While car dealers on Facebook and Twitter are nothing new, an increasing number of those retailers are using their status updates to list inventory. There is now software that can automatically update Twitter, Facebook and other social-networking websites to include a dealership’s entire inventory. Rather than treating the status update as a classified ad, the real value in joining these social networks may be in the opportunity to create relationships with both customers and colleagues alike.

It’s no secret that automotive marketers will be slashing budgets over the next year. Social media programs, often classified as experimental, may likely end up on the chopping block, but perhaps wrongly so. In 2009, marketers mustn’t drop social media all together in a recession; instead they should refine what social media means to their organization by adopting the following three strategies:

Detroit, we have a problem. Falling marketing budgets and deteriorating purchase volume in the global market put incredible pressure on the automotive CMO. Even without the financial crisis and the beginning of a recession, global share gains for search and interactive media were likely. Faced with significant uncertainty, marketing strategy shouldn’t be limited to optimizing the media mix.