Case Study: Hydro‑Québec achieves a 20% boost in brand reputation and scales customer-first social care with Talkwalker

Hydro-Québec Wins Social with a Sassy Customer-First Strategy

Hydro‑Québec, Québec’s crown electricity utility with about 20,000 employees and 4 million customers, faced a reputational challenge as a slow, opaque “black box.” The organization needed a secure, French-capable platform to manage growing social inquiries, rebuild trust with stakeholders, and respond faster—pressure that intensified as customers increasingly turned to digital channels.

By deploying Hootsuite and Talkwalker, Hydro‑Québec centralized social customer care with Hootsuite Inbox, set up targeted listening streams, and shifted to a more human, occasionally cheeky tone while scaling its team. The changes doubled social-only customer care capacity and delivered measurable gains: a 40% increase in digital service requests, about 1,800 brand mentions per week, a 20% rise in reputation score, and a social following exceeding 400,000—along with faster, more consistent crisis communications.

Hydro Quebec

Jonathan Cote

Strategic Advisor, Corporate Communications & Media Relations