DETROIT -

Social media is here to stay, forever altering the way business is done, including within the auto industry. And rather than waiting for its customers to contact the company, at least one OEM is using social media to take the initiative and reach out.  

General Motors recently reported on its Customer and Relationship Services Group — or CARS — a social media group the company says monitors online conversation and joins in to offer positive customer experiences.

“What we focus on is really reaching out proactively to customers who have questions about their vehicle,” said Melody Blumenschein, social media manager for GM’s CARS group. “Essentially, what our agents are is customer assistance agents. They have the ability to help a customer just like any phone agent, and can leverage our entire customer relationship services to ensure that we can satisfy customers.”

Blumenschein said the biggest difference in using social media this way is that instead of customers calling GM, CARS is calling them.

“We’re doing it through the web, but we’re reaching out to them and saying, ‘Hey, we see you had a comment out here. We’re concerned and we want to help you,’” she said.  

Blumenschein noted that GM’s social media customer relationships specialists go through weeks of training before coming to the floor, and receive ongoing product training.

“Any new vehicle that comes out, they have their hands on it, they’re in it, hopefully they’re driving it and riding in it, and really get familiar with the vehicle,” she said.

Using Twitter and Facebook, the CARS group performs text-based searches, with a variety of scenarios and “listening tools” feeding into GM to provide contacts for agents.

Agents also search for specific terms or phrases from a form or Web perspective, Blumenschein said, using a “robust algorithm-based tool that listens to and then serves up that information.”

GM has seen the number of customer interactions via social media rise to an average of nearly 9,000 per month. Along with those interactions comes daily thanks from customers who have been helped, Blumenschein said.   

“They return to say, ‘You fixed my problem. I was ready to walk, and now I’m a loyal customer again,’” Blumenschein said.   

To view the GM video, visit www.facesofgm.com/2012/10/04/using-social-media-to-be-proactive-in-customer-service/.