Toyota uses Social Media for discussion
Toyota COO and President Jim Lentz
As part of the campaign to get in front of the accelerator pedal recall Toyota COO Jim Lentz fielded questions today on Twitter. While it's not really earth shattering news, it does demonstrate that Social Media plays a vital role in the new marketplace.
Customers want transparency from companies that they deal with. It reassures them and shows what they can expect should any problems arise in the future. So while Toyota did not sell any cars directly during today's Q&A session, I have no doubt that they convinced more than a few people that will be buying soon, that Toyota is easy to deal with.
Dealerships can apply the same principle. Don't use sites like Twitter to try and sell cars, rather use them to sell your dealership. Show current and prospective customers that you are open, transparent and easy to deal with. You will find big dividends in retention and new customers as well.
As always, please feel free to contact if you have any questions how you can use Social Media as part of your overall online strategy.
Spring 2010 looks to be huge, is your dealership ready?
Marketing and advertising your dealership has gone from mass channels such as radio and TV to a more personal and on demand approach. Instead of repeating a broad message, today you need smaller more people centric messages. It’s not that marketing your dealership has died, it’s just changed. Today people have more power and more choices. So what’s the best way to reach them?
Be Accessible.
Whether it’s your website, your Facebook page, Twitter or You Tube or any other number of sites, there are more ways to reach more people than ever before. Can your prospects and customers engage you on multiple platforms? Some people prefer to submit a form, others prefer to call, many still use email and an increasing number would rather use Facebook or other social media sites. The lesson here is simple don’t limit access to your dealership to your website and phone.
Be Active.
You don’t have to sit at your desk and post Tweets all day. However, do post something regularly. I would suggest at least three to five times a week. More importantly set up alerts to notify you when your dealership is mentioned.
Short and Sweet.
Because of all the ways to reach people today, this is more important today than ever before. One of the biggest mistakes you can make is to send a long email or posts on your social media sites. Use just 10% of your message at a time, so if you want tell prospects about a car and your description is 500 words send to them in 50 word increments. Brevity is king, when people see long email messages they tend to put off reading it.
In closing this is an exciting time to be in the car business. A lot of people have been waiting to buy that new car, waiting for the economy to settle down, waiting for credit to open back up. This spring should be one of the best in a long time. Now is the time to make sure that your dealership is ready. Feel free to call me if you have any questions on how you can put Social Media and your website to work for you.
Social Media Goes Corporate
An interesting study crossed my desk today, the 2009 Business Social Media Benchmarking Studyby Ben Hanna, Ph.D. the VP of Marketing for R.H. Donnelley Interactive.
While the study does not directly address the retail application of Social Media, it does reflect a growing trend of mainstream use of Social Media not only by individuals, but also by businesses. Over 4,000 respondents were surveyed and even though the study focused mainly on business to business use of Social Media there were some surprising revelations.
If you've read some of my past articles you know that the fastest growing demographic on Facebook is the age 40 to 50 segment. However, it may surprise you that know that of this study's respondents 58% were C-Level Executives (CEO, CFO President, etc.) One thing that jumped out to me was that only 2% of respondents listed their industry as automotive. In case you're interested the leading field was listed as retail followed closely by health care.
Information sources that did not require active participation such as webinars, podcasts reading ratings or reviews etc. were rated as more useful participating in discussions or forums. I found this particularly interesting because it has been said by more than a few experts that Social Media sites will soon be the new search engines. If this is the case then you might be wise to start advertising on these sites.
Webinars were listed as very useful. Is there an application here for the retail car business? Maybe a webinar to show owners how to perform routine inspections or how to use complicated features such as navigation?
Most were new to the business use of Social Media with 35% having spent less than one year managing or involved in the Social Media initiatives of their companies. Over 70% of the companies had less than two years of experience in Social Media.
So what are all these newbies doing for their business? The most popular was maintain company related accounts or profiles on the Social Media sites. Second was monitoring company related "mentions" on Social Media sites. Maintaining the company blog was a very close third.
A lot of companies (54%) reported using Social Media to monitor their users / customers ratings and reviews and 53% monitored their competitors mentions.
The 44 page study reveals that a relative new media is rapidly becoming a mainstream business tool. You can read the study at http://www.business.com/info/business-social-media-benchmark-study.
Is your dealership engaged? If you want to find out simple and easy ways to get your store started call me at 502-689-5370 or contact me at Twitter, I am @dealerist.
Dealership Marketing and Advertising in the Web 2.0 Age
It’s no secret that advertising methods that worked in years past no longer work, so how can you market your dealership in today’s economy?
I recently saw a presentation on What’s Next Marketing and Advertising by Paul Isakson on Slideshare. One of the points that he makes is that the future of marketing is NOT about doing and saying things TO people, rather the future of marketing is about doing things WITH and FOR people. Mr. Isakson’s presentation said that the future of marketing is:
Collaborative: In today’s Web 2.0 environment your customers are your dealership’s voice. What they say to their friends and family will trump anything you say in your advertising.
Generous: Almost every dealer I know has a charity that they work with. Your Facebook, your Twitter account even your showroom are venues that you can share with your charities to help promite their causes. By doing so you show your customers and prospects that you are involved and care about your community.
Experimental: Let’s face it, advertising today a moving target. You have to be willing to try new things. The great news is that social media and the web are perfect for experimenting so go ahead try that crazy idea out.
Helpful: One of the fundamental principles of social media is that people will share things they find helpful. So use your social media accounts and your dealership website to provide helpful tips and videos. Your customers and prospects will forward them to their friends and family and you get more exposure.
Playful: This should be a no brainer for those of us in the car business. Why do you think that the King of Cars was so successful? It was fun. When you have fun your customers see that you’re real. So get out there and have some fun with your marketing.
Personal: Ever since websites became common most dealerships have had staff pages. Those pages allowed us to tell our prospects a little about us. Today, social media sites go even further and if used properly show that we too have families, that kids play soccer too that we too are people just like them.
Honest: This one’s a tough one. As an industry we have always had a bit of bad reputation. I think dealers today are not only very honest; they are probably some of the most honest businesses around. Social media sites and the web allow you to work with you customers and prospects in an open an transparent way. If you staff made a mistake admit it and address it openly. Nothing will go further to help your store image.
Participatory: Like Paul Isakson says, “The best way to get people to do stuff with you, is to first join them in what they are already doing.” Your customers and prospects are already using social media to share and stay in touch with their friends and family. When you get involved with social media you’re joining your customers and in doing so they will participate by helping you build a better business.
Marketing your dealership today doesn’t have to be all that confusing. One thing is certain, the rules have changed and what used to work no longer does. But the good news is that if you’re willing to try new things and open up and let your customers help, there’s a whole new way to market your business.
As always please feel free to call me at 502-689-5370 or follow me on Twitter, I am @dealerist.
TK Carsites Recognized For Excellence in 2009 Automotive Search Marketing Report
The Automotive Search Marketing report issued by the Pasch Consulting Group identifies TK Carsites as one of the top website platforms in the automotive industry.
Brain Pasch presents Joe Turner two ASMA Awards
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Pasch Consulting Groups 2009 Automotive Search Marketing Architecture (ASMA) report released at this years Digital Dealer Conference recognizes TK Carsites as one of top industry leaders in automotive website platforms. Major improvements to TK Carsite web platforms including a Google SEO compliant inventory module, embedded blogging , and dynamic homepage banner graphics earned them the Super Charged Search Marketing merit award.
The 2nd annual ASMA report seeks to provide car dealers with an unbiased evaluation of automotive website platforms and integrated search marketing tools. The 2009 ASMA study included a review of 34 automotive website providers and highlights 9 companies as industry leaders in automotive search marketing.
TK Carsites "Super Charged Search" award was based on their utilization of search marketing strategies that are not leveraged by other automotive website vendors. According to Brian Pasch, CEO of the Pasch Consulting Group and underwriter of the ASMA report, Microsites and landing pages are not new to the search marketing community, but how TK Carsites implements these two strategies delivers unparalleled results.
In addition to their cutting edge on-site SEO tactics, the company also offers off-site SEO services and social media marketing tools that generate traffic formerly unheard of in the automotive industry. Pasch added, Of all website providers reviewed in this study, TK Carsites is the only vendor we consider who is pushing the SEO and Social Media envelope.
This years top rated platforms received the first ever engraved ASMA award in honor of their achievement. The results of the 2009 ASMA report were announced to attendees of the 7th Digital Dealer conference in Nashville.
More information about TK Carsites is available online at http://www.tkcarsites.com/
About Pasch Consulting Group
The Pasch Consulting Group is an automotive Internet marketing company and works with all major dealer platforms when providing Internet marketing services to car dealers across the nation. PCG focuses on off-site SEO strategies, geo-targeted lead generation, search engine marketing and Internet reputation management.
Brian Pasch is the CEO of the Pasch Consulting Group. Brian is a 20-year veteran of the direct marketing industry. His career has spanned both management and technology roles.
PCG works for and with an ever-growing number of businesses large and small from all over the country to maximize results of their digital marketing efforts.
Visit their automotive marketing website at: http://www.dealer-seo.com
Another award for TK Carsites! Way to go guys.
Nashville Digital Dealer Conference shows business improving
- Business is returning to car dealerships
As I sit here in the Nashville Convention Center and look around at the crowd mulling about exhibit hall, and the standing room only crowds in the breakout workshops, it's clear to me that business must be coming back.
The dealers that I spoke with are looking to improve the way the reach customers and market their stores. It seems like the biggest crowds were at the workshops and booths that featured SEO, SEM and Social Media.
I think it not only signals that business is coming back, but that a fundamental shift it the way dealers will approach marketing and advertising in the future. I remember several years ago when the crowds were gathered around workshops and booths that featured websites.
Are you prepared for the future? Are you using Social Media to engage your customers? If your not then you may want to start.
Use Social Media to be proactive
- Be proactive for excellent service
Had a conversation yesterday with a friend of mine that owns a Nissan store. We were talking about how social sites like Facebook can be used by dealerships.
He was not excited about the prospect of engaging upset customer in the open on Facebook. I certainly can understand his trepidation. We are used to settling a customer’s issues in an office not in the showroom.
But the reality is that while we may have discussed and settled an issue with an upset customer behind closed doors in the past they still talked to their friends and family about what happened. Social media today actually represents a better opportunity to earn the future business of not only their friends and family, but many others as well.
By engaging the customer in an open forum you demonstrate to potential customers that you are a reputable dealer and can be trusted.
So don’t be afraid to open up and engage your customer base online, you’ll be planting the seeds for future customers as well as retaining existing ones.
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