Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Philip Zelinger on September 5, 2010 at 3:39pm

Hi Mike,

Well ... I will answer your question if you answer a few of mine first:

Are you listening and learning from your experiences here on DealerElite.Net?

Did you post your question just to get your name onto the WWW or are you actually looking for information to either help you make a decision or support one that you already made?

Do you sell every customer on their first visit to your real or your virtual showroom or do you rely on be-backs and referrals from satisfied customers and friends.

Are all of your advertsing campaigns hard retail today only sales with no branding or dealer indentity messages to build top of the mind awareness for future business?

Are you a human being -- and therefore a customer yourself?

If you answered yes, or the way that I anticipate to all of the above -- and I trust that you did, then my answer is YES, social networking really works to sell cars and service!

Of course there are also many techniques that will allow you to quantify your R.O.I. for both the short and long term. However, if your uphill battle with your dealer group doesn't start with an even playing field with the other advertising investments that you are making then I suggest that you are fighting the wrong battle with the wrong team so find one that has a chance of winning in today and tommorow's customer driven marketplace on the Internet Super Highway. The market is a conversation that strats before, during and after the sale and you have to be in it to win it!

Just as an FYI, in case your group includes a Chrysler, Dodge or Jeep dealership you may want to have them go to the 6th Annual Chrysler Southeast & Southwest Business Center Service And Parts Business Conference at the Disney Resort Contemporary Hotel Sept. 22-24th, 2010. I will be hosting a session -- Social Media And Fixed Operations; What Was - Is And Will Be. I will be offering specific solutions to your question and I will be forwarding a copy of my Power Point with everything that your dealer group will need to know to sell cars and service with an easily sourced R.O.I.

PS: I know that you are already a believer so just show your post and my answer to your dealers nay sayers and/or have them call me and I will be happy to provide some free details to prove OUR point!

After all, what are friends for!

Permalink Reply by Mike Myers on September 5, 2010 at 11:05pm

I actually have learned a lot from the site. You're right in that I am a believer in social marketing, but sometimes it's easy to lose sight of the big picture when it becomes all about selling a car NOW! I was seriously asking the question, not trying to get my name out on the web. I think I've done a pretty good job of that already. Sometimes when you just keep your nose down and work work work, you lose sight of your surroundings. I think that's where I'm at right now. What better place (other than ADM, love ya Ralph) to ask these types of questions?

Philip Zelinger said:

Hi Mike,

Well ... I will answer your question if you answer a few of mine first:

Are you listening and learning from your experiences here on DealerElite.Net?

Did you post your question just to get your name onto the WWW or are you actually looking for information to either help you make a decision or support one that you already made?

Do you sell every customer on their first visit to your real or your virtual showroom or do you rely on be-backs and referrals from satisfied customers and friends.

Are all of your advertsing campaigns hard retail today only sales with no branding or dealer indentity messages to build top of the mind awareness for future business?

Are you a human being -- and therefore a customer yourself?

If you answered yes, or the way that I anticipate to all of the above -- and I trust that you did, then my answer is YES, social networking really works to sell cars and service!

Of course there are also many techniques that will allow you to quantify your R.O.I. for both the short and long term. However, if your uphill battle with your dealer group doesn't start with an even playing field with the other advertising investments that you are making then I suggest that you are fighting the wrong battle with the wrong team so find one that has a chance of winning in today and tommorow's customer driven marketplace on the Internet Super Highway. The market is a conversation that strats before, during and after the sale and you have to be in it to win it!

Just as an FYI, in case your group includes a Chrysler, Dodge or Jeep dealership you may want to have them go to the 6th Annual Chrysler Southeast & Southwest Business Center Service And Parts Business Conference at the Disney Resort Contemporary Hotel Sept. 22-24th, 2010. I will be hosting a session -- Social Media And Fixed Operations; What Was - Is And Will Be. I will be offering specific solutions to your question and I will be forwarding a copy of my Power Point with everything that your dealer group will need to know to sell cars and service with an easily sourced R.O.I.

PS: I know that you are already a believer so just show your post and my answer to your dealers nay sayers and/or have them call me and I will be happy to provide some free details to prove OUR point!

After all, what are friends for!

Permalink Reply by Philip Zelinger on September 6, 2010 at 10:16am

Mike,

I was just kidding about your motives for your post! Of course your intentions were to surface a very common and legitimate question that I and the rest of the ADM community face every day!!

I suppose the reason that I answered your question with my questions -- my attempt at sarcasm for the people that forced you into the frustrating position that we all share -- was because the answers are so numerous and obvious to anyone who understands the long term nature of the buying cycle and the role that social media has in positioning a forward thinking dealer in it.

It is labor day and my wife won't let me spend the time it will take to list the ways to quantify the short term sales and service opportunities presented by well sourced social media messaging but suffice it to say that one way to evidence the R.O.I. is to embedd short codes and similar links into all conversations and then to monitor the sources back to your intended destinations -- like your dealer's website or a dedicated landing page or microsite with a retail message. As the site traffic, time on page due to the increased relevancy and improved conversion rates sourced back to social networking sites increase so will your credibility in having invested in them.

Once again -- as always -- what are friends and social media for!

Mike Myers said:

I actually have learned a lot from the site. You're right in that I am a believer in social marketing, but sometimes it's easy to lose sight of the big picture when it becomes all about selling a car NOW! I was seriously asking the question, not trying to get my name out on the web. I think I've done a pretty good job of that already. Sometimes when you just keep your nose down and work work work, you lose sight of your surroundings. I think that's where I'm at right now. What better place (other than ADM, love ya Ralph) to ask these types of questions?

Philip Zelinger said:

Hi Mike,

Well ... I will answer your question if you answer a few of mine first:

Are you listening and learning from your experiences here on DealerElite.Net?

Did you post your question just to get your name onto the WWW or are you actually looking for information to either help you make a decision or support one that you already made?

Do you sell every customer on their first visit to your real or your virtual showroom or do you rely on be-backs and referrals from satisfied customers and friends.

Are all of your advertsing campaigns hard retail today only sales with no branding or dealer indentity messages to build top of the mind awareness for future business?

Are you a human being -- and therefore a customer yourself?

If you answered yes, or the way that I anticipate to all of the above -- and I trust that you did, then my answer is YES, social networking really works to sell cars and service!

Of course there are also many techniques that will allow you to quantify your R.O.I. for both the short and long term. However, if your uphill battle with your dealer group doesn't start with an even playing field with the other advertising investments that you are making then I suggest that you are fighting the wrong battle with the wrong team so find one that has a chance of winning in today and tommorow's customer driven marketplace on the Internet Super Highway. The market is a conversation that strats before, during and after the sale and you have to be in it to win it!

Just as an FYI, in case your group includes a Chrysler, Dodge or Jeep dealership you may want to have them go to the 6th Annual Chrysler Southeast & Southwest Business Center Service And Parts Business Conference at the Disney Resort Contemporary Hotel Sept. 22-24th, 2010. I will be hosting a session -- Social Media And Fixed Operations; What Was - Is And Will Be. I will be offering specific solutions to your question and I will be forwarding a copy of my Power Point with everything that your dealer group will need to know to sell cars and service with an easily sourced R.O.I.

PS: I know that you are already a believer so just show your post and my answer to your dealers nay sayers and/or have them call me and I will be happy to provide some free details to prove OUR point!

After all, what are friends for!

Permalink Reply by charles bayer on September 7, 2010 at 3:10am

Hi Mike, there's a very interesting report published recently by Colmar Brunton that says a combination of TV and social media is the most effective strategy to generate enquiry -- which is all you can expect to do. Will hunt it down & send it to you, cheers Charles.

Permalink Reply by Mike Myers on September 7, 2010 at 12:08pm

Thanks Charles!

charles bayer said:

Hi Mike, there's a very interesting report published recently by Colmar Brunton that says a combination of TV and social media is the most effective strategy to generate enquiry -- which is all you can expect to do. Will hunt it down & send it to you, cheers Charles.

Permalink Reply by Philip Zelinger on September 7, 2010 at 4:25pm

Mike,

I can't post my entire session planned for the Chrysler Business Conference on Social Media as a verifiable source of sales and service, however I cut out some relevant facts that should support the logic you need to make and prove your confidence in social media to sell and service cars:

Facebook or Twitter users are significantly more likely to buy products and services or recommend the brand to a friend.

Consumers are 67% more likely to buy from the brands they follow on Twitter, and 51% more likely to buy from a brand they follow on Facebook().

They’re 79% more likely to recommend their Twitter follows to a friend, and 60% more likely to do it on Facebook

Social media is a competitive advantage for those that are participating, and a major weakness for those that aren’t.

Facebook Boosts Sales and Customer Loyalty

“How much do businesses really influence consumers when they launch pages on the site to attract ‘fans’ and pepper them with messages and offers?”

To gauge the effectiveness of Facebook fan pages, the following study used one company’s page to measure the effect on customer behavior.

For the experiment, the researchers partnered with Dessert Gallery (DG), a popular Houston-based bakery and café chain. They first emailed over 13,000 customers from their mailing list to gather store evaluations and information on shopping behavior.

Then they launched the fan page and invited the mailing list to the page.  Over the course of three months, the company “updated its page several times a week with pictures of goodies, news about contests and promotions, links to favorable reviews, and introductions to DG employees.”

Those who replied to both surveys and had become fans stood out as their best customers.

Here’s the breakdown of the findings of their new fans:
Store visits per month increased after people became fans.

The new fans generated more positive word of mouth than nonfans.

They went to DG 20% more often than nonfans.

Fans gave the store the highest share of their overall dining-out dollars.

They were the most likely to recommend DG to friends and had the highest average Net Promoter Score—75, compared with 53 for Facebook users who were not fans and 66 for customers not on Facebook.

DG fans also reported significantly greater emotional attachment to DG—3.4 on a 4-point scale, compared with 3.0 for other customers.

Fans were the most likely to say they chose DG over other establishments whenever possible.

Research has shown that a small group of people can have a substantial influence on the majority. The same is true in online communities.

The highly influential posters, whom Krishnamurthi and his colleagues call “mavens,” tend to have an especially intense interest in the brand, either positive or negative.

Because of this intense interest, they are more likely to advocate a strong opinion, which has a much bigger influence on potential purchasers than does the opinion of the average user.

Do’s and Don’ts of Social Media Marketing for Car Dealers

Social media marketing (SMM) may appear like child’s play, so easy that a typical
Internet Sales Manager should be able to handle it.

Create a bunch of social network and blog website accounts and profiles, Post a few blogs, then Digg a little, Stumble upon a bit and you are set, right?

Wrong! That is the exact attitude that can kill your automotive social media campaigns
before you even begin to take action or create your first few social media profiles.

Approaching social media marketing and the social web in general with a complacent or lackadaisical attitude definitely won’t help your dealership get anything useful out of it. Social media, as much ‘fun’ as it is, is not without general principles, guidelines and rules.

Successful social media marketing for car dealers is possible only if the resources assigned to execute, pro or novice, are willing to do the work and invest the necessary TIME... Again, invest the TIME REQUIRED TO DO IT RIGHT... And your people need to follow the following rules. So, read on and make sure you and your people Do the "Do's" and avoid the "Don'ts".

Why Your Social Media Strategy is "Failing" How are you measuring its success?


1. Dealers are not leveraging their social assets properly.Social media is user generated content. Join the communities where your customers are, or create your own destinations, and share quality content.
 
Most dealerships are not geared to be content producers, so they do what comes easy, sharing inventory and sale information. This is bad, it's akin to SPAM.

You MUST create content that customers want and need. Your success in social media is directly proportionate to your ability to create good content. If people aren't engaging you on social media sites, its because your content doesn't cut it.

Hint:  Fixed Operations is your greatest opportunity to engage customers in the social web.
Dealers simply look at leads generated directly from Facebook or Twitter. Lead Generation is not the primary benefit of social media, look elsewhere if you want to make your efforts pay off on paper quickly.
 
Rather than looking at social media ONLY as a direct lead generator, look at its traffic value to your other properties.

Use tracking URLs and analytics to see which how much traffic you are generating from your social activities. This will also help you learn which content resonates well with your audience. 

Let your website be the lead generating machine!
Use social media to stay in touch with customers & move them down the funnel.

Use social media sites to help you dominate the search engines by getting your profiles, blogs and ratings to rank well.

Use advanced SEO tools to track the value of the links you use in social media back to your sites. Links on the web are like votes, and when used properly, they can help “vote” your website to the top of the search rankings. 

Use social media to connect with and create loyal customers. Educate them on how to get the most out of their vehicles or connect with enthusiasts.

Make your dealership a hub for their experience with their car.

To judge your effectiveness, watch your friend/follower numbers and match them to how many actually return for service based on your CRM system.

Watch who shares your content with their followers and learn who your most influential customers are. Then, cater to these people and make it easy for them to share.

The social web is amazing. It mirrors the real world on the computer screen. Think of how you would act at a social event, representing your dealership, and act that way online.

MONETIZING SOCIAL NETWORKING

Time is money – staff, facilities, utilities, software, etc…. costs money and impact R.O.I.
Technology and processes provide efficiencies to improve R.O.I.
Leveraged resources are the solution to maximizing R.O.I.

Sales sells SERVICE and PARTS!


I hope some of the above helps! After all, what are friends for!

Permalink Reply by Heather Graham on September 9, 2010 at 12:40pm

YES - it absolutely can and does work....however there are some caveats. You must engage, you must keep updating it, you need to make it progressive. A mini website if you will.

I'm currently the admin on 2 dealer sites - still working on landing page, but note how inventory is loaded on to the page as are other tabs that mirror the website. One of which is a 'what folks are saying' tab. This is to help curb the bad reviews that are out there (and plague most dealerships). Customer don't realize that a mad customer will post a review sooner than a happy one. And, they don't really perceive the number of bad reviews a dealer has in relation to how many vehicles they sell.

Dealers and reputation sites are another big topic I would love to hear peoples perspective on! I manage this as well and it is very time consuming. Working on helping dealer put more systems in place to minimize their bad reviews, to respond, and to increase good ones.

Here are the two I'm managing (would love for you all to 'like' the page - hope that is okay to ask here -if not let me know for future). Next step is increasing fan amount!

http://facebook.com/collegeparkhonda
http://facebook.com/collegeparkhyundai

Cheers & Always Be Engaging!

Heather

Permalink Reply by Andrew Kappler on September 11, 2010 at 12:05pm

You should not have to battle for this piece of the pie... Social Networking sites for the most part are 100% free and they are exactly what they describe to be Social Networking not social selling, DO NOT TRY TO SELL!!!. To get your point across to your dealer principle (because he is the only one you should be directing this to) all you have to ask is "How many customers have we sold to off of our billboards and newspaper ads?".. If he can answer that, well then I would stay put and listen to what he says... I am however sure that he cannot. I look at these sites as a way to captivate a crowd of people that if done properly you will begin to build brand (Dealer) awareness ( in the sense of,"wow abc motors really posts some good content therefore I will not hide them from my news feed.".. A small logo on all print & media ads will gain you very little "friends" however it will help modernize your dealership in the puclics eye (i cant believe that little Subaru dealer is on FB)..To do it successfully, all parties have to play along starting with the owner and finishing in recon...Remember that organically grown is always healthier and better for you.. Do not spam all ur customers to ad your page... Well my lunch is here and I could keep going... Good luck dude. Andy

Permalink Reply by Darlene on September 24, 2010 at 10:11am

Real World Thought pretty simple - how could it not - you are simply MAKING FRIENDS and keeping friends informed. Isn't that rule #1 of selling? Don't think it produces alot of "NOW" sales, unless they have tens of thousands of friends, they need to move to traditional Direct Mail, email or other traditional advertising to produce those results. Friends buy from Friends