How An Automotive Brand is Gaining 62K TikTok Followers Per Month

Key Takeaways

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Focus Allocation — TikTok: In North America, TikTok has recently seen massive growth, with a +261% YoY increase in MAU for the month of December. TikTok users are turning to the app for automotive-related content, with the most popular hashtag (#car) generating over 40 billion views globally. Hyundai and Mercedes-Benz are the only brands that have established a significant following on the platform. However, there are currently no car brands that have created a Canadian specific TikTok account, highlighting a whitespace opportunity.

Content & Messaging — “It’s Just a Honda” Trend: On TikTok, there is currently a trend where non-luxury car owners (i.e: Honda, Nissan, etc.) show off their car modifications to show viewers that these car models can be just as good as luxury brands. This is a great content opportunity for non-luxury car brands to show off their own unique appeal to their target audience. Many TikTok users have shown love for brands such as Honda, Toyota, Ford, and Nissan.

TikTok Tactic  — Branded Hashtag Challenge: Hyundai launched a branded hashtag challenge (#PositiveEnergyChallenge) which generated 3.3 billion views worldwide. They partnered up with the most popular K-Pop boy band in the world (BTS) to promote this campaign. TikTok influencers were encouraged to sing along to a BTS song created specifically for this challenge which promoted sustainability. 

TikTok Tactic  — Transitions & Sounds: Mercedes-Benz has amassed a huge following on TikTok (459K followers) by using trending TikTok sounds, and editing their videos to include various transitions. TikTok transitions have been a huge trend on the platform, and currently there are eight different transitions available within TikTok’s editing portal. Use trending TikTok sounds to increase visibility on the platform as users are able to search by soundtrack titles.

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In North America, TikTok has recently seen massive growth, with a +261% YoY increase in Monthly Active Users (MAU) for the month of December.

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TikTok users are turning to the app for automotive-related content, with the most popular hashtag (#car) generating over 40 billion views globally.

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When it comes to automotive brands, the most popular brand on TikTok is BMW—their hashtag (#bmw) has generated 13.8 billion views globally.

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#toyota is generating a significantly high volume of video views (3.2 billion) despite the brand itself not having a presence on the platform—highlighting an area of opportunity.

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Top content categories for automotive-related TikTok videos include car modifications and educational content such as maintenance tutorials.

Car Modification

Car Maintenance Tutorials

Tips & Tricks (i.e: Car Essentials)

“It’s just a ____” Trend

On TikTok there is currently a trend where non-luxury car owners (i.e: Honda, Nissan, etc.) show off their car modifications to show viewers that these car models can be just as good as luxury brands

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There is currently a white space opportunity on TikTok as there are only two major automotive brands (Hyundai and Mercedes-Benz) that have established a following on the platform.

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Although the global Hyundai account has the highest follower count within the competitive set, the account was only active for their #PositiveEnergyChallenge campaign. This account has been inactive since June 2020.

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Mercedes-Benz has amassed a huge following on TikTok (459K) and on average they gain 62K new followers per month.

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Mercedes-Benz’s TikTok strategy is to post consistently and frequently— publishing an average of 13 videos per month.

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Mercedes-Benz’s top performing video categories include...

Car Reveals

Car Exterior + Interior Shots

Tech Features

Car Humour

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Mercedes-Benz’s TikTok content performs well due to the following tactics:‍

Element of Surprise & Suspense:
Mercedes-Benz unveils new products or future car concepts on their TikTok channel to generate hype and brand awareness. 

TikTok Transitions:
A huge trend on TikTok is when people edit videos with multiple different kinds of transitions from one video frame to another. Within the app itself, there are 8 different transitions available within their editing portal.
See examples here: 1, 2

Element of Humour:
Don’t be afraid to poke fun at hilarious situations that are often encountered while driving or as a car owner. Mercedes-Benz created a humorous video about going to the car wash and having it immediately start raining.

Use of Sounds:
Mercedes-Benz uses trending TikTok sounds and edits their video based on the beat of the music. Use trending TikTok sounds to increase visibility on the platform as users are able to search by soundtrack titles. 

See examples here.

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