DTE Energy is a Detroit-based diversified energy company involved in the development and management of energy-related businesses and services. Its operating units include an electric utility serving 2.2 million customers in Southeastern Michigan and a natural gas utility serving 1.3 million customers in Michigan. The DTE Energy portfolio includes non-utility energy businesses focused on power and industrial projects, natural gas pipelines, gathering and storage, and energy marketing and trading.
The objective of our work with DTE Energy is to drive customer awareness of the benefits of energy efficiency and increase customer participation in energy waste reduction programs and initiatives.
We have designed numerous social media campaigns for DTE Energy to support their various energy waste reduction programs, which include customer rebates for heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) updates, insulation upgrades or replacements, and window upgrades or replacements, as well as discounted pricing for energy-efficient products.
DTE Energy provides facts and stats to help consumers make educated decisions directly tied to saving energy and saving the environment. For example, newer furnaces and boilers operate up to 50% more efficiently than older units. DTE Energy is a utility company that wants its customers to use less energy!
Our social media campaigns are designed to reach and engage DTE Energy’s target audience, specifically within the service areas, at the different stages of the customer journey.
To raise awareness of rebate programs like HVAC, windows, and insulation we took a seasonal approach to our messaging. We created content for reminding customers to perform A/C tune-ups from March-April, and furnace tune-ups during September-November to fall in line with when customers are in the market for tune-ups in the Michigan region. While this may seem early for those peak seasons, the intent was to get people to act early to book contractors for these services before the summer and winter rush. While driving traffic to DTE Energy’s website is a KPI for success, we also created two (2) Facebook Instant Experience Ads to generate awareness of A/C and furnace tune-up rebate information. These Instant Experience Ads were a highly interactive, mobile-first way of driving awareness of and participation in the programs. The ads had images, carousels, and video content that gave tips on ways to be more energy-efficient, information on available customer rebates, and details about what is included in a tune-up service. Beyond the Instant Experience Ads, we also created Facebook videos, link posts, and carousel ads to support tune-ups and rebates throughout the seasons.
In addition to the seasonal rebate campaigns mentioned above, we also supported social campaigns to drive the adoption of energy-efficient products in the home. Campaigns that have been successful this year include Earth Month and June Energy Savings Month.
For Earth Month, we tied the relevancy of this month to tap into consumer’s mindset for decreasing their impact on the environment. We used Facebook link ads to encourage them to discover energy-efficient products. The call-to-action on these ads was to “Shop Now” which drove them to the DTE Marketplace, where DTE customers receive discounted pricing on key energy-saving products. We featured LED light bulbs in the creative to show that energy efficiency can be achieved at a low price point.
For June Energy Savings Month, we continued to drive consumers to the DTE Marketplace with a focus on instant rebates for energy-efficient products. This month, we featured products such as a smart thermostat and an energy-saving showerhead with WaterSense functionality.
To keep our paid media costs efficient, we use a variety of paid targeting techniques. In addition to the DTE Energy service areas mentioned above, we also target audiences that have engaged with our content as they have indicated an interest in energy efficiency. We create custom audiences based on DTE customers and create lookalike audiences similar to both the engaged and custom audiences. We constantly optimized both the creative and targeting by pausing ads that were not being efficient.
We were really pleased with the results of the Rebate Programs and Energy Efficient Product Campaigns. They successfully drove awareness, consideration, and conversion for DTE Energy programs.
Rebate Programs (HVAC, Insulation & Windows)
Energy-Efficient Product Campaigns (Earth Month & June Energy Savings Month)
