How auto companies in India are leveraging social media
We have interesting times in the auto sector. While there have been recent talks about slowdown, diesel tax issues, and cars not selling enough – either petrol or diesel; SIAM has also projected 9-11% growth of the industry. There are many car launches slated to happen this year that will make many car enthusiasts happy. Amidst all these, car manufacturers in India continue to focus on their social media initiatives to keep the engagement with customers and prospects high. It is encouraging to see Tata Nano opening up a merchandise store on ebay the other day. Global airlines have done it before to showcase their deals and it can be a good way to engage with customers. Car owners (at least some of the people I know and myself included) are always looking for some special deals or souvenirs of the car brands they owned or love. We have seen how strong and engaging are the car brand communities on Facebook. I won’t be surprised if Tata Nano and others start introducing more accessories with more online retailers. It is not as if the car owners are going to boost their revenues through this, but is a fun way of reaching out and providing value to customers. These matter when every player is out there doing the same thing in the social media space.
The auto sector is probably one of the top users of social media in India besides companies in other sectors like technology and lifestyle. Three years back, we would see just one or two experimenting online but now most companies are continuously keeping up with their engagements online. In the first Neilson McKinsey Social Media Brand Equity Rankings Index in early 2012, there were six auto companies in the top 20 list of companies with the best social media presence, and in the second report in Q3 2012, there were three. Ford was No. 2 in the first report and Maruti came up to No. 1 from 3 in the second report. Neilson said auto companies enjoy huge following on social media and there are a lot of reviews and multimedia sharing online. The first report saw a lot of car companies as their marketing initiatives peaked during the Diwali/ New Year time.
Obviously a lot of manhours, dedicated teams, and money are being pumped in to have a great online reputation. Why is this important? Are the car makers getting any sales online? More than direct sales, the online medium is used to create a favourable image of oneself – whether it be through creating communities and sharing unique/ interesting content, or addressing consumer complaint and queries. A 2011 Google report said that Indian consumers are ahead of US and Europe in using the Internet to research for car & bikes purchases and many Indian consumers use Internet as the first place to do their research before deciding on the vehicle of choice. So when somebody comes searching for information, the last thing you would want is a a list of negative publicity or unanswered complaints.
So what are our auto companies doing online? From what I have seen, these could be grouped into the following categories:
Social media platforms: Auto companies use social media platforms, particularly, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to build their own communities. Tata Nano, Maruti Ritz, Mahindra Scorpio, and Volkwagen India have some of the biggest fan pages on Facebook and obviously they are putting huge ad spends in building the communities. While the brands might have started these platforms to engage and converse the fans with ‘cool’ stuff, most of these have become customer redressal platforms, sort of a social CRM in other words. Not that there is anything bad in that. As a owner of a car of a particular brand, I wish to join a community where other owners are so that I can occasionally read up on their experience and share mine, and updates keep coming automatically on my news stream and I don’t have to have to go to their website.
Also another key point to note is how the auto players are trying to be innovative in the updates. There is so much you can talk about a car, so you now have to hook your fans interest in other ways viz. safety tips, driving tips, discussions around topical developments. The Maruti page has talked about our Olympic successes multiple times.
It is not just the hatchback and sedan manufacturers that are on Facebook. You wouldn’t have thought BMW might want to target the Facebook community and their clientele plays ‘likes’ and ’shares’, but they recently celebrated their 1 million fan milestone. In fact globally, BMW, just like Coca Cola, turned a fan created page into its official community.
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