Fiat Gets It

We spend a lot of time helping clients understand social media and the ways it can be used as a marketing tool. We try to convince them that marketing with social media is different than traditional marketing. That it’s about spending the time to build relationships with people – not blanketing them with messages. In the social media marketing world, it’s more important to listen than it is to talk.

A recent Advertising Age article about carmaker Fiat demonstrates that they are a company that “gets it.”

Fiat has launched a social media campaign to solicit input and ideas for their next concept car – FiatMio. In fact, they’ve even created their own social media website where people can submit ideas that anyone can see, vote on and comment on. Plus, people can submit suggestions via Twitter and follow the discussion and progress via their Facebook page (much of the content is Spanish at this point, since the campaign was originally launched in Brazil).

Won’t their competitors monitor the site and take some of the best ideas? Probably. Don’t they leave themselves open to criticisms from outsiders? Probably. But in the end, it’s about a new way of marketing. They’re engaging their customers in the process – and getting invaluable market research information without having to invest money in a huge research project. Their customers will follow the progress of the project – and will take pride when they see their good recommendations built into the new car. All of that builds a relationship and following that will eventually translate into more customers and more sales – especially to a younger crowd that hasn’t yet formed a brand allegiance to another car-maker brand.