Websites, SEO, SEM, Display, Social, Marketing

Rick Buffkin asks whether Google My Business posts can be optimized for local search after noticing Google highlighting keywords from GMB posts in search results and displaying specific posts in map listings. ChrisR replies that Updates and Offers consistently outperform Event posts, seeing roughly 50% fewer views on Events based on their testing. The thread explores whether GMB post type (Product, Update, Event, or Offer) impacts local search visibility and engagement.

Dealers debate how to measure marketing ROI beyond simple sales volume, with participants advocating for tracking intermediate metrics like showroom traffic, website sessions, and lead quality that reflect their direct control. The consensus emphasizes balancing detailed funnel analytics with the fundamental business reality that marketing effectiveness ultimately flows through showroom conversions to sold units, while also tying measured metrics to compensation plans to ensure accountability.

The post argues that converting customers into brand advocates is a powerful, cost-effective marketing strategy for dealerships that relies on building digital trust and reinforcing it through in-showroom experiences rather than increasing marketing spend. The key insight is that strong customer advocacy can create viral reputation growth with minimal budget impact, making it a high-ROI approach to dealership marketing.

This thread discusses Pinterest as an emerging advertising platform for car dealerships, highlighting a Toyota case study and statistics showing 80% of U.S. mothers actively use the platform. The key insight, emphasized by multiple posters, is that dealers must tailor their messaging and offers to fit each platform's audience and content style rather than broadcasting generic promotions—for Pinterest specifically, this means highlighting lifestyle elements like family road trips or DIY-friendly vehicles instead of just prices and rebates.

The thread debates a fundamental flaw in automotive marketing attribution: most dealership CRMs credit sales to a single ad source (first or last touch), despite overwhelming evidence that vehicle purchases result from 18+ touchpoints across multiple channels. While participants agree this oversimplified model leads to poor budget allocation decisions, they acknowledge that dealership management continues relying on single-source attribution because CRM vendors provide neat, simple reports—and without better data capture tools, change is unlikely.

Kevin Frye shares a detailed recap of Digital Dealer 27, held in Las Vegas in August, covering his experience attending the conference at Mandalay Bay. The thread is largely a first-person walkthrough of the event, with Jeff Kershner briefly praising the review, suggesting it serves as a useful on-the-ground perspective for dealers considering future attendance.

John V. seeks a free or low-cost social media management tool that can post simultaneously to Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter across multiple business pages with a single login. The thread recommends several alternatives to HootSuite, with Buffer emerging as the practical choice—offering multi-platform posting under $100/month with unified login access—though free options like IFTTT are also mentioned as possibilities despite limitations.

Christopher Reggie shares a blog post about making dealership websites ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliant, addressing an important legal and accessibility requirement for automotive retailers. The thread appears to serve primarily as a resource share rather than a discussion, with Reggie directing members to his full article on the topic for detailed guidance on compliance best practices.

A GM dealer considering switching from CDK to Dealer Inspire asks for experiences with their SEO/SEM services and support, noting the significant cost increase and flat sales traffic results despite spending heavily on SEM. The thread primarily debates SEO pricing and value, with disagreement between contributors over whether $1,000/month for SEO is reasonable—one expert argues serious SEO requires thousands monthly for results, while others contend that creative hiring (like freelancers) can deliver better value than expensive agency overhead. No clear consensus emerges on Dealer Inspire specifically, but the discussion highlights the importance of scrutinizing SEO service costs and converting models versus the lower conversion rates of paid search.

Automotive dealers share practical advice on building in-house vehicle photography booths, covering essential elements like booth size (larger is better), background materials (neutral colors or paint tarps, avoiding white for light-colored vehicles), lighting setups (professional studio lights or high-quality fluorescents), and floor treatments (speckled garage paint). Key takeaways include that successful booths require adequate space (25x25+ feet ideally), proper lighting and camera equipment, and strategic camera angles to hide facility imperfections, with several dealers reporting quality results at reasonable costs (under $3K for materials).

A dealer asks for recommendations on Facebook Marketplace and advertising vendors, noting difficulty with matchback data through CDK Social Suite and early positive results with VinFuel. Respondents recommend Dealers United (which offers free Facebook Marketplace posting and reliable matchback capabilities across any CRM) and clarify that matchback functionality is technically available from any provider regardless of DMS integration. The key insight is that matchback limitations may be a matter of vendor willingness rather than technical capability, and that multiple viable alternatives exist to CDK's solution.

A GM dealer currently on CDK is evaluating website and digital marketing partners ahead of GM's anticipated announcement of preferred vendors, considering DealerOn, Dealer Inspire, Dealer.com, and Dealer eprocess. The dealer seeks peer advice on which provider offers the best combination of SEO/SEM capabilities, with particular interest in whether DealerOn's independence might be preferable to competitors tied to larger automotive marketplaces like Cars.com and Autotrader. The thread is just beginning with limited responses, so no clear consensus has emerged yet.

A dealer manager describes encountering a Facebook issue where migrating pages to a business account removed sales reps' access, and subsequent attempts to re-add them as page roles fail with an error claiming they already have roles despite the manager being the sole page manager. The only substantive advice offered is to contact Facebook's official business help chat rather than relying on external support numbers, which the original poster had discovered were scams. The thread remains unresolved with no confirmed solution provided.

Marc Lavoie shares a free temporary landing page template he created in under 30 minutes, specifically designed for dealerships to promote timely offers like the newly released 2020 Silverado HD, and offers to make it available to forum members. The resource ties into a guide he wrote about landing page best practices for car dealerships, with a video demonstration included. The key insight is that well-designed, quick-to-deploy landing pages are an effective marketing tool for capitalizing on new model releases and limited-time promotions.

Automotive professionals discuss essential landing page features for capturing leads, with consensus that success depends on understanding your specific goal (lead capture vs. warm-up), the traffic source (email vs. social), and desired action (CTA click vs. form submission). Key recommendations include clear calls-to-action, engaging video content, mobile-responsive design, relevant/quality content matching search intent, and proper technical SEO structure. The thread emphasizes that effective landing pages require matching content and messaging to visitor expectations based on where they came from, while maintaining strong design and readability for optimal conversions.

TabFlythe presents a strategy for maximizing Instagram's potential in automotive dealerships by setting up multiple linking options in Instagram profiles to drive website traffic and engagement, arguing that the platform's 3.5 million daily auto enthusiasts justify the effort despite uncertainty about ROI. The thread emphasizes that Instagram success in the industry requires proper strategy and setup, with TabFlythe sharing resources from a RefreshFriday presentation and providing data showing automotive content engagement on the platform. The key takeaway is that while Instagram remains underutilized and confusing for many dealers, the setup process is straightforward and offers measurable benefits through trackable traffic analytics.

Dealers share recommendations for low-cost live chat software solutions, with BoldChat, Volusion, and automotive-focused vendors like ContactAtOnce and Northwind Software being discussed as alternatives to Dealer.com's built-in chat tool. The conversation reveals that dealers prioritize features like queue visibility, chat history, CRM integration, co-browsing, and round-robin distribution over flashy graphics, and emphasizes that chat success depends more on proper staffing and features than the platform itself.

Ryan Everson alerts the community to Google's official announcement that mobile page speed will become a ranking factor in July 2018, prompting discussion about preparation strategies. The conversation reveals that savvy SEOs had already anticipated this change, with debate centering on whether responsive or adaptive design approaches better optimize mobile performance, and skepticism about Google's underlying motives regarding AMP and content ownership. Participants share their site speed test results, with DealerOn scoring well but participants noting that achieving very high scores appears to be an industry-wide challenge.

Dealership professionals discuss whether quality copywriting receives adequate attention in automotive marketing, with participants attributing poor copy standards to past disillusionment with low-quality "content farms" and a broader lack of education on copywriting fundamentals across the industry. Contributors agree that strong copywriting is a competitive differentiator—particularly for BDCs and internet sales teams—and that dealers who invest in professional writing support see measurable improvements in organic search performance and customer engagement. The consensus suggests copywriting skill gaps exist at multiple organizational levels, from junior agency staff to marketing managers, but represent an opportunity for dealers willing to prioritize content quality.

Carol_Photogal advocates for high-quality automotive photography as essential to online showrooms and proposes that smaller dealerships could share the cost of professional photo booth systems by partnering with neighboring dealers. The discussion highlights a working example from a Troy, Michigan dealership that recovered its investment by offering photography services to nearby dealers in the same motor mall, proving the concept is both operationally feasible and financially viable.

A dealer manager seeks GM Turn-Key approved vendors for SEO website overhauls, and the thread reveals only three to four options exist (CDK, Naked Lime, Search Optics, and possibly Dealer.com), though participants caution these vendors deliver limited results. Multiple respondents suggest better value comes from hiring independent SEO contractors or agencies outside the GM approval system, even without matching funds. The key takeaway is that GM Turn-Key SEO packages are generally considered underwhelming, making a case for exploring non-approved alternatives if owner constraints allow.

Tony Howard seeks peer feedback on autojobs.com's paid recruitment service before committing budget to hire variable and fixed operations staff. The post essentially asks the DealerRefresh community whether the platform delivers qualified candidates and represents a worthwhile investment for dealership hiring needs.