The Gulf of Mexico oil disaster continues to make news headlines for BP and while the oil giant attempts to clean up its mess in the ocean, it’s facing an equally sticky situation with regards to its PR activity. Specifically, the emergence in May of a fake BP Twitter account – @BPGlobalPR – has fuelled public criticism of the company and also highlighted a rather big flaw in its social media strategy. As Ben Romberg, social media PR manager at Spinnaker points out, “The @BPGlobalPR Twitter feed shows that social media can quickly facilitate a PR backlash against a brand already battling a PR crisis.”
While the identity of the @BPGlobalPR tweeter remains a mystery, what is clear is that despite everyone now knowing that this tweeter is not the real BP, at the time of writing, he or she had over 178,000 followers – more than 10 times that of the legitimate account. So, if anybody can take to media channels like Twitter and openly criticise an organisation such as BP, what implications does this have for other brands? And what can B2B marketers learn from BP’s response?
Who you calling fake?
Under Twitter’s policy for ‘Parody, commentary and fan accounts’, @BPGlobalPR is not playing by the rules by not acknowledging itself as a fake. BP would therefore have every right to demand of Twitter that the account be removed. While BP did threaten such action in the early days, to date it has allowed the imposter to stay – although it refuses to further acknowledge it. While BP claims that this is because it appreciates that people want to talk about the oil disaster, perhaps it was the public backlash over censorship when BP only suggested that Twitter removes the fake account that actually led it being able to stay? As Rachel Clarke, head of social media at digital agency Twentysix says, “Even the hint that BP was thinking about censoring it gave the fake account more publicity.”
B2B brands should take heed of this. No matter how much corporate weight you’ve got behind you, social media cannot be stifled or ignored. Romberg elaborates, “The clear lesson for other B2B brands is that social media is not a space that can be owned or controlled, it is as fluid as a conversation in your local pub.” He goes on to say that rather than ignore the fake BP Twitter account or forcibly censor it, BP should facilitate the fake tweets and engage with people, suggesting that “this would show that it has a sense of humour and that its priorities are in the right place – in the clean-up efforts – and not in protecting its image.”
Changing the conversation
Despite BP buying keywords on top search engines and stepping up its social media activity, it is still reluctant to engage in a two-way conversation, having turned off comments on its YouTube channel and implemented a strict commenting policy on its Facebook page. So it’s no wonder then that many social media experts think that BP has approached social media in a flawed manner by thinking that it can ‘control the conversation’.
“Managing the media no longer means the editors of the New York Times and the BBC. Everyone is their own channel and is free to express and distribute their ideas,” says Tyler Turnball, planning director at Publicis Modem, who goes on to point out that “@BPGlobalPR is a reflection of this new world.”
This ‘new world’ presents B2B brands with challenging decisions about when and how to respond to negative comments posted in a social sphere for all to see. James Cooper, managing director at Ascendant Communications suggests that rather than try and shut out social media when it doesn’t suit, B2B brands should embrace the openness of it “that way the public can see that a company is serious about getting its message across and has an openness to criticism and negative comment.” And according to some, when negative comments do arise, brands like BP should use social media to change rather than block out the conversation. Lisa Barone, chief branding officer at Outspoken Media offers advice to B2B brands on how they can do this, “Don’t look for sympathy; admit any wrongdoing; offer a resolution or plan of attack and stay involved in the conversation.” She also adds the importance of avoiding a corporate tone in social media, suggesting that BP’s current PR efforts have lacked ‘the human element’.
The very nature of social media – the fact that it is ‘social’ and by definition generates interaction – means that anyone can say anything about a brand. And good or bad, social media means that everyone can listen in. Indeed BP is not the first brand to fall victim to social media gaffes. Martin Brindley, managing director at DMG Europe recalls earlier this year when Vodafone found itself in the media spotlight after an inappropriate tweet by a member of staff. The Telegraph (on Twitter) and British Airways (on Facebook) are other brands that have recently faced a social media faux pas.
Ultimately, BP’s PR crisis has shown that all brands must have a robust strategy in place for reputation management. As Nick Gill, planning director at integrated agency DCH points out, “Reputation management is clearly going to be a growing area because it enables you to be an active participant in the social space.”
Crisis plans
Despite BP’s apparent hash of the way it handled the Twitter-gate affair, social media can provide an ideal platform for reputation management, as long as brands distinguish conversation monitoring from active engagement into conversations. Turnball warns, “Proactively engaging in conversations that are not directed at the brand can be dangerous. Brands who engage in this need to clearly add value to ensure that they don’t appear as spam.”
This is the situation that some of the UK’s biggest brands, such as BT, recently found themselves in when they were accused of spying on their customers. BT sent automated messages in response to comments posted about it on its customers’ Facebook pages. Despite reported outrage by customers, social media experts point out that customers’ comments were posted in public spaces – so companies were hardly spying.
Nevertheless, there are best practice methods to brand monitoring and reputation management to ensure a personalised and authentic approach, as Romberg suggests, “Chat to people on the social web as you would a customer on the shop floor and the conversation will seem more natural and ultimately become constructive.”
The situation with both the fake BP Twitter account and accusations about BT spying are scenarios that are unlikely to face most B2B brands. But marketers should use these examples of what can go wrong and make sure that they’ve got a plan of action in place for such event. That said, there are no firm rules when it comes to the do’s and don’ts of social media, and what may work for some – won’t always work for others. As Gill summarises, the BP situation “just goes to show how changeable and delicate dealing with social media is. There is no fixed playbook, you need to be human and read the situation as you see fit.”