Great article and replies thus far. Of note, I feel like we are back in 1998 and the internet was just taking a real hold of our lives. Corporate America had decided that they were going to TEACH the American consumer how to shop. There were focus groups and much hand wringing over how that was going to happen. A few years later, Corporate America looked back and realized that the American consumer held all of the cards and told THEM how they were going to shop. How to shop had become User Generated.
We are at that point right now in terms of Social Media. What to we do with it? How can we participate in it in a way that will help us sell more cars? How does it effect our business relationships and sales?
As Vice President of a professional SEM/SEO/SMM/ORM company, I am well versed in the need for ORM and how all of these functions are now very much intertwined.
I've been very involved in ORM for three years now, and have developed and patented an ORM function and algorithm that has proven very effective. The key point to understand now is that, as Google has changed it's search algorithm (personalized SERP's), SEM-SEO-SMM-and ORM are all now VERY much dependent on each other. Further, though we are all familiar with the big three search platforms (Google, Yahoo, and Bing) there are over 200 other search engines out there constantly looking for info about your dealership. And they talk to each other!
So what do I recommend? First, each of you ISM's need to study and understand what a Data Cloud is. Your Data Cloud is so very important now. And when you understand that, the ideology of the interdependence of SEM-SEO-SMM-ORM becomes very apparent. They all work together to form the broad opinion of what your dealership IS to those searching the web.
I'm not here to give a strong pitch for my company, but I think it fair to point a few things out. First, I'm a car guy. You can google "Tiny Malone" and you will figure that out real quick...and that I am a noted photographer. So I've sat where you sit, and dealt with the issues you have and are dealing with. So my point is this: Just as the vast majority of you smartly outsource your SEM and SEO...it might be MUCH more cost effective to outsource your SMM and ORM as well. Why? Do you go to the grocery store to buy roller skates? No! Do people come to you to buy puppies? No! The idea is to stick with your core competencies and sell cars. I have a dedicated staff and a Data Center that handles those functions for dealers nation wide. Cheaper and MUCH more effectively than they can do it themselves.
Repairing and enhancing your online reputation is a bit more involved than going to a few review sites and and putting in a set of reviews. We monitor 314 individual sites and have constant custom keyword searches refreshing every 5 minutes 24 hours a day. I want to commend Matt for making such an earnest effort too!! Just know, this is not going away, it's a new job, and you need to keep your Data Cloud full of good information and happy customers.
