Every Facebook Update and Twitter Tweet you make has a time stamp on it. It doesn’t look very good if a potential customer finds you and your last update was 6 months ago.

We at Showroom Logic realize this trend, and we make it as easy as possible for the dealers. Every time a new vehicle is added to a car dealer’s inventory, Showroom Logic automatically updates Facebook and Twitter with a direct link to the vehicle.

Still not sure? Check out this video:

The idea? Simple. Car Dealers still aren’t utilizing social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter. Most car dealers are too busy looking for the “I want to sell a car today” method.

Social networking takes a while to acquire friends and followers, but if it’s done properly car dealer will reap the benefits. What I mean by properly is simple. Don’t bombard your followers with useless tweets and updates. They don’t want to know what you had for lunch.

There’s an old saying, “Only speak when you have something to say”. This is very important in social networking, especially if you are a business. If you get a new follower on Twitter or a friend on Facebook you will be put on “probation”. If you annoy this person they will leave you, simple as that.

Even if you only tweet or update a couple of times a week, that will be acceptable. How often does you dealership offer new incentives? Let’s say you have a “0% Financing” Special starting tomorrow. This would be an acceptable tweet. Simply say “Starting tomorrow, 0% Financing on select models. Visit our website for details”. Then you should have a direct link to your webpage explaining the promotion.

Your url will probably be too long, so shorten it at http://bit.ly. For Facebook, all you have to do is copy and paste the entire url into your staus update box, and they do the rest. For more detailed directions, visit the Social Networking Map To Success.

So what makes Showroom Logic’s Twitter tool so special? Simple, we make your updates for you. As your newest inventory rolls in, we send out a Tweet with a direct link to that vehicle. We also send an update through Facebook (with photograph) of the actual car or truck. You are still free to do as many manual tweets and updates as you wish.

Here is a Screenshot of a Utah dealer’s Twitter page, using our tools:

Snap Shot Of Jerry Seiner Using Our Twitter Tools

For more information, visit ShowroomLogic.com, or contact:

Brandon Bishop (All other states): (866) 994-1601 Extension 106

Patrick Bennett (Utah): (801) 400-9178

Mike Annable (Florida): (863) 812-6411

Look At The Publicity We Obtained From Our press release for one of our customers, Park Automall in Tampa Florida.

Car dealers throughout the country are dabbling in Social Networking. I’ve located car dealers throughout the US who at some point signed up for a Twitter and Facebook account. The problem is, car dealers like instant results so within weeks they simply abandon their accounts.

In my opinion this can actually make a dealer look bad. Every Twitter Tweet and every Facebook Update has a time stamp. If I am starting the process  of buying a new or used car I will not simply Google it, find the car and run out and buy it today.

My buying process would take at least 30 days. There are 3 places I would start looking:

1. Google: I am a Googler, what can I say. I will look at any dealer that pops up on the first page. If I get greeted with a pop-up, I will be gone in a heartbeat. We call that a “bounce”. You see, you cannot trick me into filling out a pop-up coupon (I compare this to pulling into a dealership and a salesman pops out from behind a car and starts annoying me with sales pitches). I am the savviest 41 year old you’ll ever meet. Let’s face it, car dealers have a bad reputation that exists from decades ago. Your brand will not sell me either. I look at 2 things, your inventory and your prices. If it’s a new vehicle I will also look for incentives like 0% Financing. I hope you make it clear to me when I see your website. I really don’t want to have to navigate through all of that flash on your website because at some point it will probably lock up my computer.
2. Twitter: I love Twitter, and I love the power of it. If you are on Twitter I will find you and follow you. You will be placed on my “Twitter Probation”. If the first Tweet I see says you just had a Big Mac for lunch I am gone. You see, I don’t expect a Tweet from you every day. What I do expect is a Tweet every time you post a new vehicle on your website. Why? I am shopping for a car. I also want to know about a new incentive you have to get me in the door, but please don’t keep telling me the same thing.
3. Facebook: Facebook is great too, but it’s hard to find friends who will join a car dealer. I would look for a sales person that had a personal account. I would expect intelligent updates from them. I would also expect to see some inventory on there.

Most car dealers have an older “old school” management team who ultimately make all of the decisions. This can create a problem for the younger employees who see the potential in Social Networking. You will not start utilizing social networking today and reap the benefits tomorrow. Realistically it will take a couple of months.This is the new generation we are dealing with, and it’s here to stay.

Lorrie Walker runs a public relations firm in the Tampa Florida area. Last week she wrote an article about Social Networking. There was one particular quote in their that says it all:

“If Generation Y isn’t already part of your client base, they soon will be,” Walker said. “So businesses need to communicate on their level.”

I could go on and on with this post, but I highly recommend you read Lorrie’s article here.

1) For a very low monthly fee dealers can include their used car inventory on our local listing site, like this one: Used Cars In Orem

2) If a dealer wants to claim a specific area we can give them their own site with a blog. Once a dealer chooses their territory, we cannot accept another dealer because it would be a conflict of interest. Park Automall selected Tampa, Florida. Check it out here: Used Cars In Pinellas County Florida.

We have some great tools you can read about here. In a nutshell, our 2 newest tools allow a car dealer to utilize social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook.

1) Twitter: Co-founder Patrick Bennett developed this software himself. We were using TwitterFeed but it seemed “buggy”. Another problem was most dealers update their inventory weekly. If they added 25 used cars to their inventory Twitter would on show a few of them, and the majority of them would never get listed. Now our system will roll out the new ones 1 at a time, until they are all listed. This way your Twitter followers won’t get annoyed with 5 or 10 Tweets at the same time. Each Tweet will include model, price and a direct link to the vehicle listing.

Here is a screen shot from Park Automall’s Twitter Account. If you look at the time stamps for each tweet, you will see how we roll it out:

Park Automall Sends Automatic Twitter Tweets (Click To Enlarge)

2) Facebook: Our system automatically updates Facebook with your used car inventory as well.Here is a screenshot from my Facebook:

Park Automall's Automatic Facebbok Updates (Click To Enlarge)

If you are a car dealer looking to broaden your horizon, call Mike at (863) 666-0130. If you want to see it live in action, follow park Automall On Twitter.