Which Auto Makers are Taking the Lead on Facebook?

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Jessica Lee•Jul 29th, 2009

Advertising, Business, Facebook, Marketing, Metrics

Consumers have always identified with cars, even going so far as to give them their own names. As millions of people become fans of their favorite brands on Facebook, what is the auto industry up to?

According to PageData, auto brands are on Facebook, but with only one brand at over 500,000 fans – Porsche – there is significant potential for growth in this space. Here’s a glimpse of the top Facebook Pages in the auto category:

Facebook Page Leaderboard – Automotive

	Name	Fans
1.	Porsche	529,006
2.	Audi	312,020
3.	Ford Mustang	297,868
4.	VW	270,493
5.	MINI USA	166,348
6.	Chevrolet Corvette	64,562
7.	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution	63,628
8.	Maserati	44,831
9.	Honda Civic	43,382
10.	Volvo	33,936
11.	Toyota Prius	33,002
12.	Gila Motor	17,266
13.	GMC	11,688
14.	Toyota Yaris	10,131
15.	Bathurst 1000	9,555
16.	Subaru Impreza STI	9,080
17.	Mitsubishi Motors Fan Page	7,641
18.	BMW South Africa	7,349
19.	Guate Es Calida’	6,995
20.	Opel Corsa	4,143
21.	Megane	3,776
22.	Fiat	2,850
23.	Nissan Malaysia	2,662

Following Porsche at #1 is Audi at #2 and Ford Mustang at #3. With nearly 300,000 fans, the Mustang Page gained over 3,500 fans this week, growing about 1.2 percent. As you can see from the chart below, Ford Mustang’s following on Facebook is growing by about 500 fans a day. But Ford would be wise to follow our 8 Tips for Effectively Updating Your Facebook Page – the company has only posted two updates this month.

Following Ford Mustang in the Top 5 are: VW (#4), Mini USA (#5). The top 25 also includes Gila Motor (#12), Chevrolet Corvette (#6), Toyota Prius (#11), and Volvo (#10). These brands saw a growth rate ranging from 1.2 percent to 18.7 percent, the latter enjoyed by Gila Motor.

If you take a look at the top automotive Pages, you’ll notice that auto brands have been heavy on sharing videos (commercials) and photos (of their car models) with their friends, but updates to the Wall are sparse. In other words, auto brands are not touching and reaching their fans frequently enough, and Wall posts are not as social as they could be.

Auto brands: think back to BMW and Graffiti’s “What Drives You?” campaign. Or the Prius page is off to a good start with their use of social polls. Prius asks: “If Prius had a flavor, what would it be?”

Note: This post was updated to correct listings in the chart above.

Learn more about building your brand and growing your audience with our comprehensive guide to marketing on Facebook. The Facebook Marketing Bible is available at FacebookMarketingBible.com

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12 Responses to “Which Auto Makers are Taking the Lead on Facebook?”

1. Philip Miller says:
   July 29th, 2009 at 11:58 am

   You should visit the Audi Facebook page @ facebook.com/audi

   It has ~311,000 fans.

2. Kyle says:
   July 29th, 2009 at 1:29 pm

   This isn’t a complete list of auto pages, most noticeably missing is Audi–they also update their wall regularly, unlike how you stated above…

3. Luca Conti says:
   July 29th, 2009 at 2:42 pm

   FIAT has more than 2000 fan :-)

   http://www.facebook.com/fiatautomobiles?ref=ts

4. Philipp says:
   July 29th, 2009 at 3:40 pm

   here are some more missing brands from germany ;)
   http://www.facebook.com/VW – 270.000+ Fans
   http://www.facebook.com/porsche – 529.000+ Fans

   non official:
   http://www.facebook.com/pages/ferrari/24712846969 – 620.000+ Fans
   http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mercedes-Benz/6604386669 – 113.000+ Fans

5. Justin Smith says:
   July 29th, 2009 at 3:46 pm

   Thanks for the heads up guys – we’ll update the list shortly.

6. Measuring social media success by the numbers is the wrong approach | Web Marketing says:
   July 29th, 2009 at 7:23 pm

   [...] posted this list of automakers ‘taking the lead’ on Facebook. You’d think for a minute that the [...]

7. Philip Miller says:
   July 30th, 2009 at 6:32 am

   The whole article should probably be updated with data that reflects the real level of engagement fans have with these brands. For instance, Porsche and Audi fans are engaging with regular wall posts to the same degree Prius fans are with the poll example.

   Thanks for updating the list!

8. Carl Phelps says:
   July 30th, 2009 at 8:20 am

   Facebook is such a good opportunity for auto brands – in my opinion none are of them are leveraging it as much as they should.

   People tend to be very loyal to auto brands, which is only natural since one’s care is such a big part of their life. Facebook is a great way for auto brands to interact with their buyers to make sure they repeat, and to attract new customers. Since buying a car is such a big investment, many people prefer to seek advice from their friends.

   If they see their friends interacting with an auto brand on Facebook – this can attract them to their brand.

9. DR says:
   July 30th, 2009 at 3:17 pm

   You should also check out the Lexus Facebook page @ http://www.Facebook.com/Lexus and http://www.Facebook.com/LexusHybrids

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