Ford: Doing Social Media The Right Way

I recently had the opportunity to hear Craig Daitch of Ford speak to the #cincysm group about Ford’s use of social media. I knew it was going to be a great presentation when I received this tweet from Craig the day before:

From corporate branding to the dealership to Ford Credit, Craig and Ford are truly making Ford one of the world’s most social companies. Here are a few takeaways from his presentation.

A Big Social Media Budget (but it’s not all for what you think)

When it comes to Ford and social media a lot of the attention, and money, is centered around the Facebook exclusive launch of the 2012 Explorer or the Go Do Campaign that lives on Youtube. These were obviously some big budget initiatives that paid off in terms of impressions and website traffic. While he didn’t share those budgets with us, but he did throw out a budget number that surprised me.

Ford has a seven figure, let me repeat seven figure, budget just for monitoring. As any good social media strategist knows, it is all about the data. I was really happy to hear Ford put such an emphasis on monitoring and listening to their consumers. Kudos to Craig and the Ford team for spending the money to truly listen to their customers.

Taking it to the Dealers

As a result of their monitoring budget, Ford has learned a majority of the brand’s negative sentiment directly references a specific dealership, such as “Conin Ford has horrible customer service” or “The service department at Kerry Ford just ripped me off.”

To counteract that negative sentiment, and to encourage dealerships to get involved in the conversation, Ford will rollout more than 3,000 dealership Facebook Fan Pages throughout 2012 using partner Buddy Media. Content for these pages will be provided at the corporate level and monitored at the dealership level.

I’m glad to hear Ford has recognized the need for individual dealership pages that have a specific strategy. Working for a local auto dealership as a community manager, I know the value Facebook pages as well as other social media tools can provide.

What’s Next?

After hearing Craig’s presentation I’m definitely impressed with the steps Ford are taking. It will be interesting to see how Ford continues to bring the car buying experience to the social space.

PRSA Is More Than 4 Little Letters

On Wednesday night the new pros group had the opportunity to learn more about how new members can get the most out of their PRSA experience. Three veteran members of Cincinnati PRSA were on hand to share their stories about their PRSA experience. Jonathan Kissell, Jill Dunne and Darcy Little, 3 Cincinnati PRSA board members, were our speakers for the night.

Here are my three biggest takeaways from last night’s discussion:

There are lots of ways to get involved

Whatever time you have to offer, the chapter can use. To get involved right away there are multiple volunteer opportunities with local non-profit organizations. Peter Osborne our community service chair does a great job finding opportunities for PRSA members to use their skills to help these organizations.

In addition to volunteer opportunities members can join a leadership team committee. There isn’t a formal process to join a committee, all it takes is an email to an individual committee chair to get the ball rolling. Leadership team committees include: Social Media, Sponsorship, Blacksmith Awards, New Pros, APR, Newsletter and Media Day.

You get out, what you put in

I know, I know, this seems like a, “well, no duh” statement, but it is especially true with PRSA. As I mentioned in my previous points there are plenty of ways to get involved. Each of these opportunities is a way to strengthen your overall skill set and make you a more well-rounded pro. Additionally, by joining these committees you get the chance to meet a more of our chapter members, which is current more than 200 professionals strong. Our members are the undisputed PRSA leaders in the Cincinnati who are really, really good at what they do and are almost always willing to help, which leads right into my last takeaway…

PRSA Members are Friendly

All three speakers alluded to this multiple times during the discussion. If you have a question, all you have to do it ask. Whether it’s about about a job opportunity, career advice, or how to track down someone at one publication or another, chances are good someone else has been in your situation at one point or another and can offer some help.

Those were my biggest takeaways from the benefits and importance of being a PRSA member, what else do you have to add?

One last thing… As the Cincinnati PRSA New Pros Committee Chair I will be sharing recaps of our monthly events throughout the year. If you have any suggestions about speakers, topics or venues for future events I’d love to hear from you in the comments below.

PR + Mobile Marketing = Great Friends

I had the pleasure of hearing Bob McCarthy, of Service Web Systems, speak today at the Cincinnati PRSA monthly luncheon. Bob is a specialist in all things mobile. From app development, to mobile-site modification, to QR Codes ~ Bob knows his stuff.

Thanks to Our Sponsor ~ Verizon Wireless

The title of Bob’s presentation was, “Mobile Marketing: Why Smartphones are Upending Traditional Print and Web Based Marketing”.

I wanted to share my key takeaways ~

Get a Free QR Code

- Did you know you can get a QR code for free. I did a simple Google search and found http://qrcode.kaywa.com/. I put in my blog’s URL and was given this QR Code in seconds! Try it out and see if it works.

Adding a QR code to a traditional campaign is an incredibly effective way to share additional information. Specific QR codes can be tailored to land on specific landing pages ~ and we all know important specialized landing pages are thanks for our search engine marketing friends!

Mobile Proximity:

Savvy companies who take advantage of opt-in information can use mobile phones to pin-point consumers locations. Text messages can be sent as consumers walk to different departments within the same store. It is definitely a little “Big Brother-esque”, but is pretty interesting!

Mobile + PR = Best Friends

Bob brought up multiple points that really struck a chord in my PR brain.

• Customers WANT engagement
• Customers will only engage if you deliver value… RIGHT NOW

Thanks to new mobile trends like QR Codes and Proximity Targeting, public relations professionals have the ability to engage consumers and deliver value in real time. It’s up to us to get it done!

A Few More Great Points

One of my favorite things about Cincinnati PRSA luncheons is the engagement the leadership team encourages. All attendees are encouraged to tweet and use the hashtag #CincyPRSA. Here are a few awesome tweets from today’s luncheon!

Click to Follow @ElliotCampbell

Click to Follow @ShaClark

Click the Picture to Follow @PRTammy

Have you incorporated any mobile strategies into any campaigns?

Until next time, whether it’s B2B or B2C, it’s Business to (a mobile phone carrying) Person!