Cars get the brand buzz from social

In its first study of how automotive brands were perceived within social media channels, Text 100 uncovered that only a few manufacturers succeeded in creating consumer brands that matched their corporate brand responsibilities.

Text 100 has announced the results of its first Automotive Buzz Index conducted to evaluate how automotive brands were perceived within social media channels during 2011. According to the study monitoring social media conversations at the three biggest auto shows ‚ NAIAS 2011 in Detroit, 81st Motorshow Geneva and 64th IAA in Frankfurt ‚ only a few brands succeeded in creating a consumer brand profile in social media that matched their corporate brand personality.

In close co-operation with research firm Statsit, Text 100 evaluated more than 217 000 online conversations globally across social media channels such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, popular automotive blogs and forums. Based on the findings, Text 100 draws key conclusions and recommendations for how automotive brands can influence their performance within social media platforms.

Key findings of the 2011 Automotive Buzz Index:

– Among 40 automotive brands tracked across more than 170 million websites worldwide, eight brands dominate online conversations and remain in top 10 across all three shows.

– The social media platform with the largest share of conversation was Twitter, followed by blogs and YouTube. Facebook was the least relevant consumer platform for auto brands.

– Of the 14 different brand attributes measured, concept cars still create more social media buzz for automotive manufacturers than environmental or fuel efficiency topics.

– BMW was the only true Social Media out-performer dominating all online conversations and leading on Performance, with Daimler leading on Design and Pleasure, and VW leading on Green conversations.

Quote:

‚It’s clear the automotive industry is embracing social media as fast or even faster than any other market, however auto manufacturers need to take a more strategic approach to managing their online consumer profiles that’s consistent with their brand personality in other mediums,‚ said Aedhmar Hynes, CEO of Text 100. ‚As consumer trust in social media is rising at the same time as their reliance on traditional media continues to fall, we see an opportunity for automotive brands to embrace word of mouth and have a clear social media management strategy to achieve consistent results and differentiate their brands for consumer audiences.‚

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