Social media case study – Ford Fiesta

Company Profile

Ford Motor Company, based in Michigan, USA, is currently the second largest carmaker in the U.S. and the fourth-largest in the world based on number of vehicles sold annually. The Ford Fiesta model is marketed worldwide, including Japan, Australasia and the Americas.

By 2010, the Fiesta had been distributed globally, including the United States and Canada, making it the first Fiesta model to be sold in North America since 1980.

Challenge

The Ford Fiesta is an important launch for Ford as it provides a much needed appealing small car to compete with key segment rivals Toyota Yaris, Honda Fit and Nissan Versa. Ford is also looking for social media savvy consumers likely to add more optional content than the usual segment buyer.

The Solution

The ‘Ford Fiesta Movement’ engaged 100 target prospects in a digital media effort across social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube in an effort that went viral well in advance of the Fiesta launch.

The Results

Model Demand – Shopper data from observation of online shopping activity on 3rd party auto websites such as kbb.com and edmunds.com  quantified how many people shopped for a specific vehicle as well as indicated other brands of interest to these consumers. Fiesta received 15,000 to 20,000 shoppers per month in advance of its May launch. Post launch, Fiesta demand was trending near 60,000 shoppers.

Fiesta page visitors use of social media sites – Consumers who visited the Fiesta page on fordvehicles.com were more likely to have visited social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Overlap with Twitter was especially strong as Fiesta visitors were up to 60% more likely visit Twitter than were auto site visitors in general.

Fiesta visitors who also shopped for other models – Data showed that the Fiesta was on the radar of import prospects with the Fiesta is not only being shopped against US import rivals (Yaris, Fit and Versa) but larger vehicles as well. Focus was the model most cross-shopped by potential Fiesta shoppers.

Source: Compete.com