Ford expands reach with social media
22 Sep 2009
Ford Motors is expanding its social media reach through Facebook, YouTube, and blogs. It has also set up a social media hub.
On Flickr, Ford has a 'photostream' that features images of the new Taurus. In turn, Ford has given up rights involving the photos' use, enabling people to share and adapt the images under a Creative Commons license.
"We're changing the opinion of people one by one," said Scott Monty, Ford's global digital and multimedia communications manager during a keynote speech at Advertising Week's Online Media Marketing Advertising (OMMA) Global conference held 21, 22 September in New York.
To connect with consumers, Ford has tapped at least six social sites, including Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Scribd, and YouTube.
"We are not only humanising content, we've set our content free. We are no longer afraid of what people are going to do with it. We've got online word-of-mouth as a steroid version of traditional word-of-mouth," he said.
On YouTube, Monty estimates that 150 Ford videos have been embedded on other sites and viewed by 1.2 million. For Facebook, Ford developed an application, "You Speak Green," designed to encourage people to share tips for helping the environment and bring attention to the Ford 2010 Fusion Hybrid.