Social Media

Posts Tagged ‘social media’

Dec 2009 30

To Follow? Or, Not To Follow?

2 Comments Posted in Tips, Tricks, and Use Cases

Your mother always told you not be a follower, right? Well, when we’re talking about Twitter, dealerships should forget mother’s words of wisdom. Unless you are Oprah Winfrey or some other outrageous celebrity, you must follow other twitterers to attract followers. You follow me?

The development of a Twitter following is based upon creative content. Three core principles will attract others to your dealership’s brand identity on Twitter:

interesting and recent tweet activity,

brand personality, and

consumer engagement.

So, who should you follow? By following your target demographic and automotive industry insiders, your dealership demonstrates your interest in what is current and what consumers want. Be in the know and see what Ford is tweeting every morning. Notice that Suzy Sunshine loves her new car from Blankety Blank Automotive Group and reply to her post.

As tweets from these twitterers introduce you to hot topics and comment on your customer service, your dealership has the opportunity to promote its identity and culture through your every retweet and @reply. The return on investment from these interactions can be seen realtime. Other twitterers will take notice and follow you, broadening the reach of your dealership’s brand. So, start following. Search.twitter.com/advanced is the perfect research tool to find followers in your target demographic.

Remember this: Everyone wants to feel special. In order to maintain your following:

Consumers will follow you for hot deals and promotions. 44% of people that follow a brand on Twitter cited exclusive offers as the main reason.

An occasional @reply or direct message to a consumer makes your dealership socially accessible. A dealership that caters to a consumer’s needs will be first in that customer’s mind when a purchase must be made.

Your tweets should be informative and unique enough to encourage other twitterers to retweet or share them. Pack those 140 characters with enticing language and link bait that will prompt sharing. When another twitterer retweets what you have said, you feel special. When yet another twitterer retweets what they retweeted from you, they feel special. Everybody wins as each retweet compounds the value of your original post.

Patience is essential in the development of your Twitter following. Although you will not be a Twitter celebrity overnight, keep posting regular and interesting content.

Tags: automotive, dealers, social media, Twitter

Dec 2009 09

Twitter, How Do You Do?

4 Comments Posted in Tips, Tricks, and Use Cases

In the words of Gary Vaynerchuk in his bestselling book Crush It!, “money follows eyeballs.” Twitter has taken over the world of popular culture and social media. From February 2008 to February 2009, Twitter’s membership grew 1382%. As you can see, the eyeballs are looking to Twitter and your dealership should too! It is a free and easy means to build brand equity and promote your dealership’s services. Essentially, if you have a thought, you have a tweet. Just format it into 140 characters and tweet away.

Dealers can use Twitter to extend the reach of their brand. Here’s how:

Showcase your dealership culture and personality. Is your dealership involved in community service? All of your dealership tweets are an opportunity for conversation.

Tweet inventory strategically. Release inventory tweets over the course of the day instead of all at once. This maximizes the impact of your tweets and increases your Twitter presence.

Publicize a promotion, service offer, or factory incentive. The immediate broadcast of your tweet reaches an ever growing network of consumers. Increased visibility means more potential for sales.

Interact with customers. Acting as a focus group and customer call center, Twitter allows direct communication with your customers. Tweet with them to understand how their feedback can build your brand.

Stay up on your competition. Be a voyeur and see what they are up to. It could help make your dealership more competitive.

The key to tweeting is authenticity, frequency, and creativity. Be yourself. Tweet on a regular basis. Unique and interesting tweets get more attention.

Happy Tweeting!

Tags: automotive, dealers, social media, Twitter

Nov 2009 20

GOSO talks to Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and Microsoft

6 Comments Posted in Conferences & Events

By: Liz Presson Brand Evangelist for GOSO, social media advocate, writer, PR, marketing professional. Central Michigan University Alum and food lover-Arlington Restaurant Bars Examiner.

GOSO President, Adam Boalt, is at Realtime CrunchUp asking poignant questions to key players in the social media industry.

Twitter COO Dick Costolo opened up the CrunchUp event. As we all know, Twitter is one of the hottest social networks and the site has fallen under a bit of controversy of late due to its $1 billion valuation.

Adam started the first Q&A session of the event by asking Dick Costolo about Twitter revenue. First he asked, is the current revenue $4 million? And, of equal importance, where does this revenue come from?

Costolo vaguely responded by stating, “It’s not $4 million, it’s higher. From a variety of sources.” He did not continue to list any specific areas as to where the money may come from.

The suggested users list that appears when a new account is created has been said to generate revenue for Twitter. But, when Adam asked if the suggested users feature generates dollars, Costolo explicitly said no. He said, “The suggested user list is totally non-financial. It’s a super-primitive mechanism.”

In another session, “Filtering The Stream Roundtable,” Adam was able to speak with key players such as, Facebook, VP of Product, Chris Cox, Microsoft, GM of FUSE Labs, Lili Cheng, Facebook, VP of Platform, Bret Taylor, Google, Google Fellow, Amit Singhal, Seesmic, CEO Loic Le Meur, and MySpace, Chief Product Officer, Jason Hirschhorn.

As GOSO works with the APIs of these networks, Adam’s interest was in how the networks will work together. So, he inquired about the terms of use. He asked, how do the networks plan on having a consolidated real-time data stream if all of the terms of use are different.

He went on to ask, “How do the social networks align in that respect? A standardization of rules? Like Facebook’s new rules. What if something on Twitter goes over to Facebook and it’s against terms of service?”

Bret Taylor spoke for Facebook by saying that over time, specifically the next year, that there will be a big effort in simplifying terms of use. He stated, “I expect simplification to be huge for all of us.” He went on to explain that the networks will not have the same terms, but they will be better. He contended that Facebook’s terms are in place to stop automated spam.

Other panelists did not seem to pose finite answers to the question. Simple shrugs and “I don’t knows” were vaguely offered.

Tags: events, Facebook, social media, techcrunch, technology, Twitter

Nov 2009 10

5 Ways Social Networks Can Help Build and Retain a Dealership Customer Base

6 Comments Posted in Tips, Tricks, and Use Cases

By: Liz Presson Brand Evangelist for GOSO, social media advocate, writer, PR, marketing professional. Central Michigan University Alum and food lover-Arlington Restaurant Bars Examiner.

1. Social networking can build trust and familiarity.

When a dealership becomes a resource for its followers by offering valuable information it builds credibility, which is an advantageous asset for any dealership. This information should include news on the brand(s) that the dealer carries, community news and other engaging pieces on the automotive industry in general.

As a customer finds the dealership’s presence to be of value, they will become familiar with the name and personality of the establishment, thus building top of the mind awareness. A Twitter follower or Facebook page fan may not be on the market for a vehicle, but the opportunity could arise at any time.

2. Social networks allow the dealership to keep up with the relationship throughout the entire customer life-cycle.

The decision to purchase a vehicle can be a lengthy process, and the opportunity to sell to one particular customer again and again does not present itself as much as it may with other products. Social media creates the opportunity to stay in tune with a customer throughout the life-cycle. A dealership can now catch the consumer as the buying process begins and stay connected throughout.

3. Reach networks, not just individuals.

A point that may be quite obvious– the type of consumer that utilizes social media like to share. So, when a dealership touches one person through a social network, there is actually the potential to reach their friends, and friends of friends, and so on.

4. Customer service: social networks provide a platform to answer questions and more importantly, put out fires before they spread.

Social networks provide an open forum to answer customer questions. Twitter is a wonderful place to answer questions and address concerns, because anyone following the dealership will see the response, therefore informing the whole audience of the answer.

Those who use social networks often speak about their experiences as consumers. This can be both positive and negative. But, as most of us know, the disgruntled customers are more likely to comment about their experience than the pleased, happy customers. If a dealership is “listening” for their social mentions, concerns can be addressed head-on and diffused. After all, there’s no greater asset than reputation.

5. Feedback from social networks can help a dealership capitalize on testimonials and improve upon negative aspects of the customer experience.

Feeding off of number 4, social networking can help the dealership capitalize on its positive attributes and fix any negative features. Again, the monitoring of social mentions becomes ever important in order to successfully utilize online feedback. Positive mentions on social networks not only are visible to a plethora of potential customers, but can also be “retweeted” or “reposted.” On the other hand, negative comments can be used as a catalyst for change. The dealership can change according to customer opinion. People will appreciate that their opinions matter, and it can make a world of difference when they’re choosing a place to buy.

Tags: automotive, branding, dealers, social media

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