L.A. Auto Show: Social media's big role in launches

Social media campaigns played the largest part this year of any L.A. Auto Show, reflecting the rise in Web traffic to networks like Facebook and Twitter and automakers’ increasing use of social media to market their products.
Almost every new car launch was live tweeted from the floor of the Convention Center Wednesday by respective company reps, and new releases like Chevy's Camaro convertible and Dodge’s Durango R/T were unveiled on Facebook and Twitter. VW got a jump on the competition by posting pics of its new Eos to its Facebook page on the night before its launch. Porsche hosted a live tweet chat with its chief sports product manager, Tim Cupp, and stablemate Audi granted interviews with its head of design Stefan Sielaff to bloggers and social media mavens before the North American debut of its A7, A8L and R8 GT models and Audi Quattro concept. Audi also live-blogged launches for the first time on Tumblr. Ford used social media to highlight its unveiling of the new Focus compact, continuing a social media campaign that built heavily on its marketing for its Fiesta launched earlier this year.