Chevy Suburban turns 75

Two weeks ago, the Chevy Suburban turned 75 years old, making it the oldest continuously manufactured car in history. To commemorate this historic event, GM posted a few different articles and photo galleries on their media website. Chevy Suburban Photo Gallery.

In terms of the public relations aspect of this announcement, I did not see much in the media. I only saw the twitter announcements about this event, so unfortunately I do not think GM utilized their social media as well as they should have in this respect. Considering the Suburban is the oldest car that is still being manufactured today, I would have held some sort of "Birthday Party" with a giant Suburban-shaped cake or ran promotions online and through media outlets about the infamous car, and how it has been a landmark in history by highlighting famous movies that the car has been in or celebrities who drive the car. Another idea I have is maybe doing a news piece about how the Suburban has been a part of peoples families through various events throughout history. For example, maybe telling the story of how a Suburban traveled to Birmingham, Alabama to march for Civil Rights... something along those lines.

I don't think GM did a good job at publicizing this, which is unfortunate because I think it could have made for a really fun event or story for the company.

GM's New Media

So, GM does utilize new media, but I had a hell of a time finding any of their media outlets. GM has an entire website dedicated to Media, but I have no idea how to get to it from the main page, and only came across it by googling "GM new media."

The website is actually pretty cool. There is a section that shows all news releases, current and archived, and my favorite feature is on the side where there is a little box with tabs to each social media outlet: facebook, twitter, blogs, and flickr.

This was the only way that I was able to find GM on Facebook. I think that GM definitely does a good job with their social media. On their facebook, they have a lot of short, yet attention-grabbing videos about new cars, GM in the news, Consumer Reports, and new innovations within the company.

The twitter account is good too, there are a few different accounts actually, but I just focused on the US News twitter. It had some good links to news stories and quick, short taglines that tell the reader what's going on with the company.

There are a bunch of different blogs too and I also think they do a really good job at their blogs. There are news features, charity work about giving GMC trucks to help out in Haiti, and another cool widget like the social media one that keep you up to day in all different categories such as" Auto Shows, Bob Lutz, Business, Cars and Trucks, Concept Cars, etc. It's really neat.

If I worked for GM, by first suggestion as a PR person would be to make the new media more accessible. When I type in General Motors or GM in Facebook, the page should automatically show up. Same goes for the Twitter accounts. When I first typed in General Motors, nothing showed up but then when I just typed GM, twitter accounts appeared. The social media needs to be user-friendly, because that is what social media is all about- the USER!

Introduction

So here goes my first attempt at a blog... bear with me. For this little experiment, I'm going to be talking all about General Motors... the good, the bad, and everything in between.

For starters- I should probably say that I am not a GM driver. I drive a pretty snazzy Subaru Outback, clad in all sorts of identifying music band stickers. She does have a name, Suby, and even though she is a soccer mom car, I love her. (Thanks to M&D for funding the gas). My family has never owned an American car, which I guess makes this whole GM blog a bit more interesting, at least from my perspective. We used to be a strictly German car family, Audi's and BMW's, but then the economy and blah blah blah so now we are a Toyota/Nissan/Subaru clan, and we are pretty content.

So GM... they make Chevys, Cadillacs, GMCs, and Buicks. They have come under some heat in recent years after the economy failed and nobody was buying American cars anymore, but I haven't heard too many complaints about them in general. One thing I noticed is when I first signed on to the GM website was their mission. In big bold letters I read "re-invention." Even though I am not in the market for a car anytime soon (considering I am a very broke college student,) I was still drawn to this idea of re-invention.

Re-invention is an important aspect of reputation management when your product has not been flying off the shelf... or out of the parking lots. When I think of GM, i unfortunately associate it with gas-guzzling trucks and SUV's, but their website is giving me a new opinion. ALl part of their re-invention program is focusing on better gas mileage and making more reliable cars. They are definitely working on highlighting the better points of their company, rather than compensating for the negatives.