What Defines A Successful Automotive Social Media Strategy

[ed.brooks]

A dealer wouldn't have signage or a building if you applied this rule ...

If I were to recommend an SM entry strategy for "Uncle Joe," it would be to add an SM share link on each listing of the Sun site. Then set up a Facebook fan page, that would also feed to Twitter "for Old Joe's Cars ..." and post inventory and update new listings as they become available. This would take little time away from his SEO-ing and unicorn hunting. Perhaps invest a few dollars month for an entry page app that also collects email address. I would start with the old cars site because its a one-of-a-kind product with a subject that has a strong following and fan base. Evaluate in 90 days, and see if that limited engagement is worth a ramp up in effort.

David,

Respectfully, a sign and a building are more vital for the majority of dealers than a presence on Facebook or a daily twitter feed of inventory. In fact when I get a steady stream of inventory flying across my twitter feed or a daily oil change coupon in my Facebook live stream, that's a clear signal to "unfollow".

Laugh away but I firmly believe that getting the basics in place is a vital step before any dealer starts chasing unicorns with no real ROI attainable for months or years.

I'm not saying don't do it, I'm saying have your priorities straight. And Social Media would not rate really high on my priority list.

And make no mistake, dealers measure results in units sold not in the number of followers they have.

 

[Rob Fontano]

The perception of Social Media to businesses changed when some genius added the word "Marketing" to it. That's when the Social Media Gurus all began clamoring at the gates. I found that boiling oil was most effective. Facebook is an immeasurable medium, unless you are buying PPC ads and tracking them.

We took the approach to stay as local as possible when we first delved into facebook. I am sure that we made a ton of mistakes, but as we evolved at the party I found that as a “car dealer†we should just reflect our reputation the way you would if you walked into a grocery store with your name tag on and someone wanted to talk to you about their experience at your store (good or bad) or their current car.

We focused on “friending†other local businesses, and we all began to cross promote each other, gaining a crossover between clientele. We started like everyone with a profile page and have since evolved to our fan pages and Joe we 2777 very lonely friends that I’m sure would love to meet you out behind the service bays. It took way more time but I hand selected the people that we first approached as friends and I haven’t made a friend request in six months, to this day we scrutinize every friend request that we get. I don’t take auto industry vendors, car dealers (except one or two that I am friendly with) or people that don’t live in Southwest Florida.

We really found common interests and relationships with current customers as well as people who may or may not ever buy a car from us. I don’t know how many cars that I have sold because of facebook and I really don’t care, I didn’t come to the party to pitch I came to make friends. I do know though that based on the constant feedback I receive, people are shopping and servicing with us and then telling us about it on facebook. Any business that thinks that they need to be on facebook should take a good hard look in the mirror and make that their current reputation warrants it. This is not a place to change perception.

For a dealer to just get on facebook because they think that they should be on facebook is a colossal waste of time and energy, they would be just as effective hiring someone to wear a gorilla costume and wave at cars as they drove by. I knew when I typed the first word in this post that it was a losing battle but what the hell, I’ll end the year the way I started it, stirring the Pot! Happy New Year!

 

[TonyK]

There will always other kinds of marketing, traditional and technology-based.

Don't understand me wrong. I am not attacking you.

I aggree about there will always be other kinds of marketing statement..

Now go back to early 1990s and tell me the percentage of Internet marketing vs Traditional Media. Do you remember what was the average total bill on the Internet vs Traditional Media?

Now look at the near future. Tell me the same figures again.

See the difference and switch? Is that the core idea of marketing helping Dealerships accomplish their vision and mission? Would you really like to focus your vision and mission on that small percantage or have them separate?

 

[davidmoon]

@Tony - I'd say it is [or at least should be] the same thing.

@Ed You said: "They LOVE to talk about the theater. They are PERFECT for Social Media. Customers of car dealers? Not so much love." I think you're right. So what do we do? We find out what customers of car dealers DO love to talk about. So far I've found they love to talk about 1) how awesome their new car is 2) how much they hate car dealers 3) how much they hate their car and 4) how great/terrible customer service is. Listen, then take action. Thoughts??

You've got to work harder to make them love you. Social media is an opportunity to casually capture the initial love after a good buying experience and not let them forget you. Dealers might see it as only a possibility of "a good time" every four years, but if you build that funnel ... you can be getting lucky enough to make it worth your while.

 

[ed.brooks]

The perception of Social Media to businesses changed when some genius added the word "Marketing" to it. That's when the Social Media Gurus all began clamoring at the gates. I found that boiling oil was most effective. Facebook is an immeasurable medium, unless you are buying PPC ads and tracking them.

We took the approach to stay as local as possible when we first delved into facebook. I am sure that we made a ton of mistakes, but as we evolved at the party I found that as a “car dealer†we should just reflect our reputation the way you would if you walked into a grocery store with your name tag on and someone wanted to talk to you about their experience at your store (good or bad) or their current car.

We focused on “friending†other local businesses, and we all began to cross promote each other, gaining a crossover between clientele. We started like everyone with a profile page and have since evolved to our fan pages and Joe we 2777 very lonely friends that I’m sure would love to meet you out behind the service bays. It took way more time but I hand selected the people that we first approached as friends and I haven’t made a friend request in six months, to this day we scrutinize every friend request that we get. I don’t take auto industry vendors, car dealers (except one or two that I am friendly with) or people that don’t live in Southwest Florida.

We really found common interests and relationships with current customers as well as people who may or may not ever buy a car from us. I don’t know how many cars that I have sold because of facebook and I really don’t care, I didn’t come to the party to pitch I came to make friends. I do know though that based on the constant feedback I receive, people are shopping and servicing with us and then telling us about it on facebook. Any business that thinks that they need to be on facebook should take a good hard look in the mirror and make that their current reputation warrants it. This is not a place to change perception.

For a dealer to just get on facebook because they think that they should be on facebook is a colossal waste of time and energy, they would be just as effective hiring someone to wear a gorilla costume and wave at cars as they drove by. I knew when I typed the first word in this post that it was a losing battle but what the hell, I’ll end the year the way I started it, stirring the Pot! Happy New Year!

Rob, if I read you correctly, you're talking about staying in touch with your community. The medium has changed, but it's always made sense and always will.

My only concern is that will all the buzz - and all the gurus - dealers are dumping money into Social Media with no real vision or plan.

Would you agree that a dealer needs to have the basics in place before making a leap into Social Media and expecting immediate results (sales).

 

[TonyK]

Rob, if I read you correctly, you're talking about staying in touch with your community. The medium has changed, but it's always made sense and always will.

My only concern is that will all the buzz - and all the gurus - dealers are dumping money into Social Media with no real vision or plan.

Would you agree that a dealer needs to have the basics in place before making a leap into Social Media and expecting immediate results (sales).

100% and those basics are Dealership's vision and mission.

 

[Rob Fontano]

Rob, if I read you correctly, you're talking about staying in touch with your community. The medium has changed, but it's always made sense and always will.

My only concern is that will all the buzz - and all the gurus - dealers are dumping money into Social Media with no real vision or plan.

Would you agree that a dealer needs to have the basics in place before making a leap into Social Media and expecting immediate results (sales).

Like I said in my post, a dealer should first gauge their reputation within their community before even creating a page. If they think that they should move forward they need to make sure that the person managing the page can speak with the dealers core beliefs in mind and stay on message.

I have looked at FB pages that were being sourced out and it is blatantly obvious. I have also seen pages that were run by the dealer receptionist and that too was obvious. A business needs to approach facebook as if they were speaking in front of the local chamber of commerce.

 

[CassieLee]

Like I said in my post, a dealer should first gauge their reputation within their community before even creating a page. If they think that they should move forward they need to make sure that the person managing the page can speak with the dealers core beliefs in mind and stay on message.

I have looked at FB pages that were being sourced out and it is blatantly obvious. I have also seen pages that were run by the dealer receptionist and that too was obvious. A business needs to approach facebook as if they were speaking in front of the local chamber of commerce.

Rob, Correct me if I'm wrong, It seems to me that you're making the generalization that the SM strategy for all businesses should take this same "speaking to the chamber of commerce" approach? As in, dealers, retail stores, marketing companies, non-profits, veterinarians, lawyers, comedians, actors - All of them? I disagree here. Your approach to social media should reflect the personality and culture of your business, which should be reflected in your mission & overall goals of the company. This varies even from dealer to dealer, making it necessary for each business to structure its own strategy based on its own goals and operations.

 

[davidmoon]

Don't understand me wrong. I am not attacking you.

I aggree about there will always be other kinds of marketing statement..

Now go back to early 1990s and tell me the percentage of Internet marketing vs Traditional Media. Do you remember what was the average total bill on the Internet vs Traditional Media?

Now look at the near future. Tell me the same figures again.

See the difference and switch? Is that the core idea of marketing helping Dealerships accomplish their vision and mission? Would you really like to focus your vision and mission on that small percantage or have them separate?

Go back 60 years ago and tell me the percentage of radio advertising vs television ... Compared with 1965, 1975, 1985 and today. You can do that with any well-adopted new medium.

I agree that the Internet is important to car dealers, especially because consumers like to research before they buy. Their buying decision will be made on brand, reputation and their independent research. But signage won't go away, direct mail won't go away, commercials with dealer's 3 year old daughters pitching a new Honda for $199/mo. won't go away, giant inflatable monkeys won't go away, cars parked in malls won't go away ... now newspaper ads might go away ...

Nine years ago I was sitting in a conference and an "Internet futurist" told me that my refrigerator would be Web connected and tell me when I was out of milk within five years ... that didn't catch on. Shortly after the Internet marketing bubble burst. There were PDA's as early as the 90's ... that struggled to catch on until someone decided to connect it to a phone ... and still it took several years and failures before technology caught up with the idea to make it practical. Microsoft had WebTV 12 years or more ago ... and it sucked. My point being that the future remains unwritten. And it's not always the first to market who reaps the benefits. Other than newspapers that are ACTUALLY printed on paper, (Which had a good several hundred year run ...) I don't think digital media will completely over-run "traditional" media and adverting.

 

[Rob Fontano]

Cassie,
Maybe the Chamber reference was not the best way to get my point accross, but if you read any other part of my posts you would see that the dealers voice and core beliefs should be the foundation of their presence on any social forum and that cannot be out sourced.