Social media have become an integral part of any business model, so it’s not surprising to see it proliferating in the one of the largest industries in the United States. Auto dealerships are relying more than ever on social networking sites like Facebook (News - Alert), Twitter and Linkedin, to not only maintain relationships with customers, but also to market and advertise new stock or incentives.

In a recent study conducted by Auto/Mate Dealership Systems 81 percent of respondents said they maintain a Facebook page, 44 percent are on Linked In, and 17 percent have a Twitter (News - Alert) profile. The survey also showed that mobile app use for these fields was on the rise. 46 percent of respondents said they are currently using mobile apps in the sales department, with another 35 percent saying they plan to implement mobile apps within the next year.

According to the release that accompanied the story, “Parts departments seem to have the least use for mobile apps, with just 14 percent of respondents currently using mobile apps and another 13 percent saying they plan to implement mobile apps in the parts department within the next year.”

The survey had 159 respondents, half of which owned or managed and auto-dealerships, with the other half managing departments within a dealership.

Overall the results of this study show that the general predilection auto dealers have to connected tools is growing, and that increasingly the CRM solutions that these businesses employ focus on capturing the voice and feelings of the customer.

The wide spread adoption of social and mobile application technology allows for a more complete view of the customer space in any industry. With social monitoring connectivity and CRM platforms auto dealers have no excuse not engaging in customer conversation wherever possible.

Chris DiMarco is a Managing Editor for TMCnet. He holds a master's degree in journalism from Quinnipiac University. Prior to joining TMC (News - Alert) Chris worked with e-commerce provider Suresource as a contact center representative and development analyst. To read more of his articles, please visit his columnist page. Follow him on Twitter @cpdimarco.

Edited by Rich Steeves