Social Media Me

Forrester Research Inc. says social media is the fastest-growing segment in the interactive marketing category.

For dealers, the bottom line is that it doesn't take a large investment to increase social media business.

With an estimated 142 million Facebook users in the U.S. and a worldwide total of more than 500 million, the auto industry has no choice. The customers are present in social media. The auto industry has to go there.

Social media. Networking. Facebook. Twitter. To some, these words are like heroin to a junkie. To others, these words are like heroin to a rehab therapist. But whatever side of the social media fence you're on, you should consider it as a valuable tool for the sale of your next car.

There's a measure of irony here, in that car manufacturers are diving headlong into the Facebook and Twitter arenas with little in the way of concrete numbers to show in sales attributable to social media efforts. But according to Forbes, the people of the U.S. are on pace to sell more than 2 million cars--mostly used cars--through social networks, including Craigslist.

It makes sense, if you think about it--social networks are built around the premise of friendship, which implies trust. So when you see a tweet or Facebook post about a car for sale, you're already that one step closer to a purchase, even if you're not in the market for a car. Walking onto a dealership's lot, trust is anything but a given.

 

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