The country's leading luxury car maker may be facing stiff competition from its compatriot Audi in terms of sales; however, that did not stop the brand from being a most popular entity on Facebook, a social networking website. BMW has went on to become the first luxury car maker in India to touch the mark of '1 million likes' on www.facebook.com/bmwindia. Keeping up the grandeur associated with the brand, BMW invited the Ace cricketer, Sachin Tendulkar on July 31, 2012 to be the 'one millionth fan' in order to commemorate the milestone.
Speaking on the occasion, Tendulkar said, “I have been driving BMW since 1993. I have owned various models- 3 Series, M5 and X5. Right from 1993, I started the trend of BMW and now my entire family including my brother and wife believes in BMW’s safety and comfort. It feels great to share the JOY of driving a BMW on social media and be the one millionth fan of BMW India community on Facebook.”
Gracing the occasion with Tendulkar was the President of BMW India, Dr. Andreas Schaaf. He said that the purpose of launching BMW India fan-page on the social networking website was to tap the opportunities provided by social media to reap the benefits from direct interaction with fans. The page has been spreading cheers in the virtual world and is enabling the brand to communicate with its growing fan base at a personal level. He said, “With Sachin Tendulkar as the One Millionth fan of BMW India on Facebook, we are proud to have achieved yet another milestone in our social media journey.”
The Indian subsidiary of the German car maker introduced its official fan page on Facebook back in May 2011. The majority of individuals on the fan page of BMW India belong to the age bracket of 18-34 years, which indicates the brand's popularity among the youth of the country. Every week, the wall post on the fan page reaches over 1.5 million individuals showing an intensive interest in the car maker.
The page further reaches out to a total of five million fans through its exclusive content and the viral nature of the posts. With around 30 per cent of its fan base engaged in meaningful conversations daily, the BMW India fan page on Facebook has been one of the most active communities since its inception. As of now more than 0.2 million fans interact via the car maker's fan page through comments on wall posts, contests and sharing the posts, among others.
Associating itself with Sachin Tendulkar as well as launching a country-specific ad campaign, BMW seems to have captured attention of Indian masses, which is evident from over a million ‘likes’ on its Facebook page is the evidence.
