If there's one thing that's constant in the technology world, it's change. We see it every day - what was once hot goes cold, what was once dying is reborn. I had a bad-prediction moment the other day when I had to backtrack on my opinion of the Windows Phone. The TK Carsites founder had purchased one a few months back and at the time I was (inwardly) laughing at him. I was wrong. Microsoft will be a player in the phone wars in the near future.

That's what happens in automotive marketing as well. It's my job to analyze the latest and greatest products and trends in online automotive marketing and make a decision as to how effective they'll be, what the ROI will look like, and how long it will be able to sustain. We did this in 2007 when we first started exploring social media, for example. At the time, Facebook was 1/5th the size of MySpace, but we made the decision to bet on Facebook making a push and forcing MySpace to the side.

The infographic below shows some of the trending topics that made the news in 2011. Some of them apply directly to automotive marketing such as Geolocation Apps and Mobile Photo Sharing. Others, such as Group Buying, have seen lukewarm success in automotive.

Of note is one of the predictions in 2012. Mobile commerce will become the norm. Dealers may wonder how that could possibly affect them - nobody's going to buy a car off their iPhone, right? The key (and the item we're looking very closely at with our R&D team) is the effect mobile devices will have on fixed ops sales and marketing. More to come on that. In the meantime, enjoy this infographic.

Click to enlarge.

If there's one thing that's constant in the technology world, it's change. We see it every day - what was once hot goes cold, what was once dying is reborn. I had a bad-prediction moment the other day when I had to backtrack on my opinion of the Windows Phone. The TK Carsites founder had purchased one a few months back and at the time I was (inwardly) laughing at him. I was wrong. Microsoft will be a player in the phone wars in the near future.

That's what happens in automotive marketing as well. It's my job to analyze the latest and greatest products and trends in online automotive marketing and make a decision as to how effective they'll be, what the ROI will look like, and how long it will be able to sustain. We did this in 2007 when we first started exploring social media, for example. At the time, Facebook was 1/5th the size of MySpace, but we made the decision to bet on Facebook making a push and forcing MySpace to the side.

The infographic below shows some of the trending topics that made the news in 2011. Some of them apply directly to automotive marketing such as Geolocation Apps and Mobile Photo Sharing. Others, such as Group Buying, have seen lukewarm success in automotive.

Of note is one of the predictions in 2012. Mobile commerce will become the norm. Dealers may wonder how that could possibly affect them - nobody's going to buy a car off their iPhone, right? The key (and the item we're looking very closely at with our R&D team) is the effect mobile devices will have on fixed ops sales and marketing. More to come on that. In the meantime, enjoy this infographic.

Click to enlarge.

Ten months down, two to go. 2010 was an interesting "rebound" year for many (particularly, I'm sure, those who are active on Driving Sales). What's next? What is emerging or what will emerge in 2011 that will push the industry to an even better year?

2010 saw the (belated) emergence of SEO and PPC as needs rather than wants. It saw social media become a player in many dealers' marketing budgets. Reputation management has taken center stage of late. What's next?

Will it be even more focused on reputation management based upon the recent Google changes? How about mobile and Location-based automotive marketing? Is car dealer Facebook going to get even bigger or will it prove to be smoke and mirrors?

Sales will always be in focus, but what about customer retention and reclamation? Are we going to focus on using the Internet for fixed-op marketing? What about using it for finance penetration?

Will dealers continue to focus on their dealer PPC budgets or will they switch to dealer SEO? Why not PPC AND SEO?

Perhaps the biggest question is WHO we will listen to when making our decisions. Will be it Joe Webb or Gary May? Paul Potratz or Volker Jaeckel? Missy Jensen or Larry Bruce? Why not all of them?

Luckily, we have those choices here at Driving Sales.

What do you think? What's "the next big thing" in 2011? Comment here or post your thoughts on the discussion about Automotive Marketing 2011.

Ten months down, two to go. 2010 was an interesting "rebound" year for many (particularly, I'm sure, those who are active on Driving Sales). What's next? What is emerging or what will emerge in 2011 that will push the industry to an even better year?

2010 saw the (belated) emergence of SEO and PPC as needs rather than wants. It saw social media become a player in many dealers' marketing budgets. Reputation management has taken center stage of late. What's next?

Will it be even more focused on reputation management based upon the recent Google changes? How about mobile and Location-based automotive marketing? Is car dealer Facebook going to get even bigger or will it prove to be smoke and mirrors?

Sales will always be in focus, but what about customer retention and reclamation? Are we going to focus on using the Internet for fixed-op marketing? What about using it for finance penetration?

Will dealers continue to focus on their dealer PPC budgets or will they switch to dealer SEO? Why not PPC AND SEO?

Perhaps the biggest question is WHO we will listen to when making our decisions. Will be it Joe Webb or Gary May? Paul Potratz or Volker Jaeckel? Missy Jensen or Larry Bruce? Why not all of them?

Luckily, we have those choices here at Driving Sales.

What do you think? What's "the next big thing" in 2011? Comment here or post your thoughts on the discussion about Automotive Marketing 2011.