Black Tide: BP’s Lack of Online Media Management

Crisis on BP's main home page

A keynote speaker at last week’s combined International Association of Business Communicators/Public Relations Society of America conference in Salt Lake City said BP (British Petroleum) was doing a good job of managing crisis communications as a result of the oil spill in the Gulf by using online social media. I do not agree.

Here’s the biggest problem … and a practical solution:

BP is attempting to manage its crisis communications by singularly using the company’s main home page, a tactic that may undermine the oil corporation’s overall image by creating a lasting impression linking BP with one of the world’s biggest oil spills.

When disaster or crisis hits, any corporation or organization must act swiftly to create special and separate news update online sites. It’s easy to do in today’s online environment. Here’s how:

1. Register a special domain name or URL, such as (Company Name)News.com.
2. Create a news update site, using blog technology like WordPress.
3. Fill the news site with a constant flow of news updates, photos, video and contact information, 24/7.
4. On the main home page, have a link and merely say, “For news updates, click here.”

A special news update site can be online and operational within a few hours.

While neither BP not  TransOcean, the people who built the oil platform, have any meaningful presence in online social media, especially Twitter, special news update sites can be meaningful first steps toward rebuilding corporate reputations.

Category: Brand Journalism