Mercedes-Benz Social Media Audit
For my social media audit I chose to research the accounts of Mercedes-Benz. Mercedes-Benz has one of the most recognizable logos on Earth and has long been hailed as the gold standard of the automotive industry. Mercedes mainly uses Instagram, Twitter, and FaceBook.
Instagram
Mercedes-Benz biggest presence on social media is their Instagram by far. Having a follower count of 36.6 million people they have surpassed direct competitors like BMW (34.2m) and Audi (16.3m). Mercedes posts very high quality images of their vehicles both old and new. Their top post had 1,172,348 likes and 3,903 comments. Mercedes’ Instagram is a finely tuned machine and changing anything they are doing would most likely hurt rather than help the account. Mercedes is clearly aware of the reach they have on Instagram. It’s main function currently is to serve as a space to update Mercedes fans.
While they have a big following the Mercedes-Benz twitter account isn’t nearly as effective as their Instagram account. Mercedes’ Twitter account has 4 million followers. The lower follower count is not for lack of trying. Out of all their social media accounts, Mercedes is most active on Twitter posting multiple times a day. However, engagement is very low across all of their posts.
Even with 4 million followers Mercedes' top post only had 755 likes and 56 retweets. This is due in part to the way the account is run. Unlike their Instagram and FaceBook accounts the Twitter account also operates as a customer service line. Mercedes should capitalize on this and marry their original content with customer service. This marriage will create an increase in engagement almost immediately.
FaceBook
The Mercedes-Benz is a wasteland of sorts. The average engagement belies the 22.9 million people worth of followers. Posts on FaceBook are most often recycled Instagram posts. These posts are usually very successful on Instagram but gain little to no traction on FaceBook. It’s clear that both users and brands are straying away from using FaceBook. So why even bother using it? Overall the Mercedes-Benz FaceBook account is a waste. Rather than helping marketing efforts, it takes away from bolstering the already massively successful Instagram page and improving their Twitter account.
Recommendations
It’s clear why Mercedes-Benz has been as successful as they have been. They have a clear image that they want to present to the world and consumers. Most importantly consumers connect with this image. The only suggestion I could give to Mercedes-Benz is to look toward the future. In recent years it has been clear that FaceBook has a hard time retaining a user base. This is reflected on Mercedes’ page where a big following infrequently interacts with their posts. So what would be for Mercedes is if they completely cut bait on their FaceBook account and focused solely on their Instagram and Twitter accounts.