BMW and Tesla Motors are the two top automotive brands on Twitter and in generating offline word of mouth momentum, according to Engagement Labs.

“Our view is that both online and offline word of mouth are very important, especially in today’s competitive market,” said Bryan Segal, CEO of Engagement Labs. “That is the ethos to why we are developing a ‘Total Social’ perspective, which will provide brands with the ability to track, measure and benchmark the conversations happening around their brand or industry, both online and offline.In fact, we increasingly find that people have conversations offline about what they see online, including in social media – individuals I like to call multi-channel influencers.”

Corvette took the top spot in the two remaining categories — offline word of mouth sentiment and Facebook use.

BMW’s also placed ten on the offline word of mouth sentiment ranking, while Tesla placed fourth in sentiment, fifth in Facebook use and eighth in Twitter use. Mercedes-Benz placed in both social network categories, Jaguar in Twitter and offline momentum, Audi was second in offline sentiment and seventh in Twitter, Lexus was fourth in Facebook use and Maserati and Ferrari placed sixth in Facebook and Twitter, respectively.

“Today, both word of mouth conversation and social media are major drivers of brand consideration and purchases,” said Bryan Segal, CEO at Engagement Labs, in a statement. “However, what brands must realize is what people are talking about offline may not necessarily be what people are talking about online. Therefore, it’s important for marketers to understand how their brand is measuring up on both mediums and create content that can help fuel conversation, be it online or offline,” he said.

Large brands are usually thought to be slow adopters of digital technology, but BMW has proved over the last few years that even a conservative company can push its boundaries. BMW’s Facebook and Instagram pages are some of the largest in the automotive segment, and the Bavarians have continuously push out digital tools to engage online with its customers.

[Source: LuxuryDaily]