Scott Monty is head of social media at Ford. With over 5,000 followers and over 7,600 updates under his belt, Scott is the epitome of how Big Brand should listen to and engage in conversation with their customers.
Now, if Scott’s account had been established at the beginning of the Big Three senate bailout hearings, of course we’d be a tad suspicious of Ford’s motives. But there’s just no way that Scott could possibly post 7,600 updates in just a few short weeks, so it’s pretty clear to us that Scott’s been at it for a while and that yeah, Ford “gets” social media and understands both the brand intelligence value of having an ear to customers’ conversations as well as having a voice.
For bonus points, Ford also has their Customer Service department on Twitter. Kudos to Ford for being a traditional brand and recognizing the value that social media brings to their business and their customers.
Follow Scott (and Ford) on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/ScottMonty
Follow Ford Customer Service on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/FordCustService
EDITOR’S NOTE: GM and Chevrolet are also on Twitter. We will feature them as soon as we receive a Profile Submission from them. - Adam
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks for the major props. I certainly work hard to be part of the community on Twitter; I always have.
I should note that my colleagues at GM are doing social media, just in a different way. Back in 2007, GM hired Christopher Barger, who was Chief Blogger at IBM. He’s gone on to help GM with their social media strategy, which has included a buildout of GMNext.com and the FastLane Blog. More recently, they put together http://www.gmfactsandfiction.com and started a Facebook Cause app “Support the U.S. Economy by Supporting the U.S. Auto Industry.”
Ford’s approach to social media, as I said, is different than GM’s. Because I’m new at Ford and I’m still finalizing the strategy, I’ve chosen to engage in ways that are down-to-earth and personalized, which is much how I view the Ford brand (or how I’d like the Ford brand to be perceived). We’ll continue in ways that humanize the company, and constantly innovate.
We hope you’ll be along for the ride.
Scott Monty
Global Digital Communications
Ford Motor Company
Thanks, Scott for pointing out what we’ve done.
I might add that GM is on Twitter officially as @GMblogs, but all of the social media team (five members strong) have their own accounts. Many others at GM also use Twitter.
Adam Denison
@AdamDenison
Chevrolet Communications
Adam, Scott is right. I just did a google search for ‘GM twitter’, and we came up first, @gmeurope was next. We’ve been on twitter since the beginning of this year. We’re @gmblogs. Please check us out.