Perhaps more than any other car company, Ford has been successful when it comes to social media.  Recent efforts revolving around the Fiesta and the Explorer, for example, managed to get all sorts of people excited about the vehicles.  So individuals and businesses that are looking for advice might do well to listen to Ford’s head of social media, who spoke to WebProNews at BlogWorld.

Scott Monty, the holder of that title at Ford, stressed, “It’s all about integration.”  Monty told Abby Johnson that advertising, PR, and social media efforts (of the earned, owned, and paid varieties) should all be combined in order to achieve more momentum.

Monty also said that Ford tries to make offline and online campaigns work together, and that teams begin considering the issue early on in the process.  It’s important to give the matter a little thought, and not just rubber-stamp things.

Then one more key component, according to Monty, is “being involved before there’s a crisis.”  He said, “You have to have this always-on mentality.”  That allows a brand to build its credibility and a community of advocates to speak on its behalf, and Monty explained, “That helps us get our message out and really address the problem.”

Want to know a little bit about the payoff now?  Well, Ford revealed the new Explorer on a Facebook page (as opposed to an auto show), and also linked Facebook and FordVehicles.com.  As a result, it became the number two trending term on Google, and the number one trend on Twitter.

What’s more, Monty said the final impact of the launch was greater than the impact of a Super Bowl ad.