Toyota played part of social media pioneers during recall
Industry experts knew Toyota would have to get creative in the midst of the frenzy of bad press, recalls, and congressional hearings surrounding the automaker this past winter, when sales numbers were dipping and confidence in Toyota was dangerously low. Merely showing its customer support by pledging renewed quality and extending service center hours at the local neighborhood Toyota dealership Libertyville just did not seem like the fresh thinking required for a breach of trust on this scale.
So, on February 8th, Toyota offered up Toyota Motor Sales USA president Jim Lentz for Digg.com’s Digg Dialogg interview series, an interactive platform where online users submit questions to public figures. This forum had been previously occupied by names as diverse as Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner to Sacha Baron Cohen. What made this particular interview with the Toyota Motor Sales USA president unique, however, was that it was the first time a corporate executive was featured.
Before we get to the interview, a word about Digg and why Toyota chose this avenue of communication. Digg is a user-traded content site, where the most popular content submitted is featured. The Dialogg series works the same way but with user questions. Digg is a newssite and, like Facebook and Twitter, its influence is not to be underestimated. In its 5 years in existence it has seen 40 million users, and Internet buzz seems to be the only kind of buzz these days. That was what Toyota was banking on. They were hoping to avail themselves of social media’s growing influence, while also mining the opportunities it presents for dialogue and interaction on a scale previously unfamiliar to corporations and its consumers.
As far as the questions for Lentz, words like “lobbed” and “softball” come to mind. Only 4 of the top 10 dealt with safety and recall issues, but since again the site is user-driven, that speaks to what’s really on people’s minds. The majority of the 1,400+ questions dealt with areas such as design and fuel efficiency and free cars, not recalls and sudden unintended acceleration. Perhaps as a press corps the online community has some seasoning to do.
The effect of this experiment by Toyota has been hard to gauge thus far. J.D. Power and Associates suggested there was not a whole lot of online buzz created before or after the interview. But on the other hand, sales were up 40% for new and used cars. Libertyville Toyota dealers expected the sales spike to more than make up for the low January and February results. Some are saying those figures are driven by the unprecedented incentives Toyota is offering and will continue to offer through May. Whatever has seemingly gotten them back on track, Toyota’s willingness to explore untapped venues is a testament to their ingenuity and creativity, qualities that have been forgotten in the turbulent past few months.
