It's often said the younger generation have taken to the digital age like ducks to water and now historic Birmingham car-maker MG is aiming to exploit those youthful skills to the full in a bid to strengthen its social media presence.
The Longbridge-based firm鈥檚 forthcoming social media campaigns will largely be the work of students at South and City College Birmingham following a pioneering partnership which started back in June.
The tie-up is part of an ongoing relationship between MG Motor 海角视频 and South and City College, the latest phase of which saw the car-maker team-up with the college鈥檚 social media students to find out what sparks their interest when it comes to online content.
In June, seven social media apprentices from the college visited MG鈥檚 head office to discuss online interaction and how the car manufacturer can expand its social media followers.
Matthew Cheyne, MG鈥檚 head of sales and marketing, said; 鈥淲e鈥檝e got a fantastic following of MG fans, some as far back as the earliest models, but we鈥檙e always looking to increase our audience and interaction.
鈥淭hrough the help and expertise of these students, we鈥檙e hoping to do that and identify what people look for when it comes to social media.鈥
The students were set a project, which involved researching other car manufacturers and creating a unique social media campaign for MG to run with.
They were split into two groups, with Amba Fellows, Eleanor Duncombe, Lauren Crates and Savannah Gonzales in one team and Adam Askew and Jay Styles in the other.
The students presented their findings to the MG marketing team at the end of July and their campaigns are now set to be launched in just a few weeks.
MG Motor 海角视频 is currently running the social media campaign #MGthanks, which will continue until the end of August, to be followed by the campaigns devised by the South and City College students.
Lizi Piggins, PR officer for MG, said: 鈥淲e were really impressed with the ideas the students came up with and it was refreshing to speak to young people who haven鈥檛 necessarily got an interest in cars, as you get a completely different outlook.
鈥淲ith their input, we鈥檒l be running their campaigns in the coming months, which is fantastic experience for these students.鈥
Steve Dourass, business and community manager for South and City College, said: 鈥淭o be working in association with such a fantastic local brand is great because everybody wins.
鈥淥ur college students have been really enthused by the relationship we are building and have already gained invaluable experience through a 鈥榬eal life鈥 project.
鈥淲e look forward to developing many more opportunities together.鈥
MG is hoping to further grow sales this year after a successful 2014, when it was named the fastest-growing automotive brand in Britain by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.
The car-maker currently engineers and designs MG cars for global markets in Longbridge and also assembles MG3 and vehicles there for the 海角视频 market.
The company鈥檚 海角视频 technical centre (SMTC) at Longbridge employs 300 engineers and designers.
MG鈥檚 sales surge has been based largely on the success of the MG3 supermini, which was launched last year.
in the 海角视频 next year. Currently available in China, where it is badged as the MG GTS, its design was overseen by MG鈥檚 global design director Anthony Williams-Kenny, in a collaboration between the company鈥檚 Shanghai and Longbridge design teams.
The new SUV is set to compete in the compact SUV sector, one of the fastest-growing areas in the global automotive world, against cars like the Nissan Qashqai and Vauxhall Mokka.
Speculation has also suggested MG may add a smaller SUV to its range and though the car-maker has not revealed any further new model plans it did say it has 鈥渟everal models planned for the immediate and longer-term future鈥.
