Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim: Ten Online Reputation Management Tips BP Can Use Today

Don’t you hate it when bloggers complain about a company’s actions, yet don’t offer any advice or alternative solutions?

That’s kind of what I did yesterday–when criticizing BP. Well, shortly after publishing that post, I turned to Twitter and started tweeting random ideas that BP could use to be more, well, Radically Transparent. The tips literally took me 10 minutes to come up with, yet were well received by those following me.

So, I thought I’d close the loop on yesterday’s post and share them here.

BP oil spill crisis tip #1: Make each BP station a place for people to share concerns & suggestions. Instead of letting them boycott their local BP station–and drive on by–why not set them up as polling stations. Let people stop in and share their complaints, concerns and suggestions.

BP oil spill crisis tip #2: Hold local town-hall meetings. Let them vent to the CEO directly, instead of venting online.

BP oil spill crisis tip #3: Invite someone like @Scobleizer to follow the BP CEO with a video camera. Show how hard he’s working each day, so people can see he’s as concerned as he says he is.

BP oil spill crisis tip #4: Set aside a large fund for clean-up – say $20 billion – with a promise that any left over will go to environmental non-profits.

BP oil spill crisis tip #5: If you let Facebook users comment on your fan page, maybe they wouldn’t feel the need to create alternative complaint page! Open up your Facebook page to comments and take them like a man!

BP oil spill crisis tip #6: You have a Flickr page, but how about a Flickr Group? Let users submit photos of areas that need clean-up, tagged with GPS coordinates so BP can react.

BP oil spill crisis tip #7: People care about their own back yard. Set-up a Google map that lets me click & see info/videos/images of how the oil effects in my town!

BP oil spill crisis tip #8: Provide a timeline of…What happened? How’d it happen? What’s been tried? What failed? What worked? What now? What next? In other words, be Radically Transparent! ;-)

BP oil spill crisis tip #9: For your TV ads, don’t show me your CEO in a clean, pressed shirt. Show him with his sleeves rolled up & helping…you know, like he really cares!

BP oil spill crisis tip #10: If I drank a shot for each corporate soundbite in this http://gri.ms/KSB3 – my liver would need removing. Talk to us in English!

BP oil spill crisis tip #11: OK, so there wasn’t an 11th tip…at least not one I’m going to provide for free. BP knows how to find me. ;-)

What tips do you have for BP? How should they handle this reputation crisis?
Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim