Companies sometimes take big risks because they’ve got little to lose. That explains why – in the grip of a powerful recession – spending on social media marketing is accelerating (automotive online advertising up 55%, print and radio down 40%).
And why Ford Motor Company – which isn’t exactly lighting the world on fire – launched a social-media based “reality” campaign that provided Ford Fiestas to 100 people, asking them to record their experiences with the Fiesta on social media channels.
This from Autotopia on Wired):
Ford recently handed 100 Fiestas to 100 people selected from 4,000 applicants. These “agents” — that’s what Ford calls them — get to use the cars for six months in exchange for completing monthly “missions” with different themes. They’ll share their experiences through YouTube, Flickr, Facebook and Twitter accounts Ford created for the campaign.
It’s a smart move, Shafer said, because it plays into consumer demand for unofficial — read, unbiased — information about a new car. By turning the marketing over to social networking sites, Ford provides its target audience with content generated by people within that audience. Ford is taking a hands-off approach and telling participants not to hold back their opinions, bolstering the campaign’s credibility.
Credibility? It’s more credible than advertising, though I think there are still enough conflicts of interest that “unbiased” may be a bit of a reach.
Still, the reaction (so far) to the Ford program seems positive compared to the reception accorded a Nikon camera blogger-seeding program that raised cries of “blogola” among some of the bloggerati.
Ford’s created a microsite tying together the social media feeds of the participants – an intelligent (and intriguingly realtime) idea.
The participants themselves are a mashup of Ford’s target demographic (natch): young-ish, hip – and connected. This aspect remains at the core of the campaign; buyers often place greater emphasis and credibility at the feet of testmonials delivered by those who look, act or sound like them, and Ford’s provided a nice cross-section for prospects to engage with.
The social marketing aspects of the Ford Fiesta are already creating buzz around the concept. And yet I
wonder how much Google juice Ford’s “Fiesta Movement” microsite will accumulate by the end
of campaign.
It is, after all, at the hub of a lot of social media
channels, and it wouldn’t hurt Ford to see their flashy social media site appear near the top of the organic search
rankings.
Given the rave reviews aimed the Fiesta’s way in Europe, the risks Ford is taking aren’t really significant.
But would Ford have embraced this level of “social media crowdsourced
advertising” (whew) had their balance sheet looked a little healthier?
Stay engaged, Tom Chandler.
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