The ‘Big 6’ UK Energy Companies Power Social Media, While OVO Fuels Offline Conversation

Engagement Labs Announces Rankings of the Top U.K. Energy Brands Based on Social Media Performance and Word of Mouth Conversations

LONDON, ON – January 27, 2016 – Technology and data company Engagement Labs (TSXV:EL), creator of the eValue™ score, released its Total Social™ data rankings on the top UK domestic energy brands on both social media and through offline word of mouth (WOM) conversations.

Total Social combines Engagement Labs' proprietary eValue social media measurement tool and TalkTrack®, the leading measurement source of word of mouth conversations from the Keller Fay Group, an Engagement Labs company.

Top Ten UK Energy Brands on Facebook and Twitter

Source: Engagement Labs eValueTM 2016 rankings of UK energy brands

Top Ten UK Energy Brands for Word of Mouth Conversations

Source: Keller Fay's TalkTrack® 2016 rankings of UK energy brands

“Although consumer dialogue is nowhere near as toxic in the UK as it was from 2013 to 2014, energy companies continue to struggle with negative public perceptions within the industry. Prices and customer service are always under scrutiny, and social media provides the perfect avenue for these companies to have the right type of conversations with consumers,” stated Steve Thomson, UK Managing Director of Keller Fay. “Social media enables energy companies to provide real-time responsive service and advice, direct potential switchers to the best tariffs, and more broadly can help these companies to build affinity among consumers.”

Industry leader British Gas ranked first on Facebook with the highest follower growth and active user base of the group. The Company focused on its response strategy by responding frequently to online fans via the channel, which ensured a high Responsiveness score and overall eValue score. SSE ranked second for eValue score having the highest Impact score followed by nPower, whose content scored the highest Engagement. ScottishPower ranked fifth overall, but scored an impressive 98.07 for Responsiveness garnering the highest score in the category. Regardless of the sentiment of the followers' comments, ScottishPower has made responding to followers comments and questions part of their Facebook strategy. However, according to the Engagement Labs data, the Company found that none of the brands are consistently strong across all social platforms.

On Twitter, smaller brand First Utility ranked first, beating out the larger brands for overall eValue score. The Company tweeted frequently, responding to customers and leveraged its amusing mascot - the Unicorn - the brand scored the most mentions and replies per 1,000 fans. British Gas secured second place with the largest follower growth, while Southern Electric placed third. SSE scored the highest Responsiveness of the group with the highest response rate.

“As seen by the eValue rankings, energy brands that excelled on social media were the ones who used the online channels to extend their customer service efforts and address consumer concerns,” noted Thomson. “The 'Big 6' brands are all active and appear to have very focused response strategies. Several brands like British Gas and SSE outperform the competitors, by also posting content that encourages their users to engage with the brand and ask questions online.”

On the other hand, when examining offline WOM conversations, Engagement Labs found that smaller brands such as OVO had stronger WOM momentum - the amount a brand's offline WOM conversation has grown year-to-year - and sentiment. For both WOM momentum and WOM sentiment, OVO took the top spot while SSE and E.ON are the only brands from the 'Big 6' to rank in the top five..

“The smaller UK energy brands are challenging the 'Big 6' brands with lower prices and a less compromised corporate reputation, and offline WOM is clearly amplifying those advantages and enabling them to steal market share,” continued Thomson. “As these smaller brands become more familiar, we can expect further growth for them given the very positive sentiment they enjoy. However, the 'Big 6' brands are making better use of social media as an extension of their customer services, which is perhaps helping them to retain customers and limit switching. If the smaller brands can better leverage their online channels to complement the positive conversations happening offline, the challenge to the Big 6 can only intensify.”

About Engagement Labs

Engagement Labs (TSXV:EL) offers intelligent Total SocialTM data, analytics and insights for marketers and organizations enabling them to track, measure and benchmark the conversations happening around their brand or industry both online and offline. These conversations are proven to drive critical business outcomes, including sales, while Engagement Labs' tools provide data and actionable insight to help guide business decisions and power marketing effectiveness.

Engagement Labs' eValue™ Analytics tool is the global benchmark for social media scoring. eValue's proprietary data technology offers real-time analysis to measure a brand's social media and digital marketing efforts, distilling it down to a single meaningful number between 0 and 100 - an eValue score. Composed of a series of metrics and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), an eValue score measures social media Engagement, Impact and Responsiveness which is benchmarked against 100,000+ handpicked and verified brands. The Keller Fay Group, an Engagement Labs company, is the only firm to regularly measure offline conversation via TalkTrack ®; independent research finds offline conversation is a significant driver of sales with twice the impact of online conversation.

Engagement Labs maintains offices in Toronto ON, Montreal QC, London UK and New Brunswick NJ.

www.engagementlabs.com / www.kellerfay.com

For media inquiries please contact:

Steve Thomson
Keller Fay Group
sthomson@kellerfay.com
+44-7769-289590

OR

Jessica Dell'Aquila
Engagement Labs
Jessica.dellaquila@engagmentlabs.com
647-776-4100 ex214