Toyota prius example of smart social media use

Guest editor Melinda Varley  is a Journalist, Commentary Desk, of Business Spectator, based in Australia.

Maneuvering their feet around for the brakes, Toyota execs are desperately seeking an end to the media furor threatening to dent its 73 year old brand image. However, its social media literacy might just save it.

The car maker, which uses the strapline ‘Oh what a feeling, Toyota’, has said this week that it is to recall more than 2,300 hybrid cars in Australia following revelations that brakes on its third-generation Prius are faulty.

Vehicles sold in Japan, the United States, Europe and other markets also need urgent repairs with 400,000 Prius cars to be taken off the road, worldwide.

Now Toyota is tapping into the social networks that made its Prius a star to allay customer fears. The company has taken a careful and strategic approach in establishing its hybrid brand since it launched the Prius in 2003 and was lauded for attempting to make the car industry greener. Even Minister for Climate Change Penny Wong drives a Prius.

Toyota hasn’t invested so heavily in social media as a way to make sales – the return-on-investment doesn’t appeal as a sales channel – but has instead put social media to work to maintain a relationship with those that have already bought into the brand. This forward-thinking customer relationship management strategy will be a major asset to the brand through the recall crisis as Toyota goes into damage control.

What has made the car so successful has been Toyota’s heavy investment in social media, although Toyota’s efforts backfired on one occasion. Last year, through creative agency Saatchi & Saatchi, Toyota ran a social media competition for its Yaris brand. The result of the competition attracted a public backlash as the winning entry was seen as ‘sexist’ and full of incestuous innuendo. Toyota promptly decried the ‘Clean Getaways’ video, apologizing for “inappropriate content and offence caused by a video submitted as part of a film competition to demonstrate (our) social media credentials.”

The car maker has been very good at getting actively involved in the social media space, joining in and creating a conversation around its brand on a number of platforms including Facebook where the Prius has an official presence. It also has some 49,586 ‘Fans’ – some of which regularly post photos of themselves driving around in their beloved hybrids.

The world’s biggest car maker has posted all of its media releases and updated all recall information on its Facebook page, ensuring it keeps in contact with the fans. In doing so, many of the fans have been posting messages of support through the social site – despite the fact that the car maker has said it won’t cover losses by consumers.

One fan said: “Everybody just needs to calm down and stop freaking out about the Prius issue… I love my Prius 2010 and will continue to drive it.”

Another weighed in that she would still buy a new Prius despite the manufacturing problems: “I have a 2004 Prius and I absolutely love it. I plan on getting a newer Prius probably in the next two years or so…I don’t understand why everyone is making such a big deal about all of this!”

The car maker also has a Twitter profile, complete with 15,769 followers. The brand is being very proactive on the micro-blogging site, tweeting regularly and posting links to news about its brand, including a link to Toyota President Akio Toyoda’s open letter in the Washington Post earlier this week.

Toyota has also developed its own dedicated micro-site to handle the recall where it has been posting latest updates as well as links to videos it has posted on its official YouTube channel that explain the manufacturing faults.

Lastly, Toyota in the UK has its own corporate blogging site in which the company writes breaking news and views direct from Toyota and allows visitors to the site to comment.

Toyota’s very open communication strategy obeys the very simple rules of social media – it communicates with its consumers in real-time and in an open and honest way that is open to criticism and questioning. Here the brand is also being brutally honest about the enduring problems the company is facing, yet consumers are still pegging themselves as loyal brand followers.

The car, which has an almost cult status in terms of brand, has also inspired drivers to create their own social forums where they can come together with other Prius owners across the world. Priuschat.com allows customers and some 45 groups, including ‘West Australian Prius Owners’ and ‘Singapore Prius Club’, to chat with each other and share news and questions. The site acts more like a blog for brand advocates – a place for Prius enthusiasts. One thread on the site, the 3rd Generation 2010 Toyota Prius, already has 3,665 threads with more than 75,500 posts – that’s a lot of conversation going on, and a good indication that the brand will survive this setback.

…
Further comments by Techistan editors… we recall (pun not intended) our industry friend Ari Zoldan won the Toyota Cruiser that ITEXPO 2007 gave away. What a lucky guy. The next ITEXPO conference and car giveaway is Octover 4-6, 2010. Don’t miss it. More re: Toyota, our company’s vice president drove a Toyota Camry with complete satisfaction for 15 years, and her husband drives a new Scion. Glad to see industry giant Toyota showing how to use todays’s social media to face the good, the bad and the ugly and to do something about and with all three.