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Social Media Superstars Award – Chevrolet Canada #chevybliss

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It’s time once again to hand out my Social Media Superstars Award. This time I am rewarding a car company for a job well done. This is us, my group of social media friends, ironically many of whom, are from London, Ontario, at the excursions part of BlissdomCA in October.
For day two of our conference experience we test drove Chevrolet Canada cars, raced through the slalom course which is soaked with water for maximum effect, tasted some delicious gourmet food from a food truck catered by Gourmet Bitches and learned a whole lot about innovation and ways in which technology will continue to intersect with driving.
Chevrolet Canada is on twitter as @ChevroletCanada

My Social Media Superstars award has been given only a handful of times here on thriftymommastips.com. My first ever award went to TD Canada trust.
Each time it goes to a worthy brand or company doing this business well. It is not something everyone deserves, or is good at yet. Companies like Chevrolet Canada could and should be held up as a shining examples of how to connect on line, how to build brand loyalty and how to engage bloggers. Treat your advocates and your loyal influencers well and watch how far the loyalty and message travel on line and in real life.
 
My award is based on four criteria always:
Responsiveness, Creativity, Social Media Use and Personality.
 
Responsiveness: A
An amazing team of car experts met us at their Oshawa plant on a Sunday and opened it up to questions, serving hospitality and treating us to hands on driving experience. We were also given a peek into what is involved when innovating and planning how cars add to family life, or even more importantly, how they will add to family life a decade from now. I honestly get excited talking about this stuff because the innovations we are talking about will eventually allow your car to be unlocked remotely by your smartphone should you ever forget and lock your keys inside. They will make cars safer, while making them more fun to drive. Can’t beat that.
 
On line the team is quite responsive. I don’t normally drive a Chevrolet vehicle, so I have never had a customer complaint or issue to bring to their attention.
 
The team was fantastic at #Chevybliss and frankly as one of the biggest sponsors they created a recharging atmosphere at Blissdom Canada that was absolutely perfect. The Blissdom Canada team had Chevy integrated into the conference experience. They hosted a fun road rally on the night before the actual conference, provided chauffeurs to and from local events and connected in a genuine manner with anyone who reached out. They were welcoming and gracious and creative. Their chevy bliss excursion and tour anticipated everything bloggers might have needed or wanted from an event like this.
 
Creativity: A
They opened up the plant to our group of digitally connected Moms and Dads on a Sunday. That’s apparently something they never ever do. That’s smart. They held a road rally that had bloggers scouring the city on a Friday night. They sponsor numerous events, with increasing frequency in and around the GTA. They lend cars often so influencers get the inside story, much like automotive journalists, reviewing and integrating the Chevy narrative into family life and on line blog posts. Smart move. They show us what they are doing to build technology and safety into the driving experience. Letting me floor a Buick on a wet roadway (at their Oshawa plant) then jam on the brakes, so I could prove that “ABS and Stabilitrak are two significant safety features introduced in the last ten years.” Then letting a bunch of typically stressed out overworked Moms race around a crazy obstacle course at top speed with ABS and traction control both on and off to prove a point. Super evil genius smart.
 
Social Media Use: A
This team were early adopters and pretty much everyone who knows anything about social media knows Adria. They tweet, use all platforms well and build experiences by engaging bloggers like @downshiftingPRO who took her entire family to New York in a Chevrolet vehicle for Blogher 2012. We have had Chevrolet vehicles many times over at events like conferences. That is smart. People talk about what they drove to the event and they tweet it loudly. Adria brings social media smarts and a savvy approach to the company. I know she does a whole lot more there, but its her savvy social media use that sets her apart for me. She has appeared or spoken at numerous digital media conferences since 2011. She brings the next quality – Personality – to the whole social media profile that Chevy has created.
 
Personality: A
These guys and gals are transparent and always on. They hunt to find the answers you need while genuinely connecting as other Moms and Dads. They understand engagement and do it well. Twitter is a two way street and the beauty of having someone like Adria, (@adriamackenzie) or Veronica (@vgurr) or @Mamalauran on the other end of the tweet is that you genuinely feel this is a car company that values women and Moms and contains women who consider what is important now and ten years from now for family travel and daily life.
 
Great job Chevrolet Canada. Thanks for a brilliant experience at Blissdom Canada.

Mom of two beautiful active girls, traveller, fitness junkie, social media consultant, and keeper of the sanity.

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