ATLANTA -

In addition to launching a paid social media campaign to help spread word, AutoTrader.com announced today that it has added a vehicle search tool to its Facebook page that allows consumers to begin searching for the model they desire immediately. Consumers can also share this app with friends and family.

AutoTrader.com president and chief executive officer Chip Perry offered his take on the new tool: "With more than 800 million active users on Facebook, and more than 350 million who access Facebook through their mobile devices, we believe this is a really rich environment to try new ways and innovative ways to reach our consumers and allow them to search for a new or used car.

"We recognize that social media and the Internet as a whole is an influencing medium that consumers rely on their family and friends for advice on many things including what their next car should be.  We want to offer consumers an option to engage with us and our participating dealers through Facebook, and we want to offer our dealers the opportunity to reach a broader base of consumers through our Facebook page,” he continued.

So how does the new application work?

Shoppers who visit AutoTrader.com on Facebook can now begin their search for a new vehicle by entering features, such as body style, make/model, year and price range. They are then shown a list of search results to weed through, all without leaving Facebook.

Once they select a specific car from the results, they will be directed back to AutoTrader.com to review details. 

Additionally, the site is launching a paid media campaign on Facebook to drive new fans to the application, and an email blast will be sent to AutoTrader.com’s existing consumer base that have opted in for promotional updates, the company noted.

Consumer behavior on social media sites like Facebook, such as status updates and “likes”, is becoming increasingly important to dealers and manufacturers alike, according to a recent study released by Dealer.com which tied consumer advocacy on social media sites directly to loyalty to dealers and nameplates.

The study results showed that 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.

For more information on the recent study, see the Auto Remarketing story here.