March 23 it is and in a matter of 4 odd hours Tata Nano will be officially launched. The $2500 car has now gone down to $2000 thanks to the rising tide or dollar in this case, though we might need to wait till the launch to know exactly how much this is going to cost us. Hey wait this is WATBlog and our interest lies in something else. The online buzz going around on the car.
The Tata people have done some commendable job with regards to the online promotion of the car and thankfully has gone beyond the traditional methods of advertising and promotion online. So while we have a banner on top of Rediff as a countdown to the launch, they also have a website which is quite interactive in nature. What’s more there is a pretty active forum, a blog and links to social media communities on the site.
And that’s the exciting part, the last one. Social Media communities. On the home page there are links to an Orkut and Facebook community for Tata Nano, both of which are pretty active in their own right. Here are some social media details about Tata Nano:
- Official Orkut Community Members – 6,906.
- Official Facebook Group Fans – 4,210
- Highest View Count on YouTube – 303,006 (it was just under 3,00,000 when I began writing this post)
- No. of Blog Posts – 61,664
While Orkut and Facebook are quite ubiquitos when it comes to social media strategies these days, however, media sharing and blogs certainly are more active setups compared to networking as seen from the above example. The discussion on these blogs ranged from various issues ranging from how the cost worked out, to the safety of the car to the markets that it can tap into. Even YouTube videos are filled with comments on these matters. Point to be noted that perhaps Tata motors could have used these grounds as well as part of their online involvement strategy.
In any case, the online buzz is enough to point out the brand that Tata has already built with this product, the buzz has caught the attention of even regular people in international markets if the forum topics on the official online communities are to be beleived. To their credit Tata has handled these touch points pretty well by being active on them. In fact they also have a blog on the official website where they have been discussing quite interesting topics and generally maintaining an active community.
One such instance that caught bloggers’ attention was them asking our opinion on selling Tata Nano online.
There is a very interesting thread in the forums section of this site which talks about online booking and purchase of the Tata Nano. Thanks to our user Mathew Vattolil for sparking off such an interesting discussion.
(Click Here to participate in the discussion)
Selling cars on the net. How real is this option for a manufacturer? Does the web really stand in competition to a conventional dealer?
This is an excellent example of a blog being put to its proper use. The other aspect of the post which is what Tata Motors did about the question of selling the car online, I haven’t come across any credible source of online retail of the car. Anyone has any idea on this?
Considering Tata is creating quite an innovative in their retailing idea – like using Westside and Chrome and even SBI for bookings the web is certainly something they should be trying out. Tehre were reports earlier of autojunction.com being planned to use for selling the Nano online, but I doubt if that idea is going to take off for the moment.
I am waiting for this car. Thanks to TATA for “NANO” as an Excellent gift. I should more happy if the Singur project get the success.
We are the great looser of this success as we are Bengali.Thanks again.
Hi
NANO is my dream car.i m waiting to drive this……….
LOVE U NANO
we are all waiting this car and thanks to tata for NANO as a very big gift for us. and also in search how we purchase NANO early in our life thanks
we are all waiting this car and thanks to tata for NANO as a very big gift for us. and also in search how we purchase NANO early in our life thanks
lalit jain
chennai 02
Yes your right i am also required to drive and test the driving in high speed.
I BUY NANO CAR
can I get on a waiting list???
hi! I am very happay tata nano launch very lowest price car in the world .Now poor pepole derams come true ,i am also waiting please tell me when should i buy this car
Thanks lot
donno if it is online promotion ya. the brand was big anyway. buzz came from offline.