BP Spills Videos onto YouTube
...and here they are in an in-video ad (on one of my videos):
You can't go anywhere on YouTube without seeing Tony Hayward's mug. That's because one month ago (May 18th 2010) BP opened up a YouTube account and has since dumped 55 videos onto the tubes in the past two weeks.
YouTube and Reputation Management
YouTube is great for reputation management. When Domino's Pizza wanted to respond to some booger centric employee made videos, President Patrick Doyle took to YouTube to keep the situation in check a mere 7 hours after the offending video went public. Their quick response was crucial, but the important detail that many people don't take into account is that Domino's had an active YouTube channel for over a year before using it for reputation management purposes. That means they actually had real subscribers and friends that were fans of their brand. BP, on the other hand, entered YouTube with no subscribers, friends, or existing relationships and relied on paid advertisements to quickly grow their subscriber base:
Sure, it looks good to be one of the most subscribed to channels on YouTube, but when I checked last week I couldn't find a single video above a one star rating:
The next thing I noticed was that BP had disabled comments on every single video they uploaded. They didn't want an open dialog, they wanted a platform to force feed videos to the masses. That might work on television, but that isn't how YouTube rolls.
BP Comes Clean on YouTube
I was all ready to discuss how BP doesn't get it when it comes to online video, but when I revisited BP's channel today I noticed a few welcome changes. The first thing I noticed was that comments have been turned on on all the videos I checked. They also took a play out of my Community Pillar and began responding to comments:
I know it's a canned message, but it's still better than just letting comments hang there (or not allowing comments at all) and it appears to have an impact on the rating of the video as well:
So it looks like BP is quickly learning how to use their YouTube channel in more effective ways. The real test will be if they continue to upload videos after this spill is cleaned up. Be sure to check back in 10 years !
YouTube Reputation Management Takeaways
- Don't wait for a crisis to open a YouTube account
- Disabling comments hurts your reputation more than nasty comments
- Actively respond to comments when appropriate
