Tapping social media ‘agents,’ Ford revs up buzz around Fiesta

Automaker banking on test drivers’ blogs, tweets, and Facebook posts

Ford Motor Co. is handing the keys to 100 Fiestas to diehard social media users who will give the cars a six-month test drive.

Those “agents,” as Ford calls them, will document their experiences—good and the bad—on their blogs, Twitter, Facebook, and other social media outlets. That content is then collected and shown on the Fiesta Movement Web site, a portal neither edited nor censored by Ford.

“Social media give us a different way to tell our story and to humanize our brand,” says Scott Monty, Ford’s social media expert. “We’re getting a chance to connect with others.”

Ford hopes the social media campaign will create excitement for Fiesta, scheduled for release in the U.S. in the second half of 2010, among Ford’s target audience—the Millennial generation.

“They gravitate toward social media,” Monty says. “It’s a symbol of how they’re different. They’re giving us an opportunity to test the power of social media.”