Automakers compete for Facebook fans in new online battleground
So what is Facebook all about? A nuisance? A distraction? A time waster for teens and people who seem obsessed with living in public and sharing everything they do with their world? Well, yes, it is all of that.
So why then are automakers and dealers scrambling to attract more and more Facebook fans, launching contests, integrating Facebook apps and hiring social media experts to steer them through these strange new social media waters?
In a word, engagement.
Customer loyalty remains an important business driver, but an engaged customer who truly interacts with your brand – and has a trusted relationship with real people in your company, and with your other customers – that’s the currency of the next generation of buyers. And not just the young ones either.
You can scoff at social media – you don’t have to like it. You can easily ignore it completely for your personal life, but you’d be foolish to ignore it for your business.
Consider a few recent headlines from the automotive press: “BMW, Audi First Automakers With Over 1 Million Facebook Fans” writes autoguide.com and “One In Four Shoppers Uses Facebook, Twitter To Choose Next Ride. Do Automakers Know That?” writes Richard Read in his post on the automotive social media site SocialCarNews.com.
Richard Read’s blog post cited research from ROI Research Inc., that surveyed 3,000 U.S. respondents who regularly use social media sites. Of this group, 26 percent are more likely to make an automotive purchase as a result of a recommendation someone posted on a social networking site, than any other vertical.
So if you want to really know about how people feel about your brands, spend some time on your own brand’s Facebook pages, lurk on some of those of your competitors, and you’ll get a real sense of what this social focus group has to say.
This social focus group, by the way, is getting huge. They won’t fit in your dealership or in a local hotel meeting room. Facebook already has more than 500 million users, and has eclipsed YouTube, and dwarfed MySpace and Twitter as the top social networking site and forums.
As if dealers didn’t have enough awards, numbers and rankings to keep track of, there are now social media sites and experts who carefully track social media success and Facebook rankings.
The good news is that automakers are getting less clumsy with their social media strategies. The best campaigns don’t feel much like campaigns; they are fun and inventive, and are soft-sell marketing. When it’s done right, social media feels fun, engaging, inviting and informative.
Many dealers are also creating their own Facebook pages, some of which offer incentives, inventory, and other interactive tools. But that’s a topic I’ll explore in another issue.
