With so many companies trying to figure out how to leverage social media and blogs to their marketing advantage, one key point often gets missed. “Just talk to them!” If more companies would spend half the time reading blog posts and responding to th…

Lately, I've been very interested in viral marketing, so I was intrigued by a post I read on The Viral Garden today that showcases the importance of bloggers in viral marketing.  In his post, Mack talks about a post he……

http://fastlane.gmblogs.com/

I think Saturn might do more than one thing. It’s cool that your fan-driven community is there, and those outlets are probably even better run than a company-driven one, because fans are passionate, and employees are paid to do what makes business sense. You can be both passionate and an employee, but we all have jobs, and we pay attention to what gets measured most. Fans don’t have that concern.

I *also* think that Saturn should be where the conversation is: places like Facebook and Myspace. Nothing too pitchy, but even better, a way to highlight the stories that make up the company. Why not have a MySpace page that shows off people with their cars, or a Flickr Group, or both? How about a Facebook group where you ping owners for their advice, their feedback, their funny Saturn stories?

Do you blog? Are there Saturn blogs? That would be cool and useful. Remember, no one besides me has a way to reach you, because you’ve dropped Saturn.com as your website they can click. So, my point there is that should you want two-way conversations with the blogosphere, you need some kind of landing spot where we can get to know you, contact you, and share ideas.

This has been a fun exchange. I’m enjoying learning more about what Saturn has in mind for their community building efforts.

To clarify, saturnfans.com is not a community organized by Saturn. It is totally the product of Charlie Eickmeyer who does it in his spare time. (We do keep him up-to-date with material.)

Do you think it important that Saturn set up a community or should we be active participants in the forums of others?

I’m a member of carspace.com and MyRide.com as Saturn_Comm.

I like the suggestion of knitting in the retailers. We’re working on it.

Robert,

I am the GM executive that contacted you regarding the Aura. Is the car performing well?