Social Networking And Your Dealership

Recently, one of my clients came to me and asked me about running a PPC campaign for his Myspace account. He has known me for a while now and knows that I am not a huge fan of the Myspace designs and layouts. Don't get me wrong, I think Myspace is a fantastic idea and I have am intrigued by the new social marketing movement and how this will ultimately change how we view PPC and even selling cars.

This lead me do some research into the dealership pages that are out there now and what they had done. Until this week I had never set up a Myspace account so I had no idea what to expect, and I am by no means an expert on social media or even PPC in social media so take this advice with a grain of salt (or a whole salt mine). There are some things that these dealerships are doing that I like and think will work, and other things that I think they could do better. These are not my clients websites and I do not know anything about these dealerships other then what can be found on their Myspace pages.

The first one I found was Nemer Vw's page and I have to say this has a lot of potential. They are very upfront about the fact that this is the dealerships page, and their intent to use this as a marketing tool, they have a vehicle with a "Myspace" price and an open call for local musical artists. I think the main thing they are missing is a more "human" feel. I don't feel a connection to the personality who is creating this page (presumably the internet manager or a younger sales associate). I want to know who is updating this, is the sale only good if I talk to this person? How does the dealership want me to let them know I want this car and I am a "friend"? For me a little more social spin on this would make it a fantastic marketing tool.

The second one I found was Elk Groves Myspace page. This page may or may not have great information, its hard to tell because my eyes got tired after about 10 seconds and I left. The "lesson" here is that as with all advertising if the content isn't clear and readable it's not going to help you sell cars. Sure, the car is flashy, hip and hot, but I would not recommend using it as a background, instead I would have added it to my pictures or used it as my avitar.

What do you think of these sites? Would you buy a car from the dealership based on their Myspace page? Do you even care that they have a Myspace page?