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Jun 13, 2012

This is a great post. It is obvious that consumers are hungry for more information. They constantly google "how to buy a car at the best price" and similar terms. The problem is many of the people providing the info are not dealership personnel. For example, a Kia dealership should be blogging about what to bring in to take advantage of the competitive bonus. If dealerships stepped up and began to provide information openly on blogs/Facebook, a trust begins to be established that breaks down initial barriers that occur on the lot. The dealership should have a sole person doing this. This person should market the dealerships personality, and not try to sell cars. That is why your average car salesman can't and won't participate in this, because it is hard to turn off the switch of selling the car.

Jun 13, 2012

There are lots of reasons (excuses) why we CAN'T do something, rarely are they anything more than a lack of will. I'd submit that the reason here, is top management doesn't see / understand the value of the thing. Much like some still don't understand the value of the Internet in general.

Socialmediaexplorer.com has a great post today entitled; How to Get Content Marketing "Buy-In". It looks at some concrete, actionable ideas to get buy-in.

How to Get Content Marketing "Buy-In" - Social Media Explorer

Content marketing success often hinges on buy-in, from both above and throughout the organization. Mark Smiciklas shares some practical ways to get both.

www.socialmediaexplorer.com

Jun 12, 2012

As an SEM/SEO consultant/internet manager for a major car leasing website, I must admit that I am asked to put testimonials on our website pages. This is not a believable forum that I would think our customers would trust in the least.
Unfortunately, if I am to entertain the thought of even mentioning a social media blog, the owner would throw whatever was close to him at me.
At least people trust other previous customers comments socially, that is if they bothered to check.

I agree, it's going to take years more before dealership mentality changes in this regard. Oh well....

Tim Martell · Jun 12, 2012

Jeff, couldn't agree more. Having just left the automotive retail world after 20 years, I can emphatically state that this is not going to happen anytime soon. The fact that companies that blog get 55% more web traffic and 70% more leads doesn't track with decision makers when it comes to producing compelling consistent well optimized writing. At least not when it comes to paying a dedicated employee and FICA, FUDA, SUDA, benefits, ad nauseum...

While I haven't found an abundance of companies that provide high quality content writing, we do exist. Outsourcing works when companies provide quality through passion.

Sorry Kathi, I too enjoy most of your stuff as well!

@Dealerrefresh · Jun 12, 2012

@Dealerrefresh majority of internal cultures don't support this idea as a "selling" tool. The cultures need to change before behaviors can.

TuneyFish · Jun 12, 2012

Here's what happens when you try to get your sales staff into the content business.....
Login to view embedded media View: http://youtu.be/GLJhKPrPFcM
[*warning* language in video may be offensive to some viewers, think he drops an F bomb or two]

Jun 12, 2012

Microsoft has been giving their boots-on-the-ground employees blogs for more than 10 years and they've pumped out millions of pages of additional useful content while also answering questions and comments posed by the public. There are no additional compensation incentives, this is all done because they're passionate about their work. (blogs.msdn.com)

While the culture among vehicle salespeople and dealerships may not allow for this, I just wanted to take a moment to point out that other businesses in other industries have had employees blogging to great effect. In 5 or 10 years, I wouldn't put it out of the question that a lot experiments with HR and includes written communication as a hiring requirement in an effort to change the culture gradually to where this sort of thing is common.

Tom Kelly · Jun 12, 2012

Jeff, Good post...Stealing time from day jobs without compensation does not work with social...dealership employees will only do well what they are paid to do. Finding an employee who is able to walk the line, keep good content flowing and interacting with the public without stepping into a pile would be rare in my opinion...I agree totally with you, it is a hired position.

@Dealerrefresh · Jun 11, 2012

@Dealerrefresh oh yes, I know all too well. Service doesn't have time, sales people, LOL! Better off having 1 person do it= better control!

Jun 11, 2012

@EleyDuke thanks Eley. Unless you've "been there and done that" it's hard to understand. You know what I'm talking about.

Jun 11, 2012

And thanks for finally getting the unicorn with the rainbow. That is a worthy image.

Jun 11, 2012

If you're a writer, you'll write a lot. You'll take the time to improve and adapt to new methods (SEO writing for example). If you're not a writer you're not going to pick up a pen nor peck on a keyboard.

The vast majority of dealership employees are not writers. I have found that most are scared to communicate with another human being in any other way than in person. Pasch mentioned dealers struggling with updating specials pages, about us page, etc... I'd just be happy if we could get them to send a meaningful email or pick up the damn phone!

Jeff - great article. You're spot on with the idea of hiring an outside agency. It is a great way to get over the blogging hump and then transition into using something in-house. hmmmm......I think a know a blogging dealership who did that

TuneyFish · Jun 11, 2012

Jeff,

I just noticed the title tag for this post is "4 Ways Your Staff Can Contribute To Your Dealerships Blog"

Was that the original post, and then frustration took over thinking they'll never follow the advice?

@VelocitySales makes a great point, that although it will take some editing, the information, content, raw data, etc, from within the dealer can be very valuable in terms of content.

Jun 11, 2012

The bottom line is dealers don't have the time to do all the work, It's not in their job discription or payplan. One person in the dealership cant handle all the blogging for all depts and the salepeople.

@automotiveseo · Jun 11, 2012

Allow me to play Devil's Advocate here for a moment, Jeff it sounds like you want to set up yet another silo within the dealership. You and I both know a number of dealerships that silo'd the "Internet" 10 to 15 years ago, and struggle to this day.

By placing all things digital in a silo - out of sight and out of mind - this allows the 'Floor' to go on pretending the Internet doesn't exist. As @automotiveseo mentions, many dealers still struggle with providing the basic content to merchandize their website. These tend to be the same dealers that ghettoized the Internet a decade ago.

I'm not saying your Service Manager or your Used Car Manager might not need some editing and some prodding, BUT I am saying it's better to get them involved today than to let them pretend the internet doesn't exist for another decade.

Jun 11, 2012

Jeff,

Great post and spot on. Writing for seo, social content or marketing is not any easy task and takes time to master. As Brian pointed out, many dealership sites lack specials and even worse are the emails that come out of their CRMs. Focus on what you do best and you will be successful.

TuneyFish · Jun 10, 2012

Hi Jeff,

I agree that most dealers aren't equipped to see a blog through to it's fullest potential. However, if they are active in their community, doing positive things and helping others, that's a good way to get the ball rolling with a blog.

daybreak · Jun 9, 2012

Anyone can write a blog. But can you write a blog that people will actually read? That's the real question here.

Jun 9, 2012

Jeff, The dealers that have a good process in getting all this content will see their online traffic grow so much from this. I would like to add Number 5.

5. Community , Dealers that post Videos, Photos, and blogging in and around their Communty hit out the park! This is the Golden Egg!

Jun 9, 2012

Jeff, The dealers that have a good process in getting all this content will see their online traffic grow so much from this.
I would like to add Number 5.
5. Community , Dealers that post Videos, Photos, and blogging in and around their Communty hit out the park! This is the Golden Egg!

1.Photos of happy customers beside their new car.
2.Positive reviews from sales and service customers.
3.Video testimonials from service and service customers – even this can be a stretch.
4.Feature / benefit walk around video (wrap this into an employee contest).

Jun 9, 2012

Jeff
Dealers have consistent difficultly updating their special pages, service coupon pages, and even completing their staff page which are often blank. If dealers struggle with providing the basic content to merchandize their website, I would have to agree with you that internal resources are not prioritized or capable in our current model to write content.

Jun 7, 2012

Hi aAaron, Thanks for your comment. Would you elaborate?

Jun 7, 2012

There is no social sales funnel, at least not for car dealerships.

Jun 6, 2012

Great, to the point example. Just shared it with my network.

Another really simple approach is to mine Twitter for people who are in the market for and discussing cars each day, and reach out to them. Our recently-released tool, NeedTagger, makes this easy to do. We are currently detecting thousands of automotive prospects per day. We use natural language filters, which is much better than keyword / hashtag search for this sort of thing.

Here is a list of the what we detect right now: http://www.needtagger.com/needs-we-detect-by-industry/

autosocial · Jun 1, 2012

Tired of watching your boss’s eyes glaze over every time you mention a “20% increase in likes?”

Depressed from hearing your colleagues report on revenue growth while you report on retweets?

Sick of people asking you what it’s like having “the fun job?”

This article is for you.

The truth is; most social media programs today are still lacking a true sales strategy at the core. We do have a social media strategy, you may say. On Mondays, we post a funny tweet, on Tuesday we post a car picture, and on Wednesday, we post statistics.

To this, I say, an editorial calendar is not a strategy. It’s a schedule. To take your social media to the next level, you need to start correlating it to true sales metrics. The good news? You totally can.

Here’s how to do it:

Example of a Social Lead Funnel

Step 1: Create a spring campaign for a free car wash for new Twitter followers (use a service like TwitHawk to geo-target.)

Step 2: When your followers come in for their free car wash, make sure they feel welcome. Have your staff go through shaking hands, handing out lemonade and cookies, and bringing around an iPad asking people if they’d like to sign up for your social channels for more great offers and information.

Step 3: From there, nurture them with content marketing that balances car shopping best practices (How To Speed Through the Car-Buying Process) with marketing about your dealership (Why Lola’s Car Dealership is the Best).

Step 4: Once you’ve nurtured the relationship with about 3-5 pieces of strong content, it’s time to reel them in with some urgency. Send them a deal they can’t refuse: either a service coupon that’s only good for the next three days, or an LTO hefty discount on a car that only lasts for the next two hours. Take a cue from Groupon; the shorter the window, the more people are inclined to act, so don’t be afraid to add an element of adventure and excitement with a super-tight time frame.

This is just one example of a content marketing funnel, and there are many variations you could try.

My overall point is that it’s now fully possible to tie social media to the ROI metrics your Dealer Principal or COE actually cares about: leads and sales. You now have the means to up your game from marginalized maven to basking in the glow of revenue generation with all your digital marketing colleagues. Won’t that feel great?

What have you done at your dealership to help create a Social Funnel? Sound off in the comments!

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