G E N E R A L
M O T O R S
THE HUMAN WEB TOUCH
Mary Henige, APR
Social Media & Digital Communications Director
General Motors
@maryhenige
PRSA Midwest Conference, Chicago
July 20, 2012
G E N E R A L
M O T O R S
OVERVIEW
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GM’s social media strategy
Humanizing our company
Our channels and content sources
Internal collaboration
Community management
Fun stuff? Governance and policy
Observations
G E N E R A L
M O T O R S
GM SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY
Improve the reputation of our company and
products by building relationships with consumers,
changing entrenched perceptions, building affinities
and developing positive associations
Listen and engage with audiences to:
Build confidence and trust
Create awareness of and strengthen brands
Help sell vehicles by increasing consideration
Engage and empower employee advocates
Capture and channel feedback to improve the business
Use the social web to help humanize
General Motors and its brands
G E N E R A L
M O T O R S
OUR CHANNELS
G E N E R A L
M O T O R S
Would you buy
a car from this
building?
G E N E R A L
M O T O R S
How about
from these
people?
G E N E R A L
M O T O R S
INTERESTING EMPLOYEES WITH STORIES
Would you buy a car from 2013
Chevy Malibu aerodynamics
engineer Suzy Cody?
G E N E R A L
M O T O R S
MEDIA.GM.COM – 2011
• Content “Gold
Source”
• More than 1.5
million visitors to
the U.S. site
• More than 800
news releases
• Media sites for 93
countries in 31
languages
G E N E R A L
M O T O R S
INTERNAL INTEGRATION
• Weekly collaborative meetings
• Sprinklr: Delegation tool
PR
The Customer
Customer
Assistance
Marketing
G E N E R A L
M O T O R S
MONITORING & ENGAGEMENT
We have nearly 20 Facebook
pages across GM and its brands
with approximately 8 million fans
in the U.S. alone
We engage with fans on more than
10 Twitter handles
300,000 strong on Google+
More than 70,000 web
conversations and posts
occur each month about
GM and its divisional
brands and vehicles
G E N E R A L
M O T O R S
COMMUNITY LED
Facebook Timeline
Worked w/ brands & Heritage
Center to convert timelines into
actual historical, content-rich
timelines
Facebook Fan Fridays
We ask users to submit personal
photos for potential use as the
daily cover
G E N E R A L
M O T O R S
MONITORING & ENGAGEMENT
Early Warning
• Real-time monitoring and alerts
Turning Stories Around
• Facebook Advertising/IPO
• “General Motors is Becoming
China Motors”
G E N E R A L
M O T O R S
OVERDRIVE: EMPLOYEE NETWORK
G E N E R A L
M O T O R S
GLOBAL SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY
Social Media Policy
•Living document
•Guidance for employee “ambassadors”
Social Media Governance Council
• Meets regularly
• Representative from various GM
functions sit on the council
G E N E R A L
M O T O R S
SOCIAL MEDIA TRAINING
•Developing online social media training for U.S.
employees
•Trained communications team
•Training other key staffs
G E N E R A L
M O T O R S
GENERAL MOTORS’ REPUTATION MOMENTUM
Ranking: 2010 vs. 2011 vs. 2012
HARRISINTERACTIVE REPUTATION QUOTIENT (RQ) STUDY
54
54
44
FORTUNE WORLD’S MOST ADMIRED COMPANIES*
8
9
7
PROPHET CORPORATE REPUTATION STUDY
123
85
73
FORBES / REPUTATION INSTITUTE US REPTRAK PULSE
141
110
94
*AMONG AUTO MFRS
G E N E R A L
M O T O R S
OBSERVATIONS
• Humanize your company
• The community rules: It’s not about
you
you or your brand
• Monitoring is essential
• Collaboration: work together and play to each
function’s strengths – tools help!
• It’s still about stories
• The social web is evolving: Be proactive and nimble.
Don’t be afraid to take risks and make mistakes!
• It’s not magic, it’s a channel, but it takes
commitment and staying power
G E N E R A L
M O T O R S
QUESTIONS
Mary Henige, APR
Social Media & Digital Communications Director
General Motors
@maryhenige - #PRSAMWC