Mercedes-Benz Retail Group MD Mike Whittington  with digital marketing manager Julie Wallman, Sophie Raworth, left, and Marketing Delivery’s Jeremy Evans, right

 

A ‘like’ on Facebook is just the tip of the iceberg in Mercedes-Benz Retail Group’s plan to fully integrate social media into its business.

Social media experts Headstream, who assisted the awards’ judges, said of the campaign: “This is a really comprehensive social media strategy. It has taken the approach of embedding social into its business and not just a creative, results-driven initiative. This is a smarter long-term approach.”

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Working with RSM Automotive, which spends 60 hours a month managing and monitoring the group’s social media activity on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram and LinkedIn, MBRG has a dedicated staff member to maintain a consistent tone of voice and personality.

MBRG encourages staff members to get involved, sending content and images from their dealerships. Jobs are also posted, alongside archive photos, staff awards’ winners and Formula 1 news. Competitions and quizzes encourage customer interaction.

Interaction levels are monitored and regular meetings are held to measure impact and generate new ideas. Social media platforms are also included in all communications, internal and customer-facing, encouraging both business and customer interaction.

The group said in its submission: “MBRG aims to increase its audience, but numbers are not the main focus.

"We endeavour to engage with people and make sure our social media platforms are interactive and encourage communication between followers on the brand as a whole as well as individual dealerships. By increasing the social media audience, this has led to – and will continue to lead to – an increase in footfall.”

In just a few months, audience levels on all platforms have increased: Facebook by more than 200%, Twitter by 22%, YouTube by 129% and Instagram by 145%.

Also shortlisted: Harwoods Audi; Perrys Motor Sales; Romford Mazda; Simpsons Škoda.

Previous winners: New category (judged with the support of Headstream).

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