SOCIAL MEDIA AND UNITED STATES ARMY

Ferrari: Social Media Monitoring 2

In second part of my research I would like to share my new findings and analysis with you to see how Ferrari behaves on the social media and how they implement their marketing strategies.

Current metrics

Increased Fans & Stable Search Interest 

The increase in fans on Facebook and followers on Twitter continued in the last two weeks (data gathered using Tweetstats). 

Comparing to previous data

Google Trends

IceRocket

SocialMention                                                  Oct. 13, 2015

Oct. 27, 2015

According to Google Trends Ferrari has rapid decline in interest. On recent IceRocket chart there is a high spike some time around October 22. 

On this week it is being very actively discussed on social media websites, 62% of likelihood with 42% of passion, comparing to previous data 48% of likelihood with 70% of passion The sentiment ratio is 26:1? that .

Ferrari target audience

The data taken from alexa.com shows, that males are greatly over-represented on a Ferrari web site. It also shows above average in education section. 

Traffic Rank in Country

The ferrari.com site with the highest combination of visitors and pageviews is ranked #1 in India, and rank in the United States is 16,169.

31.7 % of visits to the site that consist of a single pageview with Daily Time on Site is 4:04  (mm:ss) per visitor to the site.

So having collected the information from alexa.com and from the website I think that the Ferrari’s target market for high performance road cars has always been very rich people, generally over their 30’s, who would like to own an outstanding‐ top quality high performance car, which will distinguish them from every other driver on the road.

For example price of new Ferrari F12 Berlinetta presented on the picture:

So, I have been thought what about others markets, how could the Ferrari reach out to other target markets?

Ferrari decided to open their market target by manufacturing less expensive but same quality high performance cars. This way they will not only reach very rich clients, but also those who are not so rich to buy the best Ferrari’s model, but enough to allow themselves a whim that not every one can afford.

If you give a mass market appeal to the brand you are damaging this image by letting the car being more affordable and therefore less exclusive and unique.

The company denies this but freely admits that this type of car, like in the new California, is less demanding to drive, easier to get in and out of, roomier and less expensive to run. 

The first two years of manufacture — 5,000 cars in all — are already earmarked for individual customers. Doubtless the economic squeeze will cause a few orders to be cancelled, but there will be plenty who don’t have to stretch to afford the £143,320 

cost of the car. 

There are many blogs on which people publish about cheapest Ferraris (The cheapest Ferraris you can buy but probably shouldn’t),suggest a top of 5 “Affordable” Ferraris:

 and people not always agree with it:

Besides, for many fans of Formula 1, and those who can not afford to buy luxury cars, there is another way belong to the brand - it is to be a Ferrari Store customer.

People want to associated themselves as a part of Brand.

Competition

During many years Maserati and Ferrari have long been rivals in racing, and f course in sales cars.

Based on the comparison chart above, we can see that compared to Maserati, although the total number of social media followers of Ferrari is lower, the data on Social Mention seems pretty well. This is probably due to the amount of engaging content (i.e. pictures and open-ended questions) that the brand posts daily. This is one of the reasons that Ferrari has a better social media mention rate v.s Maserati.

The Social Searcher tool has shown the same neutral sentiment but it's been divided into more specific groups (Facebook, Twitter and Google+, Youtube). The most positive sentiment and more nuetral have  Google+ users.

Comments on the Twitter and Google+ comments reveal as a combination of a picture, a link, and a text.

The major users, who discussed about Ferrari are users of Youtube (25%) and Google + (12,2%), besides Dailymotion 28,7%

Conclusion

Since 1947 Ferrari has been the number one brand for high performance luxury cars in the road. However, the company decided to create even better cars, too fast to be legal on the roads, but still intended for personal ownership, even more expensive that the legal road race cars.  On the other side, they decided to manufacture less expensive road cars to extend their target market to those who can afford expensive models but not the best and most expensive. Ferrari has been able to extend so much their target market that women started to be 5% of their customers by the beginning of the 21st century.

The basis on which the target market is segmented is very important and beneficial for the company, as well as these new approaches that the company has adopted.

They have been able to make their brand famous all over the world at the same time that their target market is still very localized and unique.

Reading Reflection #3

Connecting with the groundswell

In Groundswell, Josh Bernoff and Charlene Li show people how to turn the force of customers connecting to their own advantage.

Companies are embracing internet as a marketing vehicle, gradually giving up some control of the brand, embracing the power of the groundswell and energizing customers to make their own contributions.

Companies that shift from traditional advertising to social media advertising, face several risks but can save lots of money if they have a well thought-out plan. Companies need to understand the needs and wants of their customers.

"It sounds so logical, so easy - keep the customer at the center of your organization. But the reality of departmental priorities and ingrained marketing and customer service practices keeps us far from this ideal.''  (p.217)

Not every company succeeds in the groundswell for different reasons. If a company is not willing to let go of the control and be flexible to allow a few of their employees who are knowledgeable and enthusiastic in groundswell take a leadership role, no matter how well the plan looks on paper, may not succeed. 

As stated in the case study, Dell encountered several complaints from customers who were unsatisfied with their products and services and the company did not seem to understand clearly what was going on until one of the customer used social media platforms to get Dell’s attention. Dell refunded the customer his money and they ceased the opportunity to engage their customers in a positive way using groundswell which turned-out to be a great choice for the company given the hard start. 

Due to Robin Good interview Josh Bernoff, author of "Groundswell" has talking about the biggest mistake companies make when trying to create a conversation with their customers:

It`s not difficult to loose control under the situation when you are used to traditional marketing - Dell was based on direct sales, relied on low costs and flexible products.

But once it entered groundswell and didn`t use all power of customer support to keep developing communications with customers, it became a real nightmare that nobody could predict.

But there is positive example of using a groundswell. It is a L’Oréal connecting with.

On November 2011 L’Oréal USA Professional Products Division (PPD) was awarded a Forrester Groundswell Award in the category of “Business to Business: Spreading” for its salon Facebook program. 

The aim in social media marketing for the beauty industry is to reach the audiences. Since dealing with salon market represents a B2B business model, the establishment of The Salon Facebook Program acts as a two-folded clever platform where the company is capable to reach the distributors and the end users as well.

This program empowers more than 5,000 salons that partner with the various brands under L’Oréal USA PPD to connect with customers and grow their business via social media. L’Oréal USA PPD collaborated with Buddy Media, the social enterprise software, to provide partner salons access to a social marketing suite that contains easy-to-use tools that enhance their own Facebook pages, with features such as how-to-videos, appointment booking services and product and service information about the various L’Oréal USA PPD brands the salons carry.

The Salon Facebook Program enables salons to market themselves to existing and potential clients. Features that salons can launch on their Facebook Page include dynamic how-to videos, an appointment-booking engine and information on L’Oreal products which directly connected with end users in a B2C perspective.

Now customers express your positive attitude to its products through social networks Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube:

Facebook

YouTube Channel

Instagram

Connecting to groundswell is very hard and long process, it includes daily feedback monitoring, 24 hrs customer support and updates in real time!