Responding to a crisis with social media

The recent BP Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico is now considered the largest offshore oil spill in US history; putting more than 400 different species at risk.

The environmental impact of this spill has been devastating and BP has been charged with the responsibility of assuming all costs associated with the cleanup.

BP’s actions will be under the microscope over the weeks, months and years that follow. That said, as marketers we can learn a lot by watching how their highly skilled PR team deals with this disaster.

Recently, BP spokesperson Toby Odone told ABC News that BP has successfully bid for several search terms related to the oil spill on Google and other search engines so that the first search result will link directly to the company's website.

Creating a dedicated response page is one of the first steps that I’m sure BP will be taking as they try and deal with this disaster. I imagine it was part of a well integrated campaign that uses other forms of social media & networking tools as well.

If you’re currently dealing with a disaster, or if you’re simply planning for the future, here are few tips you might want to incorporate into your plan:

1. Create a dedicated response team & select a spokesperson
2. When a crisis happens, listen to what’s happening online using Google Alerts
3. Keep your audience up to date by linking to an RSS feed, Twitter, Facebook, etc
4. Optimize landing pages and buy search terms when necessary

Of course, these are just a few ideas to get you started. If you would like more information on social media, check out our social media tools and templates at www.demandmetric.com/online-social-media.

If you would like to make a donation to help the wildlife impacted by the BP oil spill visit the National Wildlife Federation website and click donate.