BURLINGTON, Vt. -

A recent study released by Dealer.com further enforces the fact that social media is increasingly tied to dealers’ daily sales as well as customer loyalty.

The  Internet marketing solutions company teamed up with DriverSide and GFK Automotive to conduct a study titled, "The Rise of Loyalty, Advocacy and Influence: Social Media and the New Automotive Buying Cycle."

The study examined how social media influences different stages of the car shopping process among nearly 2,000 consumers who had recently purchased a new vehicle or were looking to purchase one within the next year. Additionally, it explored the impact of consumer advocacy on loyalty.

"We are witnessing the evolution of the automotive purchase cycle, which takes into account the rapidly growing influence of social media on the car-buying process," said Kevin Root, chief product officer at Dealer.com, who also directed the study.

"Dealers and manufacturers need to recognize the importance of this new person-to-person marketing phenomenon, where the advocacy of others is increasingly more valuable to consumers than traditional marketing,” he continued. “By making social media an integral part of the marketing mix, they can turn customers into loyalists and advocates, and through them, favorably impact decisions of others about what car to buy and whom to buy it from."

Delving into the results, the study showed that information on social media networks, such as Facebook "likes", status updates and comments,  “plays a significant and expanding role in helping car-buyers determine which brands, models and dealerships to consider, and which ones to drop, when shopping for a new vehicle,” officials noted.

Moreover, the study found the role of advocacy between consumers to be a “powerful force,” which highlights the importance for dealers and manufactures to engage with their buyers on a regular basis.

According to the study, engaging with customers is especially important directly after the purchase, when consumers are bonding with their new vehicle and are more likely to broadcast their new car and purchase experience on social media channels.

Breaking down the study’s finding into numbers, 38 percent of new-vehicle shoppers said they used or will use social media to research their next vehicle purchase.

In particular, of those who used Facebook while shopping, 41 percent shared they saw a post that caused them to add a brand of model to their consideration. On that same note, 28 percent said they saw a posting that caused them to add a dealership to their consideration.

After the point-of-sale, 25 percent of participating buyers said they used social media post-purchase to broadcast their decision and ownership experience. This is another opportunity where buyers who are impressed with a dealership’s attention and services could help improve that business’ online reputation and also represents a high level of customer engagement even after the sale is made, according to the study. 

The number of post-purchase tweets and posts grew even higher among customers who remained loyal to a particular brand or dealership. According to the study, the number jumps to 33 percent for those loyal to a particular brand and 37 percent for those loyal to a particular dealership.

Additionally, of those who were loyal to a particular nameplate, 44 percent were very or somewhat likely to recommend that brand to their social networks; among those loyal to a dealership, that number is 47 percent.

Interestingly, the study also found that social media use among consumers who consider themselves loyal to at least one dealer or manufacturer is higher than those who have no loyalty.

That said, it is becoming more and more critical  for dealers and manufacturers to maintain relationships with their customers after they drive their new car off the lot, Dealer.com reported.

The companies will also offer a white paper analyzing the implications of the research findings for OEMs and dealers, which will be available for free download in late November. To pre-sign-up for a copy of the white paper, see here.