Brian Epro dispels common myths about social media marketing for auto dealerships. He argues that (1) social media has reached auto customers, as most people now participate on social platforms; (2) many dealerships are already using social media like Facebook and Twitter, so dealers don't need to feel like the only ones; and (3) social media marketing can be simple and driven by customers, not require a big separate campaign, if dealerships provide good service, information, and enable customer sharing.

1. D IGITAL Dealer INTERNET SALES
Brian Epro
Dispelling Social Media Myths
D
oesn’t it seem like everyone is
pushing social media these
days? While new social media “Give customers impeccable service, valuable
solutions come to market every day,
there remain very few real statistics information and a way to spread that information
about how social media is working for
dealers and whether it’s actually bring- to friends and colleagues and they will do the
ing in paying customers. To help you
sort through the noise, below are some social media marketing for you.”
of the common myths associated with —Brian Epro
social media marketing and what you
can do to get in the game without in social media, it does not have to be customers. Give customers impeccable
spending a penny. complicated or time-consuming. service, valuable information and a way
Which brings me to my next point… to spread that information to friends
Myth 1: Social media hasn’t reached and colleagues and they will do the
auto customers yet Myth 3: Social media is complicated social media marketing for you. As long
Social media has slipped into every The best kind of social media as you have a way to track where your
industry and nearly every customer’s campaign begins with a loyal customer articles, coupons and offers show up on
life. While it’s true that not all people base who appreciates and sends on the various sites, your social campaign can
are tweeting on Twitter or posting to a information you share with them. I ride right alongside your traditional
Facebook page, there are a host of know an Internet sales manager who marketing services.
other social applications out there. had a customer post one of their e- Social media is not only here to stay,
Have you ever read or posted an newsletter articles to his Twitter, but it is slowly creeping into the plans
opinion or review on a web site? That’s Facebook and LinkedIn accounts. of every dealership. However, instead of
a type of social application. What That’s a triple social media hit for the forcing a social media plan, go back to
about watched YouTube? If the answer dealership completely driven by one your traditional ways of doing business
is yes, you have participated on a social customer! This dealer didn’t have to do – excellent customer service, valuable
media site and more than likely, so anything “outside of the box” to create information and the invitation for two-
have your customers. The idea that a social media hit, they merely enabled way communication – and your
social media is not used in automotive their customers to post e-newsletter customers will do the work for you, free
circles is outdated. articles to different social media chan- of charge.
nels. The ISM is letting the dealership
Myth 2: No other dealer is doing it, customer do the social networking for Brian Epro is director of Automotive
why should I? him, which should be the goal of any Services Group at IMN Loyalty Driver.
All it takes to dispel this myth is viral campaign.
typing the words “dealership +
Facebook” into Google. You’ll find Myth 4: Social media needs to be a If you wish to discuss this article with
pages and pages of dealerships that have separate campaign other dealers, or with the author,
posted their store profile on Facebook While social media is spreading like please go to the “Discussion Forums”
and are building “fans” on their page. wildfire right now, dealerships don’t at www.DigitalDealer-magazine.com
Recently more than 600 dealers were have to do anything particularly costly and enter the “Internet Sales” forum or
identified as having a Twitter account. or time-consuming to get it going. As e-mail him at bepro@DigitalDealer-
However, while it is true more dealer- noted above, the best social media magazine.com.
ships than ever before are participating campaigns come directly from
DD 18 November 2009 DigitalDealer-magazine.com