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GM’s Re: Invention on the Web

General Motors has had a lot of face time in the media as of late.  Not only has this iconic company melted like a snow cone in a tanning bed, but they have also managed to bring the tax payers down with them.  Now, this is not to posture politically on the GM bailout or its ramifications throughout America, however, with all of the bad press, negative stereotypes, and general malaise toward GM, it’s worth pointing out some of the things they are doing right; especially when that involves social media.

Some may argue that lately, social media seems to be the only concept that GM is embracing at a better rate than their competition.  Competitor Nissan is determined to get an electric car at the right price point out before 2010 beating all competition.  Chinese automaker BYD received backing from visionary billionaire Warren Buffet to begin rolling out their vehicles in the US starting in 2011.  However, the Chevrolet Volt is smoking the competition online.  Using a 7 day trend in AirCheese, we can see the Volt’s momentum (likely because of the test drive video released on 7/24) is increasing exponentially, and nearly all comments are positive.

GM has taken matters of the internet into their own hands, with their re:invention website, the fast lane blog, and an active presence on Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook.  And though it doesn’t hurt to have a multi million dollar advertising campaign backing the efforts, gmreinvantion.com has shown some serious traffic throughput since its release on 6/1.  Instead of letting the pundits, economists, and bitter investors hold the future perception of GM in their hands, they are attempting (and ostensibly succeeding) and generating their own buzz, their own following, and a little more faith in their brand. 

The new AirCheese Metric has began to measure the online sentiment toward the chevy volt as compared to its competitors and will be regularly reporting on trends throughout July.  If you are not tracking your own trends with AirCheese, you might want to sign up for the free BETA.