Mr. Barger came to Canada for a weekend to discuss how GM made extensive use of online social media in a presentation titled, “The Social Web – Crisis Response & Reputation Rejuvenation.”

Chris started his talk by stating he was given one small problem – and just one week to prepare a communications plan for it.

Simply put, how to deal with the public fallout on what would be the biggest business crisis in North American history – The Chapter 11 filing and bankruptcy of General Motors.

If there ever was a massive public relations challenge – this was it.

Chris knew he wanted his response plan to heavily involve online social media. But he still had convincing to do with some in the executive ranks of GM. Some GM people wondered, in this period of bankruptcy and crisis, was this the right time to be “open and transparent” on social media?

So while there was talk about “going dark” – that is, shut down the GM blogs and facebook groups, and not engage in any new forms of networking (Twitter) – Chris Barger executed a social media plan that pretty much did the exact opposite.

Mr. Barger discussed at his Podcamp talk some key points he discovered and tried to infuse into his social media team.

1. You can’t over-communicate in a crisis.

Before Chris had his social media team respond to reactions regarding the GM crisis. He Listened. And listened, and listened. A key point he stressed during his Podcamp talk. Before GM was going to respond and be open and transparent in what the company was going through – he first listened to find out what people where talking about and where their concerns lie.

And then General Motors started to become something it hadn’t been before with its corporate communications, “OPEN. OPEN. OPEN.” as Barger would call it.

Those first documents and legal filings on the Chapter 11 – Chris and his team broke up key points and tweeted them out – 140 characters at a time. The General Motors CEO sat-down and did multiple live online chats on twitter.

And GM’s Director of Social Media also made sure of one thing – that traditional media, television and newspapers were always made aware of the social media campaign at each step. GM wasn’t going to forget about the traditional media that has spent decades writing about the company in this new communications campaign.

2. Let others tell your story.

The GM social media plan ensured genuine reach out to online news sites and bloggers. And not just the well-known, influencer type with large audiences. If a blogger with a passion for cars and only maybe had an audience of just 200 people per month. Barger decided that was still somebody to reach out too and engage. That small blogger is still a person speaking to 200 people interested in automobiles and that’s a community GM wants to be involved in. So just like the traditional car journalists and big news sites – GM also started to invite the small blogger in for press events and hands-on driving tests.

Another huge benefit to all the conversations that GM was doing in social media – was that traditional, offline media was listening as well to what the company was doing. A lot of GM’s social media efforts were picked up for stories in traditional media sources. And a lot of the time, the tone of the story was this was a different GM – a General Motors that was engaged in new social technologies and listening to its customers and critics (for perhaps, the very first time.)

Some of the initial results of the online campaign included thousands of conversations across many social media platforms and millions of hits for a special website GM put up explaining the situation in better detail.

But with all the online efforts Christopher Barger’s team put in – he never forgot one golden rule – 90% of word-of-mouth advertising still occurs offline. The GM team never forget to keep offline media aware of their communication efforts and ensure dealer and retail touch points was engaged and also participating with the new media.

3. Follow-up and value the relationships you’ve built.

The GM Social Media team can look back to last year and have a good idea of the news sites, bloggers, tweeters, and more that contributed to the dialogue of incredible change that occurred with the company. And when it comes time for the communications team to reach out again for a “GM hands-on” campaign, you can be sure this engaged community that Barger’s team has carefully cultivated, will hear about any new plans – as well, get their invitations.

DISCLOSURE: The author of this post, Richard Budman has done social media work for GM Canada (via MacLaren Momentum agency) on the Cadillac TIFFinsider campaign.

Sure, it was nice of the TTC to provide free transit rides for Toronto peeps traveling on New Years Eve between 12 and 4 am. But my experience with Toronto’s better way twelve hours earlier is what will leave a bitter taste in my mouth and make me forget quickly about any good.

Like many on the day of New Years Eve, I was rushing to do a few things before settling in with friends to celebrate the night so I found myself entering Bloor subway station in the early afternoon needing to take the train north.

Upon entry to the station, A sense of deep dread overcame me as I walked into a line at least 50 deep. It then hit me – last day of the month. The day people need to get their January metropass.

Now, I have grown used to TTC management NOT caring – NOT realizing the last couple days of the month are extra busy with people buying their new metropass and MAYBE those are good days to ensure ALL collector booths at stations are open (it seems to me that metropass purchases are usually what holds things up.)

Usually, I avoid the line by heading to the token machine. BUT WAIT. That was not possible today as the TTC suspended token sales a month ago for their own idiotic reasons.

So I was stuck. No token machines and only twenty dollar bills in my pocket. I had to get in the line.

BUT WHERE I GOT REALLY PISSED? Is when I turned to my right to see the other collector booth CLOSED that a sense of anger overtook me. (50 people in line barely moving – 1 of 2 collector booths open. Nice TTC.)

What’s the lesson for management in all this? GET OUT OF THE OFFICE. Go visit your customers touch points – the places where your customer actually interacts with your service and product. Observe what’s going on. Then think about how you can maybe serve them better.

And one last thing. I was also especially impressed with the professionalism of the signage for a transit system in a world-class city.

A scribbled CLOSED sign on the collector booth that looks like it was written by a 6 year-old child. Again, nice TTC.

Here’s a thought. If you got to close collector booths. Maybe some professionally designed signage. Something along the lines of “Sorry, booth closed. Another collector will be happy to help you.” But hey, what do I know? I’m just some dude looking for a job.

And it was further comforting to know that after this day, the next time I would be taking the better way I would be paying another 10% for this service.

Some mobile relief must be needed when you get a big crowd of people and media to brave the frigid cold of Toronto for the official launch of a new mobile brand and store in Canada – WIND.

Even more impressive, the crowd was awaiting the unveiling of a big outdoor statue – which turned out to be… how shall I describe it… a cool dude? I can only read from it (and the accompanying dedicated plaque) – a big announcement to the other carriers that a 4th player is here to shake things up in the Canadian mobile industry.

WIND, owned by Globalive Communications, opened its first retail outlet along Toronto’s harbourfront today and the company is planning other stores across the country as the network is soon rolled out in Vancouver, Ottawa and Edmonton.

Has a truly different alternative and mobile cost relief finally come to Canadians?

“This statue commemorates Flippy, Mr. Ideas, FlowerGal and the thousands of other Canadians who rose up against an unresponsive mobile industry. It was upon the immortal thoughts of this online community – who made proclamations like, “NO CONTRACTS… Do this and I will be your customer forever” and “it would be nice to NOT have limits” – that a movement was born. Their brave ideas gave rise to the dialogue which gave rise to WIND mobile – the first wireless company to be led by the people and a testament to the truth that conversations always make things better.” – WINDmobile.ca statue plaque