This document provides an analysis of social media strategies and theoretical frameworks for three car manufacturers: Fiat, Volkswagen, and Toyota. It evaluates each company based on criteria including product experience, breaking silos, larger cultural conversations, and value creation. Fiat's EcoDrive concept connects a car to an online community experience, but lacks collaboration. Volkswagen has many campaigns but no cohesive strategy. Toyota has a large online presence but does not actively engage consumers. Overall, the document finds that while the companies make some efforts, more could be done to fully apply social media and engagement theories.

1. SOCIAL MEDIATHEORIESBEHIND THE SCENESA COLLECTION OF THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS EXPLAINING THE SUCCESFUL MARKETING

2. MARKETING IS NOT ABOUTSELLING STUFF, IT’S ABOUTGIVING THE PARTICIPANTA REASON TO BUY STUFF.Source: slideshare.net/helgetenno/post-digital-marketing-2009

3. Be interestingStand outListen & reactTHREE ELEMENTS OF SUCCESFUL SOCIAL MEDIA INTERACTIONSource: PatrikPersson, Great Works

4. ProductPlacePricePromotionPPPPEEEEExperienceEveryplaceExchangeEvangelismTHE ENGAGEMENT STRATEGY: 4 E’s OF MARKETINGSource: ogilvy.com/on-our-minds/articles/the_4e_-are_in.aspx

5. MarketingHRSalesBoardR&DPRClient serviceSOCIAL MEDIA AND DIGITAL INTERACTION SHOULD INITIALLY BREAK THE SILOS AND MAKE ALL THE FUNCTIONS OF THE ORGANIZATION TO COLLIBRATE

6. BRANDS NEED TO SEE THEMSELVESAS VALUE CREATORS, ADDINGVALUE TO CONTEXTS WHERETHEIR VALUE IS APPRECIATEDAND NEEDED.THE NEW MARKETING ECONOMY IS ABOUTUNDERSTANDING THE CONTEXT AND ADDING DELIBERATE VALUE Source: slideshare.net/helgetenno/context-value-the-new-marketing-economy

7. THE STRUCTURES OF COOPERATIVE DIGITAL ARENAS ARETRANSFORMING CONTENT PRODUCERSTO CONTEXT PRODUCERSTHE NEW MARKETING ECONOMY IS ABOUTUNDERSTANDING THE CONTEXT AND ADDING DELIBERATE VALUE Source: slideshare.net/helgetenno/a-bigger-idea-branded-context-and-brand-situations

8. Source: slideshare.net/helgetenno/when-the-marketing-becomes-the-product

9. TO BE SUCCESSFULA BRAND’S STORY MUST CONNECTWITH A LARGER CONVERSATIONTHAT’S HAPPENING IN THE CULTURESource: (Alex Bogusky & John Winsor, Bakedin)

10. HOWTHE BUSINESSES DID IT?A ROUGH COMPARISON OF THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS AND BUSINESSES APPEARANCE VOL 1: CAR MANUFACTURERS FIAT, VOLKSWAGEN, AND TOYOTA.

11. GENERALLY FIAT ONLINE APPEARANCE IS EXTENSIVE, ALTHOUGH BIT LIMITED BY CONTENTDIVERSITY. HOWEVER, THE CONTENT SPLITS UP IN TWO CONCEPTS: GENERIC SOCIAL MEDIAUTILIZATION AND THE ECODRIVE CONCEPT. LATTER REPRESENTS AN INTERESTING APPROACHTO CONNECT THE PHYSICAL WORLD (A CAR) TO ONLINE AND SOCIAL COMMUNITY.

12. EcoDrive conceptEcoDrive Fleet (B2B)YouTube videosEcoville communityEcoDrive @ FBCorporate pageCar introductionsCollects SoMe feedsFiat.comFiat on the WebFiat @FBFiat @TwitterCampaign pagesFiat @YouTubeFiat @FlickrPhotos from car sport eventsand consumer events mainlyCar sport and motor showvideo content mainlyRegular updatesMainly linking own contentNo specific updatesFans writing on the wallCar model specificpages, e.g. fiat500.com

13. EcoDrive is an interesting and so far unique innovative concept connecting industrial products(a car) to online experience and community. However neither EcoDrive nor Fiat main brand show attitude towards collaboration. Yes, there exists Ecoville community for EcoDrive users. But otherwise e.g. FB wall comments seem quite unnoticed by Fiat. 2/3Product to Experience: Fiat EcoDrive seems to aim creating a value beyond traditional cars.Place to Everyplace: theoretically your laptop makes EcoDrive everyplace. But in practice? Price to Exchange: people still pay for the cars and services. Don’t they?Promotion to Evangelism: FB followers ain’t evangelists. Ecoville could be a promising platform.PPPP1/4Fiat EcoDrive seems to be a step towards cross-silo co-operation, as the EcoDrive requires aUSB plug-in in the car and up-to-date car software. Furthermore, EcoDrive mentions that thesoftware can be updated by the official Fiat car service.1/1EEEEIndeed the EcoDrive story connects to a larger conversion: CO2 emissions and global warming.Whether it’s a passé or a must by now, will not be considered here.LARGERCONVERSATION1/1EcoDrive manages to create some additional value simply by providing a chance to learn tobecome better (read environment friendly) driver. Or learning to save fuel. So a stand point for actual and monetary, not only “happy feeling” value exists.1/1VALUECREATIONTotal points 6/10

14. GENERALLY, VW IS RELATIVELY ACTIVE IN SOCIAL MEDIA, BUT AT THE SAME TIMETHEIR WEB PRESENCE IS CONFUSING. LOCALIZED COUNTRY PAGES ARE FOLLOWED BYSEVERAL DIFFERENT CAMPAIGN SITES WITH MORE OR LESS SOCIAL ELEMENTS. LANDINGRANDOMLY ON A SITE MAKES YOU UNDERSTAND NOTHING. BUT THE ELEMENTS OF INTERESTING COLLABORATION AND ADDED VALUE MIGHT EXIST THERE.

15. Volkswagen internationalCorporate pageCar introductionsApp contestVW @ TwitterThe people’s reviewerCollaboration campaignActive commenting,linking own contentSocial media campaign…VW.comVolkswagen.co.ukCountry pagesModel campaign pagesCountry pagesModel campaign pagesVW @ YouTubeNewest vids mainly US ads from punch buggy campaign Campaign elementsE.g. blog and Twitter feedVW @ FBVW @ FB other pageVW @ FB by fansMost professional andover 368.000 likesActive wall posting anddiscussionSignificant amount ofpage likes / fans

16. Several campaigns (that also utilize social media functionalities) could be argued to be innovative and interesting- but only from advertising or message discipline perspective. Collaboration does not occur site and business wide, but there are some good examples (App contest, People’s reviewer, and active FB & Twitter commenting) of steps taken towards making consumers to participate.2/3Product to Experience: marketing activities themselves won’t change the (car) user experience.Place to Everyplace: experience still occurs between the car seat and the wheel.Price to Exchange: competition winners could be rewarded with a car, but not in those cases found.Promotion to Evangelism: Having extensive FB pages created by fans is a great step towards future.PPPP1/4No breaking of the silos can be seen. App contest provides developers with API to data fetched from individual cars. However this seems like just put together by an engineer for the marketing people, having no actual functionality between the silos. No actual cross-silo marketing activity exists so far.0/1EEEEAgain, from advertising and message perspective VW manages to connect the story to bigger picture (e.g. FB & soccer, People’s reviewer & consumerism). However, the big picture - the product does not connect to larger conversation by the marketing activities reviewed for this slideshow.LARGERCONVERSATION0/1Where a strong brand might create a psychological value for a dude driving a VW, the marketing activities reviewed here could be described as value creators. Maybe closest try is by People’s reviewer campaign, where a person thinking of buying a VW Tiguan might have gotten useful peer comments and insights for their purchase. But that’s nothing that Google would have not done.0/1VALUECREATIONTotal points 3/10

17. AFTER GOOGLING TOYOTA AROUND, YOU DEFINITELY GET AN AMERICAN FLAVOUR.TOYOTA ONLINE PRESENCE SEEMS TIDY AND FORMAL, SUPPOSEDLY AFTER SOME SOCIALMEDIA HEADACHES (bit.ly/bSbQUV). DISCUSSION PLATFORMS, YOUTUBE AND TWITTERALL SEEM SILENT AND GENERIC, BUT SEVERAL CAR MODELS OCCUPY A FACEBOOK PAGE.CONSUMERS AND TOYOTA FANS SEEM ACTIVE IN POSTING ON THE WALL. BUT WHEREIS TOYOTA? APPEARING YES ON GAMES, APPS, AND RANDOM GIFTS, BUT… PARTICIPATION?

18. Toyota @ YouTubeToyota.comMainly ads & PR vidsUS page for Toyota carsToyota conversationsBehind the wheelDiscussion forum moderatedby Toyota, content mainly newsBlog style content / news,no possibility to participateToyota @ TwitterToyota @ FBMainly news and infoSeveral official FB pagesCorollaToyota USA4runnerBasic FB page withactive fan postsAdventure Finder app.Active fan postsActive fan commenting,but no Toyota postingsYaris (Thailand)SienaPriusSeems to be activefans posting on the wallTheme irrelevant gameActive fan postsAsk an expert, games &gifts, active fan posts

19. Collaboration will be waiting in the future, but an active FB wall posting by fans is a good start. Annoying enough, Toyota does not participate or agitate the conversation. Otherwise the presence online is more or less static, lacking totally passion and innovative ideas (when looking beyond the advertising messages).1/3Product to Experience: 4runner FB app for finding a driving adventure places is a small step toward E.Place to Everyplace: a PriusiPhone application doesn’t provide the driving experience at everyplace.Price to Exchange: Might be too large step to be taken.Promotion to Evangelism: Not yet there, but FB fans and their activity create a huge potential.PPPP1/4No signals of “silo-wide” co-operation. All the installations found online are straight-forward marketing and advertising. In fact, having official FB pages for each car model suggests that the organization might have strong walls even between the marketing managers of different models. But who knows, extensive FB presence might be also a clever strategy.0/1EEEEThe larger cultural link does not exists - at least when browsing the material used for this analysis. At micro level for example 4runner FB page application takes small initiative of talking to 4WD owners. But that is called understanding the target group insight, rather than understanding the culture.LARGERCONVERSATION1/1Manufacturing “fairly priced and reliable” cars might be a value itself, but definitely the marketing efforts won’t add any concrete value for the end user. Although the 4runner FB app might be a small step towards value creation, to be realistic that people would travel all around the world bringing their 4WD’s with them to have some great mud-driving experiences?0/1VALUECREATIONTotal points 3/10

20. AGREE?IF NOT, COMMENT AND SUGGEST HOW YOU WOULD HAVE APPROACHEDTHE TOPIC. OR CONTRIBUTE TO BETTERANALYSIS WITH A HELPFUL INSIGHTSIF YOU REALIZE SOMETHING MISSING. THIS SLIDESHOW AND THE ROUGH ANALYSIS IS A BACKGROUND MATERIAL FOR AN ARTICLEPUBLISHED IN THE MEDIA AGENCY DAGMAR NEWLETTER IN JULY 2010.

21. COMMENT AT SLIHESHARE.NET/ROOPEFOLLOW AT TWITTER.COM/RUOTSALAINENR DAGMAR - MEDIA AGENCYROOPE RUOTSALAINEN// roope.ruotsalainen@dagmar.fi// tel. +358 9 693 011