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Mercedes-Benz Retailers Social Media Editorial CalendarOctober 2011

Introduction 3

1 Editorial topics 4

2 Post ideas 6

3 How-to guide 10

4 Mercedes-Benz Retail best practice 14

5 Your MPC contact 18

Contents

2Mercedes-Benz Digitalization Retail Marketing | Social Media Editorial Calendar October 2011

Welcome to the October issue of our Social Media Editorial Calendar. Now in its third edition, this short publication provides monthly editorial content, ideas and tips for Mercedes-Benz Retailers who strive to use their Facebook page to engage fans in a professional way.

In this issue

• The Editorial Calendar highlights exciting upcoming topics on other Mercedes-Benz social media channels. These can suggest ideas for your own Facebook updates. But remember: rather than re-posting topics word-for-word, choose those most relevant for your audience and adapt them to fit your dealership.

• You’ll also find five optional Post Ideas. Several are time-sensitive ideas focused on Halloween, celebrated on 31 October in many countries around the world. Additional ideas include using video to add a personal touch your dealership’s Facebook page and ways to engage fans with a variety of useful car-related tips.

• This issue’s ‘How-To’ tutorial focuses on photos. We’ll review how to create photo albums on Facebook, another great way to personalize your dealership’s page

• Then, we’ll present this month’s ‘Best of Retail’ Facebook page and highlight its winning strategies.

We hope you will find this new issue helpful and wish you the best of luck as you continue to optimise your social marketing strategies.

Martin Friedrich BC/MI Digitalization Retail Marketing

Introduction

3Mercedes-Benz Digitalization Retail Marketing | Social Media Editorial Calendar October 2011

1 Editorial topics October

When sharing any of these topics, make sure to include a personal connection to your dealership or region. This is the only way to ensure you will engage your fans.

Due to the periodic nature of this editorial calendar, individual stories are subject to change. If a particular feature is not available during the time frame listed, please pick another topic that is relevant to your audience.

4Mercedes-Benz Digitalization Retail Marketing | Social Media Editorial Calendar October 2011 | Editorial topics

Facebook global page | http://www.facebook.com/MercedesBenz

• IAA, Pictures of highlights (B-Class, SLS Roadster), Press information pictures [calendar week 37]• MB Reporter IAA [calendar week 37]• MB Reporter casting [calendar week 37]• Celebration of 4 million users on Facebook [calendar week 37]• Making-of artwork for 4 million users on Facebook [calendar week 37]• Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week New York [calendar week 37]• Call to action: Vote for your favourite model of an era, Final photo album: your favourites of all eras

[calendar week 38, 39]• Award for B-Class F-Cell [calendar week 40]• Reminder, vote for Mercedes-Benz Guest Reporter. Final result, Mercedes-Bent Guest Reporter

[calendar week 40]• New Mercedes-Benz Calendar 2012, Sales Release [calendar week 41]• Mercedes-Benz Guest Reporter visits Mercedes-Benz in Palo Alto [calendar week 41]• Driving event B-Class [calendar week 42]• 125! years of the automobile, vote for your favorite of this era [calendar week 42]

The launch of the new B-Class was reported in many channels. Please use these as a resource for your own report on the B Class. Also, as of 1 October 2011, there is a new Mercedes-Benz fan page for the Mercedes-Benz G-Class.

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MB.tv | http://www.mercedes-benz.tv

• E-Class Lifecycle - TV commercial ‘Staying Alive’ [calendar week 37]• The Meaning of the Star [calendar week 38]• IAA Press conference [calendar week 37]• Concept A-Class Video [calendar week 38, 39]• M-Class Development Film. [calendar week 38, 39] • Classic Center Mercedes-Benz USA. [calendar week 40, 41]• B-Class Connectivity. [calendar week 40, 41]

Mercedes-Benz Golf on Facebook | http://www.facebook.com/MercedesBenzGolf

• Mercedes-Benz Trophy World Final Stuttgart [calendar week 39]

Mixed Tape | http://mixed-tape.com/

• New Mixed Tape Compilation [calendar week 45]

Mercedes-Benz Digitalization Retail Marketing | Social Media Editorial Calendar October 2011 | Editorial topics

mb! | http://mb.mercedes-benz.com/en

• Review of show at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week New York by Derek Lam [calendar week 37] • Interior Concept A-Class. Interview with the Mercedes-Benz Interior Designer Jan Kaul.

[calendar week 39]• Road trip through Alaska series, part I. J.G. and Sean want to make it all the way from Fairbanks,

Alaska to Los Angeles in a 1976 240 Diesel. On the road they encounter bad streets, bears and ice. [calendar week 39]

• Road trip through Alaska series, part II [calendar week 40]• Road trip through Alaska series, part III [calendar week 41]

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The following are suggested editorial ideas for posts to your Facebook page. To help you plan your posts, we have divided them into three categories: time-sensitive posts (related to a specific action or event), one-time posts that can be published anytime, and recurring topics that you can post regularly.

These examples are only suggestions. To ensure that your fans find them relevant, please edit them to fit the situation and adapt them to your dealership’s needs.

2.1 Time-sensitive, event-specific posts

The ideas below include informal photo contests, in which winners are simply congratulated but not awarded a prize. Please note that Facebook strictly forbids any contest or game of chance involving prizes on its pages. Never use Facebook to offer any prizes or incentives for participation.

Since Halloween is coming up, we’re sharing some ideas for holiday-specific Facebook posts and ways to invite your fans to participate. These examples are Halloween-themed, but you can also adapt them and use them again for other holidays.

Halloween Dealership Event

You can use two powerful Facebook tools, Events and Photos, to promote any special Halloween programs you may have planned. For example, if your dealership is throwing a Halloween party or a costume day, you can set up an Event (as shown in our September issue) to spread the word. It’s easy to invite all your fans in one click and they, in turn, can easily invite their friends. Afterwards, you can share snapshots of the festivities, the decorations and the attendees using a photo album (see the ‘How-to’ section in this issue).

2 Post ideasIdeas for event-specific, one-time, and recurring posts

Mercedes-Benz Digitalization Retail Marketing | Social Media Editorial Calendar October 2011 | Post ideas

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Your Fans in Halloween Fever

Surely some of your fans will be throwing Halloween parties of their own. You can invite your fan community to post photos on your Wall of themselves in costume next to their Mercedes Benz, on the way to the party. Or announce a pumpkin photo contest featuring your fans’ Mercedes Benz. Other fans can share their opinion of the photos by commenting and liking, while you as the Retailer serves as moderator. Who knows, maybe a fan will carve the Mercedes Benz star into his or her pumpkin! The pumpkin (or costume) that gets the most likes can be re-posted on your Wall.

Decorating cars for Halloween

Of course, the automobile can also join in the Halloween festivities by getting decked out with typical Halloween accessories. You can encourage your fans to decorate their Mercedes-Benz, perhaps by hanging little ghosts from the rear view mirror, placing a few rubber spiders on the dashboard or buckling a big pumpkin into the passenger’s seat! With this idea, as well, you can ask fans to share photos (as above).

When using any of these ideas for photo contests, remember, as mentioned above, you should not offer prizes for any contests via Facebook. Also, don’t forget to screen your Wall regularly to remove inappropriate photos. There is also an alternative approach which allows you to reward participants without violating Facebook rules and to pre-screen photos. Ask your customers to send you the pictures via e-mail. You can then post the screened photos on your Wall yourself and use email to offer the participants a small prize or a ticket for an award drawing.

Mercedes-Benz Digitalization Retail Marketing | Social Media Editorial Calendar October 2011 | Post ideas

8Mercedes-Benz Digitalization Retail Marketing | Social Media Editorial Calendar October 2011 | Post ideas

2.2 Ideas for one-time posts

My favourite Mercedes-Benz

Why not give your dealership’s Facebook page a more personal touch with clips of your employees introducing their favourite Mercedes-Benz? You can regularly post videos of different staff members with their favourite model.

Each staff member can choose from any available model of Mercedes-Benz. You can film them sitting in the car or doing a walk-around, showing exactly why this particular model is their favourite and pointing out aspects of the motor, the interior, special features, rims, etc. The video shouldn’t be like a sales pitch, but rather, it should convey the employee’s own passion for automobiles and Mercedes-Benz, so that it feels authentic and personal.

Some staff might like to share their own car, rather than a floor model, underscoring their emotional connection to their vehicle and reminding your fans that a car is much more than just a product.

You don’t necessarily need Hollywood director’s skills or a professional video camera to make these videos. Most compact digital cameras today can make very good videos. However, please pay attention to the following points:

• Is the video truly sharp? • What about lighting – is your subject well-lit and the images not too dark? • Does the video contain any distracting elements, e.g. prominently placed competitor

products? • Would you say that the video represents you? Does it embody the Mercedes-Benz brand• Is the length appropriate? Facebook videos should not be shorter than 30 seconds or

longer than 3 minutes.

9Mercedes-Benz Digitalization Retail Marketing | Social Media Editorial Calendar October 2011 | Post ideas

My favourite driving companion

How about asking fans to post a photo of their favourite and most loyal driving companion with their favourite Mercedes-Benz? Anything goes, from a significant other in the passenger’s seat or children in the backseat, to a best friend or a dog posing by the car. Even a stuffed animal or a favourite bumper sticker is fair game. Here, too, all your fans can interact by commenting or liking their favourite photos. As the Retailer, you can then gather all the photos in a photo album that remains available for browsing.

2.3 Ideas for recurring measures

Do it yourself

Mercedes-Benz customers value professional expertise and would likely appreciate occasional tips from the automobile specialists at your dealership on how to keep a Mercedes-Benz in optimal condition. For example:

“Did you know?”

With a series of ‘fun facts’, you can give your fans a behind-the-scenes look at your dealership. Focus on information that’s entertaining, makes your fans go ‘ahhhh’ or just makes your dealership seem more personal. The idea is to show your dealership from a different perspective.

Only post facts that don’t have possible negative implications, lest you harm your dealership’s image. For example, revealing the huge amount of motor oil your dealership uses each month could make you appear environmentally irresponsible or wasteful. Only positive facts should be posted.

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3 How-to guide

How to create a photo album

3.1 What is the Facebook Photo App?

The Facebook Photo App is a great way to show your fans pictures of new models, events or news from your dealership. It’s also one of the best ways to get your fans’ attention since a picture or photo album is very eye-catching in a user’s news feed. It can also be viewed more quickly than, say, a video or a long text.

The Photo App also allows users to participate actively by liking pictures, commenting on them or even tagging themselves in a picture. All of these interactions will also have a viral effect, as the photos will then appear on users’ feeds and be seen by their friends.

In order to make the most of your photo content on Facebook, you’ll need to know how to correctly upload a photo album, how to name it, how to choose the best pictures and a few other details. So here’s a quick introduction to the Facebook Photo App.

Click on the appropriate icon (‘Photo’) above your text entry field and choose the desired publishing option.

If you plan to share between one and three images, simply upload them individually (‘Upload a Photo’). If you have a webcam, you can use the ‘Take a photo’ option to take an impromptu photo. The ‘Create an Album’ option is for entire series of photos – e.g. different views of a new model or pictures of your latest event – and we’ll explain it in detail below. Before we do, we want to remind you to only upload photos for which you have all the necessary rights and permissions.

Even when using photos that were produced in-house at your dealership, you must resolve all copyright and privacy questions before publishing them on your Facebook page or elsewhere. Remember:

• If clients, visitors, employees or passersby — or their cars — are recognizable in your photos, their right to privacy comes first. Always get their permission before publishing photos.

• If a client, fan, staff or other person took the photograph, he or she also holds the copyright. Again, secure permission before you publish the photo!

Mercedes-Benz Digitalization Retail Marketing | Social Media Editorial Calendar October 2011 | How-to guide

11Mercedes-Benz Digitalization Retail Marketing | Social Media Editorial Calendar October 2011 | How-to guide

3.2 Photo albums – the perfect solution for entire series

Let’s start with the basics: click on ‘Photos’ above your text entry field, followed by ‘Create an Album’.

Now, choose ‘Select photos’ and highlight the pictures you would like to include. Click on ‘Open’ to confirm your selection.

There is no need to wait for the upload to finish – Facebook allows you to enter basic album information while the upload is still underway. Enter an album title and description and confirm your entries with a click on ‘Create Album’.Descriptions can be incredibly helpful. Beyond obvious facts on the individual images, consider adding related background information.

The ‘shift’ key on your computer is a great time-saver – hold it down to highlight a series of consecutive images. If your choices are nonconsecutive, press Ctrl (Windows) or Cmd (Mac) during the selection process.

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Sometimes, every single detail counts. If your subject warrants high-resolution images, activate the respective ‘Quality’ option. Due to the resulting and increased data volumes, your upload might take a little bit longer. However, in most cases, Facebook’s standard image resolution is more than adequate.

Before publication, please double-check your album contents to weed out accidental uploads, add descriptions or edit photo information. Although any of this could be done at a later stage, you should at least select an ‘album cover’ by ticking the respective circle below your chosen title picture.

A final click on ‘Save Changes’ followed by ‘Publish Now’ will publish your new album on the page Wall and in the News Feed of your Facebook fans. Still tinkering with contents and description? If you give this last stage a miss (by selecting ‘Skip’), your album will be visible on your page, but will not be announced on any news feeds. Congratulations – your new album is now online and can be found by clicking on ‘Photos’.

In the album overview, use drag-and-drop to rearrange the order of your images.

Mercedes-Benz Digitalization Retail Marketing | Social Media Editorial Calendar October 2011 | How-to guide

13Mercedes-Benz Digitalization Retail Marketing | Social Media Editorial Calendar October 2011 | How-to guide

3.3 How to manage photos on Facebook

How to choose the best pictures

Unless you are uploading press pictures, pictures taken by yourself or by staff (for example, of events at your dealership) don’t need to be of professional quality. Still, carefully edit your selection and only upload the best images. Discard any pictures that are blurry or poorly lit. Also, consider the content: avoid boring your fans with redundant or irrelevant photos. Before uploading pictures showing individual people, consider their right to privacy and get their permission. Overall, your goal is to pique your fans’ interest in the event or model you’re showing – so focus on the most entertaining photos.

How to name your photos

When naming your photo album, choose a descriptive and accurate title that tells fans what to expect. For example, rather than ‘October 2011 Event’, choose ‘Mercedes-Benz Dealership Halloween Party’. Also, make sure that the picture that represents the album in the thumbnail preview represents the album’s content. If the pictures themselves aren’t self-explanatory, make sure to add a description line and maybe include a link to further information.

How to publish a photo album

As mentioned above, after you’ve uploaded a photo album and edited all the photos, you’ll have the option of immediately ‘publishing’ the album to your page’s Wall. Here’s the pros and cons of using this option. It automatically creates a post on your Wall showing the album’s title, the first bit of the album’s description, and the album’s first three pictures. Since it features three thumbnails instead of one, such a post is great for attracting in your fans’ news feeds. The downside is that you aren’t given a chance to customize the post with a personal message.

If you’d prefer to write a more detailed introduction to the album, choose not to ‘publish’ the album yet. The album will be visible on the Photos section of your page, but will not be automatically posted to your Wall. You can later post the album to your Wall yourself (see below). This post will only have one thumbnail preview, but will allow you to add a customized message to your fans to view the album.

How to share a photo album

To share photos or photo albums that have already been posted on Facebook, such as photos from your MPC or Mercedes-Benz global, it’s not necessary to upload the pictures again. The same applies to a photo album you’ve already uploaded yourself.

It’s easy to share these photo albums with your friends. After you’ve logged into your Retailer Facebook account, navigate to relevant page (e.g. Mercedes-Benz global), and click ‘Photos’ in the menu on the left-hand side. Click on the album and scroll down. Below the first batch of photos, you’ll see ‘Like’ and ‘Share’. Clicking on share will open a pop-up. Choose to share ‘On Your Wall’ using the drop-down menu, add your own comment to your fans, and click ‘Share Album’. That’s it!

14Mercedes-Benz Digitalization Retail Marketing | Social Media Editorial Calendar October 2011 | Mercedes-Benz Retail best practice

Mercedes-Benz Oakville

http://www.facebook.com/mboakville

And now it’s time to present our selection for October’s best retailer Facebook page: Mercedes-Benz of Oakville in Ontario, Canada. This retailer’s excellent Facebook efforts are a great example to follow, and not only because they have one of the most popular Mercedes-Benz retail pages, with over 2000 fans.

4 Mercedes-Benz Retail best practice

October’s best-in-class Facebook page

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It is clear that this Retailer regularly invests time and thought into giving its Facebook page a personal note. The dealership’s motto is clearly ‘our people set us apart’. They emphasize the importance of their employees on pages such as ‘Service’ and ‘Ask the Expert’ page, which introduce each staff member with a photo and describes their areas of expertise so that customers with questions can contact the appropriate person. The General Manager’s warm ‘Welcome Message’, complete with his photo and signature, also greets each Facebook visitor.

Visitors can even watch videos messages from each employee, filmed in-house, which underscores the Retailer’s efforts to present their dealership in a personal way.

Mercedes-Benz Digitalization Retail Marketing | Social Media Editorial Calendar October 2011 | Mercedes-Benz Retail best practice

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The team in Oakville is clearly doing a lot of things right. If we had to find something that could be improved, we might suggest more interaction with fans. As we all know, fans are curious and enjoy discussing and asking questions. Facebook offers many tools and options for encouraging fans to contribute to the dialogue on a Retailer page, but Oakville’s recent posts haven’t really taken advantage of this.

Also, this Facebook page is often used merely as a landing page. Fans trying to access content or contact a staff member are directed away from Facebook to the dealership’s website. For example, the ‘Ask an Expert’ page is wonderful, but when users click on a button, they are taken to the dealership’s own website. It can be more beneficial to keep fans on your Facebook page. Because Facebook is more interactive, as mentioned above, visitors spend more time on it and their activity is also broadcast to friends via their status updates. The more and longer visits you have, the better your Facebook site’s visibility becomes.The Oakville dealership could take advantage of these Facebook benefits by placing more content and functionality directly on the Facebook page.

Mercedes-Benz Digitalization Retail Marketing | Social Media Editorial Calendar October 2011 | Mercedes-Benz Retail best practice

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Finally, one more thing that would make this great page even better - and highlight the retailer’s brand affiliation – would be to update the profile picture and other graphic elements to follow Mercedes-Benz official corporate identity guidelines, as specified in the Social Media Guidelines handbook and summarized below:

Reminder: Comply with Mercedes-Benz brand guidelines on your Facebook Page

Please ensure that all graphics you add to your Facebook page follow Mercedes-Benz brand guidelines. Visually, the most important part of your Facebook page is the profile picture, so getting your profile picture right is an excellent first step.

Facebook logos need to comply with the following specifications: • Image resolution: up to 180 x 540 pixels, 72 dpi• Supported file formats: JPG, BMP, PNG, GIF (non-animated)• Maximum file size: 4 MB• Restrictions: no celebrities, nudity, artistic depictions or copyrighted material.

Please use the standard brand logo as the basis for your profile picture. It can be downloaded from Comin Retail/Comin. If you’d like to personalize your picture, you may add a representative picture of your location (for Mercedes-Benz dealers) or your company’s logo (for authorised Mercedes-Benz diagnostic and service centres) below the official Mercedes-Benz logo, as shown in the examples below:

Standard logo Dealership profile picture Service centre profile picture

High-quality images will make your page look more professional. So, if you add a picture of your location, please ensure that the brand name is clearly visible.

We hope that this constructive criticism, as well as the many great examples of what Mercedes-Benz Oakville is doing right, will inspire you as you improve and update your Facebook pages. Congratulations, Oakville, on your excellent work!

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5 Your MPC contact

Please insert your own country’s MPC contact here:

Contact for MPCs

Daimler AG

Martin Friedrich

Mercedes-Benz CarsBrand Communications

International Retail Marketing Communications (RMC)Digitalization Retail Marketing

BC/MI, HPC: 073370546 StuttgartPhone: +49 / (0)711 / 17 - 97222Fax: +49 / (0)711 / 17 - 98260E-Mail: martin.friedrich@daimler.com

Mercedes-Benz Digitalization Retail Marketing | Social Media Editorial Calendar October 2011 | Your MPC Contact | © neulandherzer