There is alot of talk of the interactivity of social media and how it allows for relationship building between brands and their customers in ways never thought possible 10 years ago. With social media though it is not neccesarily what is said that matters but simply the act of taking the time to listen and talk. Listed below are 5 (i’m counting Ford as 1!) examples of brands reaching out and conversing with customers via key influencers in social media:
1.American Airlines
When Dustin Curtis wrote an open letter to American Airlines pointing out their website’s shortcomings, he probably did not expect a response. Let alone a detailed reply from their ‘UX architect’.
What he got was a 2 page, 743 word reply from ‘Mr X’ outlining the battle between good design and corporate meddling.
2. Ford
Anyone reading this, most probably has an interest in social media and anyone who has an interest in social media will most certainly have heard of Scott Monty. For those who haven’t, he is head of social media at Ford and leads the field in corporate social media thinking. He shows this by getting involved and the following are just two examples of this from just one site, Mashable and one from ‘Branding Strategy.
Ford – Scott Monty 1
Mashable featured an article entitled (fittingly) ‘Why Ford is Winning on the Social Web’. Scott took the time to reply to various comments and further explain any queries. This illustrated the fact that he (or an understudy most likely) were monitoring Mashable in the first place which shows great social media tactics.
Ford – Scott Monty 2
Another article on Mashable and yet again Scott replys and discusses the subject matter with commenters. A* to Scott!
Ford -3
In May 2009 the ‘Branding Strategy‘ blog made a post on ‘Ford’s Fruitful Brand Strategy’ featuring Ford Chief Executive, Alan Mulally.
3. The Birmingham Mail
On her blog, Joanna Geary wrote an article querying the strategy of The Birmingham Mail and their online release of an exclusive. The local paper had exclusive access to an open letter to fans written by Premier League footballer, Gareth Barry. The paper were criticised for the late online publication of the letter with such an exclusive.
The following day Steve Dyson, the paper’s editor left an initial response to Joanna’s queries. After many more comments were left, Steve responded where required and answered as many questions as possible.
4. Dell
Dell have arguably been the company to have made the most (profit) out of Twitter. Recent figures have shown that Dell made $2 million from Twitter sales alone.
When this was featured on Mashable Dell were, as you’d expect, quick to get involved in the comments. Richard Binhammer was the first to get in volved by explaining that it wasn’t just him and credited some of his colleagues, Stefanie Nelson and Richard Guerrero. Mashable made note of this in the comments section and that same day Richard Guerrero posted to say he had since moved on but thanks anyway!
5. BBC
When I posted a review of the BBC’s new beta music site, the Interactive Editor for Music, Audio and Interactive, Matthew Shorter replied. He put me straight and answered the queries that I had.
And some who obviously don’t understand the power of social media…
– A Ryanair employee went wild on the comments page of Jason Roe’s blog calling him an idiot and a liar. Nice!
– Neals Yard Remedies were scheduled to do a questions and answers session with Guardian Online. They didn’t show – much to the distain of readers. Incidentally, the Guardian’s story on this PR failure now shows up ‘above the fold’ on Google’s natural search listings. Oops!
Social Media Mashup 