Post on 12-Sep-2019
The first car ran on India's roads in 1897. Today, the automobile industry in India is one of
the largest in the world and one of the fastest growing globally. India's passenger car and
commercial vehicle manufacturing industry is the sixth largest in the world, with an annual
production of more than 3.9 million units in 2011.
More and more cars of all sizes, hues and features, continue to adorn Indian roads, with
global brands converging to Indian markets, with new models, on a regular basis.
The purchase of an automobile continues to be a big decision for most buyers. Whether it is
the first four-wheeler purchase by an individual, or an upgrade to a bigger and better car, or
even the purchase of an additional vehicle in the family, all of these experiences involve a
fair amount of research, planning, thinking and reviewing process. Purchase of an
automobile also involves an active process of seeking opinions, and hence word-of-mouth
referrals play a significant role, in the final decision of purchase. Thousands of potential and
existing customers are turning “social” by the day. Every second, hundreds of posts,
comments and reviews about automobiles get posted on social media, which are read and
believed, too. In fact, a high percentage of potential customers actually refer to these
reviews and it acts as a key decisive factor for them while making their purchases.
What are the key factors users are talking about prior to purchase? What kind of questions
do they have about automobiles? What are people sharing about their experiences with a
vehicle? Are they happy? Or not? How would their openly expressed opinions affect the
purchase decisions of others? These are the kind of questions that any automobile brand in
India, may have.
Keeping the above in mind, we analyzed a social customer’s perspective towards the top
automobile brands operating in the Indian market. The following report contains this
analysis that will help the reader understand how each of these brands fares in the mind of
an average Social Indian Consumer.
Introduction
We used Radian6, a sophisticated, easy-to-use, real time monitoring tool to extract
conversations about the following automobile brands having presence in India:
The social media presence of these brands on Facebook and Twitter was also analyzed, and
fan and follower counts were compared. For the above brands, keywords included the brand
names and their car vehicle models priced up to INR 25 lakhs. These keywords were
incorporated in Radian6 and all conversations from October 01, 2012 to October 30, 2012
were captured. On each of these conversations, totally numbering 41,890, was analyzed for
specific aspects of the vehicles and broadly classified into 4 aspects – Features, Looks, Pricing
and Safety, and the overall conversation-level sentiment was noted.
The social media presence of these brands on Facebook and Twitter was also analyzed, and
fan and follower counts were compared. Also compared, was the fan feedback on these
Facebook pages, to measure the relationship between their engagement level and the fan
base.
Abstract
Table of Contents
Segment wise Share of Voice 1
Social Media Presence 2
Aspect wise Analysis 3
Media Type Analysis 3
Brand Reputation and Advocacy 4
Influencers 5
Summary 6
Share of Voice
Out of the total 41,890 conversations analyzed, the Hatchback segment appears to be the most preferred, which
explains the tendency of Indian customers to use smaller cars that cost less. SUVs, on the other hand, follow
closely, most likely due to their ability to perform well on various terrains and their sturdy build. Sedans, most of
which are considered to be more “luxurious” of the vehicles, are spoken about the least, but do not lag too far
behind, in terms of share of voice.
A healthy mix of the segments is observed, as far as the share of voice for the type of vehicles is concerned, with
the Hatchback segment garnering a much higher commentary than others.
GIVEN THE POTENTIAL ACROSS THREE SEGMENTS, UNDERTAKING A SOCIAL MEDIA
LISTENING ACTIVITY WOULD HELP THE BRANDS TO ALIGN TO COMMUNICATION
OPPORTUNITIES AND MARKET TRENDS.
Comparison between popular vehicle Brands
and vehicle segments in India
1
A glimpse of how automobile brands in India fare on
the two most popular social media platforms
*Average of last 20 posts taken till October 22, 2012 (6:30 PM IST). **Consolidated Facebook likes and Twitter Followers of different models of these manufacturers were considered, as individual brand pages are unavailable.
Social Media Presence
Tata and Mahindra, due to the sheer popularity of their vehicle models, manage pages dedicated to these models
and hence, generate tremendous buzz and engagement from its audience. Volkswagen, despite having a higher
fan base than most other automobile brands, receives below average feedback from its followers. The recent
launch of Hyundai Eon generated a significant amount of likes and shares on Hyundai’s Facebook page. Nissan, on
the other hand, generated higher number of shares on posts containing images of its international models.
POPULAR VEHICLE MODELS HAVE THEIR OWN DISTINCT IDENTITIES. THAT IS WHY,
THESE MODELS, AND NOT THEIR MANUFACTURERS ARE THE ACTUAL “BRANDS” ON
SOCIAL MEDIA.
Average of Likes
Average of Comments
Average of Shares
2
What people discuss the most when conversing
about automobile brands? Aspect wise Analysis
Twitter, due to its short updates and ease of reading, is the preferred
platform for conversing about automobile brands. It is followed by the
more elaborate platforms such as Forums and Blogs, where detailed
information can be shared and it facilitates participation of multiple users
who can post their opinions.
APART FROM THE USUAL TWITTER, BRANDS NEED TO BE
PRESENT ON FORUMS AND PARTICIPATE IN DISCUSSIONS
THAT WILL NOT ONLY HELP THEM ANSWER QUERIES, BUT
ALSO ENSURE THEY ARE TALKED ABOUT MORE.
Where does the chatter take place? Media Type Analysis
Quite evidently, the product pricing is the most important aspect for people while considering automobiles, so much
that discussions about safety take a backseat. Features are also almost equally considered while conversing about
car brands. The above graph clearly explains the customer psyche in India.
FOR POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS, IT IS AN ESSENTIAL THING TO KNOW HOW MUCH A CAR
AFFECTS THEIR WALLETS WHEN IT IS BOUGHT.
3
Proprietary Social Wavelength metrics
comparing automobile brands
Brand Advocacy
Matrix
Brand Reputation and Advocacy
The Brand Reputation Index is
the relation between the shares
of sentiments of the brands, with
respect to the volume of
sentiments of the industry. The
BRI is helpful in accurately
ranking each brand on the basis
of its sentiment and the
sentiment of the industry. It is
observed that Maruti Suzuki,
despite a lower volume of
positive conversations than Tata
Motors, has a much better BRI
due to its comparatively higher
share of positive conversations
than neutral and negative ones.
The Brand Advocacy Matrix,
another useful metric, shows
each brand as a data point in a
chart. This chart positions each
brand according to its volume of
conversations and Brand
Reputation Index. Two major
“Indian” brands, Tata Motors
and Maruti Suzuki generate high
advocacy and volume of
conversations, which places them
in the Star Quadrant. Other
Brands generally account for a
much lower volume of
discussions, and therefore need
to generate more buzz to
increase advocacy.
SINCE A HUGE VOLUME
OF NEGATIVE
CONVERSATIONS EXIST
ABOUT BRANDS, A
MECHANISM TO
ADDRESS COMPLAINTS
AND QUERIES NEEDS TO
BE BUILT. THIS WILL
HELP ACHIEVE BETTER
POSITIONING AND BRI. The Brand Reputation Index is a metric derived by Social Wavelength to measure the relationship between the sentiments of brands. The Brand Advocacy Matrix plots the BRI in relation to the brands volume and presents a clear comparison between brands.
4
5
RT @HorribleHarshad: @anandmahindra heading home in a Xylo, like a
bunch of other people. Maybe India comes home in a Mahindra :)
@AnandMahindra (643,582 Followers, 4,497 Updates)
On the road with @SwatySMalik swatys in her #Mahindra XUV
pic.twitter.com/HGN4M33m
@GulPanag (449,463 Followers, 55,526 Updates)
Maruti's new Alto gets 6,500 bookings before launch |via
@EconomicTimes http://t.co/uPqgb3Se
@TinuCherian (195,072 Followers, 39,743 Updates)
RT @hormazdsorabjee: Here's our review of the Mahindra Quanto.
Refinement for a 3-cyl engine impressive but performance a bit
disappointing. http://t.co/3mGbohCE
@TheMehulPatel (137,856 Followers, 28,849 Updates)
RT @SHIJINSHYAM: Another Pic of @RannvijaySingha at Etios Motor
Racing Event at Gurgaon oct 6th 2012..... http://t.co/VO61lk4V
@RannvijaySingha (105,677 Followers, 2,893 Updates)
Influencers
The “Indian” automobile brands are preferred more than their foreign counterparts in India, the
three accounting for 53% of the share of voice.
The popularity of the various automobile segments in India is comparable, with Hatchbacks and
SUVs being slightly more popular than Sedans.
Price is the most important factor in discussions about automobiles, followed by features. Together,
these are the primary aspects of discussions in 72% of the conversations. Safety is considered to be
the least important of the aspects, with only 8% of the discussions about it.
For fans to engage with a brand, the quality of content is an essential factor. As a matter of fact,
posts from a brand with a lower number of fans may generate higher engagement than those of a
page with a much higher fan volume.
There is a healthy mix of people discussing about automobiles on various media platforms. Those on
Twitter generate more content due to the microblog’s facilitation of shorter updates, which have a
higher chance of being read. Conversely, Forums and Blogs are used by people who like to post
detailed reviews about brands, and replies and comments to these reviews, in addition to the
reviews themselves, are further read by people.
The share of the sentiments for a brand, determine its positioning in the industry, in terms of
sentiment. The Brand Reputation Index gives a clear view to this observation, where a brand with a
higher share of negative conversations (from the total conversations about itself), may end up being
placed lower in ranking, irrespective of how many conversations it accounts for in the industry.
The Brand Advocacy Matrix shows that volume and sentiment can greatly influence a brand’s
positioning in the industry, and a higher volume of discussions for few brands may push the
positioning of other brands lower.
Keeping a track on influential conversations, especially negative ones, is essential to ensure that it
does not snowball into a major crisis. Also, popular automobile forums such as teambhp.com, need
to be continuously monitored to track conversations about brands.
To put it simply, since social media conversations about brands can potentially make or break their
reputation, and these need to be continuously tracked and responded to, wherever required.
Summary
6
Social Wavelength is India’s largest social media agency. Founded in 2009, we are now a team of 150+,
managing social media for 60+ brands and having presence in Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Bengaluru.
We are authorized resellers in India for Radian6, one of the leading social media monitoring tools in the
world.
Social Wavelength has been recognized as a “Red Herring Asia 100” company for its innovative business
model. Earlier this year, we won the WAT award for being “Social Media Agency of the Year.”
For Business Enquiries:
Mihir Karkare Vice President mkarkare@socialwavelength.com Mobile: 9870399493
About Social Wavelength