The question I hear asked the most by dealers when talking to them about social media is “What’s the ROI? How do I measure that?” The problem with getting a buy-in from them is that they want to see a straight line between a Facebook post or tweet and a sale. Sometimes that’s possible but most of the time, it isn’t.

My rebuttal is, “What’s the ROI on the inflatable gorilla on the roof? How do you measure that? Do you have a source in your CRM for “Gorilla” similar to the infamous “Billboard” one you have?”

Inevitably, they can’t answer that question. Funny thing is that even Google got into the “gorilla” game when they posted an ad for PPC advertising stating that Google Adwords would have “tons of customers headed your way” and implying that the gorilla would not (which they were promptly sued for by the makers of inflatable gorillas).

The most common thought is that the giant inflatable gorilla gets people’s attention (just like the weekend tradition of “ballooning” the cars. Nobody that I ever know of said that they stopped at a dealership and bought a car because they saw a gorilla on the roof. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. I’ve seen many comments by consumers that say inflatable gorillas are insulting to them. Some have even said that they are an indicator of an “old-school” dealership and would avoid these dealers at all cost.

Social media, on the other hand, when done properly, can increase customer loyalty, satisfaction and referrals through engagement with your customers. There are TONS of examples of this result from HUGE companies (Ford, Southwest Airlines, etc.). I’ve NEVER heard a customer say those things about a dealership using social media (with the exception of dealers that spam their customers with inventory).

Let’s assume that you can’t track ROI on social media (which is incorrect) and that you can’t track it on an inflatable gorilla, which end of the spectrum would you rather be on?

There’s only one way I could see an inflatable gorilla actually working and that’s if it can do this:

….jump off the roof and physically drag customers in.

So, if you’re willing to put an inflatable gorilla on your roof, balloon-up your lot every weekend, have a “hot-dog food fest” or any of the other things that surely have people (presumably) slamming on their brakes on the freeway to come to your dealership and buy a car, then why wouldn’t you have a presence on social media whether you can measure it’s ROI or not?

What do you think of giant inflatable gorillas on car dealerships?