Infegy Shows Toyota Prius, Chevy Volt and Ford Escape Hybrid in Pole Position for Pre-Earth Day Buzz
With Earth Day one day away, Infegy, the preeminent source for sentiment-driven web and social analytics, today released the social media and web analysis results of global online buzz surrounding several of the auto industry’s leading brands in the electric, hybrid, and hybrid SUV categories. Results showed the Chevrolet Volt®, Toyota Prius® and Ford Escape® Hybrid SUV to be the most talked about “green” vehicles online for the past month in their respective mid-size, compact and SUV categories.
More often than not, increases in online chatter and positive sentiment directly correlate to increased sales in the automotive industry. Past spikes in online chatter and positive sentiment corresponded with increased earnings for other auto makers like Land Rover®. During and after Land Rover’s #LRNY 2009 hashtag campaign, the auto manufacturer experienced a significant increase in online buzz and positive sentiment. That year, the company experienced a 21% sales increase in the U.S. and a 12% sales increase in Europe.
With gas prices rapidly escalating and an increasingly eco-friendly minded public, many auto buyers are looking at—and talking about—the benefits of green options, including electric vs. hybrid and comparisons between the different makes and models. To that point, buzz around “green” cars has increased dramatically over the past two years. In addition, in the month leading up to Earth Day 2011, electric cars drove significantly more online mentions than hybrid models overall.
More stats from Infegy’s Social Radar’s® analysis of over 40 million online conversations related to the “green” car market from March 20 to April 19:
• Chevy Volt captures the largest online voice share in its category. In the mid-size category for hybrid, electric, and other high-mpg vehicles, the Chevy Volt leads in online mentions with a total of 828 mentions, with the Audi A3 Diesel sedan a close second with 749 mentions. The Ford Fusion came in third with 479 mentions.
• Compact Most Talked About Category. “Green” cars in the Compact category are the most talked about, garnering more buzz than any “green” cars in the SUV or mid-size category.
• Toyota Prius Chatter Almost 60% More than other “Green” Compacts. In the compact high-mpg category, Toyota Prius was the overwhelming winner of the most online mentions with 7,602; MINI E Electric was a distant second at 4,511mentions, followed by the Nissan Leaf with 3,930 mentions.
• Hybrid SUV Category Experiences Lower Chatter Volume. Hybrid SUVs were the least talked about online, compared with other “green” car categories. The Ford Escape Hybrid SUV was held the most buzz in this category with 382 mentions, followed by the Toyota Highlander Hybrid with 278 mentions and the Cadillac Escalade Hybrid with 175 mentions.
The complete results, compiled by Infegy’s Social Radar on April 19, 2011, can be viewed at http://www.socialradar.net/reports/view/3240/hybrid-vehicle-buzz/.
“Our analysis of pre-Earth Day buzz on differing ‘green’ cars is just one example of the power of social analytics to provide focus-group like insight into what brands are driving the most volume and positive sentiment in online conversations, which directly correlates to revenue increases in multiple industries,” said Justin Graves, Infegy’s Founder and CEO. “Like Land Rover, Infegy customers can use deep social media and Web analysis to determine the relative strength of their strategies against that of the competition when it comes to influencing online chatter, and, in turn, increasing sales.”
