By adaptive - April 3rd, 2013
In this practitioner interview, we talk with Ford's "Global Digital and Multimedia Communications Manager", Scott Monty. We cover education, embedding, tools, management and more.
Scott Monty, Global Digital & Multimedia Communications Manager, Ford Motor Company.
At Ford, Scott heads up the social media function and holds the title Global Digital and Multimedia Communications Manager. He is a strategic advisor on all social media activities across the company, from blogger relations to marketing support, customer service to internal communications and more, as social media is being integrated into many facets of Ford business.
[USM] How did your organisation approach the mapping of your enterprise to identify where social media should reside in the corporate structure?
[SM] This was actually done before I entered the organization. The Vice President of Communications decided that Ford had dabbled in social for long enough and it was time to get serious about it. Because Communications is something of the central nervous system of the company, being a clearinghouse of news and information that affects the company’s reputation, it made perfect sense to align social within Communications. Then, as the Communications team interacts with a variety of teams around the company, the integration of social finds its beginnings via “osmosis.”
[USM] What is your advice to organisations that are beginning to map their own corporate structure with the view to embedding social media activity within their enterprise?
[SM] The first step that any company should take is to listen – to customers, the general public, or any of the stakeholders that are key to its success. By listening, an organisation will be able to understand where conversations are occurring, what is being said, and what business implications they may have. The next most important step is to align any planned social strategy or tactics with business goals, which means being able to measure the impact of social and turn that engagement into terms and metrics that inform executives.
[USM] Has your organisation created a new department for social media? If so, who does this department report to? And can you outline how this department is structured?
[SM] We have not, at least not yet. We do have quite a bit of social media activity that’s mostly housed in Marketing, Customer Service and Communications. But as other business units and skill teams are becoming interested in social, it’s becoming clear to us that we need to address the governance to ensure consistency of effort as well as coordination of resources, reporting and strategies.
Ford's UK Facebook page
[USM] Clearly it is important to create a unified face from multiple departments when using social media. How has your company developed its organisational plan to ensure that each department’s social media activity is coordinated?
[SM] At this point, we have playbooks for teams creating experiences on a number of social platforms and we have a process flow map to help triage issues and concerns. We also have a general social media policy for employees, but there is no central team that is able to govern with authority at this time. It’s really based more on relationships than it is on processes.
[USM] Has your company developed a comprehensive social media policy that all departments contributed to and now follow during each new campaign? What are its main components?
[SM] One of the most significant is our guidelines to working with bloggers. The Federal Trade Commission has fairly strict regulations in place that dictate disclosure rules, and as we work with digital influencers, we have a responsibility to ensure that we’re abiding by them. We’re in the process of updating them, but the version that we’ve used for the last three years can be found at http://bit.ly/fordbloggers.
[USM] Are there any specific tools you employ that help your business manage its social media activity across multiple departments?
[SM] One of the most crucial tools for us on Facebook (and we have over 80 Facebook pages) is Salesforce.com’s Marketing Cloud, which was formerly known as Buddy Media. This acts as the plumbing behind Facebook for us and allows our global teams to assign roles and responsibilities, distribute content and create interesting experiences for fans across those 80 or so pages.
Ford's 'One Social' page
[USM] How do you see the management and development of social media in your company evolving over the next few years?
[SM] We have established a vision for social throughout the company called “One Social” that mirrors our One Ford vision. Having this document in place is a first step toward transforming us from merely participating in social in silos (and mostly outbound silos at that) to coordinating our efforts, compiling data, sharing platforms and all working together on a unified strategy. If we accomplish that, we’ll be well on our way to transforming Ford into a social business that is better connected with all of our stakeholders.
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