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bpulseadmin · Jan 26, 2012

KIA has selected Contact At Once! as their chat provider for Kia.com, Regional Kia websites and dealership websites.

ALPHARETTA, GA. January 24, 2011 – Contact At Once!, the leading dealer chat provider to the automotive industry, and Kia Motors America (KMA) today announced the achievement of a milestone – enablement of the 500th Kia dealership with dealer-to-buyer chat capabilities, which allows for a real-time personal communication between a prospective Kia customer and a Kia dealership salesrepresentative. Kia holds the distinction of being the first OEM to define and implement a comprehensive chat strategy for its dealer network. Kia uses chat to increase by 25 percent the number of online car shoppers that schedule appointments with dealerships while shopping on tier one, tier two, and tier three websites as well as third party automotive websites.
“Utilizing Contact At Once! with 500 Kia dealerships speaks to KMA’s commitment to customer satisfaction and is a reflection of the value the Kia brand provides consumers with a host of standard technology, safety, and convenience features in all its vehicles,” said Michael Sprague, vice president of marketing & communications, KMA. “The use of dealer-to-buyer chat capabilities provides Kia dealers another way to connect with new, younger, more online oriented and more affluent customers who have been taking an interest in our attractive, fuel-efficient and fun-to-drive vehicles such as the Optima, Sorento and Soul.”

In November 2011 alone, each Kia dealer accepted an average of 93 inbound chat requests from online shoppers. This number includes chats that originated on Kia.com, regional Kia sites, as well as shoppers on dealership-specific websites.

“Kia sustained record growth in 2011 and we have been honored to provide the brand with enabling technology,” said John Hanger, CEO, Contact At Once! “It has been rewarding to see more car shoppers connecting with Kia as the brand deployed our solution."

The Contact At Once! chat solution is in use in thousands of dealerships across North America. Shoppers can connect with dealers via icons or photo-enhanced greetings placed on OEM and dealer websites as they navigate the Internet. The Contact At Once! dealer chat solution is centered on real-time personal communication between a car shopper and a dealership sales person.

Once added, Contact At Once! software displays a presence-aware chat icon whenever a dealership representative is online and available. Dealers can easily answer chat requests anytime from their laptops or PCs, or via their smartphones and mobile devices using a free mobile chat app provided by Contact At Once!

KMA affiliated dealerships interested in gaining the most out of dealer chat on their websites should visit http://www.autodealerchat.com/schedule-demo to request a demonstration.

About Contact At Once!

Contact At Once! is the leading automotive chat software provider and operator of the industry’s only dealer chat network connecting more than 9,000 auto dealers with the websites car shoppers visit most often. Adding Contact At Once! dealer chat software to a website typically increases a dealership’s sales conversations by at least 25 percent. Named to the Inc. 500 as one of America’s fastest growing businesses, Contact At Once! is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. For more information about the company’s auto dealer chat product, please visit: www.autodealerchat.com.

About Kia Motors America

Kia Motors America is the marketing and distribution arm of Kia Motors Corporation based in Seoul, South Korea. KMA offers a complete line of vehicles through more than 755 dealers throughout the United States and serves as the "Official Automotive Partner of the NBA." In 2011, KMA recorded its best-ever annual sales total and became one of the fastest growing car companies in the U.S. Kia is poised to continue its momentum and will continue to build the brand through design innovation, quality, value, advanced safety features and new technologies.

Information about Kia Motors America and its full vehicle line-up is available at its website – www.kia.com. For media information, including photography, visit www.kiamedia.com.

bpulseadmin · Jan 26, 2012

CarChat24 Dealer Chat Integrates with Edmunds.com Data

Palm Harbor, Florida (January 25, 2012) – CarChat24.com

CarChat24 the premier U.S. and Canadian provider of 24/7 staffed dealer live chat support and dealer chat software has successfully integrated Edmunds.com data with its New Auto Dealer Chat Software. Integrating the Edmunds.com data into our new dealer chat software took some extra time and delayed our Beta and launch, but we believe it will be well worth the wait, as it adds tremendous value to our application. Our Operators, Always-Free dealer subscribers, and Premium CarChat24 dealer chat software subscribers will now have the Edmunds.com data right there at their disposal while chatting with site visitors. We are ecstatic about being the first dealer chat software provider to integrate with Edmunds.com data!

This dealer chat operator console integration will allow CarChat24 Dealer Chat Software subscribers to gain access to pricing and vehicle specifications for 36,500 different trim levels of over 6,000 car models from 1990 through the current model year.

CarChat24 is preparing for an Extended Beta and is encouraging dealers to sign up now by offering the use of the premium version of their software for free including 24/7 staffed back-up support during testing. Interested dealers can click the link below to learn more.

About CarChat24.com - CarChat24 provides 24/7 hosted Live Chat Support & Dealer Chat Software for new and used car dealership websites. CarChat24 helps dealers sell more vehicles by converting a higher percentage of their website visitors into quality leads. Since June of 2006, CarChat24 has been helping car dealers improve their sales and customer service on the Internet. Our mission is to empower car dealers with cutting edge live chat technology, and provide the professional staff and superior processes needed to obtain the best possible results. We are committed to helping our clients get the best return on investment from their websites. We strive to make our support service the very best and are always looking for innovative ways to give our dealers the edge over their competition. Follow CarChat24.com on http://www.twitter.com/CarChat24 and fan CarChat24.com on Facebook

Feb 14, 2012

Interesting, using Pinterest tracking tools to see what big automotive portals are up to:

Login to view embedded media View: http://pinterest.com/source/autotrader.com/

Login to view embedded media View: http://pinterest.com/source/cars.com/

Feb 1, 2012

@georgenenni Definitely man, it was well written and being out there is important on the platforms people are using. #StayRelevant

Feb 1, 2012

@nownunz Thank you, still trying to find out the right angle for the car biz!

@kathikruse · Jan 31, 2012

@kathikruse thanks! What is your take on this?

Jan 31, 2012

@Kyle Suss

I agree. I think the geographical implication of a dealership trying to use global social media sites makes a lot of it irrelevant.

In a perfect situation, I think we would see OEM sites creating content that people would want to pin and repin creating a dialogue around a specific product that the customer would then find locally.

Personally, I have considered using pinterest as a way to find new ideas for blog posts or to share photos from a side photography business I have - mostly to try and encourage links to and from my site to interact with a larger community and raise my SERP.

As for the car business - I just don't see it being all that effective at selling cars on a dealer level.

@Clay Toporski · Jan 31, 2012

@Clay Toporski I could see various niche businesses doing very well on Pinterest. For example, a manufacturer of unique outdoor patio equipment would likely generate a fair amount of repins if they have an interesting product. To have every single auto dealer on there pinning the same things though, is like you said Clay -- SPAM.

Jan 31, 2012

@loritodd Came here to say this. I wholeheartedly agree. It's hard enough for dealers to figure out how to use Facebook, we don't need them flooding every single social network with an attempt to sell products.

Jan 27, 2012

@malcolli I see what you mean. Okay.

@Dealerrefresh · Jan 27, 2012

@Dealerrefresh - Growth chart for #Pinterest in 2011. Absolutely Skyrocketing! I want to see their strategic plan. http://t.co/TfZ3WXLv

Jan 27, 2012

Interestingly, I think everyone here has a valid point... including JohnCarCutt... it's NOT about spamming, but is there a realm in between misuse and genuine strategy to generate more traffic and leads? Knowing the stats of how many friends on your FB friends list who are ready to buy a car TODAY, and also knowing that UGC is exponentially more valuable than your (dealership's) own page's content, could Pinterest be used for business - but in a private manner - to deliver customer experience photos so that they can find themselves and proceed to "pin?" Clay has a very valid point, because we do live in an experiential economy in which archaic sales methods have no place in your marketing strategy. As a marketing manager, I have to evaluate every social platform from the customer's perspective, then choose the best tactics to BRAND THE DEALERSHIP. NO social network is about selling cars - it's about inbound marketing and knowing the demographics of your inbound marketing. If anyone is still trying to use a social platform as a "push" sales method, it's a guaranteed failure. Better to establish yourself (your dealership) as a community presence... when they want a car, they WILL know where to go. That's good marketing, in my humble opinion.

@Clay Toporski · Jan 27, 2012

@emiltsch @Clay Toporski Great points. A lot of what I've learned on Pinterest is discussing with my wife, her friends and sisters about their use. They've made recipes, got ideas, bought clothes they've seen, all without feeling they were sold anything. My wife calls it "an idea site", she searches for topics to get ideas. Not too much of a stretch to think that when a need for a new Hybrid comes up, folks need to get ideas, see what their friends are doing. Many great examples of dealers using SM, not selling anything but instead being part of community, joining conversations to help, having fun, making people laugh. Go to Facebook and search for "Suzuki of Wichita", pretty amazing.

Eric Miltsch · Jan 27, 2012

@Clay Toporski SM channels shouldn't be acquisition channels anyway; they should be listening channels, customer service channels or ultimately influence channels.

Jan 27, 2012

@loritodd I hope that nobody creates an account for a dealership. Ugh.

Jan 27, 2012

@emiltsch I think it depends on if you're identifying as yourself (like you do) or as the dealership itself. Honestly, I don't see the...

Jan 27, 2012

@loritodd Plenty to be learned from it; replied to your post as well. Here's my initial post about it: http://t.co/LZuN62NF

Jan 27, 2012

@emiltsch @loritodd

I would love if my competitors spent the majority of their day on social media sites trying to join the community. This way, I can worry about actually selling cars.

I am very active in many online social communities. You know how many cars I have sold from it? One.

I would rather spend my time with my church congregation or interacting with families that do the same activities as my daughter.

Why would I spend all this time on social media when I can find a better and more geographically pleasing audience in my own backyard.

The goal is to not push cars down people's throats. Nobody, in real life or online, likes to be marketed to. Rather, be a part of a community and people will come to know what you do. As a part of their community they may find they trust you - and business will come. Sporadically.

My time and money is best spent finding more ways to drive traffic to my site and converting them to leads.

Sure, it may take a minute to pin a car to Pinterest. But, how are you building a community around you to see that pin? Certainly not as a car dealer. And, it is that process that is time consuming and not really worth the ROI unless you already have a vested interest in that community and the car sale is secondary. And, in that case, I would never pin a car for sale anyway. It is a violation of that trust and that community.

Eric Miltsch · Jan 27, 2012

@loritodd "Not worth the time; takes a lot of time to curate" - it's take but a few seconds to pin something w/the pin it button.

While it may be against their etiquette, it's also part of their master plan to have brands flock to the site to eventually monetize the activity within the site. Eventually you'll probably see branded boards as well.

I don't think anybody is trying to sell a car via Pinterest. (If you are, please stop ASAP) Here's a perfect example of the utility that can come from it - I pinned one of our cars, a slick Mercedes convertible, to my cars board. An existing customer of ours liked the pin, re-pinned it & even commented on it. What's the benefit? She's an active user with a large following on her networks & her activity was shared across her networks - creating yet another passive opportunity for our brand to be shared by someone considered influential among her network.

Another great example of how it's helped create awareness & drive traffic has come from pinning infographics from our blog. I believe every infographic I've posted has been liked & re-pinned. (and each post creates a link back to the blog)

There are ways to leverage every platform, the key is doing it in non-obtrusive ways - learn how to fit into the community and be a smart participant and it can work...in any community. Simple playground rules

Jan 27, 2012

WOW .. Do you know the demographic of Pinterest users? Mostly Women. Who has the most influence in the car buying process? ... hmmm ... I'm thinking there is a fairly basic Marketing 101 disconnect here.

Jan 27, 2012

@loritodd @pinterest You should, and I completely agree with you. I hate how social media gets overrun with business spammers

Eric Miltsch · Jan 27, 2012

@Clay Toporski I like to think smart adopters aren't necessarily rushing to new platforms simply to "sell their product" - rather it has more to do with understanding community dynamic, how people interact and creating greater awareness.

Jan 27, 2012

I'm not sure you truly get what Pinterest is about. I agree with Clay. As someone who has been doing social media for a very large dealer group for two years, Pinterest is not worth the time (and it take a lot of time to curate decent boards on Pinterest - I know, because I've been using the site since it's launch almost two years ago).

Pinterest is about collecting the awesome and beautiful things you find across the internet. As of late, more and more brands are jumping on Pinterest in an effort to push their own agendas and products. Heck, it's even against Pinterest etiquette. Users are smart and they see right through that. Why not spend your time and energy on something that will actually have a positive impact on your social media efforts? That's why Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are great options for dealers to focus on.

It'd be one thing for someone like Jalopnik to begin using the site to pin all the crazy cars and car related stuff they find on the web. Jalopnik's audience is international and much more tech-savvy. But an individual dealership? Who are you trying to connect to? Your local community, right? How many of them do you think are Pinterest? And how many of them are on here to look for car stuff?

As someone who works in the industry and an avid Pinterest, I'd say that it's not smart for any dealership to do this.

Jan 27, 2012

@georgenenni Firewall issues, attempting from my mobile. Thanks.

Jan 27, 2012

@loritodd In Chrome, at the bottom I see: "Sign in or Post as Guest" Do you see that?

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