Ford adds Gwen Peake to Social Media Division

Ford is already pretty well known for it’s social media strategy, led by Scott Monty, and was ranked the #1 Social Automotive Brand by Virtue.com.  They not only use social media to engage with current customers (and potential customers) for Ford products, they also use it for Customer Service and to combat “haters” when those situations arise.  In fact I had the opportunity to speak with Gwen Peake (@gwenj), Ford’s new hire for the Global Digital Communications Manager, and she made a point to mention the company “welcomes all comments” good and bad.

Peake’s background is “multimedia” in the truest sense. Throughout her career she has been on a “tour of industries” that are all about communicating to large audiences— she’s been a television producer, a film director, a stage manager for theater, a book editor, a writer for magazines, music and movies, and even owned an online magazine. Most recently she’s joined the Ford team to expand their small but hugely effective social media team to two.

Gwen Peake, Global Digital Communications Manager, Ford Motor Company

While Peake hasn’t been with Ford long she and her team have had a number of wins, including getting Ford CEO Alan Mulally to tweet and engage with bloggers and customers; at one point even taking time on a Saturday to make a phone call to one.  Things like this are just one small part of what Peake and her colleagues are doing to “humanize the brand using social media.”  What may seem like simple use of Twitter and Facebook to a novice is in actuality part of a much larger strategy.  Self proclaimed “social media experts” and “strategist” take note.

At the heart of the effort is theFordStory.com “social media repository.”  This is where you’ll find all things related to what Ford is doing in the social web including first hand stories from customers as well as commentary from the blogosphere.  And yes you’ll find them on Twitter and Facebook but it doesn’t end there.  They are also on Flickr, YouTube, Upcoming, SlideShare, Flickr, Scribd, and Delicious.  They also do blogger outreach and Peake shared that they try to be as human and personable as possible, they contact bloggers more like a friend would and not like a marketer.  Note:  Bloggers if you get form letters from marketers asking for “your help” run…and run fast.

As I mentioned earlier their social media efforts don’t just end with the superficial.  There are many initiatives Ford is apart of as well.  Initiatives like The Wedding Road Trip where a newly engaged couple drove cross country telling friends and family of their news.  InvisiblePeople.tv is another initiative, and a great one at that.  It is a vlog that chronicles the lives of homeless people across America by way of a road trip.   One of the most impressive is the FiestaMovement.com where 100 agents lifestream their time with a Ford Fiesta for 6 months.  Yes Ford sponsors the vehicles in these initiatives but the participants are not paid at all.

I’m sure many of you are familiar with what Ford is doing in the African-American community with vehicles like the Flex.  Those campaigns tend to be less social and are well…just campaigns.  Peake mentioned during our conversation that this is something Ford is aware of and she and her team are tasked with working across the company to make campaigns more socially engaging.  They will be working with various multicultural divisions and we should start to see social media included soon on campaigns targeting the African-American demographic.  Peake not only adds great knowledge to the Social media team at Ford she offers perspective.