There is nothing better than having another event for dealers to here about convertshun metrics we should all easily b attaining.  Im sayin 70% and up convershen!  Thats HUGE!

Join me - Larry Bruce - for the 1st evar Bruce Event.

It will be April 1st, 2012 at the Bismark Super 8 and I'm the speeker!

Dont worry, there wont be any wine tastings or beer drinking - it will pure busyness.  Thats why we're going to the freshly paved Super 8 in North Dakota.  You wont have to worry about those clowns Jeff Kershner and Alex Snyder being thier or even that Pasch guy because theyre banned from attending.  No distractshions from anything but your Random Access dealerhsip Website.

Its just about convurtsion for your dealersip websete.  Wen I say 70% comversion Im not kidding.  Technicly it isnt your websit because well be talking about the microsite and how strong it convurts for yur busyness because microsites are the king of everything and because thier is nothing more impotant than your very important microsite strategy because micorsite make convertson happen but it is grater than just microsite coversion because we are also going to talk about reputateshun management.  Ive been watching over 5 billion dealsips engage on sites like facebook and friend finder to learn the secrits of getting customers to engage on those sites - especially friend finder.

And now the most impotent part, get to know your speaker and host:  Larry Bruce!  Im gonna let the video speek for myself, Larry Bruce.

Win.

This is obviously a parody on April Fools day.  No, there isn't a "Bruce Event" happening and no, Larry Bruce did not write this.

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In the past week titans Google and Facebook have come up with additional ways for users to add their personal opinions into the mix of search. Facebook has introduced a new Questions tool that enables individuals and brands to ask questions of their network. Google is introducing a +1 feature to their adwords platform that will enable Google profile owners to add a +1 to the business ads and pages they endorse. Think of it as a Facebook “like” button, but for Google. How can these changes impact your business?

Google Plus 1

• On the PR and marketing side, we’ll see more businesses soliciting plus ones, much in the way we currently see a solicitation of “likes” on Facebook. An example would be a business tweeting or posting something along the lines of “plus one us and get a discount on services…”

• Google believes the plus one feature will be a benefit to companies using Adwords because they suspect +1 has the potential to boost adwords campaigns.

• A +1 to a company search listing will also show up on that company’s ad campaign, providing double duty for those brands looking for +1’s across marketing channels.

• Downfall of +1 – Individuals must have a Google profile to add their +1 ranking and at this time Google’s profile user base is far behind those of networks the likes of Facebook. It will be interesting to see if Google changes this tactic as more businesses warm to the +1 game.

Facebook Questions:

• Facebook Questions provides users a streamlined way to ask questions of their friends and get a direct feed of answers.

• Think of the word-of-mouth potential if a user asks where to find the best deal on a car and your business is the most suggested? It’s a marketing goldmine.

• Here’s the beauty for business – Facebook Questions also enables businesses to ask questions of their followers. In this way Facebook Questions can help a company do everything from test a new campaign or get instant feedback on a product to instant polling for internal use.

• Facebook Questions downfall – While the question feed can spread word of mouth goodness about your brand, it can also help perpetuate a negative image if a person who answers has had a bad experience.

For a better explanation of both new tools, check out Susan Etlingers post about Facebook Questions and Jolie O’Dell of Mashable for Google +1.

Do you think search tools like Google +1 or Facebook Questions will help or hurt your dealership?

Update: Found this quick presentation on slideshare. Thought it would be a nice addition.
Google+1 Button

Shopper Activity For Japanese Brands Starting Immediately After Quake And Continuing Downward Momentum Since

Nashville, TN —03/29/2011— Dataium, LLC, today released additional data on online automotive shopper behavior of the American consumer that illustrates a downward shift, particularly for Japanese brands. The company utilized its ASI index which aggregates and weighs nearly a dozen different behaviors to determine consumer intensity, motivation, and engagement in the automotive market. The ASI index had made positive gains through February, however after the quake, illustrated a dramatic reversal in consumer behavior. It should be noted that all automotive makes are being impacted; however Japanese manufacturers have felt the brunt of the declines in consumer behavior.

World Events - A Timeline for Auto Market Decline


Declines in the ASI index began almost immediately after the Libyan crisis erupted and average gas prices broke $3.45 per gallon. Domestic brands as a group saw the greatest declines at 7%, with Dodge and GMC having the most significant declines - each with nearly a 17% decline in online auto shopper intensity. Japanese imports posted gains of around 9%; with Honda posting a 25% increase for the same time period, likely due to the higher fleet MPG for these makes. All imports were up by 1%.

These trends shifted dramatically after the Japanese quake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster occurred. Immediately following these events, Japanese imports posted a 16% decline - reversing the earlier gains, while domestic brands saw a 13% increase in their group's index. However, it did not take long for the gravity of the disaster in Japan, continued unrest in the Middle East, and rising gas prices to erode the gains first posted by domestic brands.

Adding to the already staggering reversal in consumer behavior, Japanese imports have seen their ASI index decline an additional 13% in the weeks following the quake; this comes after posting a 1% gain in the 10 days prior to the quake that rocked Japan on March 11. Unrest has not been solely on the Japanese brands, the U.S. domestic auto brands have lost 1% following the quake, compared to a 4% decline for the 10 days prior. The ASI index for both imports and luxury brands have declined nearly 7%, and the overall automotive market index is down nearly 5% since the quake, versus 2%, 1%, and 2% declines prior to the quake.

Impact of Quake on Automotive Brands


"The data we have collected from online auto shopping behavior across the Internet clearly indicates that the automotive market was beginning to soften in response to world events and continued gas price increases prior to the catastrophic events in Japan", stated Eric Brown, CEO of Dataium. He added, "The Japanese nameplates were actually out-performing the domestic brands until the quake. After the quake, these trends inverted and the Japanese imports began a significant decline." He continued, "it should be noted however, that all automotive brands are being impacted by events around the world."

Dataium, LLC, announced today that it has signed an agreement with Nissan North America to provide data collection, aggregation, and analysis of website performance and consumer activity on Nissan and Infiniti branded websites. Dataium will provide Nissan and Infiniti as well as their participating dealers its reporting platform which includes the industry leading business intelligence center, VisiCogn® Knowledge Center and award winning desktop reporting application VisiCogn® INSITE. The VisiCogn® suite provides deeper and richer online auto shopper activity data which provides automotive manufacturers greater visibility into what makes and models online shoppers are shopping for, what vehicles they intend to purchase, and which website features and functionality meet car buyers needs best.

Further, Dataium's reporting platform will provide Nissan North America with a common, independent yard-stick to measure website performance across thousands of local dealership websites and website providers. Nissan and Infiniti will also provide to their participating dealerships the VisiCogn® INSITE application which was recently recognized by a leading industry publication as the Best Business Intelligence Product of 2010.

Joel Hockman, Manager, Retailer Digital Marketing Programs for Nissan North America stated, "we look forward to embarking on this journey in partnership with our Dealer customers. With the Dataium reporting platform, we will be better positioned to understand online shopping patterns. This will assist us in helping our Dealers optimize how their websites deliver a positive consumer experience, further strengthening their ROI."

Eric Brown, Dataium CEO, stated, "Nissan and Infiniti are amazing brands and are consistent innovation leaders in the automotive vertical." He added, "We are honored to be a new partner and are committed to providing exceptional customer support, product innovation, and value."

About Dataium, LLC
Dataium is the largest aggregator of Internet automotive shopping activity. The company collects, analyzes, and indexes billions of online automotive shopping events. Dataium supports patented data collection and reporting technology; VisiCogn® Collection Utility, VisiCogn® Knowledge Center, VisiCogn® INSITE, and is also known for its ASI™ index. For more information, visit http://www.dataium.com, email: info (at) Dataium (dot) com, or call 877-896-DATA (3282).