Social Media in India report: International automobile company review
Posted on 20. Oct, 2009 by Achintya in Reviews
This is the third post in a series where we will review performance of companies (and brands) using Social media to connect with Indian customers. As mentioned in our methodology post on soon to be published Social Media in India report, we are reviewing top Indian and International companies from the Forbes list for their presence in social media in India. In the previous posts we had reviewed some of the Indian companies” ( like the Tatas, Airtel, Reliance Communications) presence on Social Media. In this post we will be reviewing the presence of some international automobile companies on the Indian social web.
The Forbes 2009 list features 4 automobile companies in the top 50 having an Indian market presence. They are Toyota (3), Volkswagen (15) , Mitsubishi ( actually the list ranks Mitsubishi UFJ Financial as the 21st company but since the parent company also has an Indian presence in the car & SUV market, we have considered it for this review ) and Honda (39). Out of these, we found Toyota & Mitsubishi doing something interesting specific to Indian consumers.
We begin with Toyota, the Forbes 2009 rank 3 company. The international automobile major has an Indian presence through cars like Corolla, Camry, Innova, Altis, Land Cruiser, Prado etc. Owing to its global positioning as a company that is concerned about environment, the company has partnered with NDTV ( an Indian news and media company ) for its ”Green Future” web platform. ”Green Future” is essentially an environment news platform which features many influencers speaking on environmental causes and supporting various campaigns conducted by the company and the news channel. However, this social platform is more than just environment gyan. It has many social applications which takes its readers across multiple levels of social engagement. Readers can read news, watch videos, post comments and opinions on various topics. There is also an ideation platform called ”24-hour green ideas” where members can pool in their creative ideas for an eco-friendly future. Moreover, there is a separate kid’’s platform called ”Kid’’s club” where the next generation is being guided to a cleaner environment by engaging them to share their stories and thoughts, poems etc on environment.
Overall, Toyota’’s ”Green Future” is an interesting social website built around a noble cause which the company has known to support for years. It is an impressive start as an environment news channels that features many influencers and celebrities talking about a greener earth. Perhaps in the future they would like to have these celebrities blogging and interacting with readers- something on the lines of Huffington Post- or adopt a user generated environment news aggregation model like ngopost.org. In the future we would also like to see Toyota leveraging its user engagement to promote trial and purchase of its products also.
Moving on to Mitsubishi; the Forbes international rank 21 company has presence in India through cars like Lancer, Cedia, Pajero, Montero, Outlander. The Japanese auto major recently launched an online reality contest called The Great Driving Challenge for the promotion of Mitsubishi Cedia. Contestants were shortlisted on the basis of votes from visitors/members who rated the contestant based on their testimonials, profile and uploaded online content like blogs, photos, videos etc. The final 3 contestants were then sponsored for a paid road trip on Mitsubishi Cedia sports car on their chosen circuit where they were supposed to post blogs, photos and videos based on their trip experiences. Finally the winner was decided on the number of posts, content quality, user votes and number of profile visitors.
The Great Driving challenge is a good example of an online reality show. It effectively integrates the product marketing with the social media campaign. Unfortunately many such campaigns die out after some time and so does the buzz around it. If such social media campaigns are kept alive all round the year, we think it would add a lot more value to the company. Young and Free Alberta is one such example of an online reality contest where members & participants are kept engaged all round the year.
Summarizing, we can see international car companies making special efforts in social media for Indian customers. This shows that these companies recognize the importance of engaging customers around their product or social object (lifestyle, passion or cause) as well as customizing social media campaigns for target markets. In the near future we would like to see companies like Toyota and others, which have excellent social platforms and applications for international markets ( e.g. togethergreen.org) , bringing their Indian counterparts to an equivalent level.
2020 Social builds and nurtures online communities for Indian and international clients, connects their customers, partners and employees, and helps them achieve their business objectives.
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