Ford’s Online Personality

Even though Ford has been around for over a century, it is still creating great content to engage present and possible future customers. It has been engaging with customers using a multi platform content strategy and creating authentic social interactions. 

There is a big difference between marketing and posting advertisements on social media, compared to engaging with the customers and using social media as a line of communication. After a closer look at Ford’s online social presence, it is clear they have it all figured out!

Ford has become part of many social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Vine and Tumblr. Ford’s Facebook page has about 3,500,000 likes and it is an excellent example which showcases customer engagement. While scrolling through some of their posts, I saw that Ford is giving genuine comments and responses to customers, making the company look very reliable and vigilant. Ford is also very active on Twitter, with 19, 400 tweets and 891,000 followers.

On Instagram, Ford has reached 1.3 million followers. This social network is great to use by a company like Ford, because it is a great way to show attractive photos of the cars and also some older models. It is interesting to see how much vehicles have changed, and who doesn’t love a Throwback Thursday!

When it comes to Vine, Ford played very smart! Not a lot of  companies have an online presence on this social media platform, and Ford went a step further and has made collaborations with Rudy Mancuso, one of Vine’s most famous users. On Vine, users can post six second videos. Mancuso has become quite famous from Vine and I think that doing a few collaborations with him was a great idea. Ford is now at almost 20,000,000 video views and 62,500 followers.

Ford has also been using Tumblr, another website which most companies would not use, under the name of “And Is Better,” to promote their new campaign. On this website, Ford uses attractive and effective content marketing which customers can share. Speaking of campaigns, Ford is doing something very remarkable, with Driving Skills for Life (DSFL). With the use of the Drugged Driving Suit, teenagers can experience what it feels like to be impaired. A lot of young drivers do not realize just how hazardous getting behind the wheel in that state is and that it takes just one mistake to put not only your life in danger, but others’ lives as well. It is nice to see that a free program like this is available for teenagers to learn about the dangers of driving under the influence. Ford plans to expand these DSFL driving clinics as far in the world as possible. Good job Ford!

Lessons for Others

As technology has evolved, customers’ attention span has lowered. Content needs to be new and unique to grab their attention and keep them engaged. Organizations can be on as many social media platforms as they like, but if they use them to only post marketing content, it will not be effective. Communicating with the customers and followers and answering their questions and concerns is what makes customer service great. Ford is a great example of implementing a social media strategy to allow the company to fully engage with their customers.

If you have concerns as to the accuracy of anything posted on this site, please send your concerns to Peter Carr, Program Director, Social Media for Business Performance.

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