Online Business News
Online Business…what's new!
March 25, 2011 at 2:26 pm
filed under general online business news
Hyundia owned Kia Motors Ltd has reported massive success in its endeavour to fully embrace online marketing in 2009. Kia’s digital marketing management revealed that since their website overhaul in 2010, they have received 72% more traffic and recently stated that ‘People say you wouldn’t launch a new car without going on TV. But it is possible that we might decide to do that this year’
Evidence suggests generally that around 90% of consumers use the internet for information on vehicle purchases and recent Kia results pay good testament to this evidence, to the extent that they are even considering dropping TV advertising campaigns.
The true importance of an online marketing strategy is summed up in a quote from digital marketing management head John Bache in a recent interview with Marketing Week “Whereas people used to spend their Sundays driving around dealerships looking at seven different vehicles, they’re now looking at seven different websites and going to two different dealers,” Bache says. With dealers being absolutely essential for car sales then the website has to do the job of encouraging potentials buyers through the doors of the dealerships at weekends.
Most importantly, it is search engine marketing that has been given the thumbs up by the car makers “Search engine optimisation is the key for us. We think it’s the most effective way to increase traffic.” Indeed, ‘Kia’ is no longer a search for a type of car but an actual brand that people identify with due to their marketing efforts up to now. Because their brand is so strong, they get a high return on investment as it is easier for them not only to rank highly organically but also via pay per click campaigns, where they can dominate the paid search space operating with the strong Kia domain name. Getting to this certain threshold can result in growth exponentially and they are leveraging the brand strength that has been gained over the years via offline methods.
Social media is also playing a role within Kia’s digital strategy. In 2010 the company launched a YouTube channel, and the number of views the company’s videos generated exceeded all expectations, with more than 40,000 views in two months. The success of these videos was attributed to that fact that the content is factual, rather than entertaining, where viewers are able to gain valuable information about Kia’s vehicles.
“One thing we have noticed is that if we ask people to watch a video, or try to push product-related messages to them, interaction with those posts is a lot less than if we ask for user-generated content, such as ’where did you take your Kia this weekend?’,” said Bache.
With regard to Facebook, the Kia Motors UK Facebook page currently has around 3,700 ’likes’ but has said not yet seen the success they hoped for, but the page remains a work in progress, looking at regularity and content of postings.
Of course, mobile is now firmly on Kia’s radar as consumers increasingly embrace smartphones. January 2011 figures showed that 5% of all Kia’s web traffic was coming in via mobile devices. Kia intends to have a fully-optimised mobile website in the near future.
It goes without saying that traditional media will still keep its place in Kia’s marketing strategy and in order to ensure the various types of media can be aligned, Kia relies on MPG Media Contracts (part of Havas Digital) to fuse offline and online ideas across all types of media channels.
For information on how to help your business grow through search engine marketing and to discuss other strategies such as lead generation and affiliate programs within the field of online marketing, get in touch with us here at Panovista Marketing.
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