Traditional marketing methods vs. social media marketing
Buying a car, in the past, was a hectic process because it needed extensive research and a lot of planning before going straight to buy it. Adding to that, it’s a huge investment, so people would be afraid not to make the right choice. In the past, car manufacturers used traditional methods to promote the cars through channels such as print advertisements (newspaper, magazines), TV and radio ads, and outdoor advertising (billboards, posters). Also, they were highly dependent on the spread of word of mouth. Conversely, today, the traditional marketing methods are way less important than other advanced methods. The power of social media is the driving force of purchasing behavior towards cars and all products in general. With the widespread use of digital platforms, influencers have a great effect. People get affected easily by them in a review for a restaurant, fashion, and a lot more with no exception to the car industry. There are numerous automobile influencers who car manufacturers depend on for marketing their products. Let’s dive more into this topic.
The importance of influencer marketing
Shifting from brochure research and visiting car dealerships, consumers started researching everything online. There are a lot of sources online, and they can check if they are reliable or not through reviews, which gives them a deeper understanding than other advertising means. Car manufacturers also use other methods such as sponsored content, video content, interactive campaigns, and influencer marketing. Influencer marketing, as previously said, is highly engaging and attracts most customers. However, content should be professional and trustworthy so that customers can relate to it. This happens when the influencer shares relevant content, good quality content, accurate, and transparent. It should also be authentic in order to be credible. To sum this part, the influencer shouldn’t make it for the sake of money only, everything should be true because no one can fool the audience today.
Top car influencers
Moving forward with the top influencers in the industry, car content has been going viral and car influencers are numerous. Firstly, Shmee150 (Tim Burton) is a very known car blogger/influencer since 2008. Today, with over 2 million followers on youtube and 1 million on Instagram, Shmee150 is one of the biggest automobile bloggers. Also, a well known influencer in this field of automotive is David Patterson or That DUdeinBlue. He has been sharing car content since 2012, and his content are mainly reviews and opinions about cars in a Youtube channel with 1.22 million subscribers. In UAE, there are quite some like for example, Mohamed Beiraghady with an account named “Mo Vlogs”. Mohamed is one of the youngest youtube bloggers in Dubai ;however, his success is hilarious. He has close to 10 million followers on his Youtube channel, and his top-rated video has more than 16 million views in which he showed his own fancy car fleet.
Shmee 150 (Tim Barton)
David Patterson (ThatDUdeinBlue)
Mohamed Beiraghady (Mo Vlogs)
The future of influencer marketing
The influencer marketing is growing and with the continous development of technology, the sector will be increasing with no limit. With the advancement, creative and engaging content are expected. Further, virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) are expected to be the next big thing in marketing in industries like the automotive industry. Through VR and AR, customers will be able to see an interactive digital view of cars, which will allow them to check the car features and sit inside the car itself. This will lead to making car dealers ship the needed car to people’s homes directly.