Thames Water has worked with social media influencers and bloggers to take the message of water conservation to the public.
Working with 30 influencers over a 150-day campaign the water company reached more than 2.8 million people who follow the fitness, parenting and food bloggers.
Through their personal posts the influencers shared suggestions on being water wise in their homes by using nutrient-rich waste cooking water on house plants and teaching children to use collected rainwater to clean bikes.
Thames Water initially used influencers during its anti-fatberg, ‘Bin it – don’t block it’ campaign, which showed a blogger sharing with her children what happened to a wet wipe after it was used.
A recent report showed most customers feel they lack a personal relationship with their water company, and only 12 per cent felt “actively engaged”.
With so many disengaged customers, many of whom don’t read their bills – only 48 per cent said they read them properly – reaching out in a different way could be key to getting the messages across.
Jo Charles, marketing manager at Thames Water, said: “People respond well to individuals that they know, like and trust.”
Charles said there has been positive engagement from the tailored sustainability advice among the targeted audiences.
The company said the average engagement rate for campaigns was three per cent (the percentage of an influencer’s followers who liked or shared or commented on a post), some posts had an engagement rate in double figures.
This was above the Instagram average of one per cent so Thames Water said it is open to using influencers as part of future campaigns.
“Thames Water is acting on the opportunities presented by social media to start more conversations around the potentially alarming water issues we could face in the future. Through doing this we can lead a change in attitude and action towards water efficiency and sustainability,” Charles said.
The initiative encouraged homeowners to be mindful of population growth and anticipated water shortages if action is not taken, such as reducing personal daily consumption from 142 litres to 136 litres by 2025.