Interestingly, J.D. Power and Associates and Compete recently discovered that social networking site Facebook refers nearly as many new-vehicle customers to automaker websites as do major independent automotive content providers such as Cars.com, AutoTrader.com and Edmunds.com.

According to the two companies’ Website Performance Tools Report, 6 percent of new-vehicle buyers who visit an OEM site visited Facebook immediately prior to visiting the automaker’s site.

This number is compared to traffic levels driven by third-party automotive content provider websites such as Edmunds.com, which drives 8 percent, and AOL Autos with 4 percent.

"Facebook visits are a regular part of the Web-savvy consumer’s life, and we see the proof of this through visitation patterns of new-vehicle buyers," said Arianne Walker, director of marketing and media research at J.D. Power. "The volume of new-vehicle buyer traffic that Facebook drives to OEM and third-party automotive sites is considerably greater than that of any other non-automotive, non-search site."

Walker also went on to encourage manufacturers and third-party sites to utilize the social networking site’s popularity: “Manufacturers and third-party sites need to take advantage of Facebook’s popularity by continuing to invest in their presence on the site and determine how best to leverage its influence, even if the advertising model is atypical. In addition, automaker investments in Facebook should be consistent with their messages elsewhere."

Moreover, the report also found that among those who visit third-party and/or OEM sites, Facebook refers three times as many new-vehicle buyers to OEM or third-party automotive sites as general Internet population traffic (6 percent vs. 2 percent, respectively).

Moving on to the most popular search engines among new-vehicle buyers who visit an OEM site or a third-party site, Google seems to be the site of choice.

Nearly one-third of car shoppers visit Google’s search engine prior to visiting an automotive site. However, this search giant does have a big cornerstone on the search market.

Also, the referral volume from Google’s search engine is significantly higher than referral volumes generated by any other search engine; all other search engines included in the study refer less than 10 percent of new-vehicle buyer traffic to OEM and third-party sites.

"New-vehicle buyers are continuing to rely on the Internet early in the shopping process, as well as throughout the process," said Walker. "Therefore, it’s critical for automotive brands and marketers to use the Web strategically to reach consumers throughout the shopping process — not just to help them make their final vehicle purchase decisions."

The study, which is based on the clickstream behavior of new-vehicle buyers who purchased a vehicle between Oct.1, 2008 and March 31 of this year, also revealed the following statistics:

—New-vehicle buyers visit 3.4 automotive websites, on average, during the six months prior to their purchase.

—On average, new-vehicle buyers use 3.8 shopping tools on third-party sites and 3.2 shopping tools on OEM sites during the six months prior to purchase.

—Buyers of premium crossover vehicle models (such as the Acura MDX, BMW X5 and Mercedes-Benz M-Class) visit an average of 1.2 automotive sites during the six months prior to purchase, which is particularly low, compared with buyers in other vehicle segments. These buyers use an average of 3.3 shopping tools on OEM sites, and 3.7 shopping tools on third-party automotive sites.

—Among new-vehicle buyers, the automotive sites that are most frequently visited last, or just prior to purchase, include Edmunds.com (7 percent), Kbb.com (7 percent), Fordvehicles.com (3 percent) and Toyota.com (3 percent).