The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) has standards for its social media, including blogs, Facebook, Flickr, LinkedIn, Twitter, Vimeo, and YouTube. If you have questions about social media, contact the EERE Webmaster.

Learn more about DOE’s social media guidance and social media policies.

Best practices for social media

Posting on social media is more than just about placing content online. To successfully amplify your message and reach, follow these best practices:

• Ideally, accounts should post no more than 4 posts a day on each channel, including amplifications and retweets/reposts.
• Certain types of posts also do not perform well on EERE's social media channels. Examples of these kinds of posts include:
  • Posts that solely encourage sign ups for newsletters.
  • Multiple posts in one day or over the course of consecutive days on the same technology area.
  • Posts that contain technical language understood only by specific stakeholders.
  • Posts that promote a webinar or event that is only relevant to a small audience.
  • Posts that don’t feel human or make a personal connection.
• Make sure your post is being sent on the proper channels, as each EERE social media account appeals to a different audience.
• Consider bundling content into toolkits that can be shared on personal accounts by staff working in the tech offices.
  • When offices have multiple announcements or messages to share in one week, it is best practice to use personal social media accounts to bundle the news.

There are certain best practices for structuring the content in posts that make them more attractive to social media users or more likely to be chosen by social media algorithms.

• Use "we/our" instead of using office or department names.
• Adjust post language to lead with a call to action that catches the attention of viewers, such as "register now," "apply now for," "we need your input" or "we attended (event)."
• Include 1 to 2 relevant hashtags per post, integrated within the post text if possible.
• Use relevant visuals or videos with posts, instead of using the auto-generated image.
• Amplify relevant content from other established government brands.

EERE staff are encouraged to submit content for the EERE Facebook account after first coordinating with their office's communications lead, who will work directly with EERE Communications. Your communications lead will send Carolyn Hinkley or Josh Logelin the text of the post, a URL to link to, and a photo.

Types of posts that are ideal for EERE’s Facebook audience, based on analytics research, include Energy 101 content, high-level report takeaways, industry-wide job announcements and statistics, communities’ benefits content, supply chain and manufacturing news, transition from oil and gas to clean energy success stories, and investments in Americans.

EERE staff are encouraged to submit content for EERE's LinkedIn account after first coordinating with their office’s communications lead, who will work directly with EERE Communications. Your communications lead will send Josh Logelin the text of the post, a URL to link to, and a photo.

Types of posts that are ideal for EERE’s LinkedIn audience, based on analytics research, include job opportunities, webinars, staff spotlights, event promotion and wrap-up posts, nationwide map graphics, blogs or LinkedIn articles that are authored by EERE staff members, and Clean Energy Champion content.

EERE staff are encouraged to submit content for DOE's Twitter account after first coordinating with their office’s communications lead, who will work directly with EERE Communications.

Based on analytics, types of posts that are ideal for EERE’s Twitter audience include genuine/authentic people making progress, clever fun facts, communities’ benefits content, what prize and competition winners did to win, and Clean Energy Champion content. 

Other Social Media Platforms

Any office may run a blog. See the blog standards for the requirements and best practices. If you want to reach an existing audience without creating your own blog, you can write a guest post or become a regular contributor for these blogs.

Before beginning to write a blog post, please consult with your office’s communications lead, who will submit your idea for review via the EERE Policy Calendar. You can begin writing the blog post after receiving approval from EERE Communications.

Contact ee.media@ee.doe.gov to post on the EERE Blog.

EERE staff are welcome to submit photos to the U.S. Department of Energy's Flickr account. Contact your communications lead if you have images to post on Flickr.

EERE offices are welcome to add videos to the DOE Vimeo channel.

All videos must follow EERE's video requirements. Before beginning to produce a video, please consult with your office’s communications lead, who will submit your idea for review via the EERE Policy Calendar. You can begin producing the video after receiving approval from EERE Communications.

EERE offices are welcome to post videos on the DOE YouTube channel. Before beginning to produce a video, please consult with your office’s communications lead, who will submit your idea for review via the EERE Policy Calendar. You can begin producing the video after receiving approval from EERE Communications.

If you want your video posted on DOE's YouTube channel,  follow the process on the Video page.