You were doing what with icicles?
Today I came across something that supersedes anything I have ever come across in all my years of blogging in the auto industry. Peculiarly it came in my first day on the job with a new gig in child safety.
The discovery began as I was sorting through an initial batch of emails to which I was included on from the client. These emails contained links to articles, press releases, blog posts, etc. There were even links to re-tweets on Twitter (it irks me that Twitter is now in our vocabulary).
After a few moments I was grazing through some of the Twitter conversations and came across one from a blog called Pajamas and Coffee where the author gets in to how she got shit-faced the night before and cheated on her boyfriend (seems trashy I know but it’s not, keep reading).
Her boyfriend in this case was Jack Daniels the liquor. She cheated on Jack by drinking another liquor, thus the post title I cheated on Jack. She regretted it in the morning with a major hangover. What blew me away though is what her husband told her the next morning when she woke up…
(Remember a moment ago I said this isn’t trashy? Well, I lied. It is. It’s profane and distasteful and this is your last chance to escape the vulgarity to which you are about to be exposed.)
Her husband’s first words in the morning were, “I knew it was time to take you home when you started fucking the icicle.”
So here I am fishing through conversations amongst moms and then WHAM! I have this in front of me. Suddenly I began feeling like a pretty simple guy.
As I look closer I see other “mommy” bloggers and Twitterers commenting on this and sharing a laugh (and re-tweets too). I knew that women, like men, have their raunchy side, but I didn’t consider their public conversations about it when I took this job. It just never crossed my mind that I would be susceptible to this kind of dialog.
Considering this is only my first day on the job in this arena, it makes you wonder what else I am destined to see considering that after nearly 4 years blogging in the auto industry I have seen nothing remotely close to this.
Are you going to re-develop your websites for Apple’s iPad?
A recent report on Marketplace by Farhad Manjoo from Salon.com throws out a compelling case as to why Apple has chosen to abandon Flash support on it’s new iPad. The decision by Apple to do this was not an idealistic one to simply “snub” Adobe as Manjoo puts it. It was a calculated choice based on where the Web is headed – a web without Flash. As you can imagine, this has sparked a bit of controversy.
But Adobe’s Flash, which was originally created by Macromedia many moons ago, has always been somewhat controversial. Many once argued that Flash ruining the web, making it clunky and cumbersome for people to experience web pages. However with the increase in bandwidth that has become available, and the improvement in web browser technology, I don’t think that argument holds much water. Flash has made our web experience far more interesting and constructive.
The debate in its simplest form goes like this: Apple’s new iPad does not support Flash because it it is banking on a Web that does not hinge on Flash for video display and interactive media such as gaming and advertising. This future is only possible because of HTML5, the next generation of HTML.
HTML is the construct on which everything you experience on the Web is founded. HTML is like the brick and mortar of a physical building. It is what makes the things you see in a web browser able to appear. Without HTML, you can not view a web page. Any web page.
HTML5 supports video on the web differently from how you watch video now, which is through plug-ins – small pieces of software that install on your computer and permit you to view things in your web browser like video. Flash is a plug-in provided by Adobe and it is the most widely used plug-in for video display. HTML5 permits websites to display video much like the way images are displayed, so essentially it eliminates the conflicts many people encounter attempting to watch video on the web, e.g. long download times, crashing browsers, etc.
HTML5 sounds ideal, eh? Well, it is. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that Flash is on its way out.
As John Herrman explains on gizmodo.com, the stir is only a stir and Flash is not going away, at least not any time soon. There are numerous reasons for this and Herrman gets into them at length in his article “Why HTML is not going to save the Internet“. With Apple’s track record for anticipating the future of certain technologies, you can imagine the stigma surrounding this topic.
In the end, it’s Apple taking the big risk here. iPad users will not be able to experience websites running Flash which 85 of the top 100 most popular sites use to display content like videos or games or slide shows. If you go to those sites with the iPad, you’re likely to see an error icon instead.
With this chance, Apple is counting on web developers to make non-Flash versions of their sites using HTML5 standards for video and advertising. If the iPod is any testament to how the market could respond, it is possible we will see a lot of shuffling going on over the next few years in how websites are developed. Are you going to re-design your websites to meet HTML5 video standards that do not require Flash or other plug-ins?
Using Social Media for Vehicle Sales
About three years ago before we had any official products on the market, a lot of time was spent trying to find ways to use a blog to display inventory. But after a short while I put that effort to rest because it did not make sense to try to re-invent the wheel of displaying inventory online since so many other companies and websites had already essentially perfected the art. It was like trying to find a technology solution for a problem that did not exist. In the end, we stuck with using dealership blogs strictly for SEO purposes which quickly became the norm in the auto industry.
Today, Social Media sites such as facebook and Twitter are known for their growing benefits in Search Marketing, but I don’t see blogs receiving the hype that these sites are receiving, despite the proven track record that blogs have as a tool for Inbound Marketing. And now with companies like GOSO offering an inventory solution that integrates with facebook, or MediaRevo which manages transaction-geared landing pages for auto dealer sites that are advertised with paid placement on facebook, it seems that the turbines of automotive online retail remain steadfastly drawn towards vehicle sales.
Is this the right approach for auto dealers, to be using Social Media tools such as facebook and Twitter to push their commodity?
Studies and statistics show that Social Media is more about content, conversation, and relationships and less about conversion and transaction. So how will using Social Media to solicit vehicles bid with customers in these marketplaces? Does it not seem that these communication channels may be better utilized by auto dealers to concentrate on other areas of their operation such as service, parts, & financing?
It may be too soon to say what the best practices are for auto dealers when it comes to Social Media. And I am not suggesting that the display of inventory there is a bad or good practice. Dealers respond to this type of marketing because they are accustomed to it. Dealers always want to sell more cars…TODAY.
In today’s economy, new possibilities are opening up. One of those possibilities is for this new marketing medium to offer dealers not just another place to sell autos, but also a place to expand all aspects of their operations.
Using Facebook for cross-promotion
When you walk into a venue in your local community, say the neighborhood pizza shop, hair salon, bank, or cafe, often times you see a cork board with business cards and fliers on it for other local businesses. In some instances you may even see a little plastic stand with tri-folds or pamphlets, indicating a deeper connection between the two local businesses. This is a common form of cross-promotion that has existed probably for centuries which was recently referenced by Catalyst Marketers in Ryan Taft’s post “Cross-promote by partnering with local businesses.”
From this conventional marketing approach, the impact of such cross-promotion is recognized by the number of times one of your marketing pieces comes into your place of business as a result of being displayed in a nearby venue. If you are smart you marked or tailored each piece to be associated with each different venue so you can know right away from where it came. If you fail to do this then you may know that your cross-promotional efforts are having an effect, but from which sources and to what extent you may not know.
With the advent of Facebook, the idea of cross-promotion can (and in most cases probably should) be carried into this medium, but with added benefits. Considering the more intricate offerings of Internet technology, local businesses can not only expect to benefit from an increase in patrons coming into their place of business, but also from increased website traffic, more Facebook fans, and more email subscribers. Essentially, by using Facebook, you have more conversion goals and capabilities to consider in your cross-promotion efforts than just phone calls and walk-ins.
The one thing that comes to mind for me when helping local businesses to cross-promote with one another using a site like Facebook is “monetization”. Interestingly, this word does not appear in a dictionary, at least not at dictionary.com. It does however appear on wikipedia.com and is defined as, “the process of converting or establishing something into legal tender.” Monetizing is a common word in the blogosphere that typically equates to the practice of using your blog to generate revenue. I tend to use this term more loosely on the basis that there is a monetary value for every activity you perform and that in most cases you want to associate your efforts online to that monetary value.
For instance, a new email subscriber may be worth $25 to you and a new Facebook fan might be worth $1, so if you launch a marketing initiative that results in 25 new email subscribers and 10 new Facebook fans then you know that the monetary value of that initiative is equivalent to $635. If you spent less than that to launch the initiative then you essentially have made (or saved) money.
All this said, when doing cross-promotions, particularly online with a site like Facebook, the possibilities go farther than just leaving comments on the walls of a venue’s Facebook page. There truly is potential to connect with people one-on-one and in groups. Defining and massaging the monetary value of your activities is key to your success. You want to go beyond just publishing information and going through the motions. You want to make real connections and have real conversations. This is easier said than done, but the rewards are there for the taking.
Shoes2Share Organizes Aid To Haitian Earthquake Victims
As you have probably heard, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck southern Haiti on Tuesday near Port-au-Prince, causing a serious loss of life and catastrophic destruction. This is the most powerful earthquake to hit the Western Hemisphere’s poorest nation in the last century.
Shoes2Share International is immediately initiating Operation “THERE”, which stands for “The Haitian Earthquake Relief Effort”. They are partnering with other relief agencies in providing immediate aid and hope to those devastated in Haiti.
Dave Shoemaker is an associate of mine that operates a C12 territory here in the Philadelphia area. C12 is a community of Christian business owners and CEOs and that I trust Dave’s selection for charitable causes such as the one in Haiti.
AutoConversion has made a donation to Shoes2Share to help the victims and people of Haiti, and we wanted to present you with an opportunity to support them as well. Your donation will help deliver essential items like shoes, workboots, infant products, medical supplies, blankets, bottled water, generators, flashlights and batteries to the people of Haiti.
Donate to the people of Haiti through Operation “THERE” here.
Thank you for considering this worthy cause,
Ryan Gerardi
Google goes bust over China hack
As somewhat of a doomsday-er I have to say that Google’s announcement this week about it’s new approach with China after determining that December’s security breach originated from China and with politically sensitive implications is a sign of things to come. For Google to come out swinging like this against the Chinese government shows just where Google sees itself in the global scheme of things. Question is, will it do any good?
It has been 4 years now since Google began producing search results for Chinese Internet users in the belief that “the benefits of increased access to information for people in China and a more open Internet outweighed our [their] discomfort in agreeing to censor some results.” While their stated interest may have seemed novel, what they got in return was a sharp knife in the back.
This has to suck for Google. They gave China an undeserving chance and once again China stabs you in the back and oversteps its bounds for its own national interest.
This is why we can not trust China. I don’t mean Chinese people, I mean the nation and government of China. While the U.S. is storming around deserts vainly trying to balance regions in religious strife and raveling ourselves into political handcuffs that will make it difficult and costly to benefit from for oil supply, China is sailing the seas cutting strategic energy deals with people and nations the U.S. doesn’t even do business.
When will we realize in this country that we are en route to being devoured by China who is already looking to begin supplying itself with manufactured goods it has always imported from us, secure its energy futures, and keep the lock down on political forces that breathe a hint of threat to its ideals.
What Google needs to be doing is to work with the global community on ways to incentify China to be a global player. Respecting China’s censorship demands clearly just leads to events such as this. China are the ones walking the fine line here and Google needs to keep it this way. With a belly of guts, Google should be able to use this opportunity to pressure China opening up to the world more appropriately, and if possible, Google also needs for China to acknowledge its role in this hack and concede to a hefty penalty.
2010 – The year for alternative energy
In the summer of 2008, during the then upcoming Presidential elections, T. Boone Pickens, a Texas oil man, introduced himself to the world with a series of television commercials driving people to his website powered by Ning.
Ning is a social media software network that enables community builders to establish a collection of conversations online that support a consistent message or cause. This is important to know because it applies to the evolution of business and marketing. Ning is serving the needs of many good causes and organizations.
Pickens however is about alternative energy, but not with out a plan. Thus, PickensPlan.
The original PickensPlan revolved around the idea that the U.S.A could be a wind farm that would replace around 30% of our natural gas consumption presently being utilized for non-transit fuel. Then with the surplus natural gas we could subsidize our foreign oil dependency by using it for transit fuel and retain upwards to $300 billion a year from going overseas, particularly to rogue nations. That’s about 40% of our annual spending on foreign oil. (Hope I got my facts right. I will double-check them later).
Today, PickensPlan focuses more on the natural gas aspect but the goal still remains for this era being a stepping stone to reducing our dependency on foreign oil.
The movie preview below captures the essence to what I am referring. It was shared with me by Mike Johnston whom I know from PickensPlan. Mike puts a lot of time and energy into rallying the troops on Pickens’ Ning network and it is tough work, but it is efforts like his inspiring people like me to share the message with my friends.
There is no doubt that the USA is moving socially, politically, and economically into domestic, alternative, and renewable energy solutions. The last decade was a total transformation into digital communications. 2009 exposed the ugly face of political corruption in our capitalist society.
I believe that the coming year 2010 is the year of domestic and alternative energy. Translation…independence from foreign oil. This is not a pipe dream, but we may need to come together as citizens to trump any hindrance to doing so. Pickens pushes for this and I am committed to the Plan because it offers what we don’t see clearly enough in Washington – a real solution.
Go Pickens. Go Ning. and Go Energy.
Marketing in tough times
There is an old saying about marketing that goes, “Reducing your marketing to save money is like trying to stop a clock to save time.”
Multiple times this week I have had people tell me they would employ our services if they could “afford it” or “had the time” to invest. Some of my initial responses were:
- What makes you think you can’t afford it?
- When do you expect to have time?
- Time must be created.
Time is real, to you and me. But you must be cautious about confusing it with money or leaning on it like a crutch.
Believe me, I get it. There is not enough time in the day to accomplish everything you need. I experience this most of the time. But then there is the saying to God about granting you the serenity to accept the things you can not change, to change the things you can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
Now, it is because you can not escape time you must use it to your advantage. This, I would argue, is where you must learn to create time.
If you have a reason or excuse or a really good justification for not communicating your message then you are attempting to stop the clock and that is not realistic. You must reach your audience. Some suggestions I would throw out there include to…
- Be attentive not to quantify your effectiveness by one measure only.
- Be sure to communicate your message in multiple formats and circumstances.
- Invest time and money, but only when it meets your goals and objectives
- Have goals and objectives
- Define your goals and objectives
Ok enough of the hints. This week I have had people express an interest in spending money to market their cause, and people finding reasons not to. Hm mm, I wonder who you are more likely to encounter???
A Big Bang for SEO and Social Media
Earlier this year we began incorporating Facebook into our monthly deliverables for the AC List Builder product. Based on the way things have been shaping I have to say that was one of the better moves we have made since going into business in 2007. Facebook has clearly turned out to be a social marketing phenomenon.
Our shift to utilize Facebook in behalf of our clients is specific to Facebook “Pages”, which were introduced by Facebook last year in response to business creating profiles on Facebook. Profiles were not originally meant for businesses, only individuals, and the Facebook folk were smart about rolling out the “Page” product.
If you are a business and have had a profile for a while then it might not be realistic to transition to a Page, but if you are new to Facebook (as a business) then definitely refrain from creating a profile for your business and go with a Page. The reason why is due to two specific things…
a.) Profiles by default are set to private and so unless you specify it to be public people will have to request to be your friend. Pages by default are public and so anyone can become a fan.
b.) Profiles, unless public, are not indexable by search engines. Pages are, and you most definitely want the search engine benefits you can experience with a Page.
Which leads to my point…
Last month it was announced that both Google and Microsoft are putting together formal plans with Twitter and with Facebook to start including them in searches on google.com and bing.com. THIS IS HUGE!
Since Twitter hit the scene people have been grappling for the best business use of it. Some argue Twitter is a mass media tool, some argue it is best for one-on-one or small group communication, others might argues it is good for running specials and events. Quite frankly these are all good uses. The challenge is finding the right approach with it for your business and sticking with it. At least that has been my challenge.
But if everybody’s “Tweets” are soon to be indexed by search engines and start appearing as listings in peoples’ search results, this could be as far reaching as having the ability to literally search the minds of everyone in the world. Well, maybe that is an exaggeration but it does mean you would be able to search thethe conversations that people are publishing to their Twitter and Facebook accounts.
You thought blogging made it easy for the every day guy, gal, or business to have a voice, think of what Twitter and Facebook will make possible once this information can be sought out on search engines.
Anyhow, I am excited about this and believe it justifies our decision to start using Facebook with our clients. We have held off utilizing Twitter for clients but with this announcement we are already preparing to incorporate this too. Below is a video supplement to this post for your viewing pleasure. It’s trippay…
Using Facebook to blast a business
It has been said that the Internet affords regular folk the opportunity to speak out on issues and situations, and with the advent of blogs and social media, getting your voice out can be a lot easier than ever before. I guess it was only a matter of before Facebook became a venue for tarnishing the reputation of an organization.
One such instance has occurred which I came across today by happenstance, and it affects one of my clients. I came across a Facebook profile yesterday by the name of Holbert Dealership-Story. My initial thought was, “cool”, my client is taking a proactive stance using Facebook to communicate a non-solicitous message, something we preach over here at AutoConversion. But then this morning I receive an invite to a Facebook group that made me realize this was not so cool after all.
The Facebook group is called Dealership Experience Repository. As I read it it became clear this was a group created by a disgruntled customer, the one whose profile originally reeled me in.
I am not one for complaining, especially digitally or in print. It usually bites you in the ass down the road. So regardless of this dealership being a client, I don’t like the vibe of this group and the agenda behind this person, but I understand his frustration.
Last year I had a major setback with Verizon and wanted to denigrate them to the highest degree. However I refrained and took my beef to the top, and I mean the very top, to get things resolved with them. I just didn’t want to be another winey pest using the Web to retaliate against Verizon.
But now Holberts has a dilemma on their hands. If you look at the 42 friends this disgruntled Facebook user has you may notice a lot of them are other dealerships. I would not hold it past these dealerships that they chose to be Facebook friends with this profile with the hope to further expose this customer’s beef with Holberts. You know the old adage, “look good and make others look bad”. So I imagine this person will get plenty of buy-in from other dealerships.
What I am most curious to see is how this holds up with the Facebook user policy. It is against their policy to create profiles, pages, and groups posing as other business or misrepresenting others, which I think their profile does, but not necessarily the group. This is one of those uncharted areas of the ether web that we lack on in policy.
My guess is that Facebook will frown up on this. The last thing they want is for Facebook to become a haven for complaints and denigration on businesses and individuals. That’s what sites like DealerRater.com are for.
Anyhow, it will be curious to see where this goes, if anywhere. Regardless the circumstance definitely poses new questions in the use of Facebook for business organizations.
