So far in 2010, my company Next Generation Dealer Services has conducted several social media seminars for auto dealers and there is a huge curiosity to learn but also some confusion. Social media is being tagged a sales tool when in reality, it is more about your bottom line!

Erik Qualman, author of Socialnomics, said “The ROI on social media is that your business will still exist in 5 years.”

Harsh I know but social media encompasses several major topics that every dealership has to focus on to ensure their continued success including reputation management, community awareness, and brand development. All of these are affected by every profit source in a dealership and steer dealers towards the ultimate goal: Create customers that create customers.

What is social media? It is an old business tool used in a new way. It is networking squared! Social media allows you to network to the masses and create a much large scope of influence.

A couple words of caution that your social media efforts should not be an extension of your offline advertising. Also, do not be a shameless self promoter or you will be viewed as spam.

Here are some tips to put social media to work for you in your dealership.

Finance department

Sales of F&I products have the added challenge in that a customer cannot touch of feel them and people in general hate to spend money on insurance. Having spent 15 years in “the box”, I have tried numerous methods to try to develop a mental justification to purchase VSC and other backend products.

Create a short video showing your customers the warranty claim process and let them see how easy it is. In a video, show a relatively new vehicle coming in for a repair since most customers think their vehicles won’t break. End the video by asking the customer if they think their vehicle is 99% perfect since it is a machine and machines do break from time to time.

Your business manager can then tell a customer this word track: “We believe your new vehicle is 99% perfect as well but with over 5000 moving parts in it, that means 5 things will break over its lifetime. You saw how easy the claim process was. Isn’t that easier than paying for it out of your own pocket?”

Special finance department

Special finance customers always have the fear of being turned down and embarrassed. Setup a blog site and write blogs about credit and what lenders look for to approve loans. Blogs build authority. The more information you provide, the more people will look to you as the expert on a subject.

Also, this is a great area to get testimonials and you can include them in your blogs such as “This week at ABC Auto Loans (whatever you call your special finance department), Tom H. came in after being turned down by several other dealerships and we managed to get him approved for a new family car.” Then have a quick quote from your customer. Immediately people reading your blog will start to have more trust in you and your ability to get them approved.

Service department

Have you ever sponsored a baseball or softball team in your community? What usually happened? You wrote a check and got a picture at the end of the season that you proudly hung in your service department for everyone visiting your dealership to see.

Well, most everyone that is visiting your dealership already likes you. Add social media to this scenario and create incredible community awareness. Ask the coach to take a couple of pictures per game and send them to you with a quick game recap. Post the pictures and recap on your Facebook page and congratulate the heroes of the game. You will have proud parents engaging you and thanking you for the kind words. Plus, they will be bragging to all their friends and sharing the information.

Body shop

Do your customers even know you have one? Every new car delivery has salesman walk their customers through service. Why not your body shop too? Wouldn’t it make sense that a customer would prefer to have their vehicle fixed in a place they know especially since their insurance is paying for it.

Create a slide show that shows before and after pictures and place it on your website and all your social networks. Include in their pictures showing if you are a for instance a “Geico Certified” dealer.

A lot about social media is not revolutionary such as engaging your community and making friends but it does take execution. When done properly, it can pay big dividends at the end of each month at the bottom of your monthly statements.