When you think of General Motors and social media, you tend to think of the FastLane Blog and GM vice chairman and corporate blogger-in-chief, Bob Lutz.
GM were pioneers when FastLane launched in January 2005, setting a standard for the measurable benefits of executive blogging and directly engaging with customers.
Indeed, GM became the early poster child for corporate blogging.
GM in the US continues to embrace social media, deepening its reach with additional blogs such as the FYI Blog, a channel for “the many voices of GM’s employees and friends and attempts to put a human face on our diverse activities,” as the blog describes its goal.
One thing GM hasn’t done is extend its public social media reach into the heart of traditional communication such as online resources for reporters and others interested in GM and its business which are designed for direct social engagement.
This new online resource for journalists and PRs from GM’s European subsidiaries offers a library of press releases and other media information about GM’s brands in Europe – Cadillac, Corvette, Saab, Hummer, Opel, Vauxhall and Chevrolet – on a website that’s designed for engagement and for sharing.
Every release or article is comment- and trackback-enabled so, just as with a blog, you can tell GM Europe your opinion about any of the content on the site, either directly on the site or linked from your own blog or website.
The site has RSS feeds so you can easily subscribe to the content and comments. You can save or post any press release or news article to any one of over 30 popular social bookmarking and sharing sites including Digg, del.icio.us, Facebook, Newsvine and StumbleUpon.
And there are links to GM photos – the company’s and well as those taken by GM customers and fans – on Flickr and to GM videos on YouTube.
Quite a comprehensive social offering for the media, not to mention PRs and interested bloggers.
About the only thing needed to make this resource really compelling is offering press releases as social media releases. Maybe that’s to come.
It’s quite interesting to also note that the site provides all content under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial license, meaning you can use, adapt and share any of the content under the terms of that license.
And unlike the US-focused GM Media Center, the GM Europe Social Media Newsroom requires no registration – it’s openly available on the internet.
I do like the site’s strapline:
Product news and downloads for the online reporter
I’d say that description extends well beyond traditional mainstream media reporters. Wouldn’t you?
A great move by GM Europe, one that I would find valuable if I were an automotive journalist, PR or blogger (and I do find it valuable as an interested communicator). As far as I can tell, no other major car manufacturer offers anything similar.
Could be another pioneering step from a company that continues to innovate in social communication.
