#SnapChart: Do your age and gender dictate what car brands you talk about online?
Who talks about cars the most on social media? You might assume it’s teenagers passionately sharing photos of their dream wheels, but actually, it’s the 25-34 age group that’s generating the most conversation about automotive online.
It’s very likely this coincides with career progression and the subsequent freedoms that come with having a disposable income – causing discussion around practicalities and giving or seeking advice on car purchases, rather than dreaming publicly about the latest sports model that goes from 1 to 80 in 5 seconds flat.
The 35-44 age group follow closely as the second largest group discussing cars, demonstrating that this market really is dominated by a younger audience. The combination of changing income and shifting needs (try fitting both your children in a Nissan Micra, plus your dog and the groceries) is most likely the reason for the volumes of talk online, with social media acting as a sound board as well as a public market square.
Looking at the visual above, you can see that Land Rover has the strongest presence with the more mature audience. Considered less of a family car and more of a car for adventurers, the Land Rover might be a car older age groups flock towards when they have more free time and less obligations. Plus, in January this year, production ended for the Land Rover Defender, causing people to reminisce and fondly share stories of a car that had been in production for 67 years.
Premium brands such as Audi and Lexus command a middle-aged audience - with greater acquired wealth, this demographic segment is more likely to shop at the higher end of the market.
When looking at the gender split in car conversation, 9 of the 10 of the car brands we looked at have a greater proportion of men then women discussing them: the overall industry audience is around 60% male. BMW, VW, Audi and Honda have the most noticeable male audiences.
That said, the graph above shows us a very noticeable fact: Mercedes is the sole car brand that sees female conversation outnumber male conversation. It is a prime example of a car company successfully entering the lifestyle market, doing this by sponsoring fashion weeks across the world and marketing to women directly in a variety of ways.
Follow this link to get your free copy of Dashboard magazine. Alternatively, if you want to know more about how you can get insights like those featured in Dashboard, send us an email on: [email protected]
