- Jul 30, 2009
- 103
- 14
- First Name
- Nick
With the advent of the internet and recent rise of blogging, consumers now have the same power that brands have to have their voice heard. Reputation management is relevant to all industries, but in the competitive environment between dealerships it’s key to continued success. Dealerships must address the search results that brand them as rip-off artists, unethical, or even racist (at times). But where do you begin?
There are multimillions of blogs, niche forums, and review sites available. How can dealerships hope to manage their reputation across those and still sell cars? The key on the dealership level is to encourage positive reviews and address the negative in a timely manner. Having a social presence with a friendly face also increases customer loyalty over time and ensures they’re coming back to you over the few years of ownership.
According to Forrester, dealership sites are the #7 trusted compared to OEM's (#1), and friends and family (#2). In my mind, social is the perfect opportunity to sidle up to friends and family-- or at least the closest a dealership's going to get.
There are a few basic steps we recommend dealers take to get started.
1) Set up a Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube account. Provide as much information and personality as possible. Be sure to include a face and not just your brand on the profile, and create a page for the business itself.
2) Address your negative reviews with a personal phone call and follow up on the review site.
3) Set up Google Alerts with your brand name, the names of executives and general managers. You can also do this on your competition.
4) Encourage customers to post positive reviews from their home computers (don’t do it from business computers, you’ll get flagged)
As a provider of a 100% managed social solution, I would love your (dealer) feedback... either about our solution or competition. I would appreciate feedback about other needs, unnecessary information etc.,
The things we think are important::
1) A dedicated social evangelist for you
2) Daily check on review sites
3) Automatic monitoring of 200,000+ blogs, forums, websites based off “hot” phrases
4) Reputation enforcement. Address negative and encourage positive reviews
5) Facebook, Twitter, YouTube account management with regular content
6) Blog creation and participation to develop your brand as a thought leader
7) SEO link building back towards key pages on your website
8) Social video distribution
9) Industry leading expertise about what works, and what doesn’t
10) Full analytics including advocate and dissident information based off importance to your brand. Tone across the sites and demographic data as available
There are multimillions of blogs, niche forums, and review sites available. How can dealerships hope to manage their reputation across those and still sell cars? The key on the dealership level is to encourage positive reviews and address the negative in a timely manner. Having a social presence with a friendly face also increases customer loyalty over time and ensures they’re coming back to you over the few years of ownership.
According to Forrester, dealership sites are the #7 trusted compared to OEM's (#1), and friends and family (#2). In my mind, social is the perfect opportunity to sidle up to friends and family-- or at least the closest a dealership's going to get.
There are a few basic steps we recommend dealers take to get started.
1) Set up a Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube account. Provide as much information and personality as possible. Be sure to include a face and not just your brand on the profile, and create a page for the business itself.
2) Address your negative reviews with a personal phone call and follow up on the review site.
3) Set up Google Alerts with your brand name, the names of executives and general managers. You can also do this on your competition.
4) Encourage customers to post positive reviews from their home computers (don’t do it from business computers, you’ll get flagged)
As a provider of a 100% managed social solution, I would love your (dealer) feedback... either about our solution or competition. I would appreciate feedback about other needs, unnecessary information etc.,
The things we think are important::
1) A dedicated social evangelist for you
2) Daily check on review sites
3) Automatic monitoring of 200,000+ blogs, forums, websites based off “hot” phrases
4) Reputation enforcement. Address negative and encourage positive reviews
5) Facebook, Twitter, YouTube account management with regular content
6) Blog creation and participation to develop your brand as a thought leader
7) SEO link building back towards key pages on your website
8) Social video distribution
9) Industry leading expertise about what works, and what doesn’t
10) Full analytics including advocate and dissident information based off importance to your brand. Tone across the sites and demographic data as available
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