2010 Report - The Social Influence of the Auto Industry

[Jeff Kershner]

Not sure if anyone has seen this and it's one of those independent studies / promos but I think it has some interesting information. The study indicates dealerships in the United States have aggressively pursued social media.

25.5% of all dealerships have a Facebook page
10.9% have a Twitter account

The top brand on Facebook was Chrysler followed by Buick, Chevrolet, Mazda and then Jeep. -- Ok, maybe Mazda but Chrysler, Buick, Chevrolet and Jeep??.. that's a surprise.

Top brands on Twitter was Toyota, followed by Chevrolet, Honda, Nissan and then Ford.

The total dealerships on Facebook amounted to 5155
Total dealerships on Twitter amounted to 2195.

On the web, the most popular searched brand is BMW, followed by Ford, Honda, Lincoln and Mini Cooper.

Here is a link to the actual study released by GOSO. http://bit.ly/cLqnHg

Here is the study released on Forbes -- Automotive Dealer Study Reports an Increase in Social Media Activity - Automotive Dealer Study Reports an Increase in Social Media Activity - Forbes.com

 

[Alex Snyder]

Nice work on GOSO's part to get this landed on Forbes :thumbup:

I would like to see a bit more of a breakdown in here though. How many dealers have over 200 fans, over 500, over 1,000 facebook fans, etc. How many followers on twitter. How often is facebook being updated? How often are tweets going out? Are the 5,155 dealers on facebook just using fan pages? Can you actually pull information on regular accounts (non-fan pages)?

I'm sure I'll think of more, but those came to mind while I was reading this study.

 

[jimbell]

That's great that dealers are using social networking site like twitter and facebook. We all know that it is cheap advertising to keep your name out there. What I would be courious on is how many dealers actually tweet and post things on facebook. I know that I will throw at least 3 tweets out a day and also 2-3 posts on facebook just to keep my name in front of people.

Unfortunately, not all areas of the country have taken a hold of twitter like other parts. In our market, not many people are tweeting. We do have 173 followers, but a good portion of them are other dealers seeing what I am doing. I would say not even a quarter of them would be customers.

 

[Oscar Vanderkooij]

Anybody here using GOSO for their social media tools? We have been using them for a couple of months and they manage our facebook, twitter and youtube accounts. They are working on integrating our inventory in to facebook and they have some other tools that will be available soon including Buzz Monitoring and Testimonial pages.

I do not know what their cost is going to be since they are still in Beta, but I think they are on top of their game.