GOSO

By: Chris Garrett Co-Author of Best Seller of ProBlogger, our celebrity blogger, Chris has helped thousands of individuals, non-profits, small businesses and blue chips make the most of the web.

You know the phrase “What you measure you get more of”?

What if what you are measuring … is wrong?

Do you want more “wrong” in your business?

I was talking to someone on the phone just now and he asked me what I was working on. One of the things I mentioned was this blog. He thought it was cool that auto dealers were getting into social media and he immediately asked me who I knew with tons of followers.

Let me make it clear, he didn’t ask who the thought leaders were, or who the superstars were (if there are such things in this market), but went straight to the numbers.

The wrong numbers.

Fact is, it doesn’t matter if an auto dealer has a gajillionteen followers. You don’t want to be an Ashton Kutcher, Oprah, or the like. By measuring, focusing and chasing a follower count you would actually at best distract yourself from your real business, or at worst actually damage it.

Even in my consulting it is not big numbers that matter, even though there is a “social proof” benefit (“90 billion twitter friends can’t be wrong people!”) – it’s all about having the right people in your orbit.

If I want to sell more cars, I would rather have ten followers who are in the market for an Aston Martin, than a million who ride bikes, right?

So before you measure, make sure you are measuring the right things …

By: Chris Garrett Co-Author of Best Seller of ProBlogger, our celebrity blogger, Chris has helped thousands of individuals, non-profits, small businesses and blue chips make the most of the web.

I was reading a comment thread over on another site where a Facebook fan page for a local auto dealer was being reviewed.

In my view the article was quite balanced, mostly favorable, and the author seemed open to a dialog about how the fan page could improve from the starting point that had been reviewed. All good, all friendly, and all constructive. Great.

Then a troll wades into the comments with the usual stuff:

• They should have this feature.
• Why is there only this, that and the other?
• Waste of money when the company could have used such and such software for only $xx
• The technology is wrong, instead of using this technology should have used this other competing technology.
• Competitor1 and Competitor2 have a better product because of these features.

I am sure you have experienced a similar loud mouth complainer making a big noise about something they feel both entitled to talk about, and expert enough to have all the answers.

Social media, being social, gives everyone a voice, even if they do not really have anything constructive to say. They can drown out the valid advice and your customers needs if you are not careful.

The problem is, while there may be free speech laws in your geography that protect the trolls right to have the opinion, this person is NOT entitled to sway your decision-making!

While there may be an obvious bias-motive behind attacking the Facebook page and agency behind it, there is also an obvious frame of reference at conflict with what the end user actually wants. These trolls do NOT speak for your dealership customer, and that is who you are aiming to please.

Is the troll in the market for the cars you sell and service? No?

Does the troll have your customers best interests in mind? No?

Then ignore them.

The people who you need to be listening to are the people who are in your target market. What do they want to see? How do they want to be treated?

You need to focus your energies on meeting and exceeding their expectations.

Trolls can talk all day about features they think are cool or necessary, but it is a customer-focus that will win you fans, not flashy gimicks and wizz-bang features that they do not need.

There are a lot of loud mouths in social media so forget about matching anyone’s expectations but your customer’s

By: Ryan Riley Marketing Strategy Manager for GOSO. Ryan provides analytical data and departmental support for GOSO. Ryan is an experienced writer and blogs for GOSO, BOALT and other sites.

The number of automotive dealers on Facebook is growing daily. Dealer Fan Pages are efficient locations to post information like industry news, service specials, customer questions, and tips. The most important use of Facebook Fan Pages and other social media sites is that they allow you to connect with your customers.

It also a great way for you to correct something that will affect your online image and brand.

A car dealer recently posted a promotion to their Facebook fan page for a free car detail, wash, and a limited edition chrome license plate cover.

By the time the car owner made it to the car wash it had closed. So the car owner drove there and was unable to receive any of the benefits of the promotion. So his first venue to lodge a complaint was Facebook. So he made his case.

The last thing anyone wants is a unaddressed negative comment plaguing their Facebook Fan Page.This dealership handled the problem very well. This may not seem like a big deal but it is. Dealers should address everything that comes up. Good or bad. Especially the bad.

How to address complaints:

It’s important to know that this isn’t like a normal customer service conversation. This is something that everyone will see.

1. Address the issue head on. Ask for a way to contact them. “…would you like us to contact you…”
2. Once you’ve made contact, tell the customer how you plan to make it up to them.
3. Make it up to them. A lot of promises are made by customer service departments in multiple industries and a lot of these promises are not followed up on. Do what you promise.
4. Follow up with the customer a week after the make-good was carried out to insure the customer’s satisfaction.

How does this benefit the dealer?

1. The most important benefit is the dealership rescued a relationship with a fan of the automobile they sell.
2. The dealer has provided an example for everyone to see of their commitment to customer satisfaction.
3. The dealer didn’t delete the comment. As an administrator you have that ability. Deleting would make it worse, plus they’ve shown everyone that they may not be perfect but if they do make a mistake, they will correct it.

So in rare occasion that you have a complaint, remember to address it and address it quickly. You’re online reputation is on the line.

By: Chris Garrett Co-Author of Best Seller of ProBlogger, our celebrity blogger, Chris has helped thousands of individuals, non-profits, small businesses and blue chips make the most of the web.

One of the things that my Realtor clients and friends are great at with social media is “claiming territory“. What do I mean by that?

Well anyone in the real estate business will likely have a geographic area that they cover, care about, network, are expert in, and sell to. I expect most auto dealers would be the same (ignoring national internet sales for now).

When you look for a new home or business property, location is very important. If you want to test drive a car, or look at the inventory available, geography is also a factor. There are not many people willing to travel a thousand miles to check out a standard family car, though I might be persuaded if we were talking about a Tesla or Bugatti Veyron. Maybe.

Regional and local business can be crucial to your short term profit and long term profitability. By selecting a geographical area you get the double benefit of making your marketing budget go further and also becoming the trusted dealer for your locality. While in most cases people associate the internet, and especially social media, with international, there are many benefits to be had on a local level too.

If you search in Google using some search terms then do the same search while adding a city or county, you see the results change quite dramatically. Local results also influence the standard results, especially the paid results. Facebook advertising has some very granular targeting, check out the screen shot here.

You do not have to rely on advertising to target a locality though, you can do it through content too. Blog about the location and include regional Flickr photographs. Create videos that talk about the area and local prominent people.
Join in events and networking meetings, promote them in upcoming/linkedin/Facebook, then write them up in your blog and your Twitter/Facebook accounts.

Another tip you can get from your Realtor friends is they often connect with local businesses and trade communities, and help them connect to each other. By being a connector you get access to more local people and gossip than if you stand on the outside.

Bottom line is social media is not just useful at great distances, it also helps you connect better with people on your doorstep!

Do you have any examples of social media used at a local level? Please do share in the comments …

By: Chris Garrett Co-Author of Best Seller of ProBlogger, our celebrity blogger, Chris has helped thousands of individuals, non-profits, small businesses and blue chips make the most of the web.

If you thought you got to choose between looking after your search engine results and engaging in social media … think again.

Yes, as is so often the case with this kind of thing, the choice has been taken out of your hands. Social media messages and content are turning up in search results, whether you like it or not.

What does this mean?

Well, for a start, it means that Google is just dipping their collective gargantuan toes into these particular digital waters, and we should all brace ourselves for what might be just around the corner.

But right now it also means that you might have an opportunity, or perhaps a big problem on your hands.

Where before it would take some effort for a disgruntled ex-employee or customer to cause a huge headache for you, pretty soon (or even right now) it could be just a case of going on to Twitter and bad-mouthing your brand.

Real time results are not present for every search phrase but they are being rolled out. Bizarrely there is a real time result for my name. Think about that for a moment. Luckily I am not in the job market and my clients are not easily swayed by random opinions from Internet people, but if your customers are in the market for a new car and they put in the name of your dealership … well, let’s hope what they see is positive.

If your customers use Google then you need to be doing some reputation management. You need to react appropriately to social media brand mentions, either to support the positive or to mitigate the negative. Even if you are not monitoring your brand, it seems the search engines are, and this is only the beginning.

Happy New Year!

By: Chris Garrett Co-Author of Best Seller of ProBlogger, our celebrity blogger, Chris has helped thousands of individuals, non-profits, small businesses and blue chips make the most of the web.

Email is super important to any online business. As an auto dealer you will be using email to follow up leads and customers, to send out offers, keep your fans warm and loyal, and to post news and events.

Most people who have dismissed Twitter as noise and chitchat will not have realized that Twitter can be used in very much the same way, but also they compliment each other very well too.

Twitter is also an instant alert tool in a fashion. OK, not all of your followers will get your Tweet at once, but those who do can take action right away. Try doing that with a blog post or a postcard. This means it is perfect for snap offers or breaking news.

Do not overlook the traffic boosting ability of Twitter too. Just like when you send an email out you can get a big spike in page views to your dealer website or deal pages, but also through “retweets” you can get pass along traffic just like when someone forwards your email to a friend.

That page that you send people to? That could be a newsletter opt-in form, so your twittering can drive more email opt-ins.

Of course it works the other way too. When you send an email out, either from your personal account or from a newsletter, mention your Twitter page. It will drive more followers.

One advantage Twitter has over email is people do not get as irritated when you tweet often, but send more than one newsletter email in a day and you will likely lose subscribers. So while you have to ration your email delivery, with twitter if it is useful or interesting tweet away! I send the same link up to four times a day in Twitter to catch several time zones but I would never dream of repeating an email unless I made a mistake the first time.

While social media is seen as the new shiny thing, it is far better to integrate these tools into your existing best practices. Twitter and email get along famously!