Have car companies really learnt anything from Toyota?

Last week I blogged about how Toyota had launched their social media listening site called http://toyotaconversations.com/. Throughout the social media world this was seen as a positive move to claw back the reputation of a leading global automotive manufacturer.

However today I was prompted to do a little investigation after following the Twitter stream of Neville Hobson who was attending and speaking at the Motor Industry Public Affairs Association 'New Influencers Workshop':

Brilliant suggestion by @thomaspower to auto co's: aggregate all conversations
on a convo domain, eg, toyotaconversations.com #mipaa

http://twitter.com/jangles/status/11366835384

Yes, this is a brilliant suggestion and one that I would have been surprised had not been already adopted by other motor manufacturers or their PR agents. At the very least this sort of activity should be in planning, given that it took Toyota and Tweetmeme only a few days to put the Toyota Conversations site up.

So I took a quick look at the [company]conversations.com domains available in that industry. I therefore found that the following domains were available to be purchased (e.g. they have not already been bought, a good indication of what they have planned):

• vauxhallconversations.com
  (agreeably Vauxhall is a UK-only GM brand)
• gmconversations.com
  (so that scratches that thought)
• saabconversations.com
• fordconversations.com

I could have checked more...and maybe I will after this post.

Now I could forgive all these, as this was a Toyota-specific issue that they have dealt with via the social web. But you'll be even more surprised to know that this domain is also still available:

• lexusconversations.com

For those that are not aware, Lexus is the prestige brand of Toyota. It would seem that even the parent company hasn't reserved this domain yet for its own PR purposes. Are they really that sure they won't need it in the future, given what has happened to their main brand?

Note:
I take no responsibility for these domains being taken by domain squatters or brandjackers following this post. All domains mentioned are available as of 15:45 on 31 March 2010.

Join the conversation, or else...

As a lot of brands have found out that their customers (current, lapsed, potential,, etc.) are a social bunch. They've also found that if you have a brand and don't give them a platform to vent their concerns as well as their praise, they go and create one anyway. And these days, given the ease with with anyone can create a Facebook fan page or similar place, there will be a dozen different conversations going on about the same topic in next to no time.

But several brands have found that it is wise to not just join the conversation, but to provide a central place where discussions about them can be had.

Toyota, following the recent recall troubles it has had, decided to team up with Techmeme.com to create: http://toyotaconversations.com/. This is a site where you can see all social media buzz about the ongoing issue as well as Toyota's own ongoing information.

Nokia have done a similar thing with their site http://conversations.nokia.com/ where they have turned a blog into an entire communication platform including video & podcasts as well as some fun applications.

However UK fashion retailer ASOS have taken this one step further with http://www.asosfollowsfashion.com/. Launched earlier this month, the site allows you to quickly see the aggregated Twitter messages from people and brands in the fashion industry, including ASOS's competition. This is a bold move to try and curate not just its own brand messages, but those of the entire online fashion communication space.