Mercedes-Benz is the Most Interactive Automobile Brand on the Social Web

Mercedes-Benz has easily the most active fans, with more than 12 million interactions on Facebook in the second quarter of 2014. A recent study by Social Bakers, the best-known market research company for the social networks, also shows that with just under two million new fans, the Stuttgart-based premium brand is also among the top 4 automobile brands with respect to growth. As a result the fan community exceeded the 15 million mark in July.

A new key indicator used by Social Bakers, namely interactions per 1000 fans, gives Mercedes-Benz an outstanding second place among automobile brands with a figure of 896. The fact that Mercedes-Benz is always prepared to take new approaches on the social web is also demonstrated by the #PlaceToBW campaign planned together with the state of Baden-Württemberg and Tourismus Marketing GmbH Baden-Württemberg. From 22 August 2014, bloggers and photographers will start off on an extended road trip through Baden-Württemberg in vehicles from Mercedes-Benz, and report on the region's places of interest.

In the recent study by Social Bakers, Mercedes-Benz takes second place in the ranking for the period April to July 2014 which compares all brands worldwide in terms of interaction with their Facebook fans. Only the fans of the American TV station Discovery posted more Likes, Shares and comments. For the first time Social Bakers has introduced a new key indicator. The activities of large and small fan communities can now be directly compared with "Interactions per 1000 fans". With second place, Mercedes-Benz impressively demonstrates that its large Facebook community intensively comments on the content presented. With the 15 millionth Facebook fan, Mercedes-Benz celebrated an impressive milestone in its longstanding presence on the social web in July 2014. To mark this achievement the German artist Thitz has created an exclusive work of art based on paper bags from all over the world which were sent in beforehand by fans. The community were able to join in and follow the creative process on the network. Also in July 2014, the Mercedes-Benz Instagram channel reached the one million followers mark.

This photo platform is operated by photographers and automobile bloggers on behalf of Mercedes-Benz. The principle of "from (professional) fans for fans" is recognised and accepted by the community: each month the Mercedes-Benz Instagram account registers around five million interactions. To mark the one million milestone, the young Indian multimedia and video artist Amshu Chukki is creating a work for the fans. Photos of the "making of" and the finished work of art will be presented to the public at this year's St. Moritz Art Masters taking place from 22 to 31 August, and on the global Mercedes-Benz social media channels. #PlaceToBW – a road trip through Baden-Württemberg More than 50 exciting, attractive and regionally typical locations plus topics such as holidays, enjoyment, places of interest, culture and nature are on the itinerary of the bloggers and photographers.

Until the end of October they will be reporting on the many-faceted German state of Baden-Württemberg in both pictures and words.

All the reports, photos and videos will be published under the hashtag #PlaceToBW on the digital channels of cooperation partners such as Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, also in numerous blogs and on the internet site Place To BW. The result will be a fascinating and exciting portrait of the company's home region. Moreover, the Mercedes-Benz vehicles in which the bloggers will travel will carry prominent branding to make the public aware of the campaign. Mercedes-Benz on the social web For many years Mercedes-Benz has been among the most successful and active brands on the internet.

The extensive online and social media activities are an integral part of a 'Digital Media House' within which Mercedes-Benz presents premium brand content in editorial form and publishes it across the entire range of digital channels. For a number of years Mercedes-Benz has systematically opted for high-quality 'content telling' in the digital environment, establishing itself as a brand publisher.

Since 2013 Mercedes-Benz has consolidated all published material relating to the brand from independent sources such as blogs, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Google+ and Instagram, and from official Mercedes-Benz social media channels in the Social Cloud, on the international brand website Mercedes-Benz. The Social Cloud is a further development of the "Mercedes-Benz Social Publish" platform, which was created for bloggers and online journalists in 2012. This is where all items published about Mercedes-Benz on external websites, in blogs and in digital magazines or on Twitter are automatically collated and teasered. This makes the portal a comprehensive research source for bloggers and journalists.

On the basis of experience with this platform and feedback from users, the Social Cloud has now been developed for customers and all online users interested in Mercedes-Benz.