8:13 pm, December 19, 2011
Winner: Daksh Gupta
Commended: Peter Vardy, Ling Valentine
THIS was a brand new category to find the best user of social media in their respective business.
It could be anyone – from a dealer principal to a product or service. The only stipulation was that the winner had, in the last 12 months, had to have used social media – such as Twitter and Facebook – in an innovative and productive way.
Marshall Motor Group’s chief executive Daksh Gupta received two nominations in this year’s Ewards, and romped home to outright victory. Judges acknowledged Gupta as one of the leading embracers of social media of anyone in his position in the motor industry.
Favouring in particular Twitter, Gupta uses the mini-blogging platform in just the way it should be.
He chats to customers and employees about cars, deals, offers and services Marshall can provide. He tweets about his personal life, what he’s doing at any given time, re-tweets news his followers would be interested in, and shares pictures with his audience.
Gupta also uses social media to create a buzz around car buying. During the summer, Gupta, along with Robert Forrester of Vertu fame and Darren Williams from Grants Seat, took part in a Twitter duel by tweeting how many cars they were selling on one particular day.
Judge Jamie Dixon from GForces remarked: ‘Daksh is a customer-focused individual and this has shown through in the manner he has embraced the use of social media for Marshall Motor Group.’
Roland Schaack of Codeweavers added: ‘Daksh Gupta has really worked hard on his social media presence wearing his heart on his sleeve. Over the past few months we have watched Daksh personally handle customer complaints in full public view. This for me is what social media is all about, interacting with customers for better or for worse.’
‘Daksh has embraced the fact that social media can’t be purely corporate,’ says Experian’s Andrew Ballard. ‘He makes it feel real and engaging.’
