HOW ALBERT SLOAN CREATED A WOMAN'S SEGMENT FOR GENERAL MOTORS IN 1923 USING SOCIAL MEDIA

HOW ALBERT SLOAN CREATED A WOMAN’S SEGMENT FOR GENERAL MOTORS IN 1923 USING SOCIAL MEDIA

           

            Social media platforms are an important tool for modern marketers because they tell a marketer, in real time, when a market has evolved. In modern marketing, markets move very quickly. To have a strong brand, a marketer must understand what the main drivers of a consumer buying decision are. Drivers evolve quickly. Social medial platforms allow a marketer to engage with a great many consumers at one time. This scale creates the ability that a marketer needs to understand when a market has changed in real time.

            A perfect example of this is General Motors in 1923.  Think about just what social media is. Social media is a conversation between two “friends”. The two friends are the brand and the consumer.  Friends don’t have walls between them. They speak openly. When this happens great brands are created.

            Friends support one another. In speaking to a friend, you understand what they need in real time. If your car breaks down, you call a friend to pick you up. This is what happens on social media sights.  A consumer explains what they need or in what way they have changed. A brand adjusts quickly because they have real time information. In the 1920’s, women were beginning to become an important marketing niche for car companies. General Motors was able to create an important woman’s market through a strong social media platform---their C.E. O. Alfred Sloan.

            At this time, the Model T of Ford had what looked like an insurmountable lead over GM. Mr. Sloan hit the road and began to have conversations with consumers to find out what they needed from a GM car. Looking at like this, General Motors was a modern social media brand in 1923.

            In speaking to customers, Sloan realized that there was a paradigm shift in American culture beginning in the 1920’s. World War I changed things. For the first time, women began appearing in the job market. They needed transportation to work. They became to be a more important factor in the buying of a car---either for themselves or for the family.

            Woman began to head households. Many veterans from World War I did not come back. In these Gold Star families, women were known faced with being the bread winner. Because women had to work on assembly lines during the Great War, they began earning their own money. When the husbands came home, they discovered their wives being more demanding.  The divorce rate would triple between 1890 and 1930.

            This created changes in the market. These changes caused the car market to evolve. General Motors, through social media, talking to customers, picked up on this evolution. In times past, with the Model T, a crank was the means by which a car started. This was hard physically and very dangerous. With the advent of women, a self starter was mandatory. Women wanted a closed exterior on the car. Because of the physical makeup of women, lower axles and running boards were necessary. Women preferred car with lower roof ceilings. Women needed easy of steering, and gear shifts. The whole concept of the car changed. Under men, a car was a utility. Under women, the car was a social vehicle.  This changed things. A car had to look nice and sound nice.

            Men were concerned for the comfort of their wives. This was the beginning of front head lights for safe night driving, heaters in cars for winter warmth, and electrical signals. General Motors understood these subtle changes that were taking place in American society much better than Ford did. This is one reason why General Motors overcame an almost insurmountable lead that Ford had in market share. This was done because General Motors knew how to use the social media of the 1920’s.

Dean Hambleton

dnhambleton@gmail.com