Tesla was founded in 2003 by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning. They manufacture electric vehicles like the Model S, X, 3, Y, as well as solar rooftops and battery storage products. Elon Musk is the current CEO and owns 21.7% of the company. Tesla uses Twitter and Instagram effectively to market their products and gains attention through Elon Musk's unconventional tweets. They have experienced success but could improve their presence on Facebook and avoid unplanned events like the shattered Cybertruck window.

1. Telsa, Inc.
Social Media
Audit
By: Aaron Wilson

2. Overview and Startup
 Telsa Motors, Inc. was started in
July 2003 by Martin Eberhand and
Marc Tarpenning in Palo Alto,
California
 They would later be joined by J.B.
Straubel, Ian Wright and Elon Musk
who would provide most of the
initial funds.
 Currently Elon Musk is Tesla’s CEO
and he owns 21.7% of the company.
He has also become the companies
main figure of the company.

3. Car and Vehicle Industry
 Tesla’s main Industry is their electric car
manufacturing.
 Tesla has sold roughly 2.2 million electric
vehicles since it was founded
 Currently Tesla sells their Model S, Model 3,
Model X and Model Y car models.
 They have also begun manufacturing their
own electric truck, the Cybertruck.
 As well as their own sports car model, the
Roadster which is a fully electric car that can
reach speeds of 400+ km/h.

4. Energy Industry
 Tesla has also become a world leader in
creating Solar Rooftops. They have
accomplished this by making the rooftops
look good while also transferring large
amounts of energy from sunlight.
 They have also manufactured their own
energy storage systems with their Megapack
and Powerpack Batteries.
 Tesla has also allowed consumers to
purchase their Powerwall, which is a home
energy storage battery which allows its
users to store clean energy

5. Market Share
 Tesla has managed to
accumulate a worldwide
revenue of 24.6 Billion USD
 They recorded having a
total of 48,016 employees
in 2019
 Their growth has spiked
drastically in recent years
because of greater demand
for electric vehicles and
good use of social media
marketing

6. Social Media
Influence
 Tesla’s main social
media accounts are on
Twitter and Instagram.
 Their Twitter account
has become known to
post funny and
relatable posts that
most big companies
would avoid doing.
 Their Instagram is
mainly used to
showcase their
products in photo and
video form.

7. Elon Musk’s Influence
 Elon Musk’s Twitter account has become very popular through very
unconventional means.
 His account has managed to accumulated 32.1 Million followers and he has
made many Tweets that have managed to get hundreds of thousands of likes
and retweets.
 Some of his most infamous tweets include
 “Tesla is going to develop a quiet, electric leafblower” and then later
replying to this saying “Tesla blows haha”.
 “If life is a video game, the graphics are great, but the plot is confusing &
the tutorial is way too long”
 “Technically, alcohol is a solution”
 As well as memes about Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Baby Yoda, Area 51
and many more.
 Even Though many of these tweets aren’t related to Tesla, Elon will often
advertise Tesla on his account, which means its exposed to his large amount of
fans he has accumulated.

8. Other Influences
 Elon’s Musk's company SpaceX
flew a rocket into space with a
Tesla Roadster attached to it,
creating a unique advertising
method.
 Musicians like Snoop Dogg, Jay Z
and Dr. Dre have made their own
fair share of social media posts
related to Tesla.

9. Other Results Found
 Tesla has managed to be relatable, unconventional and professional with their
social media presence.
 Elon Musk has been known to be against Facebooks incident with Cambridge
Analytica. Therefore Tesla’s interaction and advertising on Facebook has
diminished drastically.
 Tesla has for the most part, stayed away from controversy and has been seen
by the general public in a very positive light.
 Although instances like the Cybertruck glass shattering during a presentation,
resulting in a large amount of attention and memes, is definably an example
of Elon Musk and Tesla accidently creating some negative attention on social
media.

10. Recommendations
 Improve Facebook Presence
 Tesla’s Facebook presence is
much smaller and less known
that their other accounts
because Elon Musk has been
known to oppose Facebooks
work with Cambridge
Analytica.
 Though Facebook hasn’t grown
in popularity that much in
recent years. It is still one of
the most influential social
media platforms in the world
right now.
 Facebook could be used as a
way for Tesla to connect and
reply to feedback from their
followers and users.
 Avoid another Cybertruck
instance
 Elon and Tesla advertised
their new Cybertruck on
their social media accounts
 While doing the presentation
for the reveal of the new
Cybertruck. Elon
demonstrated the trucks
Armor Glass by throwing a
steel ball at its windows.
This resulted in the glass
shattering.
 This ended up being both an
embarrassment and a meme
on the internet.
 Though it did result in a
large amount of attention,
it’s hard to say it was all
good attention.

11. References
 Wagner, I. (2020, Mar 4). Tesla – statistics & facts, Statista.
https://www.statista.com/topics/2086/tesla/
 Burns, M. (2014, October 8). A brief history of tesla. Tech Crunch.
https://web.archive.org/web/20150717064829/https://techcrunch.com/gallery/a-brief-
history-of-tesla/#/slide10
 Manecuta, A. (2018, November 19). Tesla: how to leverage social media to build a top
brand. Medium. https://medium.com/@13alexm/tesla-how-to-leverage-social-media-
to-build-a-top-brand-b7a043da68ff
 Cooper, G. F. (2019, December 19). Elon musk’s top 10 weirdest tweets of 2019. Cnet.
https://www.cnet.com/news/elon-musks-top-10-weirdest-tweets-of-2019/