VW - Another venerable and well-known consumer brand, VW.com has a clean, highly usable design reminiscent of Apple’s—perfect for showcasing products that have become all but iconic. I also like how the search for dealers call to action is front and center; together with clear and accessible shopping tools, it speaks directly to the user’s agenda and shows an interest in truly engaging the market.

I am curious to get your view on the car configurator tool  that VW offers. The tool enables a user to e-mail a link to the configurator to others. But I am curious if there are a couple of missed opportunities here:

• should the link enable recipients to view the car configuration the original sender designed?
• perhaps a  “gallery” of designed automobiles would encourage car aficionados to visit and revisit with the aim of viewing other people’s designs and comparing notes…maybe? maybe not?

Volkswagon clearly has its audience’s interests in mind, but I think we’ll see it refine its approach to make sure the social media elements of its site really add value to the browsing—and the buying—experience.

Does Social Media add value?

We have reached a point where social sharing via interactive methods is commonplace; any offerings in this space now have to work hard to offer value to users. This value could present itself in a few forms:

• Offering valuable content that enhances a user’s or customer’s understanding of the brand or product
• Providing valuable offers that facilitate purchasing
• Providing current news, reviews, and events so that a user or customer may feel part of the brand or product
• Tools allowing for individual creativity to be expressed more robustly

The sites I’m watching in 2010 all have different audiences with different needs, and they’re trying to engage those audiences in a variety of compelling ways. Of the five sites reviewed in the past four months which of these sites do you think makes the most successful use of social media?

• Disney – http://disney.com
• CDW – http://www.cdw.com
• SAP – http://www.sap.com
• Apple – http://www.apple.com
• VW  - http://www.vw.com

Are there sites I should add to my must-watch list? I’m curious to hear from you!

Tags: Social Media, VW

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 1st, 2010 at 2:48 pm and is filed under Social Media, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.