Social Media This Week: December 12, 2008

Ford uses Social Media to Clear the Air

The news: On Wednesday, Ford sent a fan site called The Ranger Station a letter from a lawyer about copyright violations. News spread quickly that Ford objected to the site using the name of its Ranger pickup truck line. Other Ford fan sites (which have Ford in their domain name) feared that they would be asked by the organization to change their material and domains. By the time this news hit the larger auto sites, stories were being published that Ford’s legal department was asking for thousands of dollars in compensation or the site gets automatically shut down. The head of Ford’s social media department, Scott Monty, stayed on top of the online conversation developing around the topic using sites such as Twitter. He quickly began chiming into the conversation and keeping online customers and fans aware of the situation. As it ended up, the situation needed to be clarified. The Ranger Station site was actually selling counterfeit Ford parts. Monty used different online avenues to get the word out, including The Ranger Station’s forum. The entire lifespan of this situation (that could of spiraled out of control online) lasted less than 24 hours.

Key question: News spreads more quickly than ever online. How quickly will this rapid response method spread?

Begging for a BlackBerry this Holiday Season

The news: Rogers launched an online contest this week called “Beg-for-a-BlackBerry” to promote BlackBerry smartphones over the holiday season. Canadian BlackBerry yearners enter the contest by submitting 30 seconds of audio over Facebook to explain why they deserve a BlackBerry over their current cell phones. Facebook participants can add their message to their own profile page where their personal network can hear it.

Key question: Facebook is by far the dominant social network in Canada and the most important mass market social media site for brands. Will its dominance ebb in 2009?

Social Media and the Economy

The news: This week, in partnership with Pollara, com.motion released our second annual Trust Barometer. The results were telling in terms of how marketers will approach social media in the face of an economic slowdown. We found that Canadian business leaders say it would be a mistake to cut back on social and digital spending in tough economic times, with 7 in 10 recommending increased investment.

Key question: Just how much will social media grow in 2009, and how much will traditional marketing communications disciplines suffer?