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Is there Egg on your FaceBook?

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ryan.leslie

ryan.leslie

One of the good guys
Apr 20, 2009
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Ryan
#1
I imagine that it starts like this. "Quick, quick, we need to get into Social Media. Everybody is talking about it and we NEED to have a presence in order to keep up with everybody else. Start us up one of those FaceBook Fanpage thingies. What do you mean you don't have time to manage it? Just start the ball rolling and we'll figure out the rest of it later."

Great, the ball is now rolling and gathering speed and dragging your dealership's reputation down the hill.

Ever see the Wiley Coyote chase the Roadrunner at full speed off a cliff? You know that look on his face as he hangs suspended in the air the exact moment he realizes that there is nothing between him and a painful plummet? Well, look in the mirror, friends, the Roadrunner is your Fanpage and you might just see Wiley Coyote staring back at you. Don't look down now, it will only make it worse.

I'm not a social media guru, but seeing a lot of dealer's efforts has taught me one thing. Social Media, specifically your Fanpage, is not a "set it and forget it" effort. The Facebook stats page says the average user has 130 friends, I'd say the people willing to write a negative review of your business likely have more. One of the folks in the following examples had 919. One of these examples has multiple users commenting bringing that negative comment into another sphere of user influence for every new comment in the thread. Wake up Wiley Coyote, your neck is starting to stretch out!

The point of this lighthearted post is to make sure that if you have a Fanpage you have restricted, or at the very least, moderated content in your reviews tab. PM me if you don't know what I'm talking about and I will be glad to explain. ACME can't help you recover from this:

EX 1:

EX 2:

EggonyourFace-book2.jpg


The owner did get involved here, but 30 days late. No resolution was mentioned.

EX 3:

 
#3
Art,

Great point that I didn't reiterate! I agree with your comment as it pertains to Fanpages, but I'm going to very respectfully disagree with you about whether or not it is "better."

I think there are a lot of things that can be taken away from these examples, and I don't disagree with you at all. If you don't have means to manage it, don't build it...yet. Timeliness of the response and public overemphasis of the resolution are two more great ones. But it isn't just the dealers that are creating the forum through a Fanpage that need to be cognizant of their online reputation.

Fact is that if you don't have a Fanpage, or even if you do, the negative reviews are more likely to show on your Google places page. The vocal minority will find a place to virtually picket your store if they feel like they have been wronged, you don't need to invite them to your doorstep with your own forum or a Fanpage. There are plenty of other places I could have pulled examples from to demonstrate that. Again, respectfully, not building it doesn't mean they won't come, they will find a field to play on, it just won't be the one you built. That is why ORM is such a popular topic.

The reason I chose the examples from Fanpages is because I get to have this conversation several times a day with dealers that have unmonitored Fanpages. They are unique and such a great example of how word of mouth advertising spreads in a social circle, both positive and negative. I imagine that a lot of dealers that lurk here may not have any idea what is on the review tab if they aren't actively managing their presence there or have a tool to control that content. Most of the dealers I talk to that are delving into this don't.
 
#4
Okay, my point was an "additional" point, perhaps not a "better" one.

You are correct, even if you don't have a fan page people will be talking about you. But *with* a fan page, that you monitor and contribute to, the dealer can turn the negative experience to a positive.

Everyone has the occasional unhappy customer. But looking at example #2, if only that dealership representative had been watching their page a bit more closely and responded to it in a more timely fashion! Instead of fuming for a month and telling all their friends about how John Doe Honda took advantage of them, the customer would feel like their complaints were being addressed and instead tell all their friends how even when things got messed up John Doe Honda took care of me.
 
#5
Ryan Leslie said:
I imagine that it starts like this. "Quick, quick, we need to get into Social Media. Everybody is talking about it and we NEED to have a presence in order to keep up with everybody else. Start us up one of those FaceBook Fanpage thingies. What do you mean you don't have time to manage it? Just start the ball rolling and we'll figure out the rest of it later.
Click to expand...



Ryan! You get my vote for the "Best Title of the Month!".. Possibly best for the year!!

Great read! Totally smoked it over the fence! :bow:
 
#7
There is soooo much practical advice in that post Ryan. I totally love it! It confirms what I've been preaching for months.

"May the Social Media fairies continue to spew rainbows and unicorns so all my competitors take their eye off the ball."

For a dealer to win the all new digitally transparent world, they can't get there via FB. They have to live, eat and breath it from within!

Our Jeff Kershner is "THE MAN" in this department. He's seen it all. Evangelized and guided the culture transformation until it's self-running (aka managment buy in!).
 
#8
Facebook (and social networking) is a growing player in developing and maintaining a positive online reputation. Reputation is trending to be a key deciding factor for a consumer in the near future. Unless you're dealing with a serious brand loyalist, the Internet is your prospect's first impression of you ... whether you like it or not. And social media is a growing part of that research.

Will an active social network strategy mean you'll sink or swim, probably not ... But the disadvantage will be yours.

I agree that if you cannot handle it, don't.
 
#9
Ive been doing unscientific surveys of people and have yet to find someone who said they would visit a Facebook of a dealer to find info on a car purchase.

The 20/30 somethings said they wouldn't "friend" a FB site because they dont want their page to get spammed with updates.

The Facebook users did say they would use Facebook to ASK their friends for opinions on cars.

Take yourself out of the 'biz' for a moment and ask yourself how you would search for a new vehicle.

Would your first move be to search for a FB page? Would it even cross your mind to do so?

Forums, consumer reports, and review sites is where I think most people start.
 
#10
FACT: Social media is like any other from of electronic advertising. If left alone and not followed up on, it will provide you nothing as many Dealer websites do nothing for them.


  • EX: Dealers have out of date inventory, no featured units (old age units that need to be gotten rid of even at a loss that will be worse at the auction versus selling them to the public), Special's Pages that aren't that special at all and have a "No Specials At This Time" message attached to it when clicked (we want our salesman to act like it's a sale everyday and sell the sizzle yet we are advertising AROUND THE WORLD ON OUR OWN SITE we have no specials?? Yes the internet is world wide...), and many more no need to mention.

FACT: Left alone and unmonitored it can cause damage to you and your business. Again just as a Dealer website can do as well.


  • EX: How many times have you been to a dealers website and links don't work, cars are already sold, contact numbers are wrong, that person doesn't work here anymore, or they have some big fancy flash site that people who don't have speedy internet can't even load?

MY POINT: Just because you don't know how to monitor them doesn't mean you don't need them. Almost every dealer in the world has a website and we just discussed how that can be detrimental in it's own way if not monitored correctly. So don't be afraid to get in the social game, don't be afraid to get involved.

SOLUTION: Just like many dealers have finally done in the last few years with there websites, find someone to manage the pages for you. Whether this is the 18 year old high school kid (yes he knows more than you do about Facebook) or you hire a company who will reasonably manage it for you. This is the answer, not sitting on the sidelines saying, "Man I wish I knew how to get some extra business from that Facebook fan page thingy." (Not picking just tying in a previous statement, no confrontation intended). Learn how to drive people to your site with the information they want to see. Learn how to give them the information they don't even know they want and need. Take this forum for example, this is as social as gets and we are all sitting around on this chatting and discussing issues that we have and getting information we didn't even know we needed. Now take this energy we use here and put it into a forum (social site, blog, etc..) where the rest of the world and our customers are. Give them the information they didn't know they needed, let them decide what they want or don't want to see.

CLOSING: There are 500,000,000 MILLION people world wide on Facebook. If you think for one minute that there isn't business to be gotten on it, well leave it for the guys who know there is. Because they are building on it everyday. Don't get left behind, get in the game and make your money. Reason being is, you can be sure the next best thing is already being made and if you didn't learn this one you will be that much further behind. It's a digital world and you can make more money than ever before.....you just gotta want it.

Brandon D Cauble
Owner / Partner
Patriotic Marketing
361-676-9166
www.patrioticmarketing.com
[email protected]
 
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