Social media is clearly a rapidly-developing communication tool, and an evolving marketing tool. Many companies are using social media to build and enhance their brands, as they interact directly with their existing and potential customers. The integration of social media with, and into, a company or organization is not always easy - there are many legal, liability, and potential negative backlash issues to be aware of as well. However, given the huge popularity of social media, it has almost become a price-of-entry to utilize social media as one of your marketing pillars.
General Motors has a huge presence in most social media applications, including Youtube, Facebook, and Twitter. GM maintains this presence as a corporation, and our individual brands have a separate presence as well – Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick, and GMC all have their own pages. Interacting with customers via social media has been a huge opportunity and a great success so far. GM usually uses social media to build excitement around a new vehicle introduction or to focus on new vehicle features or changes to a product. I think these type of messages and interactions work well, and GM’s interaction with enthusiast and niche groups, such as Corvette and Volt owners, also works well. Followers of GM on social media sites are treated to early (or what they think is early) information about new vehicle launches, and I think this is an excellent way to raise awareness of a new product. As an example, witness the site http://www.one13thirteen.com. This site urges customers to connect to follow the launch of the completely new 2014 Corvette, which will be released to the public on January 13, 2013. Followers get special updates from now until the launch, which I believe is an excellent way to engage enthusiasts. Social media is also a way for GM to get instant feedback on a concept car or spy photo that is released, and to gage the public's opinion.
As other companies have learned, there are some potential negatives to social media - namely, bad publicity. It is very easy for disgruntled customers to band together via the internet, and this can easily create a public relations nightmare. I think GM, and other companies as well, have rapidly developed organizations to manage these potential complications, as they understand that the positives of using social media usually outweigh the negatives. One upside to this issue is that you can rapidly clear up bad rumors and perceptions.
Another interesting aspect of social media is advertising. GM announced this year that they will stop advertising on Facebook. According to the press release, GM has decided that paid ads on the site have little impact on customers’ purchases, and they are ceasing their advertising investment of $10 million per year with the site. GM plans to maintain a strong interaction with Facebook and their page, but with no advertising budget for side ads and pop-ups. As you can imagine, this has a profound impact on how other companies perceive the value of Facebook advertising. I believe this is one reason Facebook’s stock price has continued to fall.
Finally, even given the huge success of social media and continued growth, I do not believe that it will replace other forms of marketing communication. Social media may rival other forms, but I think television communication will remain a huge and integral part of the marketing mix for the foreseeable future.
As this is the last blog post, I thought it would be apropos to mention that I have thoroughly enjoyed C570 this semester, and writing this blog as well! I have learned quite a lot in a short period of time - this class has opened my eyes to marketing and motived me to continue learning more about it. I look forward to applying some of the principles I have learned at General Motors, and I hope to cross paths with everyone sometime again in the future.
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