Top car companies target social media users

For leading four wheeler companies – both from India and abroad, social media is fast emerging as a useful channel to understand the mindset of users and target them better, especially younger people hooked to it in one way or the other. The companies feel it is critical to converse with them in their own language and on their chosen medium to easily connect with them.

For volume car makers like Hyundai, the social media driven profiling helps create a database of prospects, which proves more insightful than a traditional survey. Social media proves to be a cost-efficient tool and also more effective since the people express themselves more freely. It’s a very engaging form of communication to receive feedback on products and services as well as building online reputation.

Online reputation enhancement via social media

• Online reputation management through monitoring comments on platforms such as Orkut, Twitter and Facebook is a key component of Maruti Suzuki’s marketing strategy. Its digital media team constantly tracks networking sites and other online platforms for feedback on products and services.
• In fact, when the automobile maker chose to refurbish its highly popular Swift hatchback, the company resorted to social media for ideas. One complaint that kept surfacing was the lack of finesse in its ‘plasticky’ interiors, a lacuna sought to be filled in the new version of Swift.
• In extension of its user-friendly new media approach, the Maruti pavilion at the recent Auto Expo let visitors record a Facebook ‘like’ utilizing fingerprint IDs. At the high-profile event in New Delhi, this facet of their functioning was acknowledged in various forms at the booths of other top carmakers as well, including Hyundai Motor and BMW India. Hyundai employed a ‘buzz’ card for quick feedback from visitors who could upload technical specs to their Facebook pages and share them in real time.
• On the other hand, BMW India registered expo visitors with a connect card, which could exchange relevant information with their Facebook pages after being tapped against an AppleiPad fixed to all the models on display. Apart from information on each model, visitors could get their images photographed and the same immediately uploaded on Facebook.

These brands acknowledge social media’s multiplier effect for the dissemination of information. No surprise, they have been allocating more money to tap its marketing power. Maruti wants to double its budget for digital media advertising and marketing. Compared to advanced global markets, India is still not very digitized. However, the marketers with eye on the future know where the business lies in the future.