Social Networks Well Suited to Automaker Online Marketing
In the wake of GM’s decision to move half of its $3 billion marketing budget into digital in the next three years, Forrester Research takes a look at the use of social networking applications by owners of different car brands. The results are some useful insights into how car companies should pursue their online advertising strategie.
Some of their findings include:
- Mazda, Honda, Pontiac, Hyundai, and Jeep owners are the most active. These
brands have proportionally more young customers than most of the other brands. - Chrysler, Toyota, Dodge, Buick, Subaru, and Saturn fall in the middle.
- Ford, Nissan, Chevrolet, GMC, and Mercury owners are touched least by social media, partly because they attract older consumers. Even so, many of their owners are still active in some form of online social behavior.
Forrester says blogs are an important way for companies to tap into their more interested customer base: GM, for instance, “has used its blog to promote all its activities, including new models and concept cars from Buick and Saturn. Chrysler has a similar blog for its brands and also features a YouTube channel with more than 100 videos. These activities can help energize enthusiast “Creators” in the blog community, which will in turn reach the masses of “Spectators” in their customer bases.”
The report recommends several marketing strategies specifically for car companies.
- Generating word-of-mouth among their own customers.
- Creating social sites that encourage aspiration.
- Noticing trends in the social sphere before they appear in the real world.
Meanwhile, comScore finds that more than a quarter of all online auto insurance quotes were referred by a search engine. According to the comScore study, the number of search-referred quotes grew to 8.9 million in 2007, a 36-percent increase versus the previous year. “This is particularly impressive when compared to the 15-percent overall growth in the number of online auto insurance quotes requested in 2007,” comScore said.
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