Two weeks ago I named GE as one of the Top 5 B2B superstars utilizing social media marketing strategies. Yesterdays’ announcement on a new R&D Center in Michigan and 1,200 new jobs is a wonderful illustration of why they earned this honor.
1) An “announcement about the announcement” was broadcast over the GEreports website, blog, Twitter and Facebook.
2) By simply clicking on a link within a tweet, you could access a real-time, live, HD news feed from Michigan featuring CEO Jeff Immelt and Michigan government officials.
3) Follow-up reports of the speech were available on all social media channels and a subsequent Immelt speech to the Detroit Economic Club were available immediately. A video of the speech is featured on the GEreports website.
4) A video describing the new research center was available the same day on YouTube. An interview with the GE research director explained what would be happening at the facility. It had already received 308 views in the first day.
OK, that is impressive, but if you need any further convincing, here’s the icing on the cake.
Obviously this announcement spurred a lot of interest and excitement, but not all of the reactions were positive. GE has the foresight and courage to host an open dialogue in their onsite commentary, including comments like: “With your speech today regarding Research Center $100 million manufacturing technology center … GE stock went down today. Jeff NO ONE BELIEVES YOU ANY MORE!!!”
That’s an ouch. But a key to social media success is being willing to turn the dialogue over to the community and GE is doing it.
Last week the GE social media team agreed to an interview about their social media strategy and I’m hoping this will be posted on {grow} this week. Stay tuned for an inside view of a major B2B social media success story!
