We’ve harnessed the power of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to demonstrate BP’s ongoing commitment to the Gulf of Mexico, while establishing a fresh narrative regarding the company’s investment in America and how it provides safe, reliable energy in the US. As a result, we’re setting the standard for community management by advancing a proactive strategy that centers on working and collaborating with our audience to serve them and the business better. BP’s social media presences served as a form of crisis communications during the Gulf of Mexico oil spill in 2010. In January of 2012, BP America’s Facebook community was still dominated by vocal detractors. Its moderation involved managing them and publishing third-party content. Today, our achievements in social media speak to how we are helping the company navigate through a difficult time. BP America leads all of its competitors in engagement on its social channels. The BP America page currently boasts a fan base of over 390,000, growing by more than 31,000 Likes in over just two months from October to December of 2012. From November 2012 to January 2013, posts received on average 368 Likes, nearly 10-times the number of Likes posts typically accrued over the summer. Only a month after the successful conversion to the Timeline format—whose milestones highlighted BP’s long U.S. history—there was a 39% increase in engagement and a 48% increase in impressions. How did we get these results? Moving beyond detractors to engage a broader base, we aligned a team around engagement instead of moderation. Empowered with new titles and responsibilities, “Community Specialists" work closer with management, take more calculated risks, and are integral to content creation and publishing. The community management team ensures accountability, context and authenticity in fan responses. They also facilitate co-narration, as the audience is empowered to engage with the brand on a deeper level. Two-way conversations now play an integral part in content direction and creation from Timeline photos to story topics. The growing bond between the company and the audience was strengthened by ceasing unproductive engagement with detractors. It not only spurred engagement from the general population, but also increased positive sentiment. The commenting policy was modified for the first time since 2010. Specifically, we empowered our team to remove or hide comments, which allowed for an overwhelming increase in engagement. Personalized responses to fans created brand equity. This equity surfaced when several BP America fans chose to defend the company after a settlement announcement in November. By listening, we combine excellence in content and community management to make fans a part of BP’s ongoing story.
https://www.facebook.com/BPAmerica, https://twitter.com/BP_America, http://www.youtube.com/user/BPplc
