Content will lead to conversation and sales, says Udit Malhotra of MG Motor

Having purpose-driven content marketing as the brand’s core pillar, British Automaker Morris Garages believes its objective with content marketing is to drive ‘experience, conversation and commerce’.

Udit Malhotra, Lead, Digital and Content Marketing, MG Motor, said, “More than virality or the engagement level, what we are trying to do is to create an experience that the customers can relate to. It is the content which will then lead to conversations and then commerce to derive sales.”

The brand is set to launch in India and has been investing a lot in content marketing. It feels the content experience it is driving around the brand stands out in the crowd.

Emphasising the importance of connecting with the voice of the audience, he discussed how important it has become to associate with the right content partner for purpose-driven content initiatives. Malhotra said a suitable content platform for the initiatives can evoke the right emotions among the audiences, becoming the biggest ROI.

“Purpose-driven content has to be associated with something tangible as a proof to connect with the consumers emotionally. India runs on emotions. Choosing the right content partner for the association, putting the content on the right frequency can lead to higher credibility and virality. A community partner would amplify the content. The biggest ROI driver for me has been choosing the right content partner,” he added.

The brand last year, for its campaign #MGChangeMakers, had associated with The Better India, to highlight the stories of six extraordinary women.  The brand also partnered with the global travel community Tripoto to co-create a seven-season web series ‘World of MG: An Indian Abroad’ to be shot across seven countries.

Talking further on how brands should choose the format of the content, Malhotra said it depends on the purpose of the content and the movement of the audience, whether to choose a longer or a shorter format of the video along with the screen size. And more than the TG, it is the channel’s behaviour that acts as the driver on a decision what channel or medium to use.

Platforms like YouTube and Facebook allow brands to segment and target certain behaviours.

MG Motor is also very cautious about the way they choose their influencers for the brand. Malhotra said, “If you want to own a share of voice for a certain period, exclusivity with the influencer is important.  You need to ensure that the brand stands out. You have to check what kind of engagement that they're getting by using independent third-party tools.”

The automobile brand uses Adobe Experience Cloud and measurement tools, which are benchmarking the efficiency of its content on social media.

He said, “The Adobe omnichannel measurement tools is now measuring each and every content piece to check whether it is performing or not. Especially on social media, we are using these tools, which are benchmarking our content in the automotive industry to know the engagement score of the content.”