Mary Henige of GM on storytelling and humanizing the company

The final video in my series of four from my day at General Motors is with Mary Henige who is in charge of both social media communications and broadcast communications. I ask her about her dual role and we talk about storytelling (especially online) and its role in humanizing the company.

If you have not seen the other videos, the links are:

GM CEO Fritz Henderson discusses new marketing

Top GM marketing exec Bob Lutz on effective communication

Christopher Barger on social media communications at GM

This video is 7 minutes.
Filmed with my Flip video camera and edited on iMovie.
Direct link to the video here.

My favorite (lightly edited) quote: "From the beginning of time, people have been telling stories... You make things personal when you tell stories… Now through the power of YouTube and blogging, you’re telling a story that seems very intimate... You make friends with people that you’ve never met."

:00 – 2:00 Humanizing GM by showcasing GM people.

2:00 -3:20 Storytelling to make an emotional connection to customers.

3:20 – 5:10 On Henige’s dual role of broadcast media and social media: How different are they?

5:10 – 6:40 Henige’s advice to her peers about communicating through social media.

I'll be doing one more post later today where I share my thoughts with GM marketers about what they are doing well and some suggestions for improvement.

Comments

[David Gordon Schmidt]

Rarely do you see this kind of candid, informal series of interviews with a range that includes Giant-corp CEO, industry-celebrity exec (straight-talking Bob), and the new media pros. Good conversation.

RE: Mary's comment about the people part of the equation. Her on-going support of her colleagues through PRSA (Public Relations Society of America) and elsewhere makes her truly a people pro.

-David Gordon Schmidt

[twitter.com/maryhenige]

David Scott -- thanks again for your series and visit.

David Schmidt -- you are very kind, so thank you!

Thanks also to all of you who have posted comments on these posts and retweeted. We're reading every comment.

Mary Henige, GM Communications
@maryhenige