Has Renewable Energy Got a Social Problem?

The rapid, exponential growth of renewable energy in the UK is well understood.

Offshore wind alone generates nearly 60% of the country’s renewable energy. But rapid expansion creates opportunities and challenges. Businesses need to find ways to stand out from the crowd to secure commercial opportunities and are increasingly competing for a limited pool of talent to support their growth.

In recent years, the number of low carbon and renewable energy economy (LCREE ) jobs grew more than 5 times faster than the rest of the economy in the UK.  Despite this, on the most important social site for recruitment, the industry has a major visibility problem.

Of course, the industry’s problem could also be a big opportunity for companies and leaders.

LinkedIn is tailor-made to help the sector reach talent.  In fact, 75% of those who recently changed jobs used LinkedIn to find new job opportunities  It’s also a fantastic place to educate policymakers and shape public conversation. In a time of rapid growth building a LinkedIn presence should be a strategic priority. Read more on the case for LinkedIn here.

WHERE THINGS STAND TODAY

Lots of companies are already present on LinkedIn. But over half of the pages of British renewable energy companies, trade bodies or other influential groups we researched had fewer than 3,000 followers. Many weren’t posting at all. Some had content, but little of it had impact.

There’s a clear under-investment in LinkedIn across the sector. And yet, at the top end, a handful of companies are doing it well — with 40,000+ followers and regular content driving real engagement.

The takeaway? There’s an open goal here. A few are scoring but most are sitting in the stands.

WHO’S GETTING IT RIGHT

From across our research set, a few stood out. A great way to start to build your own company’s presence on LinkedIn is following and consuming content from those who have already found their feet:

Insight Energy brings together cross industry news with concise headline writing and is always quick to react to latest industry updates

Renewable UK as the industry’s trade body, you’d expect higher levels of engagement but RUK is a great example of an industry hub and great connector of the industry, facilitating discussion on and offline through event live posting

Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult gives a snapshot of what it’s like to work in renewables and looks ahead to the future workforce

Smartest Energy shares thought provoking expert led pieces, and connects renewables with the tech sector

Climate 17 spreads the word by working closely with its leaders: like Sonny Hudson who has over 8,000 followers

FOUR BIG LINKEDIN OPPORTUNITIES FOR RENEWABLES

1. 1. Talent recruitment
      The biggest immediate win. Use job posts and paid ads to get in front of the right talent pool. Take it further with employee-generated content that brings company culture and purpose to life and most importantly, show, don’t just tell, why a job in renewables matters. This means real people talking about their roles at a human level.
   2. Thought leadership and policy influence
      The most engaged with pages post are responsive with new policy and news as it comes out – they share explainers on the energy transition, and bold ideas for the future. LinkedIn is where niche, expert-led conversations thrive — often best led by individuals, not brand pages. Importantly,
      LinkedIn Articles (like this one) often top LinkedIn results for sector keywords, so they’re doing double duty.
   3. Collaborate and be part of something bigger
      Cross-sector pages, groups and events drive stronger engagement. even on a smaller scale for individual companies, tagging peers and partners in posts can kickstart new conversations and visibility. We ran some social search analysis to understand which keywords fuel the most productive conversations, finding that broader terms that connect renewables with tech and bigger picture solutions were the best areas of opportunity. For instance, #Greentech has over 12m followers, whereas more specific terms like #OffshoreWind’ had just 39k followers. We also found that baking this keyword research into your content strategy can make all the difference. Simple changes like using the term  ‘renewables’ instead of ‘renewable’ delivers  4 x the followers, showing that being intentional with your content strategy can make all the difference in who you reach.
   4. Paid campaigns with purpose
      Finally, there are 5,000+ ads on LinkedIn using the term “renewable energy” — with the majority are from consultancies or media, not energy companies. There’s a clear opportunity here: use paid campaigns to target specific audiences, from local policymakers to next-gen talent.This way, you can pay to guarantee the right, focussed audience is seeing your content, and being encouraged to take the action you want; from following your page, to commenting, filling in a lead gen form or job application.

    

2. SO, WHERE TO START?This is a make-or-break moment for visibility. If the sector wants to shape the future at this critical time of change, it has to show up — and speak up — in the spaces where those conversations are already happening.

   Here’s how to begin:

   • Use your existing messaging as a springboard for regular educational content.
   • Add LinkedIn as a new column to your comms calendar — it’s a low-lift way to remind your teams to amplify what you’re already doing.
   • Give your senior leaders a burst of LinkedIn training to boost their confidence and activity.

   And if you want expert support building a LinkedIn strategy that makes a real difference — for talent, reputation, or influence — we’d love to help. Reach out to us at social@citypress.co.uk.

   By Kerry Sclater, Senior Social Account Director at Citypress