Schematic and Reliant Energy Launch Comprehensive Social Media Ecosystem with Debut of 'empowerme: Conversations About Ene

New Community Site Provides Dynamic Consumer Education and Discussion Space and Anchors Reliant’s Integrated Network of Social Media Profiles

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Schematic, a WPP company, and Reliant Energy, one of the largest retail electricity providers in Texas, today announced the launch of a comprehensive social media ecosystem focused on all things energy with the debut of “empowerme: Conversations About Energy in Your Life” at www.reliant.com/empowerme. The new empowerme community site anchors Reliant’s integrated, Schematic-developed social media presence across sites such as Facebook and Twitter, and features a broad mix of informative content and user generated discussions – from news on energy innovation to forums for Reliant customers to discuss anything from customer service to their favorite energy-saving tips.

“At Reliant, we do much more for our communities than simply powering homes and businesses and we are excited about launching this groundbreaking new community site and social media presence,” said Karen Jones, chief marketing officer at Reliant Energy. “Working with Schematic we’ve created a full-featured site that combines the best in company-created and user-generated content and allows our customers access to all of it on the platform they choose. Equally important is the focus Schematic brought to designing the back-end of the solution, complete with training tools, guidelines and simple-to-use management functionality that enable our social media team to effectively administer and build out the network. It also allows our employee advocates to engage in productive conversations with our customers and other consumers.”

Created as a centralized resource for Reliant customers and also available to the public at large, the empowerme site integrates dynamically updated company content and consumer discussions across multiple social networks into a single searchable space. In practice, this means a user-submitted comment or article on Reliant’s Facebook page or Twitter feed becomes available to Reliant users on the empowerme site as well.

“Reliant stands out for its best in class customer service and we are pleased to help them raise the bar yet again for what customers should expect from their energy company,” said Alex Norman, EVP, strategic development at Schematic. “With the empowerme site, the company is truly delivering on the promise of social media to create a dynamic and useful knowledge base that helps customers make better decisions about energy in their lives.”

“We’ve developed a program centered around providing superior customer service combined with useful, engaging content to drive conversations,” Jones added. “We’re interested in building long-term relationships with our customers through social media and reaching them on the sites where they interact most.”

Complementing the empowerme site are Reliant’s newly developed and fully interconnected social media profile pages on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and Flickr. Created by Schematic to enable users to connect with Reliant and with each other in the manner most convenient to them, the social channels provide a meaningful platform for dialogue regarding energy innovations, energy efficiency tips and new Reliant initiatives. All of this social activity then becomes instantly searchable on the empowerme resource center.

About Reliant Energy:

Reliant Energy provides electricity and energy services to more than 1.5 million retail customers—including homes, small and large businesses, manufacturing facilities, government entities and institutions across Texas. As part of NRG Energy (NYSE: NRG), Reliant Energy is backed by one of the nation’s largest power producers. NRG owns and operates nearly 26,000 megawatts of generation capacity, including more than 11,000 megawatts of capacity in Texas. For more information about Reliant Energy products and services, visit www.reliant.com.

About Schematic

Schematic, a WPP company, creates powerful interactive experiences for the world’s largest brands. Servicing Fortune 1000 companies including Target, Nokia, Comcast, NBC, Dell, and Microsoft, the firm develops user-focused digital marketing and innovation solutions that help clients build brands and delight customers across channels. Recognized by both Advertising Age and AdWeek as one of the industry’s most innovative firms, Schematic is headquartered in New York. For more information, please visit http://www.schematic.com.

CONTACT:

Saeger Media Group / Schematic
Katy Saeger
310-597-2337
katy@saegermediagroup.com
or
Reliant Energy
Pat Hammond
713-497-7723
phammond@reliant.com

KEYWORDS:   United States  North America  Texas

INDUSTRY KEYWORDS:   Energy  Oil/Gas  Utilities  Other Energy  Technology  Mobile/Wireless  Social Media  Communications  Advertising  Marketing  Other Communications

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