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DETROIT — Are many dealers turning to Twitter to drum up sales and service activity?

Turns out, the social media website that limits messages to 140 characters has been welcomed by dealers in varying degrees, according to AOL Autos. 

In fact, AOL Autos correspondent Gary Hoffman recently looked at how dealers harnessed Twitter during one 24-hour period in early July.

Hoffman pointed out that Koons Automotive in Vienna, Va., announced an iPad giveaway, promoted its inventory of used Audis and Volkswagens, thanked four customers for visiting its stores and answered two customer complaints.

The same day, Hoffman found Mazda dealerships throughout the country tweeted an announcement about the brand's new certified pre-owned program almost as soon as the automaker released it. 

"The automotive industry has been a bit behind on Twitter and social media in general," said Joe High, chief executive officer of XIGroup and Dealerskins, a pair Web design firms that cater to dealerships. "But now it is moving ahead at full speed."

"Given consumers' built-in resistance to messages from companies, High said dealerships are doing well if they manage to get 100 people following them on Twitter," Hoffman wrote.

So why are dealers turning to Twitter?

According to Hoffman, "One reason that Twitter is catching on with dealerships is that they can use keywords to optimize their tweets for search engines just as they do with their Web pages, according to High. In this way, they drive traffic to their messages and, in turn, to their websites. From there, it's a short leap to the showroom floor — or so the thinking runs."

What High might consider full speed isn't quite the situation Mitchell Brenner described to Hoffman. Brenner is e-commerce manager at Precision Acura of Princeton, located in Lawrenceville, N.J.

"I don't think I have exactly sold any cars with Twitter," Brenner told Hoffman. "But I have seen people going to my website who started on Twitter."

To read Hoffman's complete report, visit this AOL Autos page.