Big Oil and Social Media

Will big Oil ever embrace Social Media? Sitting in the middle of the energy capital of the world the question presents itself; will big oil will ever need to enter the social media arena? Safe to say they would be missing a big chance to tap into their customer needs, embrace a younger work force and communicate the way they communicate, and form communities. The current data suggests:

Exxon - The Fortune #1 company. I have consulted for Exxon several times; the first time was in 1997. They were still on a mainframe profs mail system and only Vice Presidents could authorize a person's access to the Internet. From a corporate perspective they are a machine that prints money and they would prefer that no person has the power to interfere with that. There are three FaceBook groups for Exxon. Two of them are hate groups. They would not see the need.

Chevron - Chevron due to their California headquarters is a bit more customer/employee focused and could create a great following. There is what appears to be a company sponsored FaceBook page with 4,800 fans, and with a far reaching global following. Chevron has already begun their foray into the Social Media world with satisfactory success.

ConocoPhillips - Social Media would be a great way to create a following, and promote brand loyalty. They have an innovative bug splatter app on their 76 brand page that is cute, and a fun community builder. It took several minutes for me to find it. Why create the marketing initiative if you are not going to publicize it? There are 1,700 fans on their corporate FaceBook page, but the last update was in September of 2009. ConocoPhillips is number 3 oil company in America not far behind Chevron. Creating a following with Social Media could be used to advance the brand to the next level.

British Petroleum
BP America has 112 fans on FaceBook. There are few updates to the page. With the recent gathering pipeline spills in Alaska they are missing a great chance to manage the expectations of the public. The MS150 bike ride in Houston is BP sponsored with 13,000 riders. Many of those people could be converted to a community of online brand proponents with the right approach.

Summary
Social media has been used very effectively to promote the social agenda of climate change. We all know that the climate will change. Social Media can help big oil understand the fears of the younger Social Media community that has only heard one side of the message. By providing the facts to the younger community about climate change via Social Media, they may be willing to embrace it. The younger generation, who need to be courted by big oil to replace the baby boomer executives, live in the technology that is Social Media. The question is will Big Oil embrace the next communication method. What do you think?