyst, Facebook will share insights on running an ad campaign and how to reach customers through mobile ads, as well as running a demo.
• Miroo Kim, Business Development Manager, Facebook will provide an overview on internet.org and how to get involved.

Presentations were followed by an interactive question and answer session with the audience.