The possibilities for companies to leverage data to market to consumers on social media continue to grow. Whitney Drake, manager of social strategy and care at General Motors Co. (GM), talked with John Furrier and Jeff Frick, cohosts of theCUBE, from the SiliconANGLE Media team, during Oracle OpenWorld 2015 about the new world of business-to-consumer relations on social platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Drake stated that strategists at GM are using social media in myriad creative ways for obvious purposes like selling more cars and increasing its brand imprint online. However, the team is continually discovering ways not only to market to consumers, but also to service existing customers with offerings like real-time assistance.

“We use social to get real-world data that would have taken 30 or 60 days — we can get it immediately,” she said. The company uses the data to reach out to and assist consumers having issues with their GM vehicle, answer their questions, and direct them to service providers.

Social needs to be personal, but not too personal

“At GM every journey starts and ends with the customer,” said Drake, and that philosophy applies both offline and online. GM carefully chooses consumer data to personalize its approach on social media, while being careful not to infringe on privacy. She concurred with Furrier’s assertion that, “You can’t bring a boilerplate to social,” and said finding the right balance is crucial to a successful social strategy. She also shared some surprising findings, such as engagement from visitors dropping as the number of social posts climbs too high.

Watch the full video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE and theCUBE’s coverage of Oracle OpenWorld 2015. And join in on the conversation by CrowdChatting with theCUBE hosts.

Photo by SiliconANGLE