Many celebrities are notorious for making the newspapers, magazines, and now the Internet for all the wrong reasons. But, for the most part, it is okay with them. Any news gets their name out front to the public which in the long run can do nothing but help their career.
Is this same phenomenon helping Toyota? Shiv Singh, vice president and global social media leader for Razorfish.com, claims that it is.
According to Singh, the formula for a Social Influence Marketing (SIM) score is:
SIM Score = Net Sentiment for the Brand/Industry
Net Sentiment for the Brand = Positive + Neutral Conversations – Negative Conversations
or Total Conversations for the Brand
During November and December of 2009 and this January, Toyota’s SIM score moved from 19.8, down to 17.56, and then back up to 24.84. Singh points out that the scores of Nissan, General Motors, and Ford actually dropped slightly.
The reason for the SIM score increase for Toyota is that there was more conversation on the social websites about Toyota and thus there was a greater awareness of the brand.
Singh is a social influence marketing expert. He has written a book on the issue — “Social Media Marketing for Dummies” –and he also writes a blog.
He agrees that Toyota is in deep trouble due to the unintended acceleration issue and all the recalls that have resulted from it.
Others more familiar with the auto industry say that Toyota is attracting interest because there is an opportunity for buyers to pick up a bargain. They think that they can buy Toyotas for less. According to Edmunds.com, 7.4 percent of consumers in the market for a compact car considered a Toyota Prius. After the recalls, consumer interest in Toyota Prius rose to 8.7 percent.
So what does all this mean? There has been increased buyer interest for Toyota models despite the bad news. Moreover, there appears to be little significant damage to the company’s rep in the short run on the social websites.
That sounds counter-intuitive, right? Well, Singh suggest that as time goes on and more people talk about Toyota on the social websites, the company’s SIM score will drop.
via Headlight Blog
Toyota is no doubt suffering in the court of public opinion. Their perceived lack of concern for their customers will have lasting affects. But Ford Motors comes in 2nd with over 50+ “Sudden Unintended Acceleration” cases. My Pontiac Car had a bad anti lock brake control unit so GM has also had serious recalls this year. I looked on http://www.carpedalrecall.com and found the recall info and local dealership listing; my co Worker had a pedal recall on his ford truck so just look out .