This document discusses social media strategies for automotive industries. It begins by noting that over 2 billion internet users are active on social media and spend more time viewing profiles and pictures than engaging with company websites. It then provides statistics on social media usage broken down by age, gender and country. Several graphics show that social media influences car purchasing decisions and that customers want to connect with brands and other drivers. The document concludes by outlining a four step strategy for social media success: connect with customers on Facebook, engage them with relevant content, influence them to share content with friends, and fully integrate social features into the customer experience.

1. Social Strategies in Automotive Industries
Follow me on Twitter: @mpiskorski
Associate Professor of Strategy and Richard Hodgson Fellow
Harvard Business School
1

2. 2,000,000,000+
internet
users
are
very
social
Index
of
rela4ve
number
of
visits
Company
website
Poli<cs
Newspapers
Social
0
20
40
60
80
100
Number
of
visits

3. And
they
are
your
customers!
16%
Percentage
of
social
networkers
14%
12%
10%
8%
6%
4%
2%
0%
15-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55+
Women Men

4. And
they
are
your
customers
in
Chile
too!
1,6
1,4
1,2
Millions
of
users
1
0,8
0,6
0,4
0,2
0
18-24 24-35 36-45 45-55 55-
Male Female

5. They
love
to
look
at
other
people,
not
companies…
Email
Adding/
5%
removing
friends
8%
Adding
content
8%
Viewing
pictures
and
profiles
79%

6. They
also
love
video
and
mobile…
• Video
• 80% of social platform users do this
• Average = 150 videos/month
• Men watch 2x as many videos as women do
• Mobile
• 40% global cellphone users have data access
• Primary activity: search + social networks
• 45% of Facebook traffic is mobile now

7. Social
media
is
cri<cal
to
car
industry:
Bought
as
a
result
of
seeing
content
on
social
media
Nonalcoholic
beverages
Healthcare
Personal
care
Alcoholic
beverages
Travel
Financial
services
Food
Automo<ve
0
5
10
15
20
25
Percentage
of
social
network
users

8. Social
is
cri<cal
to
automobile
industry:
People
use
social
when
they
make
decisions
• 80% of auto shoppers in US use Facebook
• 30% use it to make car buying decision
• 41% saw post and added a car to consideration
• 58% mentions new car purchase on Facebook
• What kinds of content matters to them?
• 60% will get advice from friends
• 60% will go to company page on Facebook
• 50% will go to dealership page on Facebook

9. Social
is
cri<cal
to
automobile
industry:
They
want
to
connect
to
brands
and
other
drivers!
70
60
Percentage of respondents
50
40
30
20
10
0
Discounts Get advice Identify with Customer Connect to other
brand service consumers
Food Travel Financial services Cars

10. Four
steps
to
successful
social
strategy
Find your current
and future customers
Integrate social Make their social
technologies into experience better
your business
Get them to tell their
friends how great you are

11. Connect:
Use
a
Facebook
Page
as
your
entry
point

12. Connect:
Ask
your
customers
off-­‐line
to
“Like”
you

13. Connect:
Ask
on-­‐line
customers
to
“Like”
you
and
use
the
power
of
social
endorsement!

14. Engage:
Content
that
makes
their
social
experience
beer
• You are not a friend,
you are a brand
• Research shows you
should stay on brand
• Use pictures and video
• 30% people search for
car after seeing a video
of it online

15. Engage:
Content
that
makes
their
social
experience
beer
• Get others to tell your
story
• 60% people do not
believe stories that car
companies tell
• User generated content
• Volkswagen
• Ford Fiesta Movement
• Chevy Sonic

16. Engage:
Typical
economic
outcomes
for
social
campaigns
• Ford Fiesta
• Some videos received 200,000 views – average 1,600
• 1st quarter name recognition at 42% of intending to buy
• Compare to 23% for Nissan Cube comparable
• 289,000 website visitors vs. 144,000 comparable
• 20% configured vehicle online
• 72,000 annualized test drives
• Cost them roughly $6 million
• $83 / test drive versus $300 average for the category

17. Influence:
Get
people
to
tell
their
friends
how
great
you
are

18. Influence:
Get
people
to
tell
their
friends
how
great
you
are

19. If
you
really
want
friends
to
influence
others,
you
need
to
integrate
into
product
experience

20. Integrate:
eBay
and
GroupGi`s

21. Integrate:
eBay
and
GroupGi`s

22. Integrate:
eBay
and
GroupGi`s

23. Integrate:
eBay
and
GroupGi`s

24. Integrate:
eBay
and
GroupGi`s

25. Integrate
+
Influence:
eBay
and
GroupGi`s

26. Integrate
+
Influence:
Economic
outcomes
of
integra<on
campaigns
• Lots of happy people getting gifts
• Average 4.2 contributors
• Economic benefits
• Average ticket price increased 5 times
• 1 in 3 people signed up for a PayPal account
• Everyone returned to eBay four times
• How much did this cost eBay?
• Fixed cost of technology, nothing in marginal costs

27. Integrate
+
Influence:
General
prescrip<on
Use Facebook Platform
• To get friendship data
• To write to people’s profiles
How American Express
is growing market share
over Visa and MasterCard?
And get them to do To connect people to
tasks for you each other in ways
• Such as advertising or • They can’t connect on FB
providing inputs for free as • Or in the off-line world
they connect to others

28. Integrate
+
Influence:
How
to
leverage
this
in
car
selling?
Use Facebook Platform Use your Facebook
• To get friendship data to sign up for
• To write to people’s profiles exclusive preview
test rides…
And post this on your
Facebook page to
get your friends to
vote for you Want to be the 1st to test ride?
And get them to do To connect people to
tasks for you each other in ways
• Such as advertising or • They can’t connect on FB
providing inputs for free as • Or in the off-line world
they connect to others
And bring at least
three friends!

29. Integrate
+
Influence:
How
to
leverage
this
in
car
selling?
Use Facebook Platform Sign up if you
• To get friendship data already own
• To write to people’s profiles
Post on-line
discounts for your Come to service
friends to use your car
And get them to do To connect people to
tasks for you each other in ways
• Such as advertising or • They can’t connect on FB
providing inputs for free as • Or in the off-line world
they connect to others

30. Four
steps
to
successful
social
strategy
Start with
Facebook Pages
Make sharing Provide pics and video
central to your and get others to do it
business model
Get people to share
content with their friends

31. Thank you!
@mpiskorski
More detail: http://bit.ly/SocialCarReport
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