The Mercedes A Class and Social Media

The Mercedes A Class is part of what the brand calls its new generation of Mercedes-Benz models. This entry level Mercedes is meant to appeal to a younger buyer who is still seeking the amenities and performance of a Mercedes-Benz, but who is not quite ready for the cost or traditional look of an E or S Class. For those in the market for an A-Class, especially in this “new generation”, there is a place to turn for real-life word of mouth reviews. They can turn to social media.

While product reviews in the past have been conducted by traditional media such as The Sunday Times, we thought this new generation may be more likely to look to Facebook or YouTube. We decided to take a peak.

Starting with Facebook, we simply typed in “Mercedes A Class” to see what we could find. Besides being surprised at the number of females who are named “Mercedes”, we were directed to a wide variety of Mercedes A Class social media pages.

There was the “Owners Club” page with some 3,776 “likes”. This page seemed to be for Class A owners who shared their thoughts and asked questions of each other. We then found a Mercedes Benz A-Class 2013 page with over 1,600 likes from people apparently so infatuated with the car, they take random photos as they see them along the roadways. We discovered a NEXT A-Class Mercedes Benz Japan Facebook page with over 10,000 likes and some amazing anime graphics. It is apparently the official site for Mercedes-Benz Japan, and understandably, the site was written mostly in Japanese. There was the “Mercedes Classe A” Facebook page with almost 6,000 likes. This was a version for French fans of the car. We began to discover more and more pages for the Mercedes A Class, from people all over the globe.

This Mercedes is getting its share of love on Facebook. We decided to try YouTube.

The Mercedes A Class was featured in dozens and dozens of videos, some with a few hundred views, others with over a half-million views. There were YouTube videos placed there by Mercedes-Benz itself, but there were also many from independent reviewers and owners. Where comments were enabled, they came freely.

It led to the interesting conclusion that this new generation of car buyers is free to share their opinions, create fan pages and discuss their experiences with others from across the world. They are not leaving it up to advertising agencies and traditional product reviews to tell them how to feel. If Mercedes wants the A-Class to appeal to younger, entry level Mercedes owners, apparently it is working. At least if Facebook and YouTube are any indication.

David Newman – Google+ = https://plus.google.com/115351460029085604150/posts