Posts Tagged ‘social media’

The Eric Clapton Social Media Plan

Wednesday, December 14th, 2011

We know that social networking is going to Change the World, but dealers are jumping in without any plan of action. You need to understand the medium and Get Ready before you Walk Out In The Rain or you’ll have a Losing Hand. Listening to one of the greatest musicians of all time, Eric Clapton, can give you advice on how to become successful at social media when he sings:

“It’s in the way that you use it,
It comes and it goes.
It’s in the way that you use it,
Boy don’t you know.
And if you lie you will lose it,
Feelings will show.
So don’t ever abuse it.
Don’t let it go.”

As countless dealers create FB (and G+) pages every day, they need to develop a posting and sharing strategy and it MUST be tied in to what you are doing on the ground within the community. There are six primary ways that I see dealers posting on the social sites:

1) C.R.A.P. – an acronym developed by my friend Eric Miltsch where he believes in posting Coupons, Reviews, And Pictures. This also includes service specials and fixed ops discounts.
2) Celebrating your Customers – this is the posting of customer testimonials, pics of happy customers, and milestone purchases/services/mileage images.
3) Celebrating your Employees – this is the posting of reviews, employee biographies, videos, personal accomplishments, and more to endear your staff to your followers.
4) Celebrating your Community – Sharing your involvement in local events, charities, and organizational activities in and around your primary market area. Your goal is to align yourself with important aspects of local goings-on and act as a valuable, participating member of the nearby community.
5) Trivia – Since your social prowess is determined by the amount of engagement you have on the social pages, many dealers post questions asking the opinions or their fans. (ie – ‘What was the best Christmas gift you ever received?’ Or ‘Where is the best place to eat barbecue?’) Any way to get others to comment or elicit a response.
6) Being an Extension of the OEM – This is where dealers share information about the newest models, concept cars, third-party validating reviews, and OEM-style material that helps further the brand, but not so much the dealership.

So you are at a Crossroads. You don’t have to decide right now. Wait until After Midnight. Whichever way you choose, I urge you to listen to some Clapton and recognize that your success will be based on “the way that you use it”.

If you are only utilizing one of the strategies above (which is what most dealers are doing), you need to Reconsider Baby. Instead create a plan to post using ALL of the tactics above. Tell the Truth, you don’t have as many Lay Down Sally’s walking onto your showroom as before so you need to begin reaching them in a contemporary fashion. My guess is that if you look at your most recent posts on FB, with The Shape You’re In, it’ll take Five Long Years to see any reward from your current strategy.

If you aren’t involved in social networking at all, you’ll be Standin’ Around Crying Tears in Heaven and Groaning the Blues without a franchise because these are the places the public is turning for information. Only those that develop a social marketing plan From the Cradle will look Wonderful Tonight. There is a way to be the Cream of the crop while marketing your dealership socially and that is to be a little like Clapton.

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Social Spamming – by Joe Webb

Monday, November 14th, 2011

We have grown up with a different concept of advertising.  The way we have marketed ourselves over the years has been far too ‘push’ and not enough ‘pull.’  So when a new medium such as social media presents itself, many believe it is just a new platform we should deliver ‘push’ advertising through.  Understand, though, that this is spam.  Social spam.

 

Countless dealers have created Facebook pages and begun the slow, arduous task to understand it.   However, those two tasks should happen the other way around.  Instead of comprehending the needs, wants and wishes of their online social sphere of friends and followers, they just start more ‘push’ advertising.  It is akin to turning on the car and driving off… when you are 13 years old… before you have a license or even understand how to operate the vehicle… just because you saw it on TV and it looks doable, doesn’t mean it is without training and knowledge.

 

Prices and deals and Interest rates, oh my.  You can still see dealers sadly posting their inventory to their Facebook walls, tweeting out about the new model in stock, and offering below invoice pricing on their pages.  None of these ways work.  It is not the right vehicle to promote your vehicles on.  It isn’t the right medium.  Not for your followers.  Your Facebook page cannot be a new version of your newspaper ad.  Twitter and Youtube cannot be the where radio station-style ad spots are blasted out.

 

Look at how you are engaging in discussion, creating awareness of topics that are important to your followers.  Nobody gives a good gosh darn (that is me being civil) about the awesome deal you have on the 2005 Camry.  Not on the social networks they don’t.  Post those types of content and in-your-face advertisements on a social landscape and you will be discarded like a Viagra ad in an email inbox.  You are social spamming them.

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People Don’t Want to “Like” You

Tuesday, August 9th, 2011

You are a dealership. Most people don’t like the thought of visiting you. Through the years, a good majority of everyone who drives cars has had a frustrating experience at a dealership. Maybe not yours, but they’ve had a bad taste put in their mouths by others. They don’t want to be your friend, they just want to be serviced by you.

I don’t believe that in all of my (coughing) years I ever heard a normal person stand up for a car dealership’s reputation as another besmirches it in conversation. I’ve never heard “Hey! You leave XYZ Motors out of this. They are great people – the lot of them!” No. Doesn’t happen. When a dealers’ name is raked over the coals by an unhappy party, it is commonly accepted as unfortunate and realistic. So when you ask someone to “Like” you on FB, is it for reasons personally worthy to a customer?

My guess is, short of thinking they are going to win an iPad/TV or receive coupons for service, many could honestly go without seeing your customer reviews, pictures of happy customers, videos of salespeople, and alerts of the “big sale”. These things don’t carry much weight with most.

Try to tap into what people REALLY care about. Get your dealership involved in the community. Sponsor Little League teams, attend the Chamber of Commerce meetings to network, give to charities and participate in their local events, get involved in the local schools and help run food drives, car washes, etc. Give, give, and give to the philanthropies in your area.

Then… simply document (film, photograph, and blog) all of your involvements. Be a spectator to the events and video your participation. Those are the elements worthy of being shared socially. People don’t want to “Like” your dealership, but I guarantee you that someone in your community feels pretty strongly tied to things such as Breast Cancer Awareness events or the local Special Olympics. THOSE are organizations close to their heart. Your dealership likely will never be. However, if you can just tap into (and honestly serve) those entities that are meaningful to some, you will at least be in the right company. You will start feeling more goodwill toward you because you yourself have given something back.

I’ve accomplished a lot in automotive retail, but I am more proud of the hands I’ve shook and the smiles I’ve made happen when participating in local community events than any metric I’ve reached. If you want to make a difference and be “Like”able, then start by serving the community’s efforts before your own.

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Social Mediaville

Tuesday, December 28th, 2010

Should a Stop in Social Media-ville be on Your Travel Agenda?

You’re a dealer.  You’re driving along the car selling interstate, minding your own business, focusing on your own instrument panel of metrics when those dreaded lights flash in your rear view mirror.  Behind you, on a motorcycle no less, is the OEM telling you to pull over.  You do so, pull out your financial statements and composites they may ask for, and roll down the window.  As they approach, they tell you that you need to get off the car-selling interstate and take the information highway to Social Media-ville. 

Many dealers are being asked (by the OEM or their industry peers) to slow down when driving through Social Media-ville.  “Get out of the car and spend some time there.  You’ll like it.”  So you have to ask them “For what purpose?  I’m making good time and I see no need to stop.”  If you don’t have the people in place to manage it or the goals set to invest time in it, why should you even let up on the accelerator?  Why on Earth would you want to have anyone in your dealership slow down their car-selling efforts to take a peek around Social Media-ville?  If it isn’t going to be a major boon to your sold unit or service RO volume, what all the fuss is about?

These are all great questions.  There is no reason to make Social Media-ville a stop on your travels unless you are prepared to set-up shop.  Sure, countless other dealerships have gone to Social Media-ville and love it there.  The weather is nice, they live at your own pace, they are active in the community and their business has thrived in the environment because of their participation. 

However, others haven’t been so lucky.  They changed their travel plans on a whim and moved into town hoping their presence alone would be enough to get them invited to the car-selling party.  Sadly, this is not the case.  Before visiting Social Media-ville, a dealer must have a strategy on how to become acclimated when they arrive.  If a dealer is unwilling to be an eager, energetic participant in the community, they will see your online property value decline.  Why?  Because they don’t know why they should have a home there in the first place.

So if you are doing well on the road to the sale that you are on, and do not have the time, willingness, staff, or know-how to be a worthy citizen in Social Media-ville, I kindly ask you to keep driving.  Nothing to see here.  No need to clutter up our hamlet with tourists who contribute nothing to our conversations.  Follow the street signs out of town and don’t come back until you are ready to bring something new and interesting to the party.

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Social Networking: The Gift of Friendship?

Thursday, November 4th, 2010

(My article from the November issue of Digital Dealer Magazine)

Close your eyes. Right now. Close your eyes. Okay, open them. I just realized you wouldn’t be able to read the rest of the instructions. After you close your eyes, I want you to put yourself in the shoes of your customers. Share their mindset. I know it is hard, but you have to think like them. When you are ready, open your eyes and see yourself the way your customers see you. The way the public sees you. Are you ready? Go.

Okay, open your eyes. My guess, if you are reading this, is that you followed these unnecessary instructions. Good. Now, in your new frame of mind, take a look at your social networking accounts. Visit your dealer’s Facebook account/fan page. Look at yourself on LinkedIn. See yourself on Ning. Review your Twitter posts. Watch the videos on your Youtube channel. Now I ask you…if you were a customer, what would you actually be GAINING from connecting with your dealership on these social sites? Has the dealership shown you a specific benefit from joining together? Is it advantageous becoming a fan of your dealership? Are you entertained by the dealership’s videos? Is it more of a nuisance to be their friend than a worthy addition?

Now snap out of it.  As a dealer, what are you doing with ALL of your social networking sites that make it worthwhile for your customers to connect?  Here are some rules that car dealers should follow when utilizing social media as a way of customer engagement.

  • You need to preface every single connection you make to your public with a truthful value proposition.
  • You must offer Social Networking Friend-only discounts, information, updates, contests, etc.
  • You need to put out information that is of value to your consumer.
  • You should be filling your posts with “How To” videos, pictures of community involvement, interesting staff pics (celebrating your employees is important), discounts, coupons, recall info, interesting videos and friendly (non-sales) advice.
  • Multi-media enriched content, interesting stories, and pertinent information will allow you to engage and enchant your connections provided you post in moderation.
  • Recognize that the power of social networking sites is not first and foremost Conquest Business, but Customer Retention.
  • Don’t be a sales pitch.
  • Don’t post a price.
  • They don’t need to see every new piece of inventory.
  • Don’t overwhelm them with posts.
  • Never ask them to connect more than once. Time won’t change your mind.
  • You need to have convinced them that a connection is worthy before they receive the invitation.

As I’ve said before, it is called SOCIAL networking, not BUSINESS networking.

Institute policies in your sales and service departments where in-store customers are told they will be invited to join and there are financial benefits to doing so. The next day, make sure someone is reviewing those service department RO’s and showroom Sold logs and reaching out to these new/existing customers. THAT is called a best practice, my friends.

Businesses on the social networking platforms have just as much opportunity to turn away customers than attract them. Incessant pleas to follow, friend, and fan can be an irritating proposition for your clients. It is imperative every invite is tracked, offered only once, and that posts are not overwhelming. Much debate has been made on whether or not to drag potential prospects away from your website and onto your social networking pages. My suggestion is to proceed with caution. Your social media efforts should be used to beckon customers to your store… to your website. After all, if your website is the most important conversion tool, don’t make it too much of a priority to convert website visitors to social networking friends. There are a couple of companies I’ve seen recently (ActivEngage and Dealer e-Process) that offer a social networking toolbar at the bottom of your website. These toolbars allow the customer to peruse your soc med pages without taking them off-site. This is a great way to have your customers connect from your website in an unobtrusive way without diverting them from their goal.

You know what you should be aiming for. Find a way to give the gift of friendship. Make sure there is a BENEFIT to them for connecting online, not just for you. Think like a customer and develop a social networking campaign that takes their needs into consideration. Be selfless on the social sites. If you do this, you likely will finally see a profit come from all of your social media efforts.

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The Cruel Mistress of Social Media

Friday, March 19th, 2010

It wasn’t very long ago that the social networking sites of today were being hailed as a virtually cost-free medium to reach your clients with your advertising efforts. “Hey! You get to put your very same ads and commercials someplace else, but for free!” It was like having an affair with a young, attractive ingénue, freeing you up from the headache that was your marriage to traditional media advertising.

Granted, some of the social networking sites (partners) available to us just a couple of years ago have faded away. For one reason or another, they didn’t stick around. Maybe the years caught up with them, they lost their looks, and we, as suitors, looked elsewhere for the newest shiny object. Their business models simply weren’t strong enough or we were just too A.D.H.D. and jumped to the next networking mistress. Regardless, we were able to grow with these sites. We explored new terrain. Learned the lay of the land. They may have been indiscretions, but they were our “first”…the ones that helped us discover how to make all the right moves.

Now we’ve moved on to other social sites and are going steady with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Ning. When we are being bad, we sneak away and jump on Youtube. We ask our friends what they think of our newest trophy site and seek out their comments on Digg, Tumblr, StumbleUpon, and the rest.

Now, those are quite a few sites to keep up with. Are you spreading yourself too thin? Are you forgetting about all of the online advertising platforms that grew your internet department in the first place? Are you able to spend quality time with each social media site to get the most out of them? As anyone will tell you, if you want to make your relationship work with one of these social networking sites, it’s gonna take time. A whole lot of precious time. It’s gonna take patience and time…to do it right.

Realize that these sites are moody, cantankerous, fickle, and capricious entities that need constant attention. Do you know all that is expected of you to develop a fruitful union with these sites? The more you spend time with one, the more your other sites pick up on the rejection, bask in their loneliness and cut you off from growth. Determine quickly what sites can yield you results with the minimum amount of time dedicated and focus on those. You can’t be everywhere at once, regardless of the thrill, so don’t take on too many partners. Exploring new site after new site will get you sick.

Dealers must continue to measure what these social sites are giving back to them. Don’t turn your back on your other internet initiatives. To paraphrase Shakespeare, “hell hath no fury like a website scorned.” Pay attention to your website, your online inventory, and your leads. No new social networking mistress will make these basic profit generators obsolete. You’ve been relatively happy and successful with these for a while now. It is dangerous divorcing yourself from these responsibilities just to try to make it with one of these young, sweet things. Look at it in a real world scenario…if you get famous, you’d likely stay married to your current spouse, right?. The one who stuck with you through the good times and bad? Of course. Because you know if you were famous and left to look for something “better”, you’d never really know if the new partner liked you for you or because of what you spend on them. In the ways of social networking sites, you spend time. Some…too much time. Relative to the profit they yield, WAY too much time. I bet if a few of these Internet Sales Managers pick up the phone and called as many customers as they poke on Facebook, they’d be much better off financially.

In the beginning, I mentioned these sites were initially cost-free. As it goes with time, they begin asking more of you…time, effort, and yes, money (as new vendors find ways to monetize the sites – and you as the client must pay for these trainings/services/products). Some dealers don’t want to dedicate the time to developing their presence on these sites so they reach out to us trainers, consultants, experts to manage their social media presence for them. Sometimes it is worth it for the dealer and sometimes it may not be.

What I am saying is… it is alright to cheat…a little. It’s perfectly acceptable seeing what the social sites can do for you provided you don’t spend all of your time trying to find out.

A social networking mistress is there to yield you some positive results:
To give you a shot in the arm of confidence and reputation.
To kill a little time.
To feel young again.
To drive a little business and retention to your dealership.

It is not there to break up the family of online advertising initiatives you’ve spent so long stabilizing. Very rarely will this new significant other give back the same way the others have…in leads…in conversion…in profit.

So sleep around, but keep one eye on your wallet and one eye on the door. When a social networking mistress starts costing you too much money…too much time….it may be time to head for the door. Get yourself back home and realize what is truly important. Beware the cruel mistress of social media.

The social media mistress

The social media mistress

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Validation and Fruition

Thursday, March 4th, 2010

I’ve actively commented on two other great, current blog posts on ADM.FM – one by Bryan Armstrong and one from Todd Smith. This post is a marrying of the two topics – Vendor Relationships and Social Media Best Practices. Toward the end of this post, you will learn of a specific social media & CRM enhancement that a vendor (Vin Solutions) put into their CRM based on my suggestion – that ties into its own best practice – and something you should get your CRMs to implement as well. Let me preface that this is not a “Pimp Fest” but an experience I recently had that I valued and hopefully gives you a hint onto what you should do/look for in your lead management.

When on the retail side, I trained my BDC team to deconstruct every inbound lead that they received. (This is a practice that is not done near enough in most dealerships I’ve found). I believe in maximizing every lead. You must drill down and read into the lead, picking apart the information they’ve provided and then, by being proactive, search for information about them that will help you build rapport.

Every lead that came into my CRM would be deconstructed. My team would Google search the name of the prospect and search for them on the social networking sites. Now let me preface, THIS IS NOT THE TIME TO REQUEST A CONNECTION/FRIENDSHIP. You’ve done nothing to earn their friendship. This is solely meant to spy (so to speak) and glean as much information about them as possible so you can, in turn, attempt to carefully build a little rapport (without divulging that you had researched them).

This, I believe, is just one best practice that social networking has provided us. This piggybacks off of what Todd Smith of ActivEngage said that dealers are attempting to connect with potential customers much too soon. However, if you implement this practice I taught/teach, it allows you to use these sites as a resource for you to help mold and shape your customer correspondence.

Now let me tie in Bryan Armstrong’s blog about the importance of vendor relations and how having the right, proactive vendor is important.

While on the retail side, I used a very detailed, comprehensive, expensive CRM – that I loved. However, over the course of a year, I submitted 47 tickets for enhancements/improvements. Not for support, but enhancements to be made. Being a hands-on Internet Director that was a self-proclaimed expert in my field, I felt that I was playing the role of the CRM vendor’s eyes on the street. I gave them the much needed, in-the-trenches, experience to help them improve their system for other dealers. Invaluable information. Now ask me how many of the 47 were implemented… NONE. Not one. In a year.

Now I am on the training/consulting side and I get to experiment/play with/manipulate many CRMs and websites. I had a three store group with Vin Solutions and became a fan of their product (much like Bryan Armstrong was touting.) As I said before, I do not want this post to be considered a “Pimp Fest”, but I want to tell you of an experience I had that I valued.
One my own dime, I went down to Overland Park Kansas (from Chicago) to be trained on the Vin Solutions software at their headquarters. I figured, it was worth the money for the trip because I would know how to manipulate the system for my dealer clients – showing them a better return from their CRM solutions.

While training – and if you know me, you know how very outspoken and confident I am – I told them there were 5 things their CRM needed to do, but didn’t. (I expected this to me similar to my last experience where I provided a recipe for an enhancement and it was overlooked.) Vin invited me to their Dealer Advisory board meeting in Orlando before NADA and I attended. As I walked in, Matt Watson, their CTO and code-writing genius, walked up to me and said, “We’re going to show you a bunch of enhancements we are rolling out on our software…oh, and the five things you suggested, they are in there and up and running.” In just a month and a half, Vin Solutions input ALL FIVE of my requests!

There is one specifically I want to hail. One, that I will tout as my own, is an automatic link on every single customer lead’s profile that links the ISM to that customer’s social networking profiles (if they have one) to help deconstruct the lead. It doesn’t take you off the page, but helps you dramatically increase what you know (and can learn) about your e-lead prospects. This is a massive time-saver and a best practice that should not be overlooked. If you don’t have Vin Solutions and have no interest in switching providers, I urge you to contact your current CRM provider and have them create this enhancement for you (in a month and a half). You will see your appointment-to-show and closing ratios rise dramatically.

Since it has been put in, and before Bryan Armstrong left his last post, he told me how that feature – on its first day available to his team – was used to sell an extra car that day. How fulfilling is that for little old me? That is called VALIDATION and FRUITION my friends. I only hope you can experience the same journey with your ideas and vendors married together.

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Foursquare: The Mobile App, not the Negotiation Tool

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010

You can’t spell social media without “me” or “I”. The entire medium has become, through its own nature, a very me-centric platform. People only post as it relates to themselves, their business, or their beliefs, blasting forth their very own personal news channel that they deem worthy enough to share.

Foursquare is one of the newest social networks, specifically designed to cater to those through a mobile application. Simply put, in its most common, understood form, Foursquare gives users the ability to:

1) “Check-in” to different places or add new ones worth visiting
2) Let their presence be known to their contacts and the online community
3) Lay claim of ownership after multiple visits to the same location
4) Earn “badges” for usage levels
5) Leave tips and shouts for future visitors of the establishments

This can all be accomplished through the typical geo-locating (geo-targeting) found on mobile devices. Early adopters of this platform will be at the advantage as they will have simply collected more badges, visits, friends, and lay claim to more territory through their travels.

Now how can this be monetized? Or, maybe less greedy, how can dealers use this to their advantage? I’ve been thinking about this recently while actively “playing” with the system. Sure, this entire post may be directed to the select few dealers on the forefront of online exploration (and many should focus their efforts on the fundamentals of internet sales), but I wanted to head up this topic nonetheless.

Here are just a few ways I think dealers may be able to utilize this new social networking platform.

1) Any customer of the store (unrelated to employees) that are deemed the on-going “Mayor” of the store can have a little plaque in the service drive on a monthly basis (as long as they have the title at the start of the month) is awarded free oil change or a piece of apparel.
2) If the drivers of your courtesy shuttle(s) are given mobile devices to assist with directions or contact back with the dealership, they can help register drop off points of their customers – when delivering them to work. Provided they leave a recommendation commending the customer at that store, the recurring gratitude/retention will be easily felt and you will also be opening up a new channel of places to draw friends.
3) Have your employees check into work (not so you can track their presence on Twitter/FB), but so they can leave tips/shouts letting other customers clocking in know what some recommended specials may be. May also work for those employees you send to conferences – checking out what workshops they are attending while on-site (and not galavanting around town).
4) Actively request reviews and tips from those customers checking in regularly.

Now, I am sure I am missing some obvious practices to benefit your dealership and its consumers. I’d love to hear from you all and see if you can think of some other uses for this new application/network (above and beyond getting your employees using it – which opens you up to a wider network of potential connections – because that is a common need on ALL social networking sites.

So please let your imagination take off and let’s create some first-in-class best practices for this tool.

As an early adopter, very few benefits or activity will approach in the beginning, but over time, as the overall public becomes more in tune with these advanced internet marketing tactics, you will have been leading the way to a dominant Foursquare user.

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Your Social Networking Resolution

Sunday, January 10th, 2010

Your Social Networking Resolution: What’s Your Plan or What’s Your Budget?

With the new year upon us, it is time we sit down and determine the ROI of our past (and recent) online marketing initiatives. What has worked for you? What hasn’t? What is your social networking resolution?

Are you going to dedicate your financial resources (ad budget) to the failed or fledgling programs of yesteryear or try your hand at all of the digital marketing tactics you read so much about daily? If it isn’t working, at what point do you cut ties, end your relationship with the old school vendors, and spend time on a more worthy venture such as social media?

If you want to succeed on a social networking landscape, you must first put yourself in your customer’s shoes. You must share their mindset. “What is in it for them?” you have to ask yourself. You need to show a benefit to the consumer for joining you on these networking sites. Stop worrying about what is important to you and start realizing what is important to your audience. This is the greatest obstacle for almost every dealer with a Twitter and Facebook account right now. So few have any idea what the hell to do with them! Remember, your customers are likely on these sites for personal reasons so recognize that it is called SOCIAL networking, not “business” networking.

I’ll tell you – to do it right, you must learn how to educate, engage, and entertain your audience with multiple forms of media and user-generated content to increase customer retention, brand awareness, and positive consumer reviews all while creating interactive, VIP-styled discount/deal/contest programs to elicit referrals, responses, and business. By the way, you can’t be too intrusive, pushy, overwhelming, or generic. Let me tell you… easier said than done. The “doing” takes time, knowledge, dedication, and commitment. More than most dealers are willing to dedicate.

A year ago and a half ago, you could say that social media is still early in its evolution and could have spent time figuring out the best practices on your own. Today, it is too late to experiment. You are losing market share every single time another one of your competitors joins the social site community. You no longer have the luxury to play around and wait to find out the best practices of the medium. If you are behind the social networking times, you have to make a resolution. You’ll need to either rededicate some advertising budget to training – someone who can give you a jump start on the best practices of the platform – or farm out your entire social networking campaigns to a company or group able to control your presence in this online marketplace. Or if you wanted to spend even more money, hire a professional to do it on-site full-time. I don’t know anyone who does the latter, but DealerKnows Consulting based out of Chicago and our Preferred Partners around the nation can assist you with your social media management needs.

So I ask you…what is your Social Networking Resolution? Do you have a plan? If not, you better have a budget.

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How to Retain Customers by Creating Your Own Social Network

Tuesday, May 19th, 2009

Every person and their brother are standing atop their soapboxes and preaching the importance of dealership involvement in social marketing.The reason to be active within these sites is very much the same for being online – to be where your customers are.Since there are many ways to approach this medium in the wrong way, I thought I would share just one small tactic of using it correctly.Here is a quick, best-practices tutorial on how to create and utilize just one form of social networking to better the retention of your dealership’s customers.I believe there are limited ways to be successful when creating your own social site so here are a few simple tasks you must complete when diving into this platform.

1)Understand your primary goals for creating your own site – have an objective.

2)Put someone in charge that wants to be active in following up with customers and is willing to update and manage the network regularly.Consistency is imperative.

3)Create a site on www.ning.com and create a color theme that represents your dealership and brand.

4)Upload pics of staff, logos, and any and all videos and commercials you can gather from your own dealer, the OEM, or third-party sites.

5)Have every sales person and service writer create a profile on the site and share a few family photos.Encourage your staff to show their personalities on the site.

6)Train all sales associates to invite their sold customers to the network as they wait for the business office – and help them sign up.This keeps the customer busy while waiting and gets them as a community member immediately.
a) By signing up, tell the customers they will receive service updates and specials as well as the current financing incentives and new model rollout information.
b) If the customer contacts you through this site for information regarding the purchase of any future vehicle, a social discount will be given above and beyond internet pricing.Let them know of the specific benefits for signing up.It must do something for them.
c) Explain the wide demographic of your customer base and encourage them to promote themselves and their own businesses through your site as well.

7)As the customer is leaving, take their picture in front of their new vehicle (or film a customer testimonial), and immediately upload it to the site.Alert your customers that they will be prominently featured.(This will prompt a customer to go online and actually see themselves as stars.)

8) Continue to maintain the site and add as much sticky content (media, pictures) as possible and alert them of every special event, sale, or community activity you involve yourself with.

This will not change the culture of a dealership.It will not solve all of your problems.To do it right takes significant dedication and creativity when it comes to content deployment.You are creating your own mini ad agency, but reaching your own customers only. However, with this medium, the customers are one step removed from a dealership’s online presence where, opposed to your website (which is to appease everyone), you have the ability to target specific people with targeted messages.It will take time to catch on and will initially drive more service traffic than sales.It is, though, the only way to effectively create and utilize your own social networking site.You’ll only get out of it what you put into it.The best part?All it costs is time and effort.That’s right.Everything I mentioned is free.Since it is a format that your customers are likely used to anyway, showing them that you are a part of the same online community (and leading the way) will only help you endear yourself to your customers.Use this task list only if you are interested in keeping customers the old-fashioned way…by making them feel special and continuing the relationship after the sale.

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