Social Media Marketing For Oil and Gas: 7 Tips You Need To Know

Millions of posts flood platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram daily. In such a noisy online environment, it's challenging for businesses to cut through the clutter and capture people's attention. 

The oil and gas field might face more difficulties growing digitally, but this field is full of innovations that can be used to dominate social media platforms. Companies can reposition themselves as leaders when their innovation and expertise are paired with educational content and highlights of their people.

Let’s explore the top 7 tips you need to know to excel in social media marketing for your oil and gas enterprise.

Fueling Your Social Media Marketing

For industries like oil and gas, gaining traction on social media may seem difficult. However, this overlooked industry is full of innovation, expertise and genuine people working to power modern life.

By leveraging strategic social campaigns, oil and gas companies have an opportunity to introduce themselves to new audiences in a compelling way.

7 Social Media Marketing Strategies for Oil & Gas

The following are the 7 tips you need to know to grow your social media marketing for your oil and gas business.

1: Behind the Scenes

It's more complex than just posting photos and videos. To truly resonate and build credibility, content needs strategic forethought. You must identify the operational aspects that are most intriguing or unfamiliar to outsiders. 

While rig work captures attention, lesser-known areas like subsurface geology modelling or pipeline integrity testing fascinate. By polling followers for interests, you uncover untapped storytelling opportunities.

Research shows that business users on LinkedIn are 56% more likely to remember a brand if they have an emotional connection to it. Allowing followers to see behind the scenes helps drive this engagement by satisfying people's innate curiosity about how complex industries work. 

2: Highlight Your People

One of the most effective ways to build meaningful connections and trust on social media is by highlighting the real people behind the brand.  On LinkedIn, establish your company as an employer of choice by regularly featuring employees through profiles and articles. 

Optimise profiles with compelling headlines like "Drilling Engineer passionate about sustainable solutions" alongside descriptive summaries and current responsibilities.  It also opens your doors to connecting with experts and professionals in the industry, which can lead to potential business opportunities.

The key is taking a strategic and integrated approach across all major professional platforms, like LinkedIn, where over 80% of B2B buyers consult research vendors and other professionals. So, the bigger your network of professionals, the bigger the chances of referrals for your business. 

3: Share Industry Expertise 

One of the most impactful ways for oil and gas companies to engage on social media is by positioning themselves as true thought leaders in the energy sector. Subject matter expertise and insights are highly valued forms of content on social media platforms like LinkedIn. 

By publishing long-form articles, infographics, videos and podcasts that explore topics like emerging technologies, energy market trends, and sustainability best practices, oil and gas marketers have an opportunity to become invaluable resources for their target audiences. 

Getting the right expertise-driven content in front of industry professionals requires strategic distribution. In addition to posting directly on company pages, partnering with relevant associations and industry publications allows content to reach new networks.

4: Leverage Hashtags

Hashtagging posts with niche topics like #carboncapture, #lng, or #energytransition helps content gain followers who are interested in that subject matter. Beyond passive discovery, hashtags present an opportunity for engagement. 

Monitor discussions and contribute valuable insights that move meaningful conversations forward constructively. LinkedIn's tools also allow for promoting top posts as text or image ads to relevant professional audiences for additional impressions.

With careful monitoring, hashtags can provide key insights into what resonates most with target audiences and industry influencers. Tailor future content accordingly to establish thought leadership and prove your brand is attuned to the needs of the global energy industry as it evolves in an increasingly digital world.

5: Tag High Profiles 

Beyond organic sharing, one powerful tactic for oil and gas companies to amplify their social media presence is targeted profile tagging on platforms like LinkedIn. With over 830 million users worldwide, LinkedIn offers a large professional audience primed for industry insights. However, content needs to be placed in front of the right eye to reach high-level decision-makers, marketers, and thought leaders.

Rather than mindlessly tagging accounts, take the time to personalise the message. Reference a shared connection, recent news about their company, or how the post specifically relates to their expertise. A short, custom note accompanying the tag helps capture their interest. It's also an opportunity to start a dialogue and gain an advocate or thought leadership partnership. 

Companies can directly engage these high-profile contacts by identifying prominent C-suite executives, board members, investors, journalists, and influencers related to energy, sustainability, and technology. Statistics show that posts with profile tags receive up to 18% more impressions and 11% higher engagement than those without. Additionally, people are 56% more likely to read a post if someone they're connected to on LinkedIn is tagged.

6: Promote Efforts 

Promoting sustainability initiatives is among the most important ways oil and gas companies engage stakeholders through social media. According to a LinkedIn survey, over 90% of professionals consider a business's environmental and social commitments when deciding whether to work with them or invest. 

Younger generations especially demand that the brands they support are addressing pressing issues like climate change. Partnering with environmental non-profits for joint social campaigns lends outside credibility. 

Share the research studies your scientists are contributing to. Thank regulators for policies incentivising innovation. Quantify the economic and social benefits of sustainability programs for local communities.

7: Measure and optimise

Tracking key metrics and optimising campaigns based on data is a core best practice for social media success. By digging into analytics with an inquisitive, testing mindset, marketers can truly maximise the potential of each platform and audience.

On LinkedIn, engagement metrics like comments, shares and likes indicate thought leadership and credibility with other professionals. Combined with demographic insights, these "social proofs" help validate expertise on topics.

You gain invaluable insights into what resonates and why by layering qualitative observations with quantitative data. Social media presents an ongoing learning opportunity, not just an output to measure. A curious growth mindset ensures campaigns maximise ROI - and industry reputation - with every optimised post.

Did You Know?‍

The average LinkedIn post by oil and gas companies sees an engagement rate of around 2.5%, nearly double the industry benchmark of 1.3%. Meanwhile, Facebook and Twitter posts only achieved about 0.5% engagement from followers.
This shows that industry professionals are highly active on the professional networking platform and are interested in connecting with their peers. It's likely because energy is such a specialised field, and LinkedIn allows for deeper professional discussions.

Grow Your Social Media Marketing with Densu M21

Getting your brand noticed is a challenging feat. With messages flying at consumers from all angles daily, it takes a lot of work for any one voice to cut through the constant din and capture attention.

That's where the Dentsu M21 comes in. For over a decade, we've helped ambitious brands like yours break out of the pack and break through barriers to connect with today's savvy audiences. We understand that in this digital age, more is needed to broadcast your message - you need to spark engagement, start conversations and build genuine relationships with potential customers.

If you're ready to make waves in your industry, it's time to stop blending in with the crowd and start standing out from it. It's time to choose the innovators at Dentsu M21 to power your next big breakthrough. Don't let this opportunity pass you by.

From Hashtags to Headlines Grow Your Oil & Gas Enterprise Online.

Social media platforms present immense opportunities for oil and gas companies to strengthen relationships with stakeholders, share industry knowledge, promote sustainability efforts, and attract top talent. However, these benefits can only be realised through strategic and consistent use of the different channels.

By following these top 7 tips in social media marketing for oil and gas companies, You can increase your social media engagement, which can help you connect with companies and people for work and business opportunities.

FAQ

1. How do you promote oil and gas on social media?

The following are some ways to promote oil and gas on social media

• Create quality content
• Run targeted Ad campaigns
• Engage with accounts of similar industry

2. What are the 3 basic strategies for social media marketing success?

The 3 basic strategies for social media marketing success are

• Being consistent with quality content
• Reaching and engaging with the right target audience
• Including the right hashtags and keywords in the description

3. What are the challenges in marketing oil and gas?

The following are the challenges in marketing oil and gas

• Increasing regulatory procedures
• Environmental concerns
• Volatile commodity prices 
• Evolving consumer preferences

4. What is the biggest challenge in the oil and gas industry?

The biggest challenge in the oil and gas industry is raising prices. It is also their responsibility to empower sustainable energy practices.

5. What are the key success factors for the oil and gas industry?

One key success factor for the oil and gas industry is the acknowledgement of quality reserves. They have the correct reserve and replacement strategy in place to drive the global economy.