Monday, June 15, 2009

Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme GM

I've been wondering where GMs social media campaign is as it tries to reboot itself and its image in the eyes of consumers. Today, I get a notice on Twitter that GMintervention is following me (I'm @MrWordsWorth).

The stream, which started on June 4, is promoted as a window into the car company's reinvention. There are 40+ updates and they aren't terribly insightful. The company is basically pushing info that it must hope will drive people to GMs website for more details.

Not one of the 40+ updates is a response to or reflects an attempt to engage with users online. I know, it's only about a week and a half, but you'd think that GM would be using social media in, well, a social way.

Instead, it's like going to a party and running into someone who dominates the conversation with this and that of import to him, never stopping to consider that you might like to join in the conversation. He's too busy telling you what he's doing, he never takes a moment to listen to you to see how he can help you, or benefit from what you have to say. And if there were ever a time when GM needed engaged, supportive customers, it's now.

I'll be keeping an eye on the stream to see if GM reps do decide to actually turn their solipsistic chatter into a dialogue. But for now, GM, when it comes to social media, you're doing it wrong. A marketing expert needs to stage an intervention in this reinvention to actually prompt the company to be, you know, different.

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