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.

It was interesting reading Chris Brogan’s post about talking about yourself. It came at a time when I have been criticized for “teaching too much”. Apparently some people think giving advice is somehow patronizing and condescending (or maybe both, I am not quite sure).

These thoughts combined to make me seriously consider how we decide what to talk about, how to tune that over time, and how to guage the success of that.

One of the diagrams I often use in my talks is this one featured below:

It is the simplest approach and the one that works best in most situations.

Now there will always be exceptions to this rule. I am sure the vast majority of successful bloggers and social media folks do not conciously seek out the opinions and preferences of their audience before writing. We do however soon learn what our community reacts to and it is a rare writer who goes against what works on purpose.

This does not mean that we should pander. Even though I have been blasted for doing “too much how-to” there is no way I am going to stop. Why should I? Yes, I have received some strident feedback, but the feedback I received was one person’s diatribe and not the opinion shared by most of my readers across the many blogs that I write for.

We tend to listen to the loudest voices but a vocal minority can scupper what we set out to acheive. One complaint does not a trend make!

Here is my basic strategy:

• Work out through conversation and research what your community most wants and needs, what their common challenges are, what they most want to achieve.
• Help people towards those goals and encourage feedback.
• Listen to the feedback you get and judge it based on repetition, sincerity and sanity.
• Observe and record your metrics.
• Look out for trigger events (eg. subscriptions going up or down, traffic spikes, comment ratios, etc).
• Tweak and tune.

As Chris says in the linked article, there are a lot of sites out there that are useless and boring because they are self referential. On the other hand, many of us flock to self-referential celebrities because their autobiographical stories give us a taste of an aspirational lifestyle. And yet, I wouldn’t really want to read a book review written by Paris Hilton. What works for one or the other will not necessarily work for you, but it does not make it wrong just a bad fit.

Bottom line: Your peers, gurus or outspoken critics are not the people who should be telling you what to write about, and you should not try to cater to them over your community as a whole. You will never please everyone, focus on your target audience and reaching your goals. Do not be distracted from your priorities.

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.

Craigslist is a very popular platform for posting automotive classifieds. The simple reason is that it works. Many dealerships have found relative success on their local Craigslist pages.

The problem is Craigslist wants to make sure that their classifieds are not overrun with marketers and spam. Craigslist readers are also looking for that. So the free-for-all posting glory days of the past are being slowed.

How is Craigslist fighting back?

They have been pretty clear from the onset that Posting Agents are a no, no. So be cautious of any third party company that is in the business of posting on Craigslist. Ask them how they get around the Terms of Use.

Craigslist is pretty clear in their TOU that posting agents are not allowed.

Craigslist defines a posting agent as…

…a third-party agent, service, or intermediary that offers to post Content to the Service on behalf of others. To moderate demands on craigslist’s resources, you may not use a Posting Agent to post Content to the Service without express permission or license from craigslist.  Correspondingly, Posting Agents are not permitted to post Content on behalf of others, to cause Content to be so posted, or otherwise access the Service to facilitate posting Content on behalf of others, except with express permission or license from craigslist.
Read More »

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.

When a brand is appearing in conversations, what should you do?

1. Listen, observe?
2. Get involved?
3. Do nothing?

What about when you are associated with the brand, but do not own or manage it?

I imagine there are a lot of Toyota dealerships mulling over this question right now. From what I have seen using Twitter search, most are selecting choices #1 and #3.

You might ask why I care. Well, my wife’s car is a Toyota. She has only owned it a couple of months. We haven’t had any communication, online or off, since we bought it other than to fill in a satisfaction survey.

We are not concerned. This isn’t a case of buyers remorse or even a complaint.

It does, however, show the real benefit of keeping in contact with your customers and prospective customers.

If we are not getting the news and information that we want and need then we are going to listen to people who have nothing of value to share but who are going to share it anyway. Twitter, Facebook etc are full of conversation about Toyotas, just not much that is helpful.

Toyota has been getting the word out using a variety of tactics including search and display ads, inviting Digg users to a Q&A with executives and Facebook, Twitter and YouTube text and video updates. If I was a dealer I would be sharing all this good stuff, plus making sure every one of my customers and prospects was

• Aware of the facts
• Aware of the myths and false info
• Aware there are people listening and ready to answer questions

You could just turn a tricky situation into one where you are seen as a real, caring customer advocate …

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!