We are delighted to announce that we picked up an industry ‘Oscar’ this week for our innovative use of social media.

We took top prize in the Best Digital Initiative category at the Automotive Management Awards in Birmingham on Wednesday night.

The high-profile panel of judges selected our family-run dealership over the competition – which included Blue Chip companies and major national dealer groups – for a groundbreaking approach which has seen us build a loyal army of friends and followers on Facebook and Twitter.

Speaking after collecting the award from BBC newsreader Susanna Reid, our Managing Director, Darren Williams, said: ‘We’re absolutely thrilled and delighted to have won.

‘This awards ceremony is the most important in the automotive industry and for an independent, single-site retailer like us to even be in the mix with the big boys is a major achievement and shows we must be doing something right.’

Essentially, the dealership sees its social media activity as an extension of its regular approach to customer service and as a great way of keeping people engaged with both it and the SEAT brand.

On Facebook, we send a chocolate bar to one randomly-selected ‘friend’ each Friday as a fun addition to a steady stream of entertaining and informative status updates. This has seen the dealership amass friends from across the UK and beyond and, on one occasion we sourced from Spain a die-cast model of one of its cars for a Facebook friend from North Yorkshire who needed one for his collection.

Meanwhile, on Twitter, we joined forces with two of the biggest players in the world of automotive retail for a unique weekend-long sales competition with live, real-time updates in the form of ‘tweets’.

Katie Williams, Communications Manager at Grants SEAT, who is responsible for the dealership’s social media and digital strategy, said: ‘So many dealerships and businesses don’t really get social media and use it to advertise their products and services with no imagination.

‘We see it as a brilliant way to build relationships and much of what we do is chat and have a bit of banter with our friends and followers, often creating genuine friendships as a result.

‘In turn, this has had a really positive impact on our business, with many people choosing us when it comes to buying a new car or having a service because of the relationships we’ve made online.’