By Stephanie Forshee
ON THE C OV E R
LIKE
VS.
PLUS
Facebook is building a search engine, while Google continues to pursue its social media push.
Both are competing in the dealer space, but not everyone is convinced the two tech giants are
really going after each other's business.
When Facebook l
Fa ook la
launched its updated
n earl
News Feed in early March, online critics
soci
called out the social network for premierlook
l
ing a design that looked a lot like Google+.
t at's
But that's not the on evidence of the tech
only
gian convergi paths.
giants' converging pa
gle+
Goog
Google+ is Google's answer to social
media, while Facebook is beta testing a new
search engine that will feature ratings and
customer reviews. Ten there are the companies' annual f lings with the Securities
and Exchange Commission (SEC), each of
which acknowledges that the other brand
represents its main competition.
For dealers, the two sites share another
14
striking resemblance: Tey're both furiously chasing the automotive business.
"It's good to have competition. Users
need choice," says Lindsay Schultz, Google's
head of industry for auto, a division that's
placed dealer consultants on the East and
West coasts, as well as in the Detroit area,
where Schultz is based.
"We're really trying to help dealers understand this ever-changing digital landscape."
CALLING DEALERS
To build its own team, Facebook is sourcing
the industry for insiders like Patrick Work-
AUTO DE ALE R MONTHLY • M AY 2013
man, who's held positions with FordDirect
and Dealer.com. He serves as a client partner for Autos at Facebook and is working to
forge a closer relationship with the industry.
"We're working with multiple agencies,
as well as individual dealers, automotive
manufacturers, regional ad associations, as
well as regional personnel in order to make
sure [dealer] social media strategies are
sound," he tells F&I; and Showroom.
As for the knocks Facebook took from
publications like the Los Angeles Times,
the New York Post and Mashable over its
Google+-like redesign of its News Feed,
Workman says dealers and consumers alike