Toyota is one of largest automobile manufacturers in the
world. From the Toyota annual report in 2013, the evidence shows that
Toyota has an overall revenue increase of 18.7%, compared with the prior fiscal
year. Most important, the company has steady revenue growth in Asia, North America
and Europe respectively. What makes it successful can be traced back to
company’s philosophy which is ‘customer first’. It can be well explained that Toyota aims to
deliver customer-oriented automotive products and services to delight their customers.
Refer to the 10 levers theory from McKinsey (2013), derive
customer insights and use social technologies for marketing
communication/interaction are two levers across organizational functions of
marking and sales. Blog provides opportunities to Toyota’s marketing and sales in
building and fostering relationships.
It is not hard to find Toyota has embraced social
technologies as their communication mediums with their customers. Blog is one
of the social tools where they have company’s philosophy embedded in.
Toyota UK blog as an example of how they unlock
the value of social tools was launched in one of multiple blogs in various
countries. This blog has clearly categorized information related with Toyota
into several functions. They have news from official departments, features of
new motors and stories from owners, events, range of cars’ descriptions and
stories and motor-sport.
And especially, they have a community that opens to
owners or someone interested to share Toyota stories on the blog, which positively
engages customers to participate to the big Toyota community sharing stories. It
also gives Toyota opportunities to listen to customers what they want from
them. Because of this, it also gains customers insights to improve own business,
but it also attracts potential clients or partners who might be interested in
new Toyota techs, which might form new relationships that create revenue opportunities
for the company.
Moreover, Toyota UK blog does integrate other social
technologies such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube etc. in their blog to
expand popularity and influences and to publish information about new
technologies, events or customers’ stories.
In general, Toyota has realized the potential value of blog that
could bring to the company. And they well explained philosophy of ‘customer
first’ by using social technologies as a communicating platform between the organization
and customers.
Reference
Toyota. (2013). Annual Report 2013. Retrieved from http://www.toyota-global.com/investors/ir_library/annual/pdf/2013/
McKinsey. (2013). The social economy: Unlocking value and
productivity through social technologies. Retrieved from
https://about.yammer.com/assets/MGI_The_social_economy_Full_Report2.pdf
Nice post! I just took a look at Toyota blog, and I think they really did a good job!
ReplyDeleteAgreed, good post! That's a really good way to involve customers and get valued feedback
ReplyDeleteA well-organized post about Toyota, and detailed description about how Toyota designed their digital blog to promote their products and improve customer service. It would be great if you could provide more useful images coupled with your experience when use their blog.
ReplyDeleteGreat and easy to follow post. I also checked out Toyota's blog and I agree they integrate social technologies very well and its a great way of getting their customers enthused with their cars.
ReplyDelete