Connecting with a willing audience has been something of a smooth transition when it comes to automotive social media, largely because the products are essentially the marketing.
Of course, huge amounts of money are spent on crafting the look but, with unique products, not much more needs to happen beyond the photograph.
As a result, luxury car brands have been able to rest on their laurels somewhat when it comes to automotive social media. The content they create brings their brochures to life, using both well-worn techniques and new technologies to photograph cars in a variety of beautiful and occasionally challenging environments, increasing the wow factor.
However, the results mean that for the most part they are indistinguishable from profile to profile – apart from the products themselves.
Nevertheless, with tens of millions of followers across the board and automotive not especially known for its marketing endeavours outside of the trusted big ad and brochure space, these brands have no doubt questioned the need to do much more – after all, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right?
Historically, the exclusive nature of luxury has been perceived to sit at odds with the intrinsic openness of social media, but other types of luxury brands are now fully embracing it, along with tactics for building and engaging their audiences.
So, how are luxury car brands using Instagram, the channel which ultimately showcases a brand visually at its best?
We looked at the top luxury automotive brands and how they express themselves when it comes to...
Automotive content on Instagram
As above, the majority of luxury automotive brands aren’t veering away from the norm, literally repurposing content from other channels for social use. But that’s not to say there isn’t some beautiful content...
Most luxury brands are spoilt for choice in terms of inspiration for content: their domains of interest reach way beyond the cars themselves and into affiliated areas like motorsport, events, licensing, sponsorship, clothing and merchandise, among others. Of course, this brings its own challenges: how to weigh content favourably and how to create a cohesive feel in the fragmented space that is Instagram.
In essence, a luxury brand needs to speak of ostentation, skilled craftsmanship and a hard-to-acquire reputation earned over time with prestigious clients.
The former is easily shown with what I am calling the tried and tested ‘brochure’ method (see above) and the craftsmanship is often painstakingly showcased through high quality close-ups of interiors and features.
When it comes to reputation, these brands have the luxury of heritage achieved long before Instagram and many feature glory days as well as recent restorations to remind us of their backgrounds.
For example, Bentley’s Instagram page weaves together brochure-style shots of its modern models with looks back at its heritage – such a videos of the Bentley Blowers competing in the 2023 Le Mans Classic.
When it comes to craftsmanship, Bentley have used their fair share of close-up shots on various details of their products, but have also incorporated an emphasis on the human touch. This is particularly the case for the unique art car decorated by Stephen Wiltshire MBE, with shots and videos of him at work, but it also functions to introduce internal staff, with other posts focussing on talks by the brand’s design director, Robin Page. This puts a face and voice to the future of Bentley’s designs.
Rolls-Royce are following a similar vein, interspersing episodes of ‘The Spirit of Rolls-Royce' videos series in among the brochure shots. These clips tell the stories of Rolls-Royce owners around the world, produced with the brand’s characteristic elegance.
The emphasis on luxury is also presented through extreme close-ups on bespoke details, such as embroidery, marquetry inlays and lighting. The craftsmanship is shown directly, with videos demonstrating artisans hand-punching leather and the precise shaping of wood veneers, as well as commentary from one of their parquetry specialists.
Conversely, Jaguar’s Instagram page is by far the most heavily curated and artistically designed of the luxury car brands examined herein, appearing to look to one thing only: the future. Posts themed by colour palette, neon-lit settings and metallic clothing characterise much of the content, striving for a futuristic feel tied to Jaguar’s focus on electrification of its vehicles.
The whole page is far more concentrated on the feel of the brand – from its equation to the smooth glide of roller-skates to an air of mystery around silhouetted models – and on where it is going, rather than where it has come from and the people behind it.
This focus on technology, the future, and seemingly cyberpunk-esque settings is only furthered by the use of AI-generated imagery on the page, paired with poetic captions and otherworldly illustrations.
While at odds with the more traditional approaches used by neighbouring brands in the sector, this nevertheless creates a distinct image and character for Jaguar and demonstrates its engagement with technology, both through the products showcased and through its means of content creation.
Collaborations on Instagram
Naturally, Instagram is the perfect space to reveal the type of collaborations luxury brands are known for – particularly around merchandise.
Aston Martin, for example, has previously shown it’s at the cutting edge of technology through its involvement with Tag Heuer, Triton Submarines and Lego. It's also one of the few brands looking to actively source user-generated content (UGC) from its followers under #astonmartinlive.
Similarly, other luxury car brands have promoted collaborations which both engage their audiences and cement their image. Clothing has been a popular avenue, resulting in collaborations such as Rhude x Lamborghini, Koenigsegg x CHIMI, Adidas x Bugatti and BMW x PUMA Motorsport. While BMW’s collaboration has involved decorating a car and designing clothing, taking inspiration from iconic pop artist Roy Lichtenstein...
...Koenigsegg’s video footage leans towards the futuristic while simultaneously emphasising the performance capabilities of their cars.
Just as design is of central importance to car brands, so it is borne out in their choices for social media collaborations. Further examples include BMW x Tyde yachts, Bugatti x Jacob & Co watches and Land Rover as an official partner to the Rugby World Cup, playing into their image as being able to take on anything.
Investing in Influencers for automotive social media
In luxury, ‘celebrity’ has historically been used for retention purposes, reassuring clients of their purchase rather than to drive sales. Celebrity still continues to pack a punch: Porsche recently signed up Dua Lipa, for example.
Arguably, social has disrupted this approach since celebrities now have their own social channels, so illusion, elusiveness and exclusivity have gone out the window. Luxury brands have gradually shifted towards an ‘if you can’t beat them, join them’ approach, revealing and working their powerful connections just like other brands do.
As a result, the luxury car sector has begun to work with automotive influencers and often they are lucky enough to already have these in their midst through sponsorship programmes.
While automotive social media doesn’t naturally sync with the ‘how-to’ content agenda that’s so big on Instagram, in sectors like beauty for example, there are other types of influencer automotive brands are looking at.
Travel naturally reflects a shared experience of the open road: for example, Mercedes-Benz's recent partnership with Canoopsy as he took a road trip around Spain.
Interestingly, Mercedes-Benz seems to be unearthing the most unique influencers in this space, from big names like Lewis Hamilton to those not as closely linked to the automotive world, such as lifestyle photographer Benjamin Prescott – who has a whopping 405,000 followers.
We've also seen Porsche collaborate with Bose, singer-songwriter Anne-Marie, producer Jennifer Decilveo, emerging producer Megan Lewis and She Is The Music to create a new song and highlight the latter’s work in celebrating and supporting women in the music industry. Music is a popular choice for pairing celebrities alongside luxury car brands; others recently featured include Tkay Maizda and Kano for Land Rover, along with sportspeople such as Mathieu van der Poel for Lamborghini or David Beckham, who has a longstanding partnership with Maserati.
Brands utilising Instagram Stories
Stories are actively being used by all the luxury automotive brands, mostly to showcase their models as they would in a brochure. For most other sectors, Stories align themselves best with live events or the here and now – the type of content the automotive sector is often lacking.
Nevertheless, there are still opportunities for car brands to use Stories in this way, such as capturing the action at race days – particularly for those with high-profile motorsport teams – or other events. For example, Aston Martin has previously included a snapshot into the action of their Formula 1 team, while Maserati has showcased the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Other brands hold highlights (archived stories which remain available) on their profiles with details on their different models or other aspects of the brand, such as Ferrari’s magazine or Bentley’s more interactive ‘Games’ Story which encourages users to think about their ideal Bentley.
Using reels for automotive social media
Reels are a great way to share longer videos and much of the content from luxury automotive brands is akin to an advert you may watch on television: cars driving around, beautiful landscape shots, sometimes geared around a theme such as Christmas.
However, we’ve also seen content which harks back to the core characteristics of luxury, such as videos on the behind-the-scenes craftsmanship or continuing legacy. McLaren recently experimented with this to celebrate its 60th anniversary, creating a series of reels which, when viewed alongside one another as a grid, form a timeline and spell “60” across three layers of tiles.
Creating a Brand Personality
Do these brands have a personality? Over to you on that, but apart from BMW’s wry choice of influencers, there are *some* flourishes of humour and fun – though they’re in the minority.
Tesla has played on enthusiasm for cars running in the family...
...while Bentley has injected some humour into its Christmas content.
Instagram profiles are non-political spaces, but that’s not to say that car brands aren’t politically engaged. For example, Porsche is proactive in providing support for Ukrainian refugees, you just won’t find this shouted about on its Instagram page.
Moreover, Jaguar did acknowledge Saudi Arabia lifting its ban on female drivers and Lamborghini regularly marks International Women’s Day on 8 March.
Benefits of Instagram for automotive social media
Instagram is the perfect channel for car brands to showcase their models and talk about the aesthetics and performance of them. But the channel also offers more benefits to their marketing departments.
These brands have an opportunity to create content that builds on their history and long-term connection to prestigious clients. They can showcase their involvement with current events and partnerships with other brands that mirror the same level of quality.
Instagram also offers automotive brands the benefit of building on the fan base of other celebrities and influencers by creating content featuring them.
It's fair to say that Instagram offers many opportunities to showcase a diverse range of content.
