March 23, 2007

General Motors Case Study


I focused on a General Motors case study that consisted of GM hiring a blog set-up company, MS&L Blogworks, in order to set up a corporate blog for General Motors. This is the first automotive giant to incorporate a blog into their business strategy.

The blog launched in January 2005. It allowed GM’s Vice Chairman Bob Lutz and other GM executives to voice their opinions and challenge readers to take a new look at GM cars and trucks.

The blog has since received numerous hits and much attention from PR practitioners and press. The blog was made in order to increase communications with General Motors and its customers.

You might be wondering, how did the blog draw so many people in? Well, GM sent six e-mails to high-profile bloggers and from there word spread fast. Since then, the blog has constantly been updated with posts and even some podcasts. The blog also showcases new vehicles that the public has not seen.

So far, the blog has been a great success, but has not significantly increased the sales of their automobiles. However, GM hopes that this blog will bring back lost customers in the long run.

General Motors, still, is the only carmaker to have a public blog. Their media hits have been impressive and GM has received much press from: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, U.S. News, The Financial Times, BusinessWeek, and PRWeek. This truly goes to show that blogging in the corporate world is a hot topic in the press world.

Due to the success of GM’s blog, I believe that more automakers will jump on the bandwagon and create their own blogsites.

Check out GM’s blog, “FastLane”

2 comments:

College Bloggers said...

Good case study, especially since you chose one that involves blogging.

Anonymous said...

Well said.