Social networking has become a valuable platform to showcase cars and provide valuable research tools, and automakers are doing their part to keep you engaged; Ford recently used Facebook to debut its 2011 Explorer. But, if you have no set idea on what kind of car you want or the cost associated, we have some suggestions on where to begin. Edmunds.com should be your first stop. This site has everything from reviews to a finance calculator. Want to know what others have paid for that same car you have your eye on? Visit one of our new favorites, TrueCar. On the go and want to research via your smartphone? Kelley Blue Book has a free mobile app that includes its most popular online tools. Whether you’re looking for a new car or one that’s new to you, keep reading, we have 10 more great resources to help you make the best car-buying decisions.

Online

MotorMouths – Mashable hails this site as the Rotten Tomatoes of car reviews. Simply put, MotorMouths helps you shop smarter for new cars. The site offers an aggregated list of independent analysis and review data. Expert critics from trusted outlets such as AutoBlog, Motor Trend and even Tech Crunch, contributing an unbiased approach to new car information and also provides an overall vehicle review rating.

Autocheck – Looking for a car with a little personality, but no hidden secrets? Autocheck is where you need to be when researching a pre-owned car. Provide a VIN number and a complete list of the vehicle’s history is available to help you make an educated decision to purchase the car or not. The Autocheck service offers much more than its predicessor, CarFax, including unlimited options, Experian-backed data and Autocheck scoring system.

MotherProof – A car blog for women in general, but mothers in particular and written by mom reviewers. MotherProof features reviews of various cars based on the growing demands of the family. Also features the ability to look up which cars would best suit you based on the age of your children – everything from which cars have the best storage, which ones are the most comfortable.

Honk – One of my faves. The creators of Honk understand that buying a car is a pretty big decision for most people and that most like to hear what other real people think about the cars they drive or have driven. Car shopping with a social twist if you will. With a built in community that allows for comments, likes and reviews, Honk helps you find the right car for you based upon what you actually want out of one.

Mobile Apps

Car & Driver’s Buyer’s Guide (iPhone / iPod Touch only) – Based on popular auto magazine, this app features the same resources as its online counterpart, such as search, listings, and advice. It also provides a guide to understanding pricing structures and a My Garage section for users to create and save personalized car search information.  The best part of this app is having all these great resources at your fingertips and on the the go.

Nationwide’s Cartopia (iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad) – Now that you know what kinds of car you want, better make sure you have the right insurance. Yes, you can shop for Nationwide auto insurance rates. However, what makes this more than just a branded insurance sales  and marketing tool is it also allows users to compare makes and models based on what is important to them specifically, whether that be safety ratings, gas mileage, color, or the total cost of ownership.

CarTell (iPhone) – This recently launched mobile app goes beyond Blue Book to help consumers find out how much dealers are paying for its used car inventory. Although this app costs $10, it will provide valuable car auction information and prices that will help you negotiate a much better price when at the dealership. The more than 60,000 records (so far) covers all makes, from every day passenger cars to SUVs and minivans.

On Twitter

@MyAutoLoan – The twitter home of MyAutoLoan.com a customer focused service designed to empower consumers with trustworthy and complete information surrounding the researching, financing, buying and driving experience

@StateFarm – A good company to follow on Twitter if you’re a policy holder looking for advice after getting into a fender bender or if you’re looking for information on the  right auto insurance policy for you.

@CarMax – CarMax is the world’s largest pre-owned retailer. The company’s Twitter page offers quick advice, links to customer reviews and from time to time, a contest. Who doesn’t like a contest.

No more are the days of just test driving cars and trusting sales people to get you the best deal. As mentioned at the onset, there are many, many resources that are as close as a few mouse clicks or a tap of your mobile device. It’s all about doing your homework before you even set foot on the showroom floor. Fanscape has given you some of our favorites to check out, what are yours?

From a shoppers standpoint, retailers took the Twitter plunge this year and really stepped up their game. Nordstrom has done a good job with updating their audience as has outdoor shopping center, The Grove in Los Angeles.  Although the promotion is now closed, Sephora’s Sephora Claus campaign granted a beauty product a day wish to 30 deserving customers and even added a $1 charitable donation from every purchase in the last few days of the promotion.

Customer service is playing a big role on Twitter as well. In a previous Digitally Approved post (Customer Service in the Twitterverse), the efficiency of the @BoseService team was discussed in connection to resolving a consumer issue that wasn’t even posted on their specific page nor did it have a # tag.  Nice looking out for your customers Bose!

Massive shoe retailer Zappos.com is looking out for their customer base on Twitter by offering support and positive service, big box retailer Best Buy’s Twelpforce quickly trouble shooting and responding to product questions, and restaurant chain, California Pizza Kitchen, recently sending a follower a $30 gift certificate because of a bad dining experience. In an era of questionable customer service, big thumbs up to our Tweeting retailers for really good customer service.

As a company or a brand, want a way to track and gauge the relevance of your tweets? Give Tweeiator a go. This application is easily loaded to your site and, in real time, you can see where your tweets are going and how they are received.

Couldn’t leave our Tweet round up with out mentioning some of the best in celeb and athlete musings. Sitting at lunch today a few Fanscapers were talking about TV of all things and the Christmas episode of Always Sunny in Philadelphia came up and then turned to Danny DeVito’s Troll Foot diaries on Twitter. Will admit, didn’t really know about this, but hell if this ain’t some funny stuff. He takes pictures of his Troll Foot in various places and at various events then posts them to his Twitter.

For some time now I have been raving about the one and only @OGOchoCinco.  He can be very profound like he has been the past few days in connection to the death of his friend and teammate, Chris Henry, but he can also be ridiculously funny (and sure a little self-serving) as well.

You could be one of Ashton Kutcher’s more than FOUR MILLION followers, keep up with the Queen of all Media, Oprah and learn about the Carl’s Jr. menu from  Kim Kardashian, but you’re not going to get the non sequiturs like you could by following Rainn Wilson (of The Office fame). He can easily go from apologizing for being a downer and sharing his experienc in Hati to this:    

Like stated from the onset, 2009 was pretty darn Tweet-tastic. Way too many amazing people, brands and retailers to list, but hopefully this little Best of gave you a few more places to check out or think about.

Social media is the perfect venue to catch brands in the act of doing good deeds on the behalf of consumers or the environment, and many brands have embraced the immediacy of social networks to reach consumers quickly and efficiently.  I recently caught Bose in the act of doing something good on Twitter, and as a Bose customer I now have a new respect for their service tactics and involvement in social media.

Last week I was saddened to realize that my Bose ear bud headphones were broken: sound was only coming from one ear bud.  A little bit of cord wiggle action would help, but they were pretty much useless.  I went to Twitter to voice my sadness:

I decided I’d have to buy a cheap pair of headphones to hold me over until Christmas.  Quality headphones come in handy when living with three roommates and battling the monotony of running on treadmills, but my wallet isn’t exactly in the position to fork over $100 for new Bose headphones.

Lucky for me, @boseservice noticed my tweet within an hour and offered their services.  The resulting direct message conversation via Twitter lead me to filing a replacement order. Once I ship out my damaged pair, I will be receiving a brand new set of headphones for half the price, even though my warranty is long expired.

My experience with Bose was pain free and surprisingly easy.  Instead of defecting from the Bose brand and buying a cheaper set of headphones, Bose offered me a deal to secure my loyalty to the brand and hopefully encourage me to tell people about my amazing customer service experience.

Many brands are on Twitter, Facebook and the like.  But the level of conversational interaction with consumers varies with each brand.  It’s not enough to just post company and product information to your followers or fan page members, there needs to be an initiative that seeks out consumer problems or recommendations and digs deeper to develop a one-on-one relationship with a particular customer.  And this needs to be enacted on a daily basis as part of the company’s social media strategy as a whole.

Social media is a great tactic for brands to reach their consumers, and a little attention to detail can strengthen a brand’s image and reputation among brand loyalists. Bose’s high-end products come with high-end prices, but at least you’re getting what you pay for…and then some.

Everyone knows that Barack Obama doesn’t have an official Facebook page and neither does Steve Jobs or even…God. But we can always wonder, “If any of these people had their own profile page, what would it look like?” And furthermore, “what would they be saying?” Thanks to the people over at Mashable, they garnered as many fake Facebook pages as they could and chose 5 of the most humorous profile pages. With over 1810 retweets and counting, that makes this tweet one of the most talked about this week!

Full article found here.

My favorite update comes from Steve Jobs:
“Hey Bill (Gates), you like Apples? I made the iPod, how do you like them apples?”
Response from Bill Gates: “Thanks a lot Steve. Hope you liked the Zune.”

-Christian