The intertubes are all a twitter about how BP is buying oil spill related terms on Google. This is actually a technique that goes back to 2005…and tooting my own horn slightly, it’s one I introduced in a PR News article that year and explained at the Bulldog PR Media Relations Summit in 2006. I called it “MessageWords” (Wikipedia definition here) because while you’re buying Google AdWords, you’re using it to disseminate PR messages. At the moment, BP is using the “Equal Time Machine” strategy, where if the media’s coverage is overwhelmingly negative you use MessageWords to break through and tell your own story. Snip from the PRNews article:
“Equal Time Machine:” Delivering messages in a crisis is an uphill battle. Secure MessageWords that direct the public to your company’s letter of apology or to pictures of your CEO/elected official comforting victims or other positive coverage..”
In BP’s case, the MessageWord takes the clicker to a microsite that has pictures showing people working hard to contain the spill, news on payments being disbursed, a bunch of phone numbers for more information, text, pictures and videos of the response, a video message direct from the CEO, links to state-specific response sites, and various social media channels where you can keep up to date with news from the company. In other words, a best practices checklist for how to use the web for crisis communications.
The piece explains five other ways to use Google AdWords as MessageWords:
1. Buzz Booster – Buy keywords to further disseminate speeches, press releases, letters to the editor.
2. Rumor Responder – Dispelling rumors is hard because in order to tell everyone that something’s not true, you risk telling them something negative that they hadn’t heard in the first place. But by buying keywords that precisely match the rumor, you’ll just hit the people who already heard about it.
3. Welcome Mat – Taking citations of a product name in media and blog coverage and buying AdWords that link to places to buy them online. (ok, this is fort of “no duh” right now, but back in 2005 this was pretty edgy!)
4. Buzz Killer – This is for members of the public. If you’ve had a bad experience with a product or service, buy an AdWord that disseminates your message and counteract positive publicity about the company.
5. Asymmetrical Message Warfare – As more and more people do #4, companies wil have to do more of #’s 1-3 — and plenty of traditional PR — to overcome them.
Have you seen examples of other companies using MessageWords? Please include links to them below. I’m thinking of updating the piece and will happily give you a tip of the hat for the help in the next article.
Note to critics:
A lot of the media’s coverage has implied this technique is somehow unfair. But I’d ask you to consider the value we should place on hearing all sides of a story. Even companies that have made mistakes deserve to disseminate information. And frankly, given the lack of resources the traditional media has these days, don’t you want the company to at least be ABLE to offer their point of view?
This is particularly key for B2B companies (and BP has tons of business partners) who can struggle to get out accurate and often highly detailed information out to partners that really need it.
If you’re still unconvinced, go back and read #4 above. I believe now, as I did back in ’05, that Google wants everyone to be an advertiser. That’s why their user guides are written in plain english, the tools are incredibly easy to use and the opening price to buy an AdWord, with very low minimums, is a nickel. So if you want to break through the media filter, feel free to buy your own darn MessageWords :)
