@Ford: Give Social Media Some Credit

You’ve heard all the standard reasons for Ford’s $1 billion third-quarter profit—cost-cutting, layoffs, cash for clunkers, and so forth. Lost in the hubbub is another crucial element: Ford’s social media prowess. The company's social media guru has been extremely successful at drumming up buzz for its upcoming products, particularly the Fiesta, writes Rachel Sklar of Mediaite.

"A good indication of successful penetration is me having actually heard of the Ford Fiesta," explains Sklar, who doesn't drive. Ford will spend a full 25% of its advertising budget online this year, compared to 9% for the rest of the industry. This summer the company boasted that it had logged 13.2 million interactions with the public over social media. "It would be glib to say that an uptick in positive social media interaction was responsible for Ford’s impressive profits," Sklar acknowledges, but it clearly helped. (More Ford stories.)