I had the opportunity to attend an event hosted by the Detroit Chapter of the American Marketing Association, featuring Scott Monty, Global Digital & Multimedia Communications Manager for the Ford Motor Company and Sheri Sullivan, Consumer Dialogue Director for Team Detroit.

Ford is by far the leader in the automotive industry with regard to social marketing, and has gained ground not by forcing their way into the media limelight via their mighty budgets, but instead by a culture of listening. Scott Monty opened the session quoting Woody Allen, “90% of life is just about showing up,” but then made sure to follow that quote up with Ford’s spin on social media: “Be there and make a difference.” From the onset you understood that Ford’s social media mission is something different than most company cultures will allow.

Ford has used social media to break down silos between development and marketing as well as between key groups in the company such as engineering, and legal. They have broken with the conventional by letting engineers speak directly to consumers on social media platforms, a notion utterly earth shattering in the auto industry, but that is just what Ford has done. Yes, they have prepped the speakers as would any good communications group, but they allow an engineer to answer in their own voice, as opposed to having every word scrutinized by a legal team.

Ford has also used social media to engage consumers. A couple campaigns the Ford social media team are touting as successes include The Fiesta Movement (http://www.fiestamovement2.com/) where Ford has given Fiesta cars to 16 people in various areas of the country asking them to drive and comment. Ford is now entering phase two of this successful project in anticipation of the U.S. launch of its star European product. Then there is the ability for consumers to customize their own Mustang at Ford’s Mustang website (http://www.fordvehicles.com/mustang/) where over 900,000 people have taken them up on the offer to create the Mustang of their dreams.

The takeaway is that Ford is responding on social media in a way that their customers want to talk about each particular product. Ford is actively listening on Twitter, and using several people on each Twitter handle to respond to those 140 character threads with over a dozen user names including @Ford, @FordFusion, @FordTrucks and more. And they found that their truck consumers are not so much Tweeting but found more frequently on forums, so they also have a presence on many of the top truck forums.

Bottom line to all this, Ford’s perception is growing with regard to safety, and many other metrics over time. Scott Monty summed it up when he said that at Ford, “Social media is not a marketing function, or a PR function, but a customer service function for the entire organization.”

How does this apply to EveryMeeting.com? Ford is engaging in events throughout the country to engage their customers and potential customers not only in the social space, but also in the real space. The ultimate social media, when online connects with real life. Good job Ford Motor Company, many have a lot to learn from your efforts, keep it up.