Tuesday, Feb 17

Social Media Expert Bites Own Ass

Scott Monty is Ford Motor Company's social media strategist, and lately his efforts to get the brand out there, when brand loyalty is needed most, have seemingly done more for Monty's rep. than his client's. It's all playing out over on Gawker Media's Jalopnik.com, a blog for those who love automobiles like you love advertising dirt.

The vast coverage Monty has gotten for recently helping Ford out of a bind via Twitter has garnered two response posts on Jalopnik in the last few days as well as a fury of comments from readers who wonder what's up with the Ford brand.

It started with a story in FastCompany, written by an "expert blogger" (who it was later revealed is just a subscriber to the site who used it to create her own blog), that extolled Monty's efforts in quelling a feud between Ford and a fan site. Apparently, Ford sued the fan site for allegedly selling gear with Ford's logo on it, which the site owner then wrote about on Ford forums and everything went to hell. Until Monty stepped in, and began tweeting away on his personal account to his (then) 5,600 followers about how he was working with the legal department to work it out. "Please retweet" he ended his tweets, and things calmed down.

So Monty did in a sense save the day, and he used social media to do it. But since then, Jalopnik contends, the "social media expert" has been fluffed by media outlets, including FastCompany, who should instead be focusing on the brand's entrance into social media rather than one man's efforts to get it there. Why do they consider it fluffery? Because finding Ford on Twitter isn't as easy as searching "Ford", and furthermore Ford's use of social media isn't any more significant than any other brand doing the same.

Ford company has a number of accounts for different portions of the brand, but Monty reached the masses via ScottMonty. As Jalopnik's Ray Wert writes, "... if Scott Monty wanted to show that he was really doing this for Ford, he'd open up a Ford Twitter account — an idea seconded by another social media site — to use daily for his work rather than his current ScottMonty twitter account. Because right now it seems like he's set up more for ScottMoCo promotion than for FoMoCo promotion."

This little feud is something of a hip-check to Monty, who may be overstepping the social media boundary — whatever that is. Because although we may look at the situation and say, "Monty did nothing wrong, per se" the same may not be true for Jalopnik readers — and other Web savvy Ford lovers. Right now, the automaker needs to focus on selling cars, not their social media guru.

More: "Ad Agency Layoffs: The Twitter Feed"


new on mediabistro.com

How to Write an Arts and Culture Review

Learn everything you need to know to write a smart, publishable review of music, film, books, theater or any other arts and culture topic.
Watch the video

Email This Post

Fill out the following information and click on the Send button in order to send this post, Social Media Expert Bites Own Ass, to a friend.
Friend's name
Friend's email address
Your name
Your email address
Note to your friend (optional, max 200 Characters)

Read more on AgencySpy >

Inside Your Agency. Deep Inside
AgencySpy in Your Inbox
Mobile Version
RSS Feed
Our Blog Network

BayNewser

WebNewser

TVNewser

PRNewser

FishbowlNY

FishbowlDC

FishbowlLA

MediaJobsDaily

GalleyCat

UnBeige

MobileContentToday

AgencySpy

AgencySpy Editors
Matt Van Hoven
AIM/Twitter: agencyspy

Kiran Aditham
AIM/Twitter: PvnkFreud

Tipline:
212.547.7935

Email AgencySpy

Follow AgencySpy
Anonymous Tips


Topics

2008 Prez Election

About

About Us - Modules

Aegis

Agencies

Agency.com

AKQA

Anomaly

Arnell

Arnold Worldwide

Avenue A/Razorfish

Awards

Bartle Bogle Hegarty

BBDO

Berlin Cameron United

Blind Item

Booked

Boutique Call

Brands

Broadcast

Campaigns

Campbell Ewald

Carat

Celebrity

Comment of the Day

Conferences

Craigslist is Your Hero

Cramer-Krasselt

Crispin Porter & Bogusky

DDB

Deep Focus

Dentsu

Designing (Wo)Men

Deutsch

Digitas

Doner

DraftFCB

Droga5

Element79

Enfatico

EuroRSCG

Fallon

Gaming

GlobalHue

Go Twitter, Go

Goodby

Grey Worldwide

GroupM

GSD&M

Ha!

Hal Riney

Hot Ad (Wo)Man Of The Day

I Have Twatted

Interpublic

J. Walter Thompson

Kirshenbaum Bond

Leo Burnett

MadMen, The Musical

Martin Williams

McCann

Mcgarrybowen

MDC Partners

Media Buying

Mediabistro

MediaVest

MindShare

Mobile

Mother

Moving Pictcha

Mullen

Naked

News

No Wukkas - The Job Hunt

Ogilvy

OMD

Omnicom

Online

Op-Eds

Outdoor

Party Party!

People

PHD

Planning/Consumer Insights

Poke

Print

Publicis

R/GA

Raw and Uncut

Razorfish

Reading List

Saatchi & Saatchi

Social Media

Spot Runner

StrawberryFrog

Stupid Intern

Sustainability

TBWA/Chiat Day

Television

The Martin Agency

The Menu

The Richards Group

The Spies

The Super Bowl

Tribal DDB

We Hear...

Week in Advertising

What The...?

Wieden & Kennedy

WPP

Young & Rubicam

Links

mb News Feed
5 Blogs Before Lunch
AdAge
AdForum
AdFreak
AdLand
Adomatica
AdsOfTheWorld
AdScam
Adverganza
Advergirl
Adweek
Denver Egotist
Illegal Advertising
Mediaweek
MyOpenKimono
The Toad Stool
Please Feed the Animals
TribbleAgency

Archives

November 2009

October 2009

September 2009

August 2009

more...


Job Listings

Featured Listings

Assistant/Junior Media Buyer
Advertising Agency
New York, NY

Writer
1199SEIU Benefit & Pension Funds
New York, NY

Senior Account Lead
Publicis in the West
Seattle, WA

Senior Designer/Associate Art Director
Graphic Design Firm
New York, NY


mediabistro.com l Member Benefits l Jobs l Freelance Marketplace l Courses l Events l Forums l Content
mediabistro Blogs: Media News l TVNewser l GalleyCat l UnBeige l FishbowlNY l FishbowlLA l FishbowlDC l PRNewser l AgencySpy
MobileContentToday l WebNewser l BayNewser l MediaJobsDaily l mbToolbox
Site Map l Advertising/Sponsorships l Partners l About Us l Contact Us/Help

internet.commediabistro.comJusttechjobs.comGraphics.com

Search:

WebMediaBrands Corporate Info

Legal Notices, Licensing, Reprints, Permissions, Privacy Policy.
Advertise | Newsletters | Shopping | E-mail Offers