Impact of social networking media on

companies’ reputation management

practices

Case Study: Toyota

 Social Media has become an important source regarding Reputation Management:

• Twitter :
– as a choice for customer service
– handling complaints
• Face book:
– for cheery news, fans and brand booster
– calm customers’ nerves, keep them informed and
engaged.
The benefits of social media in reputation
managemnt(Ostrow 2009)
 Social Media & Reputation Management
Case Study: Toyota

• Toyota suffered due to its recall of more than

8 million vehicles in 2010.
• Toyota has to suspend sales of 8 models.
• Reasons for recall included:
– Sticky floor mats
– Faulty pedals
The recent threats faced by Toyota
• 60% of online mentions of Toyota were
negative, with keywords such as ‘recall’,
pedal’ and ‘fix’.
(Webtrends)

• 25% of Toyota’s overall brand value was lost

due to this crisis.
 The post recall social media strategy
adopted by Toyota
• Toyota adopted a post recall social media
strategy to tackle reputation management.

• The social media used included:

– Facebook
– Twitter
– Youtube
– Toyota Conversations
– LinkedIn
 The post recall social media strategy
adopted by Toyota
• They launched a channel ‘Toyota
Conversations’ to respond customers on
Twitter.
• Major areas dealt through this channel were:
– To remove negative comments about the company
– To respond the customers online.
– To aggregate articles and press releases
 The post recall social media strategy
adopted by Toyota

• Launched a Youtube Channel which:

• Published videos and content related to cars.
• Published explanation to the faulty pedal issue.

• Launched Facebook pages for Prius and Lexus:

• To extend their reach towards their customers.
The post recall social media strategy
adopted by Toyota
 The post recall social media strategy
adopted by Toyota
• Toyota created an internal Micro site for the
customers to :
– Enable customers to post comments
– Recall information for its customers

• A live update corner was included with

information of them fixing the problem of
accelerator pedals.
The post recall social media strategy
adopted by Toyota (The Micro Site)
The post recall social media strategy
adopted by Toyota (The Micro Site)

They included a timeline to show that the recall problem was under control.
The success in adopting the post recall social
media strategy by Toyota

• By engaging social media, Toyota succeeded in

tacking the threats. It enabled its customers
to:
– Participate in discussions regarding Toyota’s
products,

– Share their life experiences using those products.

 Result of adopting the post recall social
media strategy by Toyota

• Toyota’s new sales rose to 15.4% in March.

• The increase was reported from 15,000 to 18,000.

• More than 100,000 views were received on the

apology videos on Youtube.

• 17,000 plus views were received on the video of

Totoya’s CEO crying and apologizing.
 Conclusion

• Toyota successfully tackled the threats and

gained back customer’s confidence by
engaging with them, through social media.

• Customers like to be updated and interacted

on various issues. Toyota successfully carried
out this strategy and it resulted in boost in its
sales.
 References
•Bhansali,Rohan. (June 9, 2011). Toyota: An online
Reputation Management Case Study.
Retrieved from:
http://www.engagementdb.com/downloads/ENGAGEMENTd
b_Report_2009.pdf

• Toyota lifts full year global sales (2011,January)

Retrieved from:
http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/Article/UPDA
TE-1-GM-falls-just-shy-of-Toyota-in-2010-sales-DEAFY!
OpenDocument&Src=idp&Click=