Car dealers guide to automotive social media

1-25-2010

800.899.7791 TKCarsites.com

The Dealers’ Guide to Automotive Social Media in 2011

By JD Rucker Director of New Media

A TK Carsites White Paper

TK Carsites: The Dealers’ Guide to Automotive Social Media in 2011 Page 2

Contents Introduction 3 The Social Media Mindset 4 Facebook Techniques 6 Twitter Techniques 8 Video and Blogging 10 Summary 12

Introduction Social media has reached a tipping point in 2011 that all but requires 80% or more of North American car…

The Social Media Mindset Before learning techniques, you must enter into a social media mindset. Being active and…

Facebook Techniques Having the right Facebook strategy requires more than just getting “likes” to your…

Twitter Techniques Turning Twitter into a 2-way conversation rather than a megaphone is challenging…

• Twitter as a Conversation Finder Twitter is an entry point into conversations. You don’t need to have a ton…

• Twitter as a Conversation Starter This part is easy. Take what you learned in the previous Facebook section and…

Video and Blogging The biggest challenge that car dealers face when engaging in social…

Summary Social media done wrong can be more of a detriment to your business than a benefit. Putting together a basic strategy…

TK Carsites: The Dealers’ Guide to Automotive Social Media in 2011 Page 3

Introduction Social media has reached a tipping point in 2011 that all but requires 80% or more of North American car dealers to take social media seriously and establish or enhance their plan. With 600 million users on Facebook, 200 million users on Twitter, and… … we’ve all seen the stats and they seem impressive, but they’re just numbers. The stats shouldn’t scare you. They also shouldn’t encourage you. Most “gurus” preach the sheer bulk of the social networks but few offer any assistance that can produce a tangible return on investment, both of money and time. This White Paper is not designed to convince you of the importance of social media. It’s not going to offer “out of the box” advice using flowery terms such as “engagement” or “community.” What you are about to read is geared towards car dealers with the goals of selling more vehicles, improving fixed ops business, and creating a strong online reputation. It is practical advice that will not preach the benefits of social media. Instead, it will seed the application of proven practices, techniques, and tips that are relevant in automotive social media for 2011. Many of these practices will be obsolete by 2012. Some will change earlier than that. It’s the innovative nature of social media that makes it a constantly moving target. If you’re using 2010 strategies, you’re probably not doing it right. You will be, soon.

JD Rucker Director of New Media

TK Carsites

The Dealers’ Guide to Automotive Social Media in 2011 Page 4

The Social Media Mindset Before learning techniques, you must enter into a social media mindset. Being active and involved in social networks currently is not necessarily the only thing that you’ll need to enter into the right mindset. You’ll have to step away from the selling part of business to understand the best way to sell on social media.

We’ll go into more details shortly about the specific differences between a Converting Message and a Conversational Message, but for now understand that converting messages lead social media contacts (Twitter followers, Facebook likes, Blog readers, etc.) to a page or location where they are intended to become a conversion. Everything else is a conversational message.

• The data for this graph came from 5 different dealership case studies. • The size of the ball represents the number of conversions that the dealership

received. • The vertical axis is the percentage of converting messages – the higher the ball,

the more often they asked their social media contacts to visit a lead form, landing page, or other locations for conversion.

• The horizontal axis is the number of social media updates the dealership posted in a month.


One thing should be very clear: the less they try to sell, the more effective they are at doing it. The dealership with the most leads had just under 300 updates, but less than 20% of those updates were converting messages. The dealership furthest to the right had the most updates, but nearly 60% of their updates were converting messages. As a result, they were barely ahead of the dealership represented on the far left who had the least number of updates (less than 1/4th of the number for the dealership on the far right) but also had the second lowest percentage of converting messages. The two dealers closest to the top were using the standard approach: “Sell, sell, sell, sell, converse, sell, sell, sell, sell, sell, converse, etc.” They might as well have been saying “Me, me, me, me, and more about me. Oh, and did I mention me?” Unfortunately, their style is the most common by far amongst dealers currently attempting to utilize social media in their marketing efforts. There are distinct algorithmic reasons that you want to converse much more and attempt to convert less, but let’s look at it from the visitor’s perspective. Remember, they aren’t going to Facebook to buy a car. They’re going to Facebook to share, relax, enjoy. They want to see interesting posts, follow entertaining links, and generally get away from business (for now). Through participation and by engaging in conversations, you can affect the placement of your converting messages. Again, more detail on that shortly, but the valid business reason for engaging in conversation rather than selling, selling, and more selling is that your converting messages will be much more visible both algorithmically and through the appreciation of your audience if people enjoy what you post. It’s been said before and will be said again: the “social media mindset” is similar to the “cocktail party mindset.” If you walk in and join the conversation, share some laughs, discuss some interesting topics, and generally participate in the party, people will like

Posting "converting messages" non-stop

will hurt you algorithmically and in

general.

When people like what you are posting normally, you "earn"

the right to post converting messages.

Remember where you are... social media is a

place to converse. Remember the "cocktail party"

mindset.


you more. If the conversation comes up about cars, you talk about it. If it never comes up, as long as you have been likable throughout you will be able to bring up the topic of cars and people won’t mind. They will be much more likely to discuss the topic with you in dialogue. If you walk into the cocktail party and start telling everyone about your cars, you will not be liked. Most people will avoid you. Some may even make rude comments to your face. Most will only be thinking rude comments about you. You will be a monologue without an audience. Nobody wants to be “that person.”

Facebook Techniques Having the right Facebook strategy requires more than just getting “likes” to your page. You have to set clear goals and use techniques specifically designed to elicit conversions. We want more leads. We want more sales. There are right ways and wrong ways to go about getting both. Remember the 4 “I”s.

• Express your opinion on important local, regional, or national news.

• Post links or instructions with converting messages. Be frugal with this.

• Offer facts and news that will be interesting to the users who like your page.

• Ask questions that people would enjoy answering. It doesn't have to be auto-related.

Interesting Informed

InvolvedIn Business


Your goal is to sell more vehicles, but meeting your smaller goals will help you achieve that ultimate goal. Facebook is not all about branding. How you put out your message and the personality that you create are the keys to truly doing business on Facebook. The simplified glimpse of a proper Facebook posting cycle will help, but it’s important to understand why you should be using Facebook like this. Your goal with 3 out of the 4 components of the cycle is to get comments and likes on your status updates. The more that people like and comment on what you post, the higher your posts will appear on their News Feed. If you take nothing else away from this White Paper, you must understand this: what happens on your Facebook page is infinitesimal compared to what happens on the News Feeds of the people who like your page (and the friends of those same people). This is the most overlooked aspect of Facebook marketing – most in the industry from OEMs to dealers to vendors to customers are not even aware of this very definite fact. Your first mini-goal on the road to the sale is getting impressions for your messages. People will rarely visit your Facebook page directly. If they like the page, your updates have a chance of appearing on their news feed. The more that they and their friends like or comment on your updates, the higher on the News Feed your updates will appear. A Facebook page with a strong percentage of people liking and commenting on their updates will dramatically affect where your converting messages appear. If you post a high percentage of unlikable converting messages, nobody will comment or like them and none of your posts will appear high on anyone’s News Feed (if they appear at all). By using and playing with the 4 “I”s, you’ll be able to demonstrate more interest in your messages to the Facebook algorithm and expose your converting messages more often and more prominently. In other words, the less you try to convert, the more you’ll be able to convert. Your converting messages will only be seen if they are part of a proper mix.

Interesting: "Who takes the toll road? Is it really worth

$1.25 to you?"

Informed: "Tolls are going up next week to $1.50. Be

sure to bring an extra quarter! [LINK]"

Involved: "We support the March of Dimes and will be

walking next week. Will you join us? [LINK]"

In Business: "Stan's Burgers will be feeding our hungry

customers at this weekend's Toyotathon

[LINK]"


Twitter Techniques Turning Twitter into a 2-way conversation rather than a megaphone is challenging sometimes. Despite the fact that Twitter requires the least amount of time to post an update (it’s just 140 characters or less) it is often overlooked as a nuisance. When we polled several dealers who had abandoned or turned their Twitter account into an RSS feed, most said they simply didn’t see the value. Here’s the value in 2 parts:

Part I: Twitter as a Conversation Finder Twitter is an entry point into conversations. You don’t need to have a ton of followers (though they do help for part II) to engage in active conversation finding. Use the search. Look for conversations based upon keywords. Reply and expect to get a reply back.

I did a local Twitter search for “Jeep” and didn’t have to go to page 2 to find a conversation that allowed entry into a conversation.


Don’t sell. Now is not the time. In a situation like that, being sensitive is of the utmost importance.

Notice casual speak: “sucks.” The guy just got in a wreck. It does suck. Represent your dealership professionally but don’t act like you’re writing a formal letter. I wouldn’t curse, but mild colloquialisms are fine. Also, notice I said “I”. It’s a business, but there is a human behind the business. You are Tweeting because you ran across his Tweet and you wanted to express your empathy towards his situation. The goal here is to spark a conversation. This is not the easiest example, but it’s realistic. There will be times when you’ll find people Tweeting “Looks like my Jeep’s on it’s last leg. In the shop again.” In a case like that, the path is more clear. You aren’t going to simply search for your brand. Be creative. Do some test searches (don’t forget to push “Tweets near you”) and see what other searches make sense. It could be competitor brands, direct competitor names, or even something direct like “need to buy a new car.” Imagine seeing a Tweet that says, “I’m having a really bad experience at [competitor’s name] Jeep. These guys are so pushy!” Now you REALLY know what to do.

Part II: Twitter as a Conversation Starter This part is easy. Take what you learned in the previous Facebook section and do it twice as much. As a general rule, you can Tweet twice as often as you post to Facebook, not including conversations. Once you’re in a conversation, you can @reply people more. Avoid posting more than 1 converting message for every 4 or 5 Tweets. When you can spark conversations, now you’re able to get people talking to you and about you. The more conversations you’re having, the better your chances of a sale.


Video and Blogging The biggest challenge that car dealers face when engaging in social media is finding the time and/or hiring the right person/service to handle video creation and blogging. This is bad, as they are integral components for the most successful automotive social media marketing campaigns. You can get away without them. You can also get away without power windows, locks, or steering, but it’s a whole lot easier when you’re not fighting the wheel, hand-cranking up the window, or reaching over to unlock the door. Facebook and Twitter are about content sharing. Videos and blog posts are about creating the content that your followers and likes want to see.

Testimonials are the easiest and most relevant type of content that your prospective buyers will want to see. They are the story about you by people your customers can relate to: other customers. Post your customer testimonials as a “light” conversion tool. You may not be directing them directly to a contact form, but you are giving them entry into your site and offering them feedback that can give your dealership more credibility and better branding.


One may wonder why a dealership would want to post recall information on their blog. In this case, it’s because it’s a Nissan dealership. Conquest marketing on social media is growing. A blog is the best venue for “talking a little trash” on a competitive brand. In blogs, you are allowed to express your opinions, but your opinions will always be judged as biased. “Of course you think the Altima is better than the Accord, Mr. Nissan Dealer.” Facts and news, however, are a way you can express your opinion backed up by other sources. They make for good reads (and hopefully videos if you’re adventurous). There are dozens of other ways you can use video and blogging. Some of those ways are listed to the right, but don’t rest on those. Be creative. Use your personality. Put out great content and you’ll start to find more people talking to you through social media and in real life.

Tips: "How to SYNC your MP3 Player."

Opinions: "The new city tax is unfair to

citizens."

Events: "The Tweet-a-Price Sellathon is

This Weekend."

Offbeat Facts: "Who Drives Better, Men

or Women?"


Summary Social media done wrong can be more of a detriment to your business than a benefit. Putting together a basic strategy does not take much time or even expertise, but it does take dedication. The most successful dealers in 2011 will be the ones who take advantage of the tools, tips, and techniques that make for a strong social media strategy. If you think from the customers’ perspective and understand that social media is a listening tool as much as a broadcasting tool, you will soar ahead of your competition and make real strides in the overall sales at your dealership.

About TK Carsites Founded in 2002, TK Carsites made a name for ourselves through lead generating tools. The Internet was relatively new as a marketing platform and the innovative tools that TK offered helped dealers to make the most of this “new frontier.” We expanded quickly into the automotive website design field and put the same practices to work that garnered our initial success. We grew well over the next few years, but it was in 2004 with the rise of automotive search engine optimization that we truly started to excel beyond the competition. As an early adopter of SEO, we developed properties and techniques that have stood the test of time and helped our dealers achieve and remain at the top for the major searches in their area. Traffic was and is unprecedented. In 2007, our exploration into the best SEO techniques helped us find our next area of domination: social media. Our first car dealer social media product launched in early 2008, well before most vendors had dipped their toes into Web 2.0. A new and improved version has emerged every year, reaching a tipping point in 2010 with our launch of Power Social. 2011 has the release of Power Social 2.0 in the near future, an upgrade that allows our current Power Social customers to seamlessly upgrade at a minimal expense. The outlook for the year is bright for both TK Carsites and our wonderful family of dealer clients.

JD Rucker Director of New Media

TK Carsites 800.899.7791