Essay Sample on Social Media Use in Mercedes Benz and BMW

Introduction

In the world today, the use of social media as part of the marketing tools is a common practice and it helps many companies to meet their targets. BMW and Mercedes are not exceptional and they use social media platforms to market their products and create brand awareness. In Mercedes, the use of social media started with listening to what the consumers were saying about their products, analyzing the way social media affected businesses and determining their target consumers in the online platforms. The other step was to identify the factors that attract people to their company and one of the most outstanding facts was the lifestyle associated with their products. Consumers associate the company's automobiles with prestige and success (Armitage and Roberts 33). The social media platform created was meant to show the lifestyle and prestige of the brand. The image created by the social media platforms for the company triggers trails and purchases because the existing and potential consumers use this as a guide on what their life is all about when they drive their automobiles. In other words, the platforms encourage more purchases and create brand awareness. Mercedes uses the platform to make people proud of using their products.

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The other effective use of social media is deepening customer loyalty and triggering conversations. The company uses the social media platforms to start conversations with the consumers and they use that to get the feedback they need from them. For example, for the new products, the company triggers social media platforms to get the views of the consumers and they can make adjustments using this information. The company uses Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Google Plus to reach out to their consumers. The company used the Star Style Challenge in 2012 to create an impression that it has the best and most glamorous cars in the market. The aim of the campaign was to attract more people and encourage more purchases. The tweet race, a social media campaign carried out in 2010 also attracted many people and created brand awareness in the market. The company also launched Mbrace2 technology that allows people to use social media directly from their car (Siegel 945). The social media platforms are kept active and the company uses visually visible posts like videos and images. Facebook posts are as regular as two to three times a day and this keeps the target market fully informed on the progress of the company. The posts influence the desire to make purchases and deepen the loyalty of the consumers.

Use of Social Media in BMW

In a similar way, BMW uses social media to attract and retain consumers. The company is famous for its use of Instagram as one of the key social media channels through which it advertises its products. Their account on Instagram has more than ten million followers and it ranks as one of the most successful brands in the use of social media. The use of short videos attract many consumers and create brand awareness, which in turn triggers the urge to make purchases (Holt 40). In the effort to maintain the loyalty of the consumers, the company uses a link known as #bmwrepost to encourage people to make images and share them with the rest of the consumers. The company uses special features in different social media platforms to maximize their benefits from these sites. The company also uses Facebook, Google Plus and Pinterest to create a connection between the consumers and the company's management. The main focus of the automotive companies is to create awareness of their brands, attract new consumers and create awareness by showing the consumers what their brand entails. In BMW, the use of videos on Instagram helps to attract the social media users and this creates more awareness on the products they offer and the factors that make their products more admirable than those of the competitors.

The inner and social self of the consumers determine the products they buy. Companies aim at bringing out a sense of belonging and comfort through their products. BMW held several events in malls in India in 2016 to teach their consumers on how to use social media to bring out their social self and understand their source of comfort (Burns 79). The outcomes are reflected in the way consumers make purchases and feedback from the social media pages. With over 14 million Facebook followers, BMW uses the platform to introduce new products, to trigger purchases and to increase customer loyalty. The company uses the social media platform to showcase the unique features of their car models. Potential consumers can use these platforms to get insights on the unique factors that attract people to their products and this triggers purchases. Consumers comment on their experience with the products and this provides the company with feedback on their products and the features that need changes.

Conclusion

In conclusion, BMW has more followers and mentions on Facebook while Mercedes has more mentions on Twitter and news outlets. In total, BMW has more mentions in the social media platforms than Mercedes as shown in the chart below. The analysis shows that the two companies make use social media to meet some of their targets and to reach out to the target market. The competitive analysis of the two brands indicates that social media has a lot of potentials to improve and influence the sales of a company. The two companies use the platforms to create loyalty, desire to purchase, desire to try out their products and create awareness of their products.

Works Cited

Armitage, John, and Joanne Roberts. "Luxury: From the idea to the reality of prestigious places." Making Prestigious Places. Routledge, 2017. 23-33.

Burns, Kelli S. "How the top social media brands use influencer and brand advocacy campaigns to engage fans." Public Relations and Participatory Culture. Routledge, 2016. 78-90.

Holt, Douglas. "Branding in the age of social media." Harvard business review 94.3 (2016): 40-50.

Lovejoy, James. "Analysis: The BMW vs. Mercedes Social Presence Showdown" Brand Watch, 15 February 2019, www.brandwatch.com/blog/analysis-the-bmw-vs-mercedes-social-presence-showdown/Siegel, Joshua Eric. "System and method for providing predictive software upgrades." U.S. Patent No. 9,086,941. 21 Jul. 2015.