Overcoming Tesla’s business challenges with digital marketing and social media campaigns.
by Kimberly Eugene, 05/21/2023
Tesla, hereafter referred to as the client for the sake of this example, continues to prove that it is a brand that traverses into foreign territory. Its aura is synonymous with that of rockets, autonomous cars, and futuristic intentions for artificial intelligence that could restructure humanity’s relationship with technology by providing increasingly meaningful experiences. However, some question whether the client is overly optimistic in its ambitions.
Let's create a social media marketing and digital marketing plan that will help the client better connect with disbelievers and simultaneously reach its overall business goals.
The Current State of Tesla
Elon Musk, the founder and CEO of Tesla, has indeed taken major steps throughout his journey toward the future, but some question at what cost? Most notably, Musk has spent upwards of $40 billion to acquire the popular social media platform, Twitter, and many question the worth of this investment, often with some going even further as to question their own investment in the company.
The digital conversations concerning Tesla across various social media platforms are technology-based and ecocentric. Tesla owners are mostly loyal, futuristic, and excited about the client’s innovative passions regarding the dismissal of gasoline for alternate sources of energy. This group of determined executives and ambitious career professionals aspire to magnify their environmentally conscious efforts and believe that owning a Tesla is a good step in the right direction to impact the world.
However, not all conversations involving Tesla have positive outlooks. Some users take to social media to express their discontent with vehicle features working improperly, issues with shipment errors, and long waitlists. Adding in the recent recall of 40,000 electric vehicles (Castrejon, 2023) which caused shares of the company to drop 2% as a result of the mistake and signified a potential loss of trust and credibility from shareholders, is Tesla just an expensive gimmick? And if not, how can my client change the minds of those who hold this perspective?
Using Social Media to Encourage Feedback and Conversation
When a company’s goals include connecting directly with consumers and gaining feedback, they are increasingly turning to social media as it works effectively to help change and rectify narratives. It seems that my client could benefit from a social media marketing campaign that encourages consumers to make the brand their own by urging audiences to use a hashtag to help reduce the dissonance between my client’s brand and its customer base; perhaps something along the lines of #MyTesla. Word-of-mouth is still the most impactful form of marketing that there is and with the millions of followers across my client’s various social platforms all adding their voice to the conversation of why they chose Tesla over other brands using #MyTesla, the conversation can once again be one of hope, growth, and optimism.
The client could then tie the hashtag from its social media campaign to a digital marketing campaign that produces ROE (return on engagement) in the form of positive anecdotes and correlations to show that people trust Tesla, eventually resulting in ROI. Those who click through to a website featuring some of the #MyTesla conversations along with product reviews, testimonials, and other content that confirms its brand identity could potentially become leads, and they could leave their contact information on a form to receive future promotional emails from the company, maybe eventually acquiring the client’s products. This campaign would not only help to amplify the voices of those with positive experiences with the company and encourage those not already participating in the conversation to do so but also create an increase in my client’s bottom line.
Campaign Metrics
In this case, CPM, or cost-per-mille, would be a reliable campaign metric to identify the reach and quality of our campaign message. With a backlog of 100,000 people waiting to buy my client’s vehicles, along with the multiple billions spent on acquiring Twitter, Tesla’s issue is obviously not one of acquisition or revenue, so I would advise against using the more costly CPA (cost-per-acquisition) or CPC (cost-per-click) metrics, but because we are trying to convert as many consumers to trusted users as possible, using CPM to broadcast our message to thousands of people at a time could be of significant value to the company if its goals are both brand awareness and increase to company revenue.
Consider the methods of Aishwarya Balaji, CEO and Co-Founder of A Fresh Sip, an alcohol-free beverage platform that used social media to encourage dialogue. Balaji shared that prior to their launch, they spent eight months building a community for the “sober-curious”.
“When my cofounder and I set out with a mission to redefine drinking culture and increase the accessibility of tasty and sophisticated alcohol-free options we knew that there were so many people who did not drink alcohol who felt unseen and unheard. We started our sober-curious journeys and eventually that led us to listening to what our community wanted – which was an online alcohol free platform to help them find the best alcohol-free products – and it has been incredible to see the outpouring of support and sales we've gotten from our community since we launched.”
(Wertz, 2021)
Below is a screenshot of the company’s social media endeavors to create brand awareness along with responses from some of its audience.
A Fresh Sip also posted a video with a caption that asked the audience questions about their journey as sober individuals. Many responses praised the company for starting the discussion. The company even created branded graphic content that enabled users to share their sober journey to their own profiles which could then lead to dialogue with their friends, thus spreading the company’s brand message even further.
Letting go of control can be understandably uncomfortable for multi-million dollar brands such as Tesla, however, those that embrace their communities and share the control of their brand messages have seen considerable results in their business goals. Consider the application of these social media campaigns and digital marketing techniques to improve trustworthiness amongst consumers and meet your own business goals.
Kimberly Eugene - Content Marketing Specialist
Owner of PRTYNVRNDS LLC
Futuristic | Strategic | Developer | Positivity | Relator
prtynvrnds.business.blog
References:
Capoot, A. (2022, November 8). Tesla recalls more than 40,000 U.S. cars over possible loss of power steering. CNBC. Retrieved April 17, 2023, from https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/08/tesla-recalls-40000-cars-over-possible-loss-of-power-steering-.html
Castrejon, L. (2023, April 2). 12 problems with Tesla nobody talks about. HotCars. Retrieved April 17, 2023, from https://www.hotcars.com/problems-with-tesla-nobody-talks-about/#poor-build-quality
Conger, K., & Hirsch, L. (2022, October 28). Elon Musk completes $44 billion deal to own Twitter. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/27/technology/elon-musk-twitter-deal-complete.html
Dudovskiy, J. (2021, May 1). Tesla segmentation, targeting and positioning: Overview - Research-Methodology. Business Research Methodology. Retrieved May 6, 2023, from https://research-methodology.net/tesla-segmentation-targeting-and-positioning-overview/
Jin, H. (2022, October 4). Analysis: Tesla could face its toughest challenge yet as economy cools. Reuters. Retrieved April 17, 2023, from https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/tesla-could-face-its-toughest-challenge-yet-economy-cools-2022-10-04/
Kane, M. (2023, March 5). Estimated Tesla Order backlog remains stable in February 2023. InsideEVs. https://insideevs.com/news/655644/estimated-tesla-order-backlog-february2023/#:~:text=The%20data%20indicates%20that%20demand%20in%20the%20United%20States%20improved%20noticeably.&text=The%20estimated%20Tesla%20global%20electric,stabilizing%20at%20around%20100%2C000%20units
Kay, G. (2023, March 12). Meet the typical Tesla owner: A white man with a household income over $130,000. Business Insider. Retrieved May 6, 2023, from https://www.businessinsider.com/typical-tesla-driver-owner-income-age-careers-demographics-2022-10#:~:text=The%20average%20Tesla%20owner%20is,and%20X%20owners%20in%202022
Lerman, R. (2022, October 28). Elon Musk bought Twitter. now what?. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/10/28/elon-musk-acquisition-twitter/
Wertz, J. (2021, September 29). Storytelling and the power of Social Media. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jiawertz/2021/09/29/storytelling-and-the-power-of-social-media/?sh=1dd0ca976da3
Wong, W., Woods, D., Ouellet, N., & Concannon, K. (2022, December 1). How elon bought Twitter with other people’s money. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2022/11/30/1139964806/how-elon-bought-twitter-with-other-peoples-money#:~:text=Press-,Elon%20Musk%20bought%20Twitter%20using%20a%20leveraged%20buyout%3A%20He%20paid,is%20called%20a%20leveraged%20buyout