First there was Myspace. The kids went crazy over the social network.
Then, Facebook hit the addiction buttons of the not so young anymore’s.
Now Twitter is all the rage for the connected folks.
The growth pattern itself is interesting enough, but social networking is a huge part of today’s society and has changed the way the connected world communicates as much as e-mail did. Does anyone remember the days before e-mail? Social networking has become more important to many than the phone, e-mail or even the daily news.
Social networking has also changed the way news is communicated to the world. How? By being lightning fast and first person. Just a few weeks ago, a jetliner crashed into the Hudson river. Who broke the story? CNN? Not on your life. The story was broken on Twitter, by a guy who was a passenger on that very plane, sharing his first hand account via his PDA.
So, how does all this social fun relate to the car industry?
Social networking has changed the way PR works. PR types and industry experts can communicate directly with the public. The public can access The Man instantly. Traditional media and corporations have hidden behind the curtains like a certain wizard from Oz forever, but the web has changed all of that. The curtains have fallen and the smart companies aren’t grabbing a towel to hide, they are standing there naked and dripping wet on the hotel room floor while the guests at the local hotel take a long hard look.
Transparency is what it’s called and along with it comes responsibility and accountability. A couple of manufacturers are getting it right. Most are still hiding back in the corner by the laminate desk, covering their junk while continuing to drip on the carpet.
The Detroit 3 are in quite the predicament these days what with gigantic (in the true sense of the word) losses, public grovelling for support and intense scrutiny of every movement. While the Traditional Imports aren’t going through the same scrutiny, they are certainly feeling much of the same pain. And yet, only two companies stand out in today’s world of transparency:
General Motors and Ford.
Twitter has taken the whole social networking thing to a new level for media and PR types and the PR crew from Ford and GM are right in the thick of it. Imagine, actual corporate PR types interacting with Joe Public. Listening to what they have to say. Answering tough questions. Not hiding behind a soggy hotel towel. It goes further than that. GM’s execs routinely discuss topics of the day with consumers at the Fastlane blog. Ford big wigs, right up to Alan Mulally have been out meeting with lowly auto bloggers a couple of times in the last month alone. I’m sure I’m missing a few events here, but you get the point. These two teams are serious about hearing what the public has to say and working with the consumer to move their companies forward.
Today, something absolutely unheard of happened. Scott Monty from Ford and Chris Barger from GM got together with Edmunds.com to hold a webinar (call it an online seminar) where consumers and media alike could ask questions about social networking and the auto industry. GM & Ford cooperating in the pursuit of consumer loyalty. Imagine that. The world has indeed changed.
So, back to my original question: Is social networking the answer to the auto industry’s woes? Of course, the answer is: no. Perhaps the answer lies more in the willingness of modern manufacturers who are willing to think outside the box for once and actually drop the soggy towel. Let the consumer cheer or jeer and actually learn something from the response. The manufacturers who listen, learn and put that knowledge into practice will be the ones who prevail.
PS…hey Chrysler: maybe its time to open the curtains and drop the towel!
You’re absolutely right when you say that social networking is not the answer to the auto industry’s woes, Gary. But it is AN answer, and a culture shift that reflects a willingness to be part of what’s going on in the world today.
It’s what we do with the interactions we have and the information we gather that will make a difference in the future.
Scott Monty
Global Digital Communications
Ford Motor Company
Well said Scott.
…And if Scott’s posting isn’t proof of that working, then I don’t know what is eh!
Mind you, I can buy into MySpace and Facebook, but I somehow have a difficult time with Twitter. Firstly it’s the name, it sounds like some old guy in an anorak with binoculars creeping around in the bushes trying to get pictures of young birds. Oh no, that’s a twitcher isn’t it (of course, it could also be a dirty old man I too I suppose), and so far, apart from an odd news item, most twitterer’s (If that’s what they’re called) simply post pointless cr*p.
I’m starting to wonder if it’s all getting a little too much. Communications used to be simple…If you phoned me and I was out, you called back. Then came the answerphone which kind of helped, but now…You phone me, you email me, you send me a text, and then a message to me on Facebook…what is it about the word IGNORE that people don’t understand 🙂 I spend half my life communicating now and yet I get less work done, progress eh!!! 🙂
Good to see social networking mentioned. Will it solve all the problems? Probably no, is it part of the solution, probably yes.
Some of our thoughts http://stradaautostore.squarespace.com/leader-followers/
There’s an entire generation that communicates using My Space, Facebook, Linked In, Twitter, blogs. Every car manufacturer, every dealer needs to be aware that just like the Internet was derided a little over a decade ago, and now is ubiquitous and mainstream. The same applies with social media.
By the time the doors open at this year Toronto Auto Show, the folks on Twitter will know what goes on, will have photos, the whole story. The print media or the mass online media will lag behind the Twitter crowd.
The Winternational at Pomona were rain delayed, today from Ford Racing, and John Force Racing I had constant updates who was staging, who was checking the lanes, and who was winning each round and moving to the next.
The car business – like most businesses – is often all about relationships. (Any dealer will tell you that, especially the dealers who are holding their own during this tough economy.) Social networking is often all about relationships. There is an opportunity here, and the savvy members of the auto industry are catching on…
Well said Gary. We have seen it here, and in other posts, that The Garage, to quote Sting, isn’t “singing in the wind, or writing on the surface of an edge.” What we write, and what the readers of The Garage post, is being heard by the automakers themselves. It truly is an unprecedented line of communication that we have here.
Good article. I agree with Jeannine. Social networking is about relationships. Social networking is an excellent way for auto dealers to build communities with customers, vendors and other dealers. For the latest in social networking and the auto industry, check out http://www.auttr.com.
Cool community idea Greg. I’ll see you there.