Buzz report about the mentions of car brands in social media. Published by Goldbach Interactive.

1. Car Brands Social Media Buzz Report
April 2012
Jan Sedlacek, Dominic Stöcklin
Picture: http://www.salon-auto.ch/de/

2. Introduction
/ Brand managers and sales executives are often interested in how their brand performs in social media and
news and what the characteristics are, which the brand is associated to.
/ Goldbach Interactive is looking at the buzz about the car industry. The following car brands are examined:
- BMW
- Audi
- Mercedes
- VW
- Opel
- Toyota
- Ford
- Renault
- FIAT
- Hyundai
/ Our analysis reveals certain keywords in conjunction to the car brands:
- Design
- Quality
- Purchase
- Environment
- Technology
- Complaints
- Performance
/ Further analysis shows how we combine the keywords and the chosen car brands.
© 2012 Goldbach Interactive 2

3. Keyword analysis reveals the share of voice of
certain characteristics
Amount of mentions (in %) ⁄ “Design” (22.4 m), “Quality”
(18.2 m), “Purchase” (15.2 m)
and “Performance” (14.7 m)
4%
5% related keywords are most
discussed.
9% 26%
⁄ The characteristic
“Environment” (7.8 m) does
have a lot of mentions, but is by
17% no means the most important
topic.
21% ⁄ In summary, the importance of
the different characteristics
18%
vary significantly.
Design Quality Purchase Performance
Environment Technology Complaints
© 2012 Goldbach Interactive 3

4. Car brands have a different share of voice for each
characteristic
Design ⁄ Ford dominates overall (3.6 m
mentions in total) followed by
Toyota (2.7 m mentions in total)
Performance Quality and BMW (2.5 m mentions in
total).
⁄ Toyota and BMW show similar
mentions except for a peak in
environment from Toyota (450
Complaints Purchase k). In this characteristic Ford
has only slightly more (500 k).
⁄ Opel does not show a lot of
activity (only 390 k mentions in
Technology Environment
total).
BMW Audi Mercedes VW ⁄ In conclusion while the same
characteristics dominate, the
Opel Toyota Ford Renault car brands tend to differ in its
FIAT Hyundai share of voice.
© 2012 Goldbach Interactive 4

5. Car brands have a different share of voice across the
different sources
News
⁄ Forums is the source in which car
brands are most mentioned (over
5 m mentions).
⁄ Ford (2.7 m mentions) dominates
(like before in the categories),
except in forums, where BMW has
Twitter Forums more mentions (1.2 m).
⁄ Toyota (1.9 m mentions) is coming
in on a second place (as seen in
the characteristics).
⁄ Opel has only 366 k mentions.
⁄ In summary the car brands are
Blogs
especially strongly represented in
BMW Audi Mercedes VW Opel forums. The dominant brands are
the same as in characteristics.
Toyota Ford Renault FIAT Hyundai
© 2012 Goldbach Interactive 5

6. Dominating car brands demonstrate a gap in mentions to
selected other car brands
Design
⁄ Ferrari has significantly more
mentions(0.9 m) than Tesla (0.1
Performance Quality m) or Hummer (0.1 m).
⁄ Ferrari has very few complaints
(26 k) and few mentions about
environment (90 k).
⁄ Tesla and Hummer barely have
Complaints Purchase buzz in comparison to all the
other car brands.
⁄ Concluding, the distribution
across mentions shows that the
Technology Environment
top 3 car brands have far more
buzz than selected others.
BMW Toyota Ford Ferrari Tesla Hummer
© 2012 Goldbach Interactive 6

7. Mention distribution among age group revealed by
analyzing demographics
100% ⁄ The age group that is most
90% relevant for the car brands is
the group from 20- 29.
80%
70% ⁄ Audi percentually has the most
60% mentions in the group from 10-
20 (34%), compared to the
50%
other car brands.
40%
30% ⁄ Hyundai is most relevant for the
20%
group from 20- 29 with a
conjunction of 54%.
10%
0% ⁄ The groups 50- 59 and 60- 75
don’t often mention car brands.
This is due to their lack of
presence in social media.
60- 75 50 - 59 40 - 49 30 - 39 20 - 29 10 - 20 ⁄ In conclusion the distribution
among age groups is not well
balanced.
© 2012 Goldbach Interactive 7

8. Mention distribution across countries showed through
analyzing demographics
100%
⁄ USA is often the dominant
90% country (+40%). Renault (15%)
80% and Opel (22%) being the
70% exceptions.
60%
⁄ UK has many mentions too,
50% especially for Renault (22%)
40% and Hyundai (21%).
30%
⁄ Unsurprisingly Opel is
20% mentioned a lot in Germany
10% (18%). FIAT however does not
0% have a particularly high amount
of mentions in Italy (3%).
Renault on the other side is
mentioned a lot in France
(17%).
Other Romania italy Netherlands
Ireland Indonesia South Africa India ⁄ In summary the origin of your
Australia Germany france canada brand somewhat affects where
UK USA people are talking about you.
© 2012 Goldbach Interactive 8

9. Demographic analysis reveals mention distribution among
gender
100% ⁄ Men do have a higher
90% conjunction on the amount of
mentions than women.
80%
70% ⁄ Opel has the highest
60% percentage of mentions by men
(78%).
50%
40% ⁄ VW is the brand which has
30% percentually the most mentions
by women (34%).
20%
10% ⁄ In summary mentions are not
0% well balanced between the
genders. But they conclude the
different attributes of the
demographics, which are
crucial to know for the
Female Male managers of car brands.
© 2012 Goldbach Interactive 9

10. Management summary
/ With our research tool Goldbach Interactive identified and examined characteristics for car brands:
- Design (22.4 m mentions)
- Quality (18.2 m mentions)
- Purchase (15.2 m mentions)
- Complaints (3.6 m mentions)
- Environment (7.8 m mentions)
- Performance (14.7 m mentions)
/ Within these characteristics we found the strongest car brands:
- 1. Ford (3.6 m mentions)
- 2. Toyota (2.7 m mentions)
- 3. BMW (2.5 m mentions)
/ Examining the mentions per source we revealed the following result:
- Forums (5.1 m mentions)
- Blogs (3.3 m mentions)
- News (2.4 m mentions)
- Twitter (1.8 m mentions).
/ Furthermore the demographics of the people talking about the car brands are:
- Mostly male (chance of 60%)
- 10- 29 old
- From USA or UK
/ Because of our analysis the important characteristics and demographics for car brands have been identified. Out of this
knowledge it is now possible to adapt your marketing- and social media strategies.
© 2012 Goldbach Interactive 10

11. Marketing and social media strategies: Scope of action
/ Goldbach interactive identified the key figures for the car industry. Now it is your turn to use the
findings and adapt your social media management process:
/ Listen to what people say about your brand:
- Listen closely to what your competitors and fans say concerning the characteristics, to get ahead of the competition
or to stay on top.
/ Analyzing what the topics about your car brand are:
- Be aware of what is defining for your brand. Analyze what characteristic is the most important for your car brand.
/ Engage with the users in social media:
- Engage and communicate with your influencer and fans that are mostly relevant for you by talking to the right
demographics group.
/ Adapt your social media strategy:
- Focus your strategy on what you have learned from your influencer and lie and emphasis the important
characteristics for a new campaign.
/ If you are interested in further analysis, then contact us, because we have several research tools to
analyze, manage and optimize your social media investment.
© 2012 Goldbach Interactive 11

12. Time period of the analysis
• The analysis covers the last 365 days
Scope of the analysis
• The car industry and well known car brands
Geographical restrictions
• None
Language restrictions
• None
Sources
• Blogs, Forums, Twitter, News
© 2012 Goldbach Interactive 12

13. GOLDBACH INTERACTIVE (SWITZERLAND) AG Jan Sedlacek
Mattenstrasse 90, 2503 Biel/Bienne @JanSedlacek1
Seestrasse 39, 8700 Küsnacht +41 32 366 01 90
jan.sedlacek@goldbachinteractive.ch
www.goldbachinteractive.ch
Dominic Stöcklin
@dstoecklin
+41 32 366 01 73
dominic.stoecklin@goldbachinteractive.ch