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Ford Strategic Digital Communications Strategy

Table of Contents

Executive Summary 2

Company Overview 3

Business Goal 4

Objectives 5

Situation Analysis 5

Ford Finances 5

Ford Target Audiences 6

Social Media Presence Competitive Landscape 9

Sample Text 13

Social Media Policy 14

Traditional PR Outreach 15

Recommended Tactics 16

Timeline 24

Conclusion 25

References 26

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Executive Summary

Ford is a global automotive industry leader based in Dearborn, Michigan.

Founded in 1903, this auto company manufactures and distributes automobiles across

six continents and is committed to developing great products for customers around the

world. With a 110-year-old history, ground-breaking technology and a strong sense of

social responsibility, Ford has become one of the most influential auto brands in the

world.

Despite its long traditions, Ford has remained engaging and approachable even

in the digital era. The company has excelled in using social media platforms, such as

Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram, to better connect with its audiences.

Although Ford already has a strong social media presence, there are still improvements

that the company needs to make in order to establish itself as a leader of social media

marketing. Based on current analysis, Ford has neglected one of the most important

social media platforms that may be beneficial to the business. As well, it has failed to

utilize a number of important online engagement opportunities, which can help Ford

target a wider range of audience, and especially the millennials.

The following plan provides an evaluation of Ford’s social media presence, and a

comparison of its overall public relations strategies to two auto industry competitors,

Toyota and General Motors (GM). Based on research, several tactics to help further

strengthen Ford’s brand identity on social media have been recommended. These plans

3 will help promote Ford’s brand awareness while targeting the millennial audience group

and shoppers between the ages of 45 and 65.

The recommended tactics will focus on key areas such as Pinterest

management, Facebook page monitoring, and integration of promotions in social media,

to help improve social media presence results.

These tactics have been designed with a goal of generating a more vibrant online

community for Ford. With more strategic social media operations, Ford will be able to

assume a leadership role on social media. This will also help to facilitate Ford’s efforts

in becoming the largest U.S.-based automobile manufacturer and to be competitive in

the international automotive market.

Company Overview

Ford Motor Company (Ford) was founded in 1903 by the automotive and

industrial pioneer Henry Ford in Dearborn, Michigan. Being the first to implement a

moving assembly line for automotive manufacturing, Ford was able to create a more

efficiently way of mass producing their products, than compared to their competitors. In

1908, the Ford Model T was introduced, which would sell in the millions. With this

achievement, Ford had gained 50% of the automotive industry’s market shares by the

1920s, and this firmly established Ford’s presence amongst its competitors in the

industry. The company went public in 1956, and has since then grown to become a

significant part of the global automotive market. While Ford operates about 70 plants

worldwide today, more than half of its sales from North America.

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Ford is currently the fifth biggest car maker in the world and based on the 2010

sales results, the second largest in the United States, behind General Motors. It

operates about 70 plants worldwide today, however, more than half of its sales are from

the North America region. Ford’s vision statement, “people working together as a

lean, global enterprise for automotive leadership.” delivers the prospective direction

of the company. The company also stressed that, “Automotive leadership is measured

by the satisfaction of our customers, employees, investors, dealers, suppliers and

communities.”

Business Goal

To uphold Ford’s vision and to achieve global leadership, Ford recognized the

importance of remaining engaging and approachable in the digital era. Ford has now

become a pioneer among auto manufacturers in social media communication. Thanks

to Scott Monty, the company’s former head of social media, Ford has successfully

learned to integrate social media into its marketing strategy, as well into its company

internal culture. Through its social media efforts, Ford has worked to humanize the

brand, and has become the most followed and influential auto brand on most social

media channels.

With its current achievements, Ford’s business goal focuses on maintaining and

reinforcing its current social media strategies. This initiative will help to facilitate the

brand in becoming the largest US-based automobile manufacturer, and a top player in

the international automotive market.

5 Objectives

➢ To create relevant and stimulating social media content for the targeted millennial

audience and audience of ages 45-65

➢ To increase the audience’s awareness of Ford on social media

➢ To further raise brand awareness by improving social media platforms through an

integrated online strategy

Situation Analysis

Ford Finances

According to the 2015 year-end earnings reports, Ford generated with a record

profit of $10.8 billion and a net income of $7.4 billion in the year. “We promised a

breakthrough year in 2015, and we delivered. In 2016, we will continue to build on our

strengths and accelerate our pace of progress even further, while transforming Ford into

both an auto and a mobility company and creating value for all of our stakeholders.”

said Mark Fields, Ford’s president and CEO.

Highlights of Ford’s financial performance in 2015 are listed below:

➢ Fourth quarter pre-tax profit increased by $1.3 billion when discounting $2.6

billion of special items; net income of $1.9B, up $4.4B; after-tax earnings per

share was $0.58 in 2015, a $0.28 increase from a year ago when discounting

special items

➢ The European division of Ford returned to being profitable in 2015; the Asia

Pacific division saw the best-ever annual profit; the North American division and

Ford Credit delivered benchmark results

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➢ Ford became number one in vehicle sales in the U.S. for the year 2015; the Ford

F-Series was the best-selling vehicle in the U.S. for the 34th consecutive year;

the company also successfully completed 16 global launches

➢ Ford announced plans to invest $4.5 billion by 2020 in electrified solutions; Ford

was number two in the U.S. in electrified vehicle sales in 2015

➢ The Lincoln achieved the best U.S. sales results since 2008; the Lincoln SUV

sales gained 21 percent in 2015

In general, an optimistic outlook is warranted for the company. The biggest single

driver of Ford's bottom line is sales in North America, and particularly in the U.S., which

generated very strong numbers during the quarter. The strength of Ford's fourth-quarter

sales in European and Asia Pacific markets also add to the reasons for optimism. “We

delivered improvements in 2015 on every single driver of value in our business –

growth, returns, risk, and rewards. We look forward to 2016 and strengthening the value

proposition at Ford even further. “ said Bob Shanks, Executive Vice President and CFO.

Ford Target Audiences

According to Alexa, the targeted demographics for Ford shoppers visiting its

online website are males between the ages of 45-65, and more specifically individuals

in the higher end of that age bracket between 55-65. The online visitors generally have

a college or graduate degree, have an annual income of around $100,000, and about

half of the shoppers have children. The most predominant ethnic group was reported to

be Caucasians followed by African-American shoppers. From the online visitors,

7 approximately 71.2% were from United States. The Ford website received the highest

amount of traffic in October, 2015 and has steadily declined since.

Figure 1. Audience geography of Ford’s main website

Figure 2. Audience demographics of Ford’s main website.

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Figure 3. Traffic generated by search engines to Ford’s main website.

Ford appeals to customers of a wide range of ages. However, for the purpose of

social media communication, besides the traditionally targeted audience of ages 45-65,

Ford also attempts to reach the millennials, ranging more specifically from ages 18-33.

The rationales for targeting this group is as follows:

➢ Millennials born between 1980-2000 make up around one-third of U.S.

households today. This younger demographic accounts for almost 90 million

people and is starting to exert its influence in purchasing power.

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➢ Millennials are demonstrating increased purchasing power as they age, and

represents a significant portion of car buyers in the next few years.

➢ According to Erich Merkle, the U.S. sales analyst for Ford, an 80% increase in

shoppers from the ages of 18-34 was reported in 2014. This is also the fastest

growing consumer age group among all U.S. auto brands.

Social Media Presence Competitive Landscape

The table below shows Ford’s social media presence in comparison to its two

competitors, GM and Toyota. In general, Ford has taken a leadership role on social

media, and have excelled in using social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter,

YouTube and Instagram, to better connect with its audiences. The social.ford.com

webpage was also created to integrate the brand’s different social media channels

together onto one platform, which would allow easier access for the audience.

Although compared with competitors, Ford’s integration of social media into its

marketing mix has been rather successful, the company’s engagement on the social

media can be more strategic. The following are examples for areas of improvement:

➢ Low frequency of Facebook postings was noted, and it is recommended that

more contents can be posted to increase page visits

➢ The company’s ability to respond to negative sentiments from followers are poor

➢ The company seldom uses the visual tool Pinterest for marketing

➢ There is no navigation link to lead consumers to the Ford.social page, or media

icons that link consumers to external media platforms on Ford’s main website

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Social Media Outlets

Ford GM Toyota

Facebook ● https://www.facebook.com/ford/

● 3,425,599 Total likes

● Posts per day: 0.3

● Response time: 2.0h

● Average weekly growth: 0.13%

● Popular Topics:

FocusRS/FordGT/Mustang/MustangMonday/ExploreMore/FordCAS/FordPass/MustangGT/TruckTuesday

● The “Dubai ICYMI:

Gymkhana EIGHT” post generated 1,408,188 views, 1.3K reactions and 80 comments

● https://www.facebook.com/generalmotors/

● 693,535 Total likes

● Posts per day: 0.8

● Response time: 0.4h

● Average weekly growth: 0.22%

● Popular Topics:

Chevrolet/Cadillac/GMC/Buick//Corvette

● The “It wouldn’t be date

night without a 1955 Cadillac Series 60 Special Sedan. Happy Valentine’s Day, GM fans.” post generated 3.6K views, 395 reactions, 103 shares and 23 comments

● https://www.facebook.com/toyota/

● 2,807,500 Total likes

● Posts per day: 2.0

● Response time: 3.9h

● Average weekly

growth: 0.29%

● Popular Topics: Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach/Toyota Priusc/4Runner/RAV4/LetsGoPlaces/TruckTuesday/Tacoma/PriusPrime

● 33K views, 930

reactions, 349 share and 76 comments on post “#PriusPrime is reavealed! Plug in, gas up and strap in.”

Twitter ● https://twitter.com/Ford

● 19.3K tweets, 31.9K following, 872K followers, 10.5K likes

● Tweets/day: 3.1

● Conversation: 67%

● https://twitter.com/gm

● 12.2K tweets, 6,294K following, 501K followers, 535 likes

● Tweets/day: 1.7

● Conversations: 2.1%

● https://twitter.com/toyota

● 21.5K tweets, 19.3K following, 580K followers, 14.2K likes

● Tweets/day: 17

● Conversations: 73%

YouTube ● https://www.youtube.com

/channel/Ford

● 250,300 subscribers

● Total number of videos:

● https://www.youtube.com/channel/gm

● 12,533 subscribers

● Total number of videos:

● https://www.youtube.com/channel/toyota

● 151,576 subscribers

● Total number of videos:

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133

● Total number of channel views: 59.9M

● Likes: 92%

549

● Total number of channel views: 4.4M

● Likes: 100%

3.1K

● Total number of channel views: 131.9M

● Likes: 85%

Instagram ● https://www.instagram.com/ford/

● 1,127 posts, 1.1m

followers, 982 following

● 448k total likes

● https://www.instagram.com/generalmotors/

● ● 399 posts, 143k followers

and 95 following ● 44k total likes

● https://www.instagram.com/toyotausa/

● 1,373 posts, 390k followers and 214 following

● 156k total likes

Pinterest ● 10 Pins

● 2 Boards

● 168 followers

● 563 Pins

● 3 Boards

● 834 followers

● 180 Pins

● 12 Boards

● 5.3k followers Blog ● http://blog.ford.ca

● Popular age group: 65+

● http://gmauthority.com/blog/

● Popular age group: 35-44 & 65+

● http://www.toyotanation.com

● Popular age group: 55-64

Table I. Statistics for social media landscape comparison.

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Figures 4 - 9. Facebook/Twitter content comparison between auto manufacturers.

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Figures 10 - 12. Comparison of social mentions between auto manufacturers.

Sample Text for Facebook and Twitter

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Social Media Policy

Ford’s social media policy is a one-page PDF document published by the

company, detailing Ford Motor Company’s Digital Participation Guidelines. Ford’s

policies are simple and concise, and reflected many good social media practices

including: not taking on an official position for on issues for Ford, treating others with

respect, using common sense about what is acceptable, and being mindful of the reach

of social media and representing Ford well. In addition, this policy features two other

components that are not as common in social media policies from other companies.

First, Ford asks employees to report any potential social media issues, that may require

an official company statement, to the Communications or Legal teams. Second, Ford

asks employees to refrain from discussing offline conversations in an online medium.

15 Traditional PR Outreach

➢ Although traditional public relations strategies such as television, print or radio,

still remain effective for Ford, it is also clear that the company has developed a

recent preference for digital marketing based on its investments in social media.

According to an article published on Aug. 25, 2015 by AdAge.com, Ford has

allocated 30% of its estimated $1 billion marketing budget this year to “targeted”

media, half of which is for digital advertising. This is a 20% increase from Ford’s

investment in targeted media last year, and more than triple the amount from five

years ago.

➢ Ford’s traditional public relations strategies still remain effective since its public

relations campaigns tend to be creative. For example, Ford ran a series of print

advertisements in Israel that highlighted the impressive potential of printed media

when paired with smart technologies. The advertisements, which ran on three

pages of a local newspaper, employed a simple concept where scanning the

printed QR code on the page would link to digital demonstrations of the features

of the new Ford Explorer vehicle

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.

Figure 13. Ford’s traditional advertising using paper to digital media.

Recommended Tactics

Tactics 1 -- Management of Pinterest to Target Millennials and Raise Brand

Awareness

1. The “Social Media Presence” table indicated that, compared with GM and

Toyota, Ford leads in Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram social media

interactions in both the numbers of followers obtained and the level of audience

engagement seen. However, in the case of Pinterest, it was noted that Ford

seldom used this channel for PR and marketing purposes. I recommend for Ford

to start using and managing this channel for branding for the following two

reasons:

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➢ It has been shown that, in comparison with Facebook and Twitter,

Pinterest has significantly higher sales conversion rates than the other

media outlets, and resonates especially well with the Millennials when

considering social mediated purchasing. A recent study shows that 47% of

respondents with a Pinterest account reported online purchases after

“pinning” the product.

➢ Competitor Toyota has demonstrated a more superior management and

utilization of Pinterest in social advertising. Its Pinterest account consists

of 180 pins, 13 boards and 5.3 k followers and actively rely on this tool to

raise brand awareness among Millennial. Hence, the strategy should also

be adopted by Ford to generate similar outcomes.

2. To manage Pinterest, concept boards can be created to engage the audiences.

The content can focus on Ford’s performance and relaxing life topics, which has

a high resonance with the millennial consumer group. A sample content is listed

below:

New Board Name: Ford Adventures

18 Game changer: 2016 Ford #Focus RS. Drift mode: engaged.

New Board Name: Ford’s Best Friends

Slick is one beautiful pony; he has great tas te in #Ford trucks .

3. By sponsoring influential users on Pinterest, it is anticipated that a chain

reaction will occur, and followers of this user will be introduced to Ford thus

increasing its audience reach. Five influential users on Pinterest have been

identified below. These users have been selected based on their content focus

being relative to the auto industry. All of them also have large amounts of

followers.

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Figures 14 - 18. Candidates for Pinterest sponsorship.

4. Monthly Pinterest monitoring should focus on the following parameters for

analysis:

a. Number of pins from the Pinterest

b. Number of re-pins from the Pinterest

c. Reach of the content

d. Number of visitors and visits directed to the website from Pinterest

e. Most re-pinned content

f. Most clicked content

21 Tactics 2 – Leverage the Ford Facebook Page as the Brand Monitoring and

Reflection Tool

1. The Ford Facebook page is the most important social media outreach channel

that the company has currently. However, the page often experiences low

frequency of postings and demonstrates poor reactions to negative sentiment

from followers. As the brand’s most important digital outlet, I believe Ford needs

to leverage this tool in monitoring and reflecting on the brand’s online

engagements. Ford should take the initiative to design and post more popular

topics, in which, will reinforce the public’s positive sentiments and reduce the

negative sentiments on the brand. The following steps are suggested:

➢ Monitor the Ford Facebook page weekly and find popular Ford topics

that the audience is willing to talk about. Audience engagement can

also be strengthened through contest and sweepstakes to further raise

brand awareness. The following is a sample post:

➢ Use Google alerts with the keyword “Ford” to monitor media coverage

and public sentiment on the brand. Frequent postings of relevant

positive contents on Facebook can help reinforce brand image.

Sample content:

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✓ 2020 #Ford #Bronco Concept Created by a Fan is Incredible! Perfect Bronco Concept Designed by Ford Fans

✓ Here’s the proof that Ford is super popular in China. #Fordsales Ford's January sales in China reached record levels

➢ While the Ford team responds well to the positive and neutral

sentiments on Facebook, the responses to negative sentiments are

poor. To maintain good customer relationship, the company should

address negative sentiments by responding with comments like “we

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hear you” or “how can we make it better?” and to be open and

constructive with the feedback that the audience has given us. Vigilant

monitoring of negative sentiments on Facebook and taking actions to

resolve them in a prompt manner, can prevent the manifestation of PR

crises. This is critical as the speed of digital communication has

enabled negative contents to spread and become viral very rapidly.

2. Target audience: Both millennials and shoppers ages 45-65

3. Measurements: Use social mentions to analyze the monthly online consumer

sentiments.

Tactics 3 -- Incorporate the Ford.Social Page and Social Icons on Official Website;

Strengthen the Awareness of Ford’s Social Media in All Communication

1. The Ford.social page (social.ford.com) was created to integrate the brand’s

different social media channels together, and allow easier and more convenient

access for the audience. However, there is no navigation link for this page, nor

are there media icons on Ford’s official website to direct the audience to the

company’s social media platforms. I believe that social icons should be

incorporated into the official website to give audiences access to other platforms

where they can communicate and engage with the company. In addition, based

on the analysis of traffic, this page does not seem to generate much activities,

and has not been thoroughly streamlined with other social media platforms to

enable an efficient flow of information. In order to drive traffic to this page, better

awareness and ease of access need to be implemented. As well, information

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regarding this page and other social media channels should be shown on all

promotional materials including TV advertisements, public service

announcements, and print materials. Improved public exposure will strengthen

the awareness of Ford’s social media presence to its existing and newly targeted

audience. This tactic can also facilitate the integrated online strategy.

2. Target audience: Both millennials and shoppers ages 45-65

3. Measurements: Examine clicks and visits to the Ford.social page; conduct

surveys to gather the public’s reactions with this website and other social media

activities.

Timeline

These 3 tactics will be implemented for Q3 starting from July, 2016 until the end of

September, 2016.

Table II. Projected timeline for implementing new social media tactics.

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Figures 18 - 20. Graphic representation of timeline to implement new social media tactics.

Conclusion

In general, based on the research obtained on Ford’s social media strategies, it

is evident that Ford is committed to listening to and engaging with their target

audiences. Although the brand has been relatively successful with social media outlet

such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram, further improvements can still be

made in maintaining and enhancing the interaction on these platforms. Ford can

continue to work with the current integrated social media strategy. However, better

results will be anticipated if the above mentioned tactics are taken into consideration.

These tactics have been formulated to help raise brand awareness by making use of

previously missing interaction platforms to target the specific audience group of the

26 Millennials. Consistent brand monitoring and active facilitation of the integrated online

strategy are also warranted. Implementation of both will assist in driving more traffic to

the brand’s media outlets and ultimately raising revenues to the brand itself.

References

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Release.pdf

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company-reports-ear.aspx

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es.html

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cmos/

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27 http://www.business2community.com/pinterest/millennials-majority-pinners-love-

pinterest-01214692#CTQtmrJwwFZzBBC8.97