(Originally published on Dealer magazine)
Many dealerships have realized that social media has become the communication method of choice for people. Dealers came across this revelation via many methods – maybe it was through an article they read, a session topic at a conference, through their OEM’s initiative or through an enlightened member of their staff. Some dealers are just now realizing it while some dealers still don’t.
AutoNation has not only been progressive in their social media campaigns, they’ve created positions within their organization that, to my knowledge, were the first of their kind in the retail automotive industry.
They have a “Chief Blog Officer” and a “Chief Facebook and Twitter Officer” within their corporate marketing department and have designated a “Social Media Champion” at each of their dealerships. They’ve embraced social media at all levels and in every way. These positions indicate a top-down embracing of social media from the corporate to the dealership level.
They took the next evolutionary step yesterday when they announced Alison Rosenthal as a new member of their Board of Directors. Ms. Rosenthal joins AutoNation’s board after leaving a 5 year career as an executive of Facebook.
“We are very pleased to have Alison Rosenthal join the AutoNation Board,” said Mike Jackson, AutoNation’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “Alison’s technology experience, especially in the areas of mobile applications and social media, will be a valuable resource for the Board.”
AutoNation has run some great Facebook promotions in the past, including “Mosaic” which utilized the Facebook platform to achieve over 36,000 page views in less than 30 days while increasing interactions with fans by over 76%.
Their goal is to be known as the “un-dealer” through online interactions, transparency and responding to their customers. They answer questions publicly that most dealers would shy away from such as financing and invoice pricing as well as proactively seeking out online conversations about their brand, whether that’s through blog articles or social media, and participating. Every customer gets asked to leave online reviews – good or bad.
It’ll be interesting to watch in what ways AutoNation leverages Ms. Rosenthal’s expertise to further engage its fans and increase its already large online footprint.
We’re used to seeing technology companies being acquired by technology companies. It may not be too far in the future where we start seeing technology companies being acquired by automotive industry companies.
