Social Media Leader Scott Monty Leaves Ford

While his next move hasn’t been announced, his most recent change has happened at a company that already has big shoes to fill. Scott Monty has decided to leave Ford. During his tenure, he spent approximately 5 years and eleven months as the Global Digital and Multimedia Communications Manager. He became a social media guru.

Monty has carved out a name for himself both at Ford, where he received praise from the soon-to-be former CEO Alan Mulally, to the social media industry, where he has been repeatedly called a, “thought leader.”  Back in 2011, Forbes even named him as one of their top “10 influencers in social media.”

Based on numerous reports and the 68 comments on his personal website (scottmonty.com), in response to the announcement of his resignation at Ford, Scott Monty has influenced a great number of people both personally and professionally. During his career, he forged new best practices in the social media industry during some high-pressure situations at Ford.

A Forbes write-up in 2012 about Scott chronicled his handling of crisis public relations via social platforms. A small website was complaining online about a $5,000 fine and cease and desist letters that Ford had sent their way. The situation caught fire as the website, created in support of one of Ford’s trucks, felt that they were being pushed around by a corporate giant. Monty handled the situation by reaching out via twitter with updates. He got the full story from Ford about the dispute, kept those following the situation updated  with tweets and negotiated with the website to simply stop selling unlicensed merchandise. The fire was put out in under two days, and new “best practices” for social media professionals were forged.

The post-Ford move for Scott Monty has not been announced, but likely will be in the near future. On his personal website, following his post about leaving Ford, he indicated that, “As for what’s next: that’s the subject of another announcement that I’ll make soon. I’d just like some time to reflect on the work that our team has done and take pride in a job well done.”

Did you learn anything from Scott Monty about Social Media that you’ve used at your dealership?