The Metropolitan Utilities District (M.U.D.) is the sole water company for the residents in the Omaha metro area. It has no competitor. 

Bottled water does not put a dent into the company’s yearly sales. 

Yet even with no competition, M.U.D. has recently realized the value of building customer confidence over its drinking water in the area. 

Wanting to constantly hit on a core premise—that M.U.D.’s water offers great value—the company’s leadership team has focused on engaging its customers and has started tapping into social media to promote its updated brand,  “M.U.D. on Tap.”

“Our band has been put in place to educate our customers and to clear up any misconceptions of our water,” said Jay Roberts, digital media specialist at MUD.

“We have local, fresh, reliable and quality water. Our water passes all regulatory regulations, and it is so cheap compared to bottled water. We are building consumer confidence that we have great value here.” 

As the fifth largest municipal utility company in the U.S., M.U.D. has more than 216,000 water customers, as well as 231,000 natural gas customers. It is governed by an elected board of directors and deeply entrenched within the Omaha community for more than 100 years.  As staff are slowly turning over, new leaders within M.U.D. are emerging; pushing for updated methods of promoting the company’s values.  

M.U.D.’s message is now found on Facebook, Twitter, and on a newly launched Instagram page. The Instagram page is brand specific, and posts made on the page are stylized to match the “M.U.D. on Tap” colors, fonts and branding.  

The content focuses mainly on how reliable M.U.D.’s water is, and how it is clean and safe. Events are publicized and featured, along with routine pipe maintenance and water main breaks. 

According to Roberts, the company is specifically focused on branding its water because it is visible and engaging compared to natural gas.  

“Water is such a great visual,” he said. “Our water is found at  hydrant parties, hydration stations, splash pads and in swimming pools. Our water is seen everywhere, especially in the summer months.”  

While looking to gain customer engagement, M.U.D. communications department members are also working on how to promote visibility to the community through their own employees using an exponential approach found all over in social media.

For example, the communications department publishes a company newsletter for M.U.D. employees. Staff then analyze which stories are looked at most often. Those analytics carry over to what is cross-publicized, and which would be most potentially interesting to social media followers. 

Links are included within the M.U.D. online intranet publication, so employees can share what interests them within their own social media.

“We are trying to build our audience internally so employees share our stories. We want to forge partnerships and build relationships with people,” Roberts said.

M.U.D. is also using social media as a way of attracting a new generation to apply for jobs at this utility facing moderate upcoming growth, and an aging workforce.

“With all the people retiring we want to appeal more to the younger generation – so having a social media presence sends a message to those younger that we value their ideas” he said. 

According to Wes Poore, communications specialist with M.U.D., staff within the communications department have learned some effective methods of message branding in social media through trial and error.  

For example, tagging within a post naturally leads to more hits.  According to Poore, the non-tagged twitter feed is often just informational and can go days without any hits,  but when M.U.D. staff tag others, like the Omaha Fire Department (OFD), some of the tweets get a huge response.    

Tagging depends on the situation and how serious it is, he said.  The most views off an original post was more than 200,000 impressions, but that was likely because the fire-hydrant-and-dog post was re-tweeted by the OFD.

Another aspect learned about social media is the timing of post placement. Through analytics, staff can see the trends of viewers.

“We can tell the age range and time ranges for audiences. We know when different ages are on Instagram. It’s been trial and error for timing our posts. 

“With social media,  we’ve learned the key is to be consistent,” said Poore.

Author: Jennifer Knight; word count: 715.