Posted by Paul Rushing on · Leave a Comment
In steps www.DrivingSales.com, the first automotive social network created by a dealer for dealers, to help the industry get the real deal on the vendors in the automotive marketplace and to share ideas with each other to help better the industry in it marketing efforts.
Filed under Articles, Automotive Social Networking · Tagged with Automotive Social Networking, autotrader, dealer micro sites, drivingsales.com
Posted by Paul Rushing on · Leave a Comment
Automobile Industry statistics show that 70%* of all automobile consumers go online prior to purchasing a new car while the average dealer usually allocates less than 10% of their advertising budget to attracting online consumers.
Filed under Articles, Automotive SEO · Tagged with Advertising, Automobile Industry, autotrader, Cars, Dominating, Experts, Google, Internet, Metropolitan, online, PPC, Source Cars, station, Sunday, Television, Toyota, Toyota's, website
What ARE you doing with Your Facebook Page?
12 Mar 2010 at 3:03am
Exactly one year ago today, Nick O'Neill published an article on Allfacebook.com titled "How To Develop a Facebook Pa... (show more)
Exactly one year ago today, Nick O'Neill published an article on Allfacebook.com titled
"How To Develop a Facebook Page That Attracts Millions of
Fans". He outlined "10 Facebook Page Strategies Every Brand
Should Know" and after spending the past several months delving deeply
into ?things Facebook? I think it would be prudent to review those steps, and
bring them up for discussion as they relate to the automotive world. I?m interested in how far you?ve gone in
customizing your Facebook presence, what successes you've had, and what has
flat out failed.
1. Develop Custom Tabs
Are you aware that you?re not stuck with the default tabs FB gives you when you activate
your Fan Page? You should hide those you
don?t use, and either customize or pay someone to customize tabs based on the
facets of your company?s ?personality? that you want to promote. Tabs with themes such as Community, About Us,
Sales, Service, Finance, Specials all offer you framework within which you can
develop your particular brand. What are
some cool custom tabs out there?
2. Don?t Let New Users Land on the Wall
You should change the default landing tab to one of your custom tabs. This enforces brand and encourages interaction (as long as your tab has an interactive element ? HINT)
3. Create a Unique Page Image
Your 200x200 digital image is kind of a big deal.
If your logo is oblong, have you done something different? This is the icon everyone will see first ?
make it pop.
4. Integrate Applications To Increase Engagement
There are all sorts of applications out there, and if you want to pay, you can have some
developed specifically for your dealership.
I?m curious to know if anyone out there has paid for a custom
application.
5. Join the Conversation, It?s Not Optional Anymore
You really do need to participate. It's a two way conversation for sure. Do you have someone designated to do this?
6. Publish Interesting and Relevant Content
This part is easy. There are all sorts of sources
you could ?drip? onto your Wall, or you could grab interesting articles and
tidbits from blogs and news sites you subscribe to. How do you keep your content fresh and
interesting?
7. Repost Comments By Other Users
Quite often I find my friends to be excellent sources of material. What are your fans saying that other people
might want to hear? And how does this
reinforce your relationships all around?
8. Update Regularly!
This means something different to everyone. How often do you update?
9. Post and Tag Users in Photos and Videos
Not so sure that this would be easy in a dealership setting, unless you get your customers
to ?Fan? you while they?re waiting for F&I and the photograph them and/or
video them upon delivery. How are you
bringing your customers into your page?
10. Leverage the Power of Facebook Events
I?m seeing a lot of dealers ?get? the power of this.
Creating and promoting Events that are meaningful to your fan base is
one of the best ways to leverage the communication power behind your Page. This past week I was invited to at least a
half a dozen dealership events ranging from Blue Tooth training to Fund Raising
to a Special Sale. How are you using
this feature?
The fact that Nick O?Neill wrote this article a YEAR ago and that we?re just now seeing
these steps put into motion by dealers across the country (other than you savvy early adopters out there) kind of bums me
out. On the other hand, I?m happy to see
dealers eagerly and actively adopting some of these ideas. It?s invigorating to me, after spending much
of my career begging people to listen to ?what?s coming?, to see dealers and
their personnel spending more time than ever implementing marketing strategies
that have been proving and continue to prove themselves outside the automotive sector.
I look forward to hearing from you all!
Here it is. Any person tha... (show more)
Here it is. Any person that has responded to a media message that you put out and came in to buy, is your customer. At least for the moment. Now how long he remains your customer is entirely up to you.
Now if you dont take anything else from this article remember this, it cost you 6 times as much to bring in a new customer as it does to get a past customer to buy from you again. So why would you ever let another dealer flirt with one of your customers?
How do you stop this possible fling from happening? NEWSLETTER! Now if you have tried this and didn't see the return, fixing one or a combination of these will help.
1. No consistensy - You need to make sure they get a newsletter every month. Peoples needs change from day to day. This makes sure you are ever present.
2. Value - You have to provide them with something that shows you are in their corner. Not just price, selection and service. Until you provide value you haven't earned the right to get their business again.
3. Fun! - When you can provide them something to look forward to brighten their day, they look forward to recieving it. A banana nut muffin recipe wouldn't hurt either!
Provide them with content that proves that you are the industry expert, and a "Trusted Advisor" and you will earn customers for life.
Remember we should not get customers to sell a car, we should be selling cars to get a customer. Thats where your long term success lies.
Well thats a start to slow down that CUSTOMIZER down the street!
Want more infomation on how to provide compelling newsletters every month visit us at
www.richdealers.com
Eric Tigner
Rich Dealers Advisor
407-275-8667
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