Fishing for ‘Likes’ C anadian Biomass doesn’t often venture into the consumer world. As a trade magazine, our audience is industry insiders, like you, looking to improve their businesses or processes by understanding shared challenges and solutions. Consumer magazines (fashion, home decor, auto, and so on) are an entirely different ball game. Anyone with a Facebook account can tell you the consumer world is a fickle one. If Joe Blow had an un-happy experience at his lo-cal restaurant, his next step could be logging on to write a nasty review warning oth-ers to stay away. His opinion, irrespective of the facts of the matter, can inform the deci-sions of future customers. And that’s not a custom-er base anyone can ignore. According to a 2017 report from Ryerson University’s Social Media Lab, 84 per cent of Canadian adults are on Facebook. For young adults aged 18 to 24 that number jumps to 95 per cent. This unprecedented access to the con-sumer can also be a tool. There is a lot to glean from knowing what customers are saying about your product. In the fall of 2017 the Wood Pellet Association of Canada (WPAC) launched a new website – woodpelletheat.ca – de-signed to meet heating customers online. The website promotes the use of wood pellets for residential heat by educating consumers about the benefits of switch-ing to pellet fuel. Canadian Biomass ’ par-ent company, Annex Business Media, de-signed and built the website for WPAC. The site frequently references studies or stories published in Canadian Biomass that give testament to the efficiency, sustain-ability and affordability of pellet heat. BIOMASS CANADIAN Volume 19 No. 2 Editor -Maria Church (226) 931-1396 [email protected] Associate Editor -Ellen Cools (416) 510-6766 [email protected] Contributors -Gordon Murray, Fahimeh Yazdan Panah, Reg Renner, Dutch Dresser, Silvia Cademartori, Nicolas Mansuy, Ian Thomson Account Coordinator -Stephanie DeFields Ph: (519) 429-5196 [email protected] National Sales Manager -Ross Anderson Ph: (519) 429-5188 Fax: (519) 429-3094 [email protected] Quebec Sales -Josée Crevier Ph: (514) 425-0025 Fax: (514) 425-0068 [email protected] Western Sales Manager -Tim Shaddick [email protected] Ph: (604) 264-1158 Fax: (604) 264-1367 Media Designer -Curtis Martin Circulation Manager – Jay Doshi [email protected] Ph: (416) 442-5600 ext. 5124 COO Scott Jamieson President/CEO Mike Fredericks Canadian Biomass is published four times a year: Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall. Published and printed by Annex Business Media. Publication Mail Agreement # 40065710 Printed in Canada ISSN 2290-3097 Subscription Rates: Canada -1 Yr $57.00; 2 Yr $102.00 Single Copy -$9.00 (Canadian prices do not include applicable taxes) USA – 1 Yr $93.50 US; Foreign – 1 Yr $106.00 US CIRCULATION [email protected] Tel: (416) 510-5109 Fax: (416) 510-6875 or (416) 442-2191 111 Gordon Baker Rd., Suite 400, Toronto, ON M2H 3R1 Annex Privacy Officer [email protected] Tel: 800-668-2374 Occasionally, Canadian Biomass magazine will mail information on behalf of industry-related groups whose products and services we believe may be of interest to you. If you prefer not to receive this information, please contact our circulation department in any of the four ways listed above. No part of the editorial content of this publication may be reprinted without the publisher’ s written permission ©2019 Annex Business Media, All rights reserved. Opinions expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of the editor or publisher. No liability is assumed for errors or omissions. All advertising is subject to the publisher’ s approval. Such approval does not imply any endorsement of the products or services advertised. Publisher reserves the right to refuse advertising that does not meet the standards of the publication. The heating pellet industry can learn from social media In 2018, WPAC ran a social media campaign tied to the website to promote its content. The campaign generated near-ly half a million views. More importantly, campaign organizers learned a great deal about what consumers think about wood pellet fuel and stoves. “Nice heat comfortable but way too expensive,” one com-menter wrote. “No electricity the stove doesn’t work,” another noted. “Wood pellets add three times as much CO2 to the air as natural gas and the emissions are a threat,” an-other wrote. There are hundreds of comments to read through, many with strong negative or positive opinions about our industry. The takeaway from all this is to under-stand common consumer misconceptions in order to directly address them. That’s the goal of woodpelletheat.ca. It’s an im-portant voice for the industry to counter misinformation and to market the entire concept of heating with pellets from a cus-tomer perspective, right down to which wood pellet stove or furnace to purchase. Knowing what Canadian consumers are saying about wood pellets allows us to respond effectively with our facts. I commend WPAC for taking on the challenge of marketing directly to Cana-dian consumers, and I encourage pellet producers who aren’t already meeting their customers on social media to consider adding their voices to the conversation.• www.canadianbiomassmagazine.ca 6 Canadian BIOMASS SPRING 2019
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