GOSO

By: Ryan Riley Marketing Strategy Manager for GOSO. Ryan provides analytical data and departmental support for GOSO. Ryan is an experienced writer and blogs for GOSO, BOALT and other sites.

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Last week I set out to test the social media waters of Southern California, using myself as the guinea pig. The task was simple: find someone to sell me a car. The goal was two fold:

1. Get a good car deal.
2. See if dealers are listening.

GOSO is fortunate enough to work with hundreds of dealers across America, including some in Southern California, to be honest, the easy thing for me to have done was call up one of the dealerships we have a personal relationship with and say, “Hey, I’m looking for a car. Can you help me out?”

No doubt our dealerships would have responded, “Sure, come on out!” But the goal was to be as unbiased as possible, and so I asked our internal monitors not to respond so that perhaps I could find a realistic response to the question: Are dealers listening?

I wanted to be a normal customer, granted I have a pulpit that a lot of customers don’t have, but the theory remains the same: Can a customer post his purchasing aspirations online and expect someone to hear them?

So how did Southern California do?

Not well. I had envisioned dozens of responses from dealerships across the county, but that didn’t happen.

Of the few responses I received only one was really actionable, and the caller, David Harris of Mazda USA, was very serious.

Harris, Social Media Manager of Mazda USA, called me direct. Which isn’t a small thing. David is a very busy man. Someone I never expected to take the time to call little ol’ me. His message was straight to the point, “We’d love to get you in a Mazda. Give me a call.”

So what did I do?

Well, I returned the call of course.

A big part of social media is helping dealers to understand that the customers are online searching for a deal and a dealer. It’s not like the old days where you ran some ads and wait for customers to roll in. Today you have to be more proactive. It’s only going to get worse as younger generations come of age. I guarantee they will begin their search on the Facebooks and Twitters of the future.

According to a recent study from Foresight Research, 86% of car buyers used the internet to help them in their purchasing decision. The same study revealed that 24% of car buyers under 35 used social media to share their purchasing decision. These are important numbers.

Now back to my experience. I used both the internet, my blog, and both my Facebook and Twitter accounts to say to the Southern California automotive community that I wanted to buy a car, and Mazda listened.

David connected me with John Patterson and Jim Feinstein at OC Mazda. I went in with no expectations. I tried my best to be as aloof as possible. I even refused the multiple offers of refreshments, and I mean multiple. Jim tried everything he could to get me to accept a bottle of water or snack. He even offered me Pop Tarts. Pop tarts! What kind of dealer has Pop Tarts. I’m not going to beat around the bush here, but the answer is a great car dealer. It wasn’t just the Pop Tarts that won me over, the guys were amazing. Probably the best car buying experience I’ve ever had.

Beyond the Pop Tarts of course were, obviously, Mazdas. Jim took me out in a 2010 Mazda 3. He wasn’t at all dissuaded when I told him perhaps I should go with used. I won’t bore you with the ins and outs of my car buying process. The short and sweet of it is that I bought a 2009 Mazda 3, and I’m not looking back. The guys were friendly, informative and genuinely cared about my ultimate happiness.

The real surprise was David Harris and Mazda USA’s personal investment in the purchase. After the deal was finished, Harris called me personally to congratulate me on my purchase.

Obviously I don’t want anyone to expect the same personal attention, but I do want to everyone to realize that this experience is indicative of the interactions we’ll see in the future. Customers will continue to express to use the internet and especially social media to share their purchasing intentions, and dealers will have to find them in the vast terrain of the world wide web and build a relationship with them. As you cultivate that relationship, you’ll be gaining future customers.

Because Mazda built a relationship with me, I bought a car from them. It’s that simple. Well, and I liked their car.

So it’s clear your customers are speaking online. The question is, are you listening?

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