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.
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.
Reality Check by the White House
If you have seen the recent marketing effort from WhiteHouse.gov – Reality Check, you may notice their effective use of several contemporary digital marketing methods.
For one, you have a page dedicated to a central theme or purpose which is to address the disparity of facts and fiction among people and the media. This is a good example of what I often call “single point focus”, which is a proven or known method for getting your point across in marketing.
To communicate this message, the page consists of numerous high-grade videos from experts in the field which in this case are people working in or close to the current administration. Video is one of the most effective ways to communicate a message especially when it’s done by real people and not actors.
Now the part that I personally really appreciate is what you see on the right side of the page – links to their Facebook page and Twitter lines in addition to a subscription form. Facebook and Twitter are taking the world by storm right now and for the White House to be on the ball like this, which is a reflection of the administration’s marketing vision and tenacity, gives a large number of visitors a sense of comfort and familiarity. Highly effective.
Not only do you see links to these things but also you see towards the top of it all a share gadget which enables visitors to share this page with friends via email, friends on Facebook, and on Twitter. Giving your audience this ability is known to be highly effective too.
As many have noted over the past year or so, the Obama camp has been highly effective at digitizing its message in a contemporary fashion and this is yet another example of this. Despite whether or not you are on board with the administration’s policies and agenda you must respect its ability to deliver it to this particular audience which by the looks of their Facebook page has accumulated about 306,539 fans.
Or maybe note? According to my math, 306,539 is 0.44% the number of people that voted for Obama in 2008. That is fewer than 1% of his voters. You have to wonder if this is a reflection of how few people are on Facebook or how a measure of interest Facebook users have in the message?
Baron BMW Blog on iFrames and Facebook
Here is a car dealer blog but it is attached to their website using an iFrame. This presents a few problems, but overall Baron is doing nifty stuff and using Facebook well too so far.
With the iFrame, you diminish your SEO influence. An iFrame is like a box inside a room. It’s its own room, but secluded from everything around it. You can link to the blog’s main page, but from an SEO standpoint you are really linking to a box you can not see inside. A search engine knows it is there, but can not see the contents.
You can link to a page within the blog but then you loose the website shell meant to surround it, so you forgo the visitor experience you initially set out for. Additionally, when you link from the blog, visitors remain in the iFrame unless you insert the parent syntax within the frame tag.
target="_parent"
Another issue is that not all systems and browser support frames. Most today do, with the exception of mobile devices, and most blogs naturally do well on a mobile device. With the iFrame you risk mobile visitors not being able to access your blog at all.
From what I can tell, this blogs looks quite new. It has a few posts and the blogger is clearly sharing himself in addition to the dealership. This is good. Although you must be conscientious of what you publish. The NINJA post pushes the bubble. It will appeal to some, but could throw off others still important to the dealership. There is a threshold for everything, including dealer blogs.
Their facebook group has 53 members, including me. I just became a fan. I look forward to seeing how FB shapes the auto industry. I like what Baron is doing off the bat.
Facebook Ideas for Car Dealers
With the growing awareness and interest in “Web 2.0″ for car dealers, the pressure is on to conceive truly impacting ways for dealers to sell more cars with today’s web technologies. I for one have no doubt that Web 2.0 is key to the success of car dealers, but I also realize the climb has hardly begun.
It’s important to consider proven marketing practices and techniques when leveraging technology. Often people shift towards tools and technology because they are new and then try to find clever ways to make them viable. Take something like Facebook for instance. It’s free and available to everyone so dealers are signing up for it and then wondering how they can put it to good use.
Facebook is a sophisticated application and there are numerous ways to utilize it for sales and marketing purposes, but its not going to be easy. First you have to develop an audience which takes time, commitment, and creativity. You don’t develop an audience in social networks by advertising and soliciting to people. You develop it by observing your connections, interacting with them, and creating interest in them for you. Not realistic if you have an ulterior motive. But that’s the reality of social media networking.
So what can dealers do with Facebook? Well, I think a good start would be to keep it simple by using the Events functionality. Let’s say you are having a tent sale in a few weeks. First you would create an event on your Facebook to announce the event. Then you would blast an email to your permission-based email audience about the event, maybe using a short video to introduce it and invite people to connect with you on Facebook.
Then, at the event, set up a table with a Facebook banner and some materials to educate people at the event about your efforts on Facebook. Take lots of pictures, some videos, maybe even get some written testimonials. Essentially, document the event with multi-media. Heck you might even consider hiring a professionals to do this like you would for your wedding.
After the event, update your Facebook with all the pictures and videos and such, like a journal entry. Make it look sharp, fun, and appealing. Now shoot out another email to your list thanking them for attending and encouraging those that weren’t there to make a check out the pics and stuff anyway.
Hopefully you get the idea. This is no easy task but you want to start somewhere. To pull this off you need buy-in from staff and possibly professional help from select partners, and of course an audience interested in your efforts. But it’s these sorts of efforts that will allow you to build trust with your audience, evolve your dealership, and selling more cars (and service them too). Do this regularly and you could be on to something.
Building Your Online Business Community
Online Business Communities have rapidly become a competitive marketplace. Companies are investing millions into their own communities, and with mixed results.
According to a recent article on SocialMediaToday.com, author Jerry Bowles writes “…several giant corporations have launched online business communities aimed at engaging small business owners and managers through a conversational social media approach” and lists more than half a dozen companies having invested $1M to $5M each into their Online Business Communities. Membership counts in these online communities range from single digits to tens of thousands. Time obviously a major factor for low member counts, but not the only reason.
Sites such as LinkedIn and Plaxo which are universally geared towards Online Professionals and fall in to the Social Networking category generate a lot of buzz traffic and offer a useful way to keep connected with close and distant contacts have an advantage in that they are not tied to a tight niche market or industry. Online Business Communities for big corporate well-known and established companies such as those listed in Bowles’ article, e.g. American Express, Visa, Dell, Intuit/QuickBooks, have the luxury of pre-exisitng large member groups with common and also recurring needs and interests specific to those organizations and their products also have an edge with their Online Business Communities because of those factors.
But one category of Online Business Communities to question are those in the niche market segments or industries that are starting up. We touched on the subject a couple weeks ago in the post about DrivingSales.com Dealer Auto Sales Website Strategy, but there are others. The challenge with such Online Business Communities is their unique value proposition. Without an actual product or service, what are these online communities accomplishing? What can they do to develop and keep an audience aside from developing an audience for the sake of it?
Bowles makes some excellent observations that are good take-aways from his article which such all communities must consider.
3. The quality of the content of a web community trumps the most well-financed demand generation program. No amount of promotion can keep people coming to a community that is not engaging and useful.
6. Participants in smaller business communties are more engaged and likely to participate than those in bigger communities so make your community only as big as it needs to be. Two thousand engaged and qualified potential customers is better than a million page views.
8. That leads to what I modestly call Jerry’s corollary: the online communities that are most likely to succeed are those that are focused narrowly on engaging buyers of specialized, high-end products.
A concern with Online Business Communities that sprout from venture capital and which are designed for niche market segments and industries rather than evolving naturally from its customer audience is that through mere idealism they are putting the cart before the horse so to say in that they expect a software communications system to perpetuate the need for a business model.
MySpace evolved out of the need for bands to promote themselves which led to widespread popularity in promotion of individual persons. Facebook evolved that commodity into a more marketer-friendly environment. Both of these catered to a specific generation (or two). LinkedIn honed that down to a universal class of people, i.e. Online Business Professionals. But these sites are ultimately appeal to millions which is what gives them a chance to be successful.
Banking your model on something that will only appeal to a few thousand people makes for tremendous challenge. It limits advertising capabilities and puts you at the disadvantage with conversions and numbers.
Using Facebook to Further Your Brand
Are you looking for more ways to get your online brand marketing message out to more people? Facebook, the social media marketing giant, is making it easier for you to do so. Here’s how.
When you have an account at Facebook, you can build up a list of friends with whom you have something in common. These “friends” are people that you typically communicate with through the website. You share your preferences for products and read their blogs and other posted communications. Each Facebook member has a homepage where photographs and updates can be posted.
But now, you can go even a step further. Facebook recently began selling advertisements that you can purchase. When you do, your profile photo appears next to commercial messages that your Facebook friends can see.
Let’s say, for example, that you rented a movie that you particularly liked from Blockbuster.com. The website will then ask if you’d like to have your movie choice advertised to all of your friends on Facebook. Your friends then receive the message in addition to an advertisement from Blockbuster.
And because Facebook’s millions of existing members already use the social media networking site to tell others about the things they like, there isn’t much of a change with this new offering. The only difference is that your messages may be accompanied by an advertisement when you tell others about the things you like.
This is just another great way to get your name and your brand noticed. If you have a Facebook account set up for your brand, your logo or your face can accompany each of these messages to embed it further into the psyche of those with whom you are networking.
Facebook Versus Myspace: Comparing and Contrasting
With Facebook becoming an increasingly popular method for social networking and connecting with other people, many Internet users have compared it to the popular Myspace website. But that’s not a fair comparison because there are distinct differences between the sites that set them apart from each other. First, let’s look at some of the similarities between the two sites:
• Both sites are ideal for networking and finding people with similar interests and hobbies as well as people in the same geographic area.
• Facebook and Myspace are proven ways to connect with old friends.
• Both websites allow users to exhibit their personalities in a variety of ways.
• You can find users in a wide range of ages, interests and locations across both social media sites.
• The two sites continue to attract new visitors and users every day.
And now, some differences:
• Facebook is more business-friendly. Many companies are currently testing its effectiveness as a social marketing tool. One Canada-based retailer was recently shocked at the widespread effect of its advertising campaign on the website.
• Myspace still accounts for more than 75 percent of the social network traffic in the United States. The website attracted over 60 million visitors in December of last year. Facebook only drew less than 23 million visitors during the same period.
• Facebook users are generally from an older demographic that is more focused on marketing strategies. Very few businesses go to Myspace for online marketing.
• Myspace is geared more towards the younger crowd. You’ll find a larger number of teens and “tweens” on that site than you will on Facebook.
Whichever one you choose for online brand marketing campaigns for your business, it’s best to have a goal in mind when you create an account. After that, you can begin networking through either of these social media sites.
