Car companies suffer from "traffic anxiety", are video accounts a new way out?

This article mainly discusses the digital transformation of China's automotive industry, especially how to effectively use the social media platform video account to carry out automotive marketing. At the same time, the article also points out that despite facing problems such as price wars and inventory pressure, more and more traditional automakers are beginning to realize the importance of video accounts and incorporate them into their overall marketing strategies.

"Guangzhou Honda employee Yuan Xiaohua also came to the surfing front line to share more about the daily work of Guangqi Honda in car manufacturing." On May 17, Yuan Xiaohua, deputy general manager of Guangzhou Honda Automobile Co., Ltd., opened a video account and embraced the new channel with a friendly attitude.

Yuan Xiaohua is just one example of GAC executives going online. Starting from May 15, Wen Dali, the top Chinese executive of GAC Toyota, as well as Deputy General Manager Peng Baolin, Marketing Director Zhang Bin and other senior executives joined Weibo and WeChat accounts. Soon after, Gu Huinan, General Manager of GAC's independent brand Aion, opened a WeChat account, and the first video was an interaction with retired basketball star Yi Jianlian. Huang Yongqiang, General Manager of GAC Trumpchi, opened an account on the same day, describing himself as "making his debut."

Obviously, the video content of GAC executives has been carefully planned. From the dialogue format, copywriting to character design, they are trying to get close to the discourse system of young people. The middle-aged executives are also embarrassed and even performative in front of the camera. Maybe they are not as calm as Lei Jun, but their urgent desire to establish connections with users through new channels is beyond words.

"All senior executives of the entire group want to create a video account, and they started to do so after the Beijing Auto Show. They might have been shocked by Lei Jun's traffic." The Beijing Auto Show held in April unexpectedly became a watershed in the field of automotive marketing. The bigwigs in the automotive industry who appeared in the vertical screen lens replaced the exhibition cars as the focus. Automotive marketing has completely entered a new era, and the importance of "traffic" has been demonstrated more than ever.

Among the Internet platforms, Weibo was undoubtedly the first to carry the traffic from the automotive industry. The influx of executives from Wei, Xiaomao and Li Auto made people realize for the first time that cars could be sold in this way. After Xiaomi exploded, Lei Jun launched a marketing climax on Douyin, with short videos and live broadcasts becoming the protagonists, and executives from auto companies acting as sales influencers in front of the camera. The traffic position has always been in circulation. In 2024, Doujiao found that the traffic from the automotive industry has gradually spread to the video account. Data shows that by the end of 2023, the total user usage time of the video account has doubled, and more than 70% of auto companies have already started broadcasting on the video account.

Accumulating momentum in 2023 and exploding in the middle of 2024, Video Account has stepped into the main battlefield of automobile companies' marketing.

Two days ago, Li Xiaoshuang, vice president of Xiaomi Auto, joined the video account. At the urging of Lei Jun, technical executives also participated in short video marketing; Wei Jianjun, boss of Great Wall, joined the video account on the same day and announced his second NOA smart driving live broadcast. The Sunday live broadcast reservation button immediately popped up on the video interface.

Video accounts are becoming standard for car companies.

1. Car companies compete for existing shares, with traffic taking the lead

China's auto industry has entered a brutal elimination round.

Take the Beijing Auto Show as an example. There are 220,000 square meters of exhibition area, more than 1,500 exhibitors, 278 new energy models, 117 world premieres, 163 press conferences... From the intuitive feeling of automotive practitioners, there has never been so many brands gathered at a large auto show, and the exhibition area for everyone is being compressed. Every company is trying its best to attract attention and traffic.

Some people believe that there is an overcapacity problem in the Chinese auto market. In 2023, my country's auto production and sales will be 30.161 million and 30.094 million respectively, up 11.6% and 12% year-on-year respectively. The total auto sales volume has not increased significantly, and it is more of a stock fight in the context of the transformation of new and old energy. According to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, the penetration rate of new energy vehicles in China is expected to be close to 40% in 2024, and it is just around the corner that it will account for more than half.

Price war is the most direct means of stock competition. As early as February and March of the beginning of the year, more than 30 automakers were involved in a price war. Mei Songlin, a senior analyst in the automotive industry, said in an interview that the new phenomenon of price competition among automakers in 2024 will shift from price competition among new energy automakers to price competition between new energy vehicle camps and traditional fuel workshops; the decisive battle in the auto market has begun, and the elimination round is underway.

Destocking and increasing sales, scrambling to grab market share, but the results are not ideal. As of the end of May, the sales and delivery volume of most new energy vehicle brands was less than 30% of the sales target set at the beginning of the year. Zeekr's delivery target completion rate is close to 30%, NIO is 28.7%, Ideal is 25.2%, and Avita is 27%. BYD is running fast, but it has only achieved 35.28% of its annual sales target of 3.6 million vehicles. As for Xiaomi, it is still in the stage of increasing production capacity.

Sales targets are like a sword hanging over one's head. Some car companies are accelerating the expansion of their teams, improving factory production efficiency, and stepping on the accelerator in every link; some companies are facing reality and starting to lower their sales targets to reduce delivery pressure.

Under the heavy pressure from both inside and outside, the CEOs of various auto companies are like swimming ducks, keeping calm on the surface but busy under the water. In addition to continuously improving their internal strength at the back end, they have also turned their attention to the automobile marketing field, which has already been completely subverted and reconstructed.

Zhou Hongyi accurately pointed out the key point of current automobile marketing: the majority of users have been formatted by short videos and live broadcasts, which put forward many new requirements for corporate communication methods. Companies should use new content and channels to communicate with users. Entrepreneurs should be where users are. Entrepreneurs in the automotive industry should stand up to create IP, endorse their own products, and make friends with users - a flatter communication reform that emphasizes dialogue and strengthens personal IP is sweeping the automotive industry.

The logic behind this is that car companies need to change their marketing from the one-way, high-handed propaganda of the past to the business idea of ​​"cars find people". The various data phenomena mentioned above all show that the Chinese car market in the era of inventory has formed a buyer's market structure. Some practitioners said that consumers are no longer worried about what car model to choose. Now there are more car brands to choose from at regular prices than before.

When the transformation of the automobile market business pattern meets the era of short videos, everything has a focus. Consumers' information acquisition channels and consumption decision-making paths have undergone profound changes. From automobile vertical media to WeChat public accounts, Weibo, Douyin and now WeChat video accounts, a live broadcast or a short video of an expert may plant the seeds of impulse in the hearts of car buyers. Wherever the user volume and user time are, it is more likely to become the core business position of the company, and the video account is the last traffic value depression.

So when Lei Jun suddenly appeared and used TikTok to promote Xiaomi SU7, all automotive people couldn't sit still. It's not surprising that Li Bin and Li Xiang, who came from the Internet, quickly followed suit. The embrace of short video live streaming by traditional automotive people such as Wei Jianjun and Yin Tongyue made people realize that automotive marketing has reached a critical watershed.

Traffic, traffic, and more traffic.

But at this time, Doujiao believes that traffic is only the first step in the marketing transformation of car companies. Channels are changing, but the logic of car sales decisions has not changed. Cars are typical long-chain consumer products with "many decision-making factors" and "long decision-making chains". From seeing car information to leaving clues, communicating with brands, collecting and comparing information, offline test drives, and picking up cars, every factor and every link in the car purchase process may affect consumers' final choice. Traffic does not equal sales. What is more important is to form a new closed loop in new channels.

2. Short straight double opening, high quality retention

The demand for online omni-channel marketing of automobiles has been discovered.

In the past distribution system, there was a pain point of separation between brands and dealers, and marketing often could not form a complete link. As a result, brands spent huge amounts of money to create marketing activities, but the effect of the potential customers who settled down and entered the sales terminal customer pool was not satisfactory. Not long ago, a "Joint Statement of Porsche China and All Authorized Dealers" made people understand the challenges facing the automotive industry at this stage. Affected by the weakening of terminal demand and market price wars, multiple operating problems such as falling car prices, heavy inventory pressure, tight funds, and low profits are plaguing major automobile companies and dealers.

Third-party dealers need to find a way to connect with consumers in new channels. When Doujiao observed the automotive content ecosystem of video accounts, it was found that traditional car companies, especially those that rely heavily on the dealer system, have found a sense of comfort here. Data released by the 2024 Tencent Auto Annual Summit showed that the number of auto dealer accounts in 2023 increased by 735% year-on-year, and more than 70% of car companies chose to broadcast on video accounts.

The brand's official main account is combined with a large number of dealer accounts in various regions to form a matrix, using short and direct dual-opening methods to attract customers. When looking through some business cases, Doujiao found that dealers of many brands under FAW have gained good business growth by using video accounts. In a live broadcast on WeChat video accounts on May 8, the Shanghai Ningfu FAW-Volkswagen store received 60,000 views in 2 hours, setting a record of 30 units sold in a single month. From their operating stories, we can get a glimpse of some methodologies of car company dealers operating video accounts.

First of all, choosing popular models to make short videos is the key to attracting traffic. In September 2023, the FAW-Volkswagen "Double Lan" SUV short video released by Shanghai Ningfu FAW-Volkswagen Store on the video account reached 1.5 million views and more than 100 clues. The store found that the content of the Lanxun and Lanjing models can arouse the strong attention of fans, so the account started to produce content based on these two models.

The second step is to start live broadcasting. In fact, the live broadcasting modes of many consumer products are interoperable. They need to use special prices and preferential measures as a guide, and then throw out the key products to explain and attract core user circles. Shanghai Ningfu FAW-Volkswagen uses the "Shuanglan" as the main model, and explains the price, configuration, competitive product analysis and comparison of the product, etc., using professional and scenario-based live broadcasts to anchor core consumers.

Users familiar with video accounts know that in video account car live broadcasts, there is a striking "retention component" in the lower left corner of the live broadcast interface. Short videos and live broadcasts "wash out" precise users layer by layer, and through the anchor's speech guidance and the "retention component" to undertake, "the collected high-intent potential customers have a higher transaction conversion rate," the dealer manager said in an interview.

Since the beginning of this year, there have been frequent news reports about price wars dragging down dealers. According to the "2023 National Automobile Dealer Survival Status Survey Report" released by the China Automobile Dealers Association, only 27.3% of dealers will achieve their annual sales targets in 2023, and the loss rate is as high as 43.5%. Under such difficult circumstances, providing dealers with more effective tools that can reduce costs and increase efficiency is naturally welcome.

Wang Runyu, the owner of Runyu Entrepreneurship Notes and a special consultant for the transportation industry at Tencent Marketing Academy, said that in the current automotive industry, the cost of a store lead is about several thousand yuan. Through live broadcasts, forwarding, sharing, and interaction on video accounts, more potential customers can be attracted to the live broadcast room, bringing 8 to 12 times the traffic leverage, while reducing the cost of leads and accurately capturing the audience. The examples of FAW-Volkswagen and FAW Hongqi are all proof of this.

According to reports, starting from late 2023, FAW-Volkswagen brand has vigorously laid out the construction of live broadcasts on video accounts in stores. Currently, more than 100 dealers have used the "video account retention component" as a link to increase the investment in "short and direct" operations on the video account platform. Business experience is extensible, and many dealers under FAW have tasted the sweetness of video accounts. FAW-Volkswagen Hezhong Mingde Store has laid out video account live broadcasts since 2023, with a total of 370,000 live broadcast views in a single month and 15,000 leads in a single month.

The proactive behavior of merchants has gradually received attention and policy support from the platform. According to Doujiao, live broadcasts of car sales or "live broadcasts" with car experts on the site will be Tencent's main push for the next period of time. For dealers and individual anchors who start broadcasting, the video account will give traffic incentives. Currently, Tencent is also promoting an automotive industry support plan called "Galaxy Action", which will provide training for automotive industry practitioners on video account operations and provide certain traffic incentives.

3. Why is it Video Account?

The flow of traffic in the automotive industry has flowed from Weibo to Douyin, and now Video Account has become a new frontier. What is the uniqueness of Video Account?

Let's first look at a set of data. 60% of video account car users are brand target users with high spending power, of which 51% are from first-tier, new first-tier and second-tier cities, and users with an annual income of more than 100,000 yuan account for 78%. Among the video account user group, as many as 85% of users have car purchase plans, showing a strong demand for car purchases, of which about 45% of the user group need to increase or replace their cars. In 2023, the commercial scale of video account mutual selection will increase exponentially, the amount of car transactions will increase by 200% year-on-year, and the CPM of the automotive field will drop by 70%, which is higher than the average level.

The automotive content and commercialization of Video Account have matured.

Of course, the core competitiveness of traffic platforms must be what differentiated services they can bring to brand customers and consumers. Weibo’s advantage is its hot spot influence, and Douyin has seized the daily usage habits of users. As for video accounts, the algorithm + social recommendation logic and the product logic that connects the public and private domains are the core capabilities of video accounts.

In a nutshell, Video Account is not only a short video platform, but also a social communication platform and a social platform for acquaintances. "Compared with the model of cultivating content, Video Account is backed by the WeChat ecosystem and naturally has stronger social attributes. Social communication will account for a larger proportion of content recommendations." Zheng Sheng, head of the Bitauto Video Account MCN, said in an interview.

Based on the "social + algorithm" recommendation mechanism, Video Account can make the user traffic reached by automobile brands and dealers more accurate. When Wang Runyu recommended the platform gameplay to dealers, he specifically mentioned the "live broadcast forwarding activity" technique. Dealers guided users to forward the live broadcast room to their private domain community. "The effect is to accurately acquire high-net-worth users. A user who can buy a car worth 300,000 yuan is likely to have a circle of friends similar to him."

The linkage between public and private domains is what car dealers have been trying to achieve for many years. The previous article introduced the "retention component" embedded in the live broadcast room. Dealers can directly add users to the store's corporate WeChat and then follow up orders through the private domain. Industry insiders said that the success rate of inviting customers to stores through WeChat is now several times that of inviting customers through telephone calls in the past, and it can be more than ten times higher at the highest.

The video account embedded in WeChat has an inherent channel with the car company's own brand public account, mini-programs, corporate WeChat and other private domain positions, thereby creating a multi-link path to obtain leads and accurate users.

Marketing is not only about operation but also about sales. Simply understanding it as the spread of voice is bound to be short-sighted. In the increasingly competitive environment of the automotive market, solutions that open up the entire chain will definitely be more favored by companies.

Video accounts are revealing new opportunities to car companies.

Author | Li Jinglin This article is written by the operator author [剁椒TMT], WeChat public account: [剁椒Spicy], original/authorized to be published on the operator. Reproduction without permission is prohibited.

The title image is from Unsplash, based on the CC0 protocol.