Last week Ford decided to reveal their 2011 Explorer in a new way, by bringing the auto show to Facebook. Using celebrity spokesman Mike Rowe, Ford CEO Alan Mulally and a handful of other execs – a day of Facebook interaction was created around the SUVs unveiling, including links to YouTube videos, wall Q+A’s, and a gallery of photos. Ford more then met their goal of 30,000 fans (closer to 60,000 now) and their wall is filling up with comments from excited customers who can’t wait to hop behind the wheel. Linking an auto show to social media makes sense. Car companies have an extremely large and diverse customer base that is much better represented on Facebook then at an auto industry convention. Moving the unveiling to Facebook gets way more people excited about the event and it allows Ford to get a much better feel for their customers’ praises, questions and concerns. Ultimately, I wouldn’t be surprised if it gets more people in the dealerships next year too.

(via Mashable)