Although automotive industry program groups aren’t exactly all atwitter over posting tweets for all the world to see, several are booting up plans for logging on to the marketing opportunities presented by participating in social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Flickr, LinkedIn and the like.

Citing competitive concerns, some of the program groups are keeping their data cards close to the vest, declining to discuss the matter. Others are hesitant about getting with the program, believing that the burgeoning social networking scene’s demographics remain the domain of youngsters – trending too much toward people not yet old enough to purchase meaningful quantities of auto parts and services.

“Those kids are letting Mom and Dad take care of the car,” says Jim Donohue, automotive sales manager at Independent Warehouse Distributors, who reflects a common viewpoint: The social networking segment simply needs some time to mature. “Over the next three years it’s going to pick up a lot of steam,” Donohue forecasts. “We can see the day coming, but it’s not quite here yet.”

Demographic doubts aside, the subject is expected to be on a number of Aftermarket Week agendas as program group memberships gather in Las Vegas.

“Social networking is under consideration by our marketing committee as a topic of discussion at our next committee meeting in November,” reports Bob Barstow, vice president at the Automotive Distribution Network (ADN). “Our focus would be to assist our Parts Plus Car Care Centers in attracting the female consumer.”

According to a just-released Q Interactive survey of 1,000 American women, 75 percent of the respondents are “more active” in social networking than they were just last year. A note of caution emerges, however, as two-thirds of the “exceptionally active” online social networkers say they are “turned off by brands hawking products and services in the social media space.” Only 17 percent feel positive about viewing commercial pitches on these sites.

On the plus side of the ledger is the sheer volume of participation by both genders: Facebook has some 100 million active users.

More than half of the nation’s adult population is using text messaging, blogging and other types of social networking media to regularly communicate with others, according to a tracking study from Universal McCann. Among those aged 18 to 34, 85 percent rate social networking as their “reigning form of personal communication.” More than 40 percent of active Internet users in the U.S. have posted a profile on at least one of the various social networking platforms.

Writing in Inc. magazine, Linda Wilson at the Hoffman Agency public relations firm contends that an enterprise of any size can benefit if social networking is at least given a try.

“If you associate social networking with MySpace, debatable language and photos of kids drinking beverages in red plastic cups, it’s time to rethink the power of this tool,” she says.

“In short, social networking can facilitate greater connections for your company. These connections can range from internal – employee-to-employee – to suppliers, to customers and even potential buyers,” Wilson observes.

About half of Inc.’s Top 500-ranked entrepreneurial businesses engage in some form of social marketing.

Efforts to recruit new employees can gain additional traction through career-oriented sites such as LinkedIn. “For example,” says Wilson, “roughly 70 million Gen-Yers born between 1980 and 1995 are coming to the workforce with a mindset that views social networking akin to how older generations saw the phone. Social networking tools allow you to connect with them in their language, so-to-speak.”

A program group executive, requesting anonymity, reports that his organization has hired an Internet-savvy marketing manager fresh out of college to debut a social networking presence designed to reach a triple bill of members, repairers and motorists. LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube are all poised to hit the operation’s cyberspace stage.

“We have a distribution center, and I’d like to have a video tour of that; that could be a ‘viral video,’” the executive points out. (A viral video is loosely defined as a clip that’s unique enough to spontaneously attract a colossal amount of clicks.)
This particular program group’s members have already been posting YouTube footage on behalf of their own businesses, and the executive sees big potential if the creative output is incorporated into the organization’s nationwide marketing scheme. Motivating an active level of bottom-to-top participation is the key to making this concept work. “That would be ideal, but those guys would have to be willing to pass the ball on that” to ensure a steady flow of clever content.

At Auto Parts Associates, Inc., building a social networking plan “is something for 2010 – it’s on our short list,” says president and CEO Dan Freeman. “We’ve had a lot of discussion about that.”

More meetings are to come as the challenges are addressed. “We know that the audience is pretty young.” Whatever is posted will have to pack some pizzazz. A particularly vexing issue is a paucity of potential recruits pining to join the ranks of repairers. “We know that young people aren’t into that type of stuff anymore,” Freeman observes.

As the nuts and bolts of social networking are pondered, “we just haven’t hooked into a good idea of what we want to do with it and how to do it,” he continues. “It’s just a struggle on how to use it. We know it’s a dynamic opportunity for us. We just don’t know how to warp our arms around it and get it launched and get it targeted to a specific market.”

In September, social media expert Jonathan Ressler was tapped to teach an online session at the Virtual Aftermarket eForum produced by the Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association (AAIA), the Automotive Aftermarket Suppliers Association (AASA), Automotive Industries Association (AIA) of Canada and Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA).

The program was geared toward helping the industry “capitalize on the power of guerilla, stealth and entertainment marketing and social media,” including blogging, Twitter, Facebook and MySpace.

The National Pronto Association’s membership has long been plugged in to cyberspace applications, as the operation has been paperless since 1997. President Bill Maggs has a LinkedIn profile, and he just recently opened a Pronto Twitter account.

Maggs’ initial response to the experience is one of puzzlement, as he was taken aback by the amount of obscenities, racial slurs and overall bad behavior in general emitting from the vast array of non-automotive twitterers. “Most people didn’t have anything nice to say about anyone.” Fortunately, though, a Pronto keyword search netted only tweets concerning the posting-person’s desire to accomplish a task in a hurry.

“Maybe you should have one (a Twitter account) just to make sure nobody says anything about you that’s not true,” Maggs muses. “I don’t see us communicating with our members that way.”

The marketing heft of YouTube offers a much clearer picture of what social networking can achieve. “It’s very cost-effective if you have some things that you want to say,” he notes.

According to Maggs, his organization’s Pronto-Net application best approximates social networking within the context of what a program group needs to carry out its mission. Called a VPN, or virtual private network, the extranet system is an all-encompassing source for imparting relevant information.

“What I use to communicate to my members is similar to blogging,” he explains. “This is a file cabinet of everything we do.”

A stream of constant updates flows through a series of secure, password-protected posts for members, vendors and service center customers; access is granted or restricted based on the appropriate category. “You can only see what you’re authorized to see.” The membership is constantly made aware of any pertinent points that need to be covered. A member’s question, concern or comment is literally a click away via quick-connect email links to Pronto headquarters or an industry colleague.

“We want to do everything in one place,” says Maggs. Included in the data flow are pricing, purchases, promotions, rebates, reminders and a host of other business-related topics. “We try not to fill it up with garbage, or they won’t come to it,” he notes.

“Sometimes the owners don’t use it near as much as their personnel in the business, but as long as your information gets to them that’s the key,” Maggs points out. The site “helps my members and it’s based on a target audience. I feel we are ahead of the curve when it comes to electronic technology.”

An outside Internet development firm is used to develop the system’s options, which are continually upgraded as needs arise. “It’s a living program,” says Maggs. “If you think you’re done, you’re probably just getting started.”