Automakers are huge advertisers. Social media platforms are huge data collectors. And now Tesla Musk owns this data.
Written by Wolf Richter for WOLF STREET.
Automakers are investing generously in advertising and hyping it up on social media. But now, one of his social media platforms, Twitter, is owned by Tesla’s CEO and largest shareholder, as of yesterday. And then I noticed that the automaker that competes with Tesla and whose watches are being cleaned by Tesla is advertising on Elon Musk’s platform.
No one likes to advertise on their competitors’ platforms for all sorts of reasons, but especially on social media platforms, where our competitors collect consumer tracking data and provide information about current and potential customers and their products. This is because it can provide important insights into reactions. Advertising – We don’t even pass those insights on to automakers.
Advertisements on our competitors’ social media platforms share the vast amounts of user data that those platforms collect, which is actually data about your own customers and potential customers, unless the platform decides to share it. This is especially problematic because it cannot be verified.
General Motors, the first automaker, announced it had “paused” paid advertising on Twitter the day after Musk completed its Twitter acquisition.
“We are working with Twitter to understand the direction of the platform under new ownership. We will continue our customer care interactions on Twitter,” GM said in a statement emailed to CNBC.
Stellantis, which owns brands such as Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram, murmured I specifically pointed out the problem this morning via my Citroen account. “Hello to a social media platform owned by one of our competitors”.
This is not an advertiser concern about Musk’s potential content moderation policy. Musk had already tried to allay those fears in an open letter he wrote to advertisers, which suddenly became full of lovey-dovey words. twitter, of course. “In addition to complying with national laws, our platform must be warm and welcoming to all.” We strongly believe that we can entertain, entertain and inform.” And, “Twitter aspires to be the world’s most respected advertising platform that strengthens brands and grows businesses.”
But for automakers, this is about competition, how much information do you want your competitors to have about your customers, potential customers, their reactions to your products, their interactions with you? about it.
For example, Ford used Twitter to promote its F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck. The F-150 Lightning is a direct competitor to the yet-to-be-available Tesla Cybertruck. Ford has designed a large-scale “public” campaign on Twitter that encompasses various strategies and partners. Twitter itself explains in its marketing post: ”
Twitter claimed that Ford reached more than 1.56 billion “branded impressions” on Twitter, 39% “EV share of voice on Twitter”, 4.5 million “live stream views” and more. all Bots and fake accounts because Musk owns the store.
Does Ford really want Tesla to have all this data? But since Musk bought the data, Tesla will get it.
In the months since Musk’s hilarious acquisition of Twitter unfolded before us, there has been a lot of navel staring and brain-wracking among automakers over Twitter ads, Twitter accounts, and what to do with them. I’m sure I did. With people on Twitter.
GM didn’t just wake up this morning to suddenly realize that Twitter is owned by a Tesla guy. They prepared and planned this. And if there’s anything to sort out, I’m trying to sort it out with the new owners. Other automakers and their advertising agencies are also unwise to advertise on competitors’ social media platforms. And because there are so many other places automakers can put their advertising dollars.
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