"People are talking about you whether you're online or not," said Scott Monty, Global & Digital Multimedia Communications Manager at Ford Motor Company.

Monty was the keynote speaker at the January Economic Club luncheon. He explained social media is "the great flattener of the world" because it has the potential to connect consumers with employees at all levels of the company.

He spoke about Ford's successful social media campaign, which was ranked 12th in an online social brand ranking by Vitrue. Ford uses all forms of social media to engage in conversations with their customers and to tell the Ford story (http://www.thefordstory.com/).

Monty spoke about releasing content on the internet for people to share. "Setting content free" on YouTube and Flickr enables people to interact with it and spread it across other online communities.

The three keys to succeeding in social media are accessibility, transparency and authenticity, he said.

The next Lansing Economic Club luncheon keynote speaker will be Lou Anna K. Simon, president of Michigan State University, on February 16.  The luncheon is scheduled for from 12:00-1:30 p.m. at the MSU Kellogg Center. More information can be found online: http://www.lansingchamber.org/events.html.
 
The Lansing Regional Chamber's Economic Club is dedicated to promoting and stimulating economic growth through timely and insightful forums presented for personal and professional development.