A few weeks ago Gary Vaynerchuk was the keynote speaker at LinkedOC, our great networking group led by Bryan Elliott here in Orange County, CA.  Gary is a 35-year-old New York Times and Wall Street Journal Best-Selling author who’s also a self-trained wine and Social Media expert. I have followed “Gary Vee” for a couple of years now and he’s just released his new book, “The Thank You Economy“.  As a devotee of Social Media and relationship-based marketing, the title had me at first glance. As a life-long car gal and dealer advocate, it got me thinking and compelled me to share it’s message.

The Thank You Economy is about how we do business today.  “It’s the way we communicate, the way we buy and sell, the way businesses and consumers interact online and offline.”  Consumers have a powerful voice now through Social networks and dealerships have to compete on a whole different level than they used to.

Unfortunately, a lot of dealerships can’t see that change is here.  They hear that cars are sold, they hear business is being done on Facebook, Twitter, Blogs and Foursquare and say, “Prove it.”  I even had a commenter on one of my recent blog posts that said, “Social Media is not for dealerships. It’s a waste of time.”  That’s a short-sighted way to view the world and in Gary’s book you’ll read an array of case studies providing undeniable evidence that dealerships can successfully leverage their relationships on Social Media for financial gain.

More and more people are making buying decisions based on what they see talked about on Social networks. Gary says, “People don’t talk about things they don’t care about.”  So it’s up to dealerships to make customers care, which means dealerships have to care first.

“When I first started tweeting, I had no brand recognition; no one knew who I was.” Gary continues, “To build my brand, I started creating conversations around what I cared passionately about: wine.  I used Search.Twitter.com to find mentions of Chardonnay.  I saw that people had questions and I answered them.  I didn’t post a link to winelibrary.com and point out that I sold Chardonnay.  If people mentioned that they were drinking Merlot, I gave them my Merlot recommendation, but I didn’t mention that they could buy Merlot on my website.  I didn’t try to close too early, like a nineteen-year-old guy; I made sure to invest in the relationship first.

“Eventually, people started to see my comments and think, ‘Oh hey, it’s that Vaynerchuk guy; he knows Chardonnay. Oh cool, he does a wine show–let’s take a look.  Hey, he’s funny, I like him; I trust him.  And check it out: he sells wine, too.  Free shipping? Let’s try a bottle of that….” That’s what caring first, not selling first, looks like and that’s how Gary built his business.

The Automotive Thank You Economy is upon us. Dealerships can reap the rewards by being open to the fact that caring and authenticity mean business.  Stores that aren’t willing or able to join the conversation will likely see their financial statements suffer.  Integrating Social Media with all of your other forms of advertising makes sense.  Your customers are talking about you.  Isn’t it time you responded?

Thank you.

Kathi Kruse
Kruse Control Social Media Coaching & Training
www.krusecontrolinc.com