Mercedes AMG F1 get 29.4% of followers posting again

About

• Elite Sports
• Formula 1 racing team
• 26.8 million followers across Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube
• Committed to safety and inclusion in Formula One

"Arwen has helped us live up to our diversity and inclusion commitments by removing spam and toxicity from our social channels."

Bradley Lord, Strategic Communications Director, Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team

Problem

Each time Mercedes AMG F1 made a post on their social media platforms, they were bombarded with 15-20 spam comments within 18 seconds. This not only polluted their online community but also diverted the attention of their followers from their valuable paid and organic content. Moreover, it was completely inappropriate for their target audience. To make matters worse, they noticed a surge in toxic comments on social media, which correlated with data from the European Union revealing a 40% increase in such instances since 2019.

As if that wasn't enough, members of their social media team themselves became victims of personal attacks from trolls. Finally it became evident that the toxic behaviour witnessed on social media was seeping into the real-life track side experience, as increasingly hostile behaviour was becoming apparent.

Impact

• Damaging the productivity and wellbeing of the social media team
• Growing inability to keep up with rising moderation volumes 
• Fear that social their hard-won media community was being disengaged
• Anxiety that this would impact their ability to foster engagement around races and sponsorships

Solution

• We alleviated initial concerns about harming freedom of speech and the right of fans to criticise the team and drivers. We were able to demonstrate that 3% of toxic users were already silencing 38% of followers, so moderating actually protected freedom of speech. To further alleviate this, we advised Mercedes AMG F1 on a communications plan to launch Arwen in the most positive way possible. 
• We ran an initial trial to demonstrate that our AI could accurately discern between toxic and negative comments as well as a human moderator.
• Arwen authorised on their socials, and sat alongside other elements in their social media stack. We configured filter settings for each Mercedes AMG F1 social media profile, to ensure every moderation decision reflected their brand voice. 
• Finally we trained the team in the simple routine task of reviewing and moderating suspect items, where the AI was uncertain and needed feedback.

Results

• Arwen has been continually moving an average of 4,211 severely toxic and spam comments each month, in real time
• Reduced the number of severely toxic comments being posted by 70% in 3 months
• Increased the number of followers posting again by 29.4%
• Protected team wellbeing and productivity, allowing them to focus on outbound content and community management