Automotive Marketing Through Social Media: Successes and Failures

Lessons & Takeaways Success stories and failures Volkswagen's "The Force" video A huge win for Ford Chevy's road trip results Ford gave 100 folks Ford Fiestas 18 months before Last year Chevrolet sent out eight teams of social media folks on a road trip/scavenger hunt competition. They had to complete challenges and While most companies keep their Super Bowl ads a they were released and asked that they share their experiences online. secret until game time, this video was intentionally released early to create pre-game buzz. It lead to millions of views. thousands of likes and the interact on social sites. resulted in: It resulted in: 61.1 million impressions 1,216 8,764 13,400 11 million impressions 11,000 13,000 15,000 miniature Darth Vader, actor Max Page, even appeared on the Today Show. video views video views photos new Facebook likes tweets tweets GM's viral plan Honda's cyber critique Toyota's Flickr flop In 2009, Toyota and its ad agency put together a Web site for the Toyota 4Runner. The problem was that the images had been stolen from Flickr and backfires In 2006, GM teamed up with "The Apprentice" to In the summer of 2009, Honda created a Facebook fan page to help promote the new Crosstour. create a site that allowed Chevy Tahoe fans to make their own commercials online. However, the response was largely negative as SUV critics made films bashing the Tahoe and others made However, it turned sour when "fans" outside of the target demographic only had negative things to say. Honda didn't issue a response until September. were used without the photographers' permission. Toyota soon removed the images and apologized. satirical ads. Lessons other companies can learn Have a personality Create social profiles Interact with your fans as if they were your friends, rather than using a corporate, traditional voice. Example: Scott Monty (Head of Social Media for Ford) has more followers than many other of the top 5's main Twitter accounts. Always respond In times of trouble, don't be Create profiles on prominent social media sites. Sign up silent. No matter if you're addressing bankruptcy or the public's dislike for your newest car model, always be a part of the conversation and address fans' questions and and create accounts on sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr. Learn how to use these effectively and reach out to your audience. concerns. Embrace word-of-mouth Provide interaction Embrace the power of word-of-mouth marketing. Allow your customers and fans to sing your praises and spread the word, instead of your company doing it itself. Create opportunities for fans to interact and participate. Run competitions, hold events and find other ways to include your fans. They'll love being a part of the "team." Sources: wsj.com | gm.com | ford.com | mashable.com | socialcarnews.com | remi8.blogspot.com | businessreviewusa.com | bnet.com | dispatch.com | webpronews.com | ft.com | stltoday.com | mybanktracker.com Information provided by: http://www.carinsurance.org CARINSURANCE.ORG