Social media represents an important marketing frontier for the automotive industry. Ninety-four percent of millennial car buyers—the industry’s largest and fastest-growing demographic—gather information online, and 38 percent of consumers say they will consult social media in making their next car purchase. Based on these facts, senior marketers recognize social’s capacity to deliver actionable, real-time insights that can help drive overall marketing effectiveness.

This report contains a number of valuable and actionable insights, including:

• Campaigns focused on cars generate much higher consumer engagement and interest than other social media initiatives, such as charitable causes.
• Reputation management is seen as potentially the most critical aspect of social marketing, with consumer-generated content and commentary having a huge influence on purchasing decisions.
• Marketers view social as most effective when integrated with other channels and marketing approaches; many view social analytics as an invaluable source of insight for other digital and offline marketing efforts.