How Social Media Affects Car Sales

Social media is all around us, almost everyone has a Facebook, Instagram or YouTube account and are influenced by what we see. The car industry in particular has warmed to social media with consumers being more educated then ever. It has also had a profound effect on car sales.

One-way social media has affected car sales is vehicle faults. If a car has a widespread issue, it spreads all over the internet. One example of this is Tesla. While Tesla is a wildly popular brand in the U.S, it is beginning to get a very well documented issue, panel gaps. The gaps between doors and body are at times woefully off. It is to the point where every review and article on a new tesla make a point to mention this issue. If you search up “Tesla build quality” article after article will come up talking about their issues. Its become a joke in the car industry. It has surely affected sales. An example of this is shown in this video at the 7:40 mark.

Throttle House (2019) 2019 'Tesla Model 3 PERFORMANCE Review // Fast As Duck', avalible: https://youtu.be/syHNm3D4J-c [accessed 25 Nov 2020]

It isn’t just Tesla. McLaren, a super car manufacturer has been slandered on social media for their lack of reliability. It has crippled used prices with there being multiple long videos about the subject.

On the contrary automakers also will use social media to boost loyalty to there brand. One example is Dodges “#thatsmydodge” campaign on Instagram. If a dodge owner takes a picture of their car and upload it to Instagram with the hashtag, #thatsmydodge they have a chance to be featured on Dodge's Instagram page. This creates brand loyalty as it makes people have more positive feelings towards the company. This increases the chance of someone becoming a repeat dodge customer.

These are just some examples of social media affecting car sales.

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