[Interview] Delna Avari, Tata Motors, Gives Us Insights Into Tata Nano's Social Media Strategy

We interviewed Delna Avari, Head-Marketing Communication & Services, Passenger Vehicles Business Unit, Tata Motors Limited, to better understand their social media strategies & to find out how their presence on social media platforms has helped boost sales for the brand Tata Nano. We also learned how effectively they interact with their customers online in order to solve queries & build stronger relationships with them.

Considering that Tata Motors is already an established brand over the years among the Indian audience, why do you think Social Media Marketing is essential for a brand like Tata Nano?

Nano Twist is a smart city car that is targeted at the growing customer base of trendy, young urbanites. Brand Tata Nano associates itself with smartness, creative and young, attributes that relate well with its youthful target audience. Using digital platforms is vital for the brand because it is able to engage with its core fan base which leads to immense recall value and purchase consideration. Hence it has been the brand’s endeavour to continuously engage with the target audience in a fun, unique and exciting way that is social by design.

To get a better understanding of customers & to engage with them, what are some of the major social media platforms you think an automobile brand should be present on?

Facebook and Twitter are a great way to interact with customers and get an insight into their minds and sentiments about the brand. Besides that, YouTube and Instagram are a great way to leverage your online presence. Each day, there are new opportunities for social interactions and we try to tap into as many relevant ones as possible, to build a stronger relationship with our customers. We try and do campaigns that are unique to each of these platforms rather than adapt one campaign across all.

Please share some ideas/experiences on how Social Media Marketing has been able to better your brand communication as compared to your offline communication.Ne

We always ensure that we have an integrated approach.  For eg.  Nano AwesomenessLive is one such unique on-ground & digital platform on the brand that brings to life the brand attitude of doing things bigger, better & differently. Young achievers in their own right, who had the conviction to do things differently. Whether it’s the quirky fashion designer Masaba Gupta, riveting street musician Ugesh Sircar, contemporary dancer Lauren Gottleib everybody embodies the spirit of awesomeness.

This also covered celebration of regional festivals (8-9 nos of Nano grooving around during the Dandiya festival), literary work (Vanessa Able’s book- the Nanologues, a chronicle of her journey across India in a Nano) and also music (Avicii, Armin, DeadMau5). We constantly ensured that we engaged with our followers with interactive content and created enough buzz before and during the activity.

In order to engage with the younger customer group, how did Tata Nano’s initiative (India’s First Social Road Trip) with MTV India work? What was the objective of this initiative? Was it to help boost sales or was it to simply build the younger customer group as its core audience?

Yes, that campaign has worked extremely well as it is India's First Social Road Trip and we’ve received very positive response from the audiences. It has completed three seasons as of now and in terms of statistics, it has  done very well. We decided to do that campaign because the idea behind it is something that the youth connects with, very well. A Tata Nano is a perfect companion for long, exciting road trips and reflects the fun and adventurous attitude of the young generation.

Does Social Media play a vital role in tackling with crisis situations for your company? Share your experience.

Social media helps us address queries one on one basis and interaction with our customers is a very personal experience on the platform. This is something that is very important for our customers as well as us. It helps us understand problems better and give solutions that are best suited for them as quickly as possible. Our turn-around time to respond to any complaint or query is done within an hour.

Does your social presence help you solve customer complaints efficiently? Do you have a CRM system in place to help you manage daily fan queries that you receive on social media?

If we get queries regarding servicing or any help they require with the car, we always connect them with the right person that can address the issue immediately. This saves them the trouble of searching for the right way to go about any query.

We have dedicated resources to ensure that no queries and complaints are left unresolved.

Do you use tools to analyze the feedback you get about your product & customer service via social media? Also, what tools do you use to measure the efficacy of your social media campaigns?

We have a separate ORM team who looks after all the mentions that we receive on digital via Iristrack. For social media campaign analysis, we use Sysomos.

Do you think applying the right social media strategy for your brand can actually drive sales & eventually help increase ROI?

There’s no doubting the power of social media to drive positivity towards a brand. One cannot deny this positive sentiment built towards the brand to eventually convert into sales. Testimonials online, regular communication about the car’s efficiency and features, all lead towards building an impression in a person’s mind. This impression is what has a high potential to convert into a test drive and eventually, a sale.

Do you have an external agency managing your communication on social media platforms? If yes, how does it tie in with your overall communication strategy? Give us a download of a day in the life of your social media manager.

Yes. We have collaborated with DigitasLBi for our social media communication strategy for Nano. Our social platforms have their own unique strategies that are designed for an optimum use of the available resources online. If and when required, our on-ground or other campaigns are adapted on social media but not before they are customised for the platform. Further more, as a practise, all social media campaigns and content strictly adhere to all the brand guidelines and overall communication in all the channels is uniform.