Social media strategy up and running
It may have taken a while for BP to get its social media strategy up and running, but the company has actually done a good job of identifying the avenues needed to reach people.
Before the disaster at Deepwater Horizon, BP America’s Twitter page had few tweets monthly, but nothing to write home about. Since its first tweet on the oil spill, BP has used Twitter on a daily basis to send updates on what it’s doing in the Gulf and sometimes even answering questions from its followers.
BP listed all the important contact information on its Twitter page for various response-team departments as well as its other online sites so people can stay connected in several ways. All in all, looks like they’re doing a good job with Twitter although that they are facing some hard “competition” from @BPGlobalPR (BP Public Relations) with more than 182.000 followers.
BP America on Facebook followed similar suit to Twitter. Prior to the explosion, its Facebook page had few updates – maybe once every month or so.
Since then, BP has posted updates on its Facebook page nearly every day – even on weekends and holidays. Every day, BP reports how much oil has been recovered in one day and then the grand total over time. The company also set up contact, news and notes tabs on its page, where fans can comment (and it includes the good, the bad and the ugly – sans censorship). Seems like BP is trying to being transparent by stepping aside to let the public vent.
It even looks as though it has more than 33,000 people who “like” BP’s page on Facebook. Judging by the comments on the company’s profile though, this might be a perfect example where the “like” feature on Facebook gets a little vague. Similar to Twitter BP is facing some hard “competition” from a boycott movement called “Boycott BP” with 780.000 “likes”, urging a worldwide boycott of all BP brands and services.
BP’s YouTube channel is extremely thorough. It has videos categorized by the latest response, beaches and cleanup, claims and economy, health and safety, restoration of the environment and wildlife. BP says it created the YouTube channel to “engage the public in an informative conversation and dialogue about our efforts associated with the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.”
Dealing with a crisis has totally changed because of social media but apparently BP didn’t understand this point, as it did not have a strategic plan on how to defend its response to the oil spill on social media.
Social media is a powerful crisis management tool, but make sure to have a social media risk management plan before the crisis occurs.
Short URL & Title:
Social media strategy up and running — http://www.torbenrick.eu/t/r/dcs
