Do Car Dealers Need to be Social Networking?

[Ron]

Great Article Jeff!
Working in the optimization and Marketing side of the industry, these types of networks are a definite asset in generating more first page rankings with links that will drive more traffic to the dealer website as well as maximize internet exposure.

Ron

 

[Audrey Knoth]

What dealers should really be asking themselves is not whether they should set up pages on MySpace, Facebook, etc., but rather: "What can I learn from the fact that social networking is so popular?" One lesson is that even in an age when many people would rather be at home entertaining themselves via various forms of technology than out meeting others in person, basic human interest in other people remains undimmed. After all, man (and woman, of course) is a social animal, regardless of the technology sprouting up on a daily basis.

So, dealers should be looking at how they can use their web presence to bring their people (their staff and customers) alive ... whether it's through adding a blog component to their existing site, putting up a Facebook page, or some other tactic. Because when you cut through all the buzzwords, this is really the direction that people are pushing the web. It is absolutely inevitable, so why not lead, rather than follow?

Jeff, I've told you this on the phone, but here it is in this comment ... DealerRefresh rocks!

Audrey Knoth
Goldman & Associates Public Relations (we help Alex Snyder with the Checkered Blog)

 

[Guest]

In my opinion if it's not leading to car sales it is a complete waste of time. I understand the "editorial" value of it in raising "local brand & name awareness, etc. etc" but if it's not directly generating calls, setting appointments & moving metal, it's a waste of time.

 

[Corey Salzano]

Just writing to disagree with nonprofitspace.com...

"if it's not leading to car sales..."

What if a search for a dealership brings up negative reviews on the first page? That could contribute to a decline in sales, and developing profiles on these sites could benefit by pushing down the negative reviews.

Here's a great example. Search "jina auto sales" on google. Click the 2nd result @ dealerrater.com. You'll find only 1 review that starts with "The worst used car dealership ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

If you were Jina Auto Sales, would spreading your name all over the web be a "waste of time" if it could push down that review?

Also, Jeff, I want to add one more to the list. Naymz.com will rank for people's names in less than 48 hours. This might only work well for dealers that have a name in the name, but it's a great service regardless.

 

[Corey Salzano]

Sorry for the double post, but if you want to check out how naymz can rank just search for my name I think it's number 3 on google.

 

[Joe Pistell]

Sorry for the thread jack, but.. Another one bites the dust~!

You all knew me as the Pres. of a tiny SEO boutique called New-Traffic.com here in upstate NY. I am very proud to announce that I am the new Marketing Director for usedcarking.com.

Used Car King has over 1,500 used units in 2 locations & is growing at a tad over 20% annually. It's day 10 in my new gig, We're negotiating a 7 figure media buy! The CEO is sharp as H*ll and I am having a ball!

 

[bpulseadmin]

Thanks for everyones feedback! Thanks for the compliments to everyone as well; Chad, Audrey, Ron, Mitch, everyone.

Lao, great input and thanks for the link.

Alex, you're so right. What is a dealer supposed to do when they have employees on these social network sites representing your dealer in some form or another? What action can or should the dealer take? Should the rules of social networking outside of work be included in the dealers employees handbook?

nonprofitspace.com - what the He!!?

Corey - Thanks for the heads on naymz.com. Very interesting! I've been playing around with it. I'll wait a few days and see if it indexes.

Joe, WTF? Give me some of that stuff!!

 

[Shaun]

First... Good stuff Jeff!

Second... Thanks Mr. Shopping Cart (Brian) and you know I love your shopping cart!

I have found my blog and even my YouTube channel are excellent ways to improve my search engine rankings. From the SEO side of things I've had great success.

I'm a big fan of blogging, YouTube/video usage, social networking, etc... but for many dealers it scares me to think of them writing blog entries and trying to use MySpace, YouTube, Friendster and others in a way that is relevant to consumers.

I do think dealers should be jumping into these waters, I just caution the ones that keep selling cars in such a way that leave their customers bleeding and possibly sore. Starting a blog on your website, throwing up a MySpace page, setting up a YouTube channel, etc... opens you up to public scrutiny. Are you ready for that? People these days are not at all ashamed to be brutally honest. I was doing a little research lately regarding the Badger videos and I found some interesting "social networking" handy work. Check out this link and read some of the entries. You'll read some very honest opinions.

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www.city-data.com

Don't ban me for this Jeff but I need to make a correction. Brian gave my old blog a shout out. The new one which can read or commented on can be found at: www.dealeradvisor.com or you can go straight to it blog.dealer-advisor.com.

Great post and comments from all.

With encouragement and hope,

 

[Jamie Adams]

"In my opinion if it's not leading to car sales it is a complete waste of time.."

Interesting - and unfortunately it is how quite a few people think about doing business - unfortunately, not just the car business. However, because DealerRefresh is about the car business I suppose I should stay consistent in my comments. It seems like the decision not to create a brand experience at the dealership level is a risky one. By not separating your dealership experience from the competition, you are simply going to compete in the red ocean of price and shrinking margins. Obviously this is not very conducive for running a successful business focused on longterm stability and growth.

The brand experience should start at the dealership website - or at least be echoed there from the brand you have built via traditional channels. From that point, with the appropriate strategy and guidance, blog marketing & social networking can not only personalize and reinforce that brand - but I believe it absolutely will result in "setting appointments & moving metal".

I'll conclude my rant by offering the following example. I read this blog daily and have linked to all of your sites from here at one point or another. I live in Louisiana and have never met, nor spoken to Alex Snyder from Checkered Flag. But if that guy had Brian Hoecht's shopping cart on their website, I would feel comfortable buying a car from him tonight. And that's 100% due to the "virtual experience" I have had with the Checkered Flag website & blog. That seems like a pretty positive brand experience.

 

[Audrey Knoth]

"In my opinion if it's not leading to car sales it is a complete waste of time.."

If I were a salesperson, who's paid on producing today and thus has no incentive to think longer-term, I would agree. However, for dealership executives who are supposed to be thinking about their company's future, this is a dangerously short-term way to look at things. The car purchase is inexorably moving onto the web ... for example, AutoNation is testing its start-to-finish AutoNation Direct transaction process. There will be kinks to work out with this practice, but it will become an accepted standard sooner or later, so along the lines of what Jamie points out, the question is going to be how do you differentiate your dealership on the web so that you're not just duking it out on price?

In response to Alex Snyder's question about what to do about dealership employees setting up their own social networking sites, in an ideal world, when new employees join the dealership, they'd be asked if they'd like to set up a social networking site and if so, the dealership would work with them to set it up ... or at the very least, provide guidelines and how-tos. Yes, this would be an ideal world, because, of course, a huge cultural change will need to happen within dealerships for this to come about. But we all know that change is not only coming ... it's here now ...

Audrey Knoth
Goldman & Associates Public Relations