Social Media Lessons from Ford

To generate real results and accomplish long-term goals over social media, businesses need to think beyond simple, one-off campaigns and make a regular commitment to marketing and customer engagement on social media. social media marketing news That's what Ford Motor Co.'s global head of social media, Scott Monty, said today at the "Social Wheels in Motion" session during Social Media Week, which kicked off yesterday in New York City.With nearly 90,000 followers on Twitter, Monty blogs about social media marketing and has developed a reputation as one of the top thought leaders on all things social.Examining some of the campaigns he's managed at Ford, Monty offered attendees some lessons for managing social media for brands.At the core of Ford's social media efforts is an effort to give the company's fans and followers a chance to experience the brand in ways they never expected -- and be rewarded for it. Before the unveiling of the 2011 Explorer, Ford created a Facebook page that gave its fans sneak peeks at features and video interviews with the design team and chief engineer. Another example, the Ford Social site, allows customers to claim badges based on their interests, win exclusive access to industry events and even submit suggestions for new vehicle features.Every Tweet is time stamped, which can be found in gray text directly below any Tweet. The timestamp is also a link to that Tweet’s own URL.Top Tweets are determined by a Twitter algorithm to be the most popular or resonant on Twitter at any given time. They are usually Tweets by people with the most followers or by people who Tweet often.With over 150 million Twitter users Tweeting over 500 million Tweets a day, some topics become more popular than others. social media marketing network When a major earthquake hits Japan or a terrorist bomb explodes in the Middle East, thousands if not millions of people start Tweeting about the event. Usually they will add a hashtag to their Tweets so people can easily follow that topic. The Trends list on Twitter is a real-time summary of the most popular topics being Tweeted about at that moment.
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Let your followers tell your business story

Perhaps the social media campaign Ford is best known for rolled out in 2009 and was called the "Fiesta Movement." marketing through social media Ford recruited 100 people to drive the Ford Fiesta for six months, and paid for their gas and car insurance. The drivers were then asked to share their experiences driving the car on YouTube.What started with a simple social video contest wound up generating a huge amount of buzz. The Fiesta Movement generated 6.2 million views on YouTube, 750,000 views on Flickr and 40 million Twitter impressions, Monty said, driving more than 100,000 people to Ford's website. Build a great product or service and let your customers use it and share their experiences over social media. "If you have a great product, don't be afraid," Monty said. "Let them be your voice.A Tweet refers to a single Twitter post or text message. Your Twitter homepage consists of your timeline, which is a history of all your Tweets and the Tweets of all the people you’re following.An account holder on Twitter who posts and reads Tweets is a Tweeter; also known as a Twitterer.An in-person networking event that's promoted almost exclusively via Twitter is called a Tweetup. Tweetups have become very popular because you can quickly bring together a group of like-minded people who are following each other on Twitter. When you publicize the Tweetup on Twitter, the general public sees the invitation so you can attract new people to your networking groups with little effort.When you want to stop following another Twitter user, you unfollow them. Their Tweets no longer show up in your home timeline.URL shorteners are used to turn long URLs into shorter URLs. social media marketing certification Shortening your URLs is important because you only have 140 characters available for your Tweets. Your username is also known as your Twitter handle. Your username must be unique and contain fewer than 15 characters. It is also used to identify you on Twitter for replies and mentions.

Create a social media a dialogue, not a broadcasting system

On social media, customers "want to engage with personalities, not product features," Monty said. Translation: Don't use Facebook and Twitter to simply announce new products or services. social media marketing consultant To engage with your customers and help increase their loyalty to your brand, understand who they are -- what their interests are and how they interact on social media. As an example, Monty pointed to Ford's creation of Doug, a "spokespuppet" character that appeared in several YouTube webisodes promoting the Ford Focus. The character was brash and funny, and increased awareness about the Focus among a younger demographic.A process whereby a user’s Twitter account is stamped to show that a legitimate source is authoring the account’s Tweets is a verification. It is sometimes used for accounts that have experienced identity confusion or to verify a celebrity’s real identity for their Twitter account.You’ll find Who to Follow in the Discover tab. You'll see a few recommendations of accounts the Twitter algorithm thinks you’ll find interesting. The recommendations are based on the types of accounts you’re already following and who those people follow.A widget is a bit of code that can be placed anywhere on the web. Widgets are very common in content management websites like WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla. A widget placed on your website or blog can automatically display your Twitter updates in real time.If you use Twitter -- professionally or personally, or both -- you've probably seen an increase in six-second looping videos in your feed. They come from Vine, a new mobile app from Twitter that lets iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad users create and post short video clips to Twitter and Facebook. social media marketing ideas Simply point your mobile device, touch the screen and the app records up to six seconds.What makes Vine different from other video recorders is the ability to stop and start the recording instantly. Lift your finger, the recording stops. Touch and it starts again, right where you left off. This allows you to create frame-by-frame animations or a montage of images on the fly.

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