Social Media Networking and Online Advertising have become the norm for most dealerships across the nation. Is there a right or wrong way to market with these concepts? What are best practices for this type of networking and advertising? Instead of learning hands on I did a behind the scenes interview with Michael Hammand Jr. from Conicelli Autoplex in Conshohocken, PA.

Conicelli Autoplex A Nice Place to Do Business

Tell me about you and your dealerships; Conicelli Honda, Hyundai, Nissan, Scion and Toyota.

I’ve worked just about every aspect of the dealership since I was 16 yrs old, I’m now 25. My dad is the VP of Sales and my stepmom, Lori Hammond, is the Internet Director. I graduated with a Marketing Degree and decided to put it to use at the dealership. We really wanted to get an online presence and quickly realized the rapid growth of social media with businesses. After college in 2008, I started developing the social media department by myself. I have needed more and more help each month ever since. Within a few months, I got an assistant to take photos of the 350+ pre-owned cars and now I have several people writing comments for the used vehicles and helping post on Craigslist.

Conicelli is the #1 volume Toyota Dealership in PA and we are working hard to have a repeat this year. Honda missed by a hair last year, but hopefully will be back to #1 again for the 2010 year. We also have Nissan and Hyundai dealerships located in Conshohocken, Pa and another Toyota dealership in Springfield of Delaware County.

Tell me about the different online and social networking avenues you used to promote the dealership?

The most important social media exposure is on Conicelli.com, YouTube, Craigslist, eBay, Conicelli.blogspot.com, Twitter, and Conicelli’s Facebook Fan Page. Facebook started as a way for college/high school friends to interact with each other back in 2005. I immediately started using it as an advertising tool for a marketing company that I worked for in college, as well as selling self-made t-shirts and to promote events. I have been networking with people from Northeast PA to South Jersey for over five years now and have close to 13,000 people that I network with on Facebook between multiple accounts.

Conicelli does different contests to help get people more involved using social media and conicelli.com. Our Mr. Nice Guy character, which is Dominic Conicelli’s caricature, is used to help advertise our social media presence and Conicelli.com as well. I’ve realized that creating a more personal relationship with people and not just advertising incentives on cars is very valuable to get people’s attention.

When someone purchases a car from me, I ask if I can take a picture of them standing next to their new car in front of the dealership and/or a testimonial. This way, I have a reason to find them on Facebook using my business Facebook account. I tag them in the picture or video for all their friends and family to see. Not only am I advertising to everyone that they network with, I’m now networking with them as well.

The old school method of keeping in touch with customers is to make random calls a few times a year to see how the customer’s cars are doing and if they or any family members are in the market for a new vehicle anytime soon. The new aged method is to nonchalantly message them on Facebook or post on their wall. It’s a good way to build a better relationship with your customers and getting a picture of them with their car or a video testimonial is a good foot in the door.

Do you have any way of putting into numbers the success you experience through this type of marketing?

Conicelli recently started using a new automotive CRM that consolidates all areas of the dealership departments to one manageable solution. It helps track where all the leads come from and keeps sales consultant’s customer base very organized. Employees leave notes after contact with these customers so that managers know which sales consultants are dealing with which customers and where they left off on their last call. These leads come from third party sites, social networking, Craigslist, etc.

What advice would you give other dealers thinking of starting their own social networking program?

Start off by making a personal Facebook account and network with dealers around the nation to get an understanding of Social Media. After you understand how everything works, make a Fan Page for your dealership. Hire someone, or find someone at the dealership that you can trust to represent your website that has experience in Social Media. Make sure that it’s a fan page and not a friend page on Facebook since there is a 5,000 friend max which could eventually hurt you down the road. The reason why I have so many accounts is because you hit a wall with the amount of friends that you are allowed to have with personal accounts. Multiple accounts let you network with different people in different areas. This takes years to build, so it’s not going to happen overnight.

Selling new cars on the Internet is more about volume than holding gross. Don’t be afraid to post some aggressive numbers. The customers may even know more about the car than you do because a lot of them do tons of internet research on the cars that they are particularly interested in.

Make sure to keep everything clean because everyone will see it. Everything that is posted is a reflection of your dealership. Don’t be too boring; social media is a place for professionals to let down their hair and show a more personal and fun side, but make sure you know where to draw the line.

Conicelli – A nice place to do business on more levels than one! Keep up the amazing work and thank you for taking the time to give me the insight on social networking and best practices.