MX5 Parts: A social media case study

This article was originally published in September 2012, and is updated and reproduced here by permission of Divario.

MX5 Parts, a subsidiary of Scimitar International, is Europe’s largest provider of parts and accessories for the Mazda MX-5, Miata and Eunos Roadster motor vehicles.  As fellow owners, MX5 Parts is a very active sponsor and supporter of owners’ clubs and forums and has become well-renowned and respected as one of the leading MX5 parts specialists.

MX5 Parts has a retail showroom in Portsmouth together with a workshop for servicing and fitting, but they wanted to make their products and services available throughout the UK and into mainland Europe.  To this end, they developed an e-commerce website, www.mx5parts.co.uk, to sell parts and accessories directly to vehicle owners and enthusiasts.

Is Social Media Right for Our Business?

MX5 Parts was successfully undertaking some online marketing activities, such as pay per click advertising, but wondered if there were other online activities that would help grow their business further and would represent a good return on investment.  MX5 Parts was particularly interested in exploring social media and although they were aware of social media platforms, particularly Facebook and Twitter, they were not sure which were the right platforms for their business or how to engage with users in a meaningful way.

Start with a Digital Footprint Audit

To help them look at a social media strategy, MX5 Parts was put in touch with Kate Baucherel.  She carried out an online health check  to find out if MX5 Parts was already being found online and to assess the strength of their web presence.  Kate found that, unbeknownst to MX5 Parts, their brand was already well represented in the social media space.  They were being mentioned, on average, every three days across many channels including blogs, forums, Twitter and Facebook, and the sentiments were positive or neutral throughout.

How Could MX5 Parts Use Facebook?

On Facebook, Kate believed there was a golden opportunity to build an online community around MX5/Miata enthusiasts.  There were no real Facebook presences for this field, but the format of the channel was simply begging for someone to take the initiative.

A Facebook Page could provide MX5 Parts with a platform to engage with its customers and other enthusiasts on a regular basis. They could promote new products and sales initiatives quickly and effectively, encourage discussions about technical issues and fun topics, and build a community sharing a common interest.  All of this is free and spreads rich media across the internet with the MX5 Parts brand attached.

What About Twitter?

This was a less obvious channel for MX5 Parts, but could be used very effectively to drive traffic to the Facebook Page, and as a resource for MX5 Parts themselves to keep up to date with latest news in the industry and disseminate this to Facebook and Twitter followers.

Getting Started

An automatic page had been generated by Facebook in response to customer check-ins at the site, but it was not populated with any information.  Kate helped them to claim the Facebook page, upload appropriate content to Facebook and set up a Twitter account, building a Twitter following based on alerts for MX5 Parts and relevant terms.  MX5 Parts also had some video material, so Kate set up a YouTube account on their behalf.

Kate ensured that MX5 Parts’ own staff were provided with the training and guidance necessary to manage these channels themselves.  “I was keen to stress that social media needs constant engagement to be effective.  It’s no good setting up your accounts and forgetting about them, or just using them to promote your products and services.  MX5 Parts would need to build trust by engaging directly and providing real value to other participants in the social media communities before they could see any real benefit to their own business.”

The Results

“We were absolutely delighted by the response to the launch of MX5 Parts on Facebook and Twitter”, said Kate.  “Social media is particularly relevant to a company like MX5 Parts, operating in a niche market with great enthusiasm for the overall brand.  As people increasingly use Facebook and Twitter to talk about their interests, it was important for the company to be represented in those conversations.”

“At launch”, she continued “there were no independent followers on Facebook, but over 70 on Twitter who had found the new profile (built some time before) and had followed it out of interest in the brand and the company.  This gave us an indication that there would be a good response on launch, but achieving 600+ Likes on Facebook and 250 Twitter followers in less than two weeks was outstanding.”

Chris Davidson, MD at MX5 Parts, now engages regularly with Facebook users and admitted: “I must say that I quite enjoy it now as I have a feel for what people like: news, views, discussions about race meetings, funny pictures – just general fun and entertainment.”

MX5 Parts also learned that they could retain some control over their Facebook page by preventing anyone from posting directly on to their wall, other than by commenting on posts and photos uploaded by their Facebook administrators.

A Measurable Return on Investment

Now in January 2013, some 13 months after launch, the number of Facebook Likes exceeds 2500.  “The Likes keep building at 30-50 per week, which is pretty cool,” said Chris, “but we’re also seeing more interaction internationally.  About 50-60% of the new Likes are from outside the UK, which is very exciting as this is usually a hard market to reach.”

“Twitter”, he continued, “has turned out to be a resource for us. It helps to keep us up-to-date with what’s happening in the market and provides a steady stream of news and other helpful information that we can post on Facebook.”

Using Google Analytics, MX5 Parts tracks the click-through rates from Facebook and Twitter and sees how many convert to sales.  By doing this they can measure the return on their investment in social media activities.  Chris can see that his social media activities generate a steady income stream of between £1200-£1800 per month.

“The MX5 Parts team has taken on board everything we discussed about interaction and building communities,” continued Kate.  “They certainly understand their customers and their messages, and have taken to social media channels like ducks to water!  We are looking forward to watching their future growth.”

Chris Davidson, concluded “We’d like to offer our genuine thanks to Kate for the help and patience in setting all this up.  We would never have done it on our own!”