Volvo, like many other car manufacturers, thoroughly explores the ways of engagement with the brand fans (hopefully, turned-shoppers) in social media. Both hugely popular ‘heavy-weight’ Facebook and a young ‘rising star’ Pinterest came into play for the brand.
Recently Volvo Cars Europe has launched a half research, half fun experience called «You Inside» to study what people usually carry in their cars, thus let consumers themselves inspire Volvo to design better and more personalised vehicles.
To take part in a global Volvo’s study, users should visit the brand’s Facebook page hosted on youinside.volvocars.com, upload images of items they have with them in their car, and share some basic information about their car and their lifestyle. Volvo analyses these objects and information, and users receive personality profiles describing what the inside of their cars has to say about them.
Pic: Volvo «You Inside» app page
«We are passionate about social media, as it has revolutionized the way we can listen to and have a direct dialogue with our fans. We constantly want to learn more about our customers in order to make better cars – and hopefully this Facebook experiment will inspire new Volvo innovations,» says Jesper Andreasson, Senior Manager Social Media at Volvo Cars. «This Facebook application exemplifies how consumers insights and customer involvement is at the heart of our brand.»
Another fun and rewarding experience has been recently launched by the US Volvo branch in collaboration with a popular pinner and lifestyle blogger Victoria Smith to promote a new model Volvo S60 T5 AWD, described by the manufacturer as «the most dynamic Volvo ever».
Pic. The «Volvo Joyride» contest page
This initiative called «Volvo Joyride» encourages consumers (U.S. residents of 18+) to take part in a Pinterest contest to win a road trip of their dream with a free 4-day use of a new Volvo S60 T5 AWD, 2-night stay at a hotel in their destination city along with different $250 gift cards.
To enter the contest (by September 26th), user should create a pinboard on his/her Pinterest page and title it «Volvo Joyride», then re-pin one of Volvo S50 T5 images from this inboard to one’s Volvo Joyride board. The full list of rules can be seen on volvojoyride.com.
Although, it is not quite clear how the company will calculate ROI for these activities, the brand’s social media manager in the USA, Joseph Barbagallo, sounds optimistic, saying that Volvo’s refreshed social-media strategy will focus on visual sites like Pinterest and Instagram. «We are looking at activating on those channels and bringing those fans from sites like Facebook and Twitter onto Pinterest. Volvo has lots of consumers who take road trips, so it’s a natural with what people are already doing», he commented in an interview to Marketing Daily.
When the contest started, Volvo had 155 followers on Pinterest. Now their number has been up to 500+.