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Just When You Thought You Had Nothing To Tweet……

May 9, 2012 in Best Practices, Social Media Marketing | Tags: Twitter ideas, things to Tweet, list of posts, dealership Tweets | by liquidmotors | Leave a comment

Are you totally Twittered-out? Is your mind blank, as you stare cluelessly at your computer screen, your fingers frozen above the keyboard? Oh, I recognize this frustrating syndrome all too well, the frustration comes into play when you are stumped! You have simply Tweeted and Twittered your heart out, and can think of nothing else worthy of posting.

Hopefully I can help in your quick recovery! Here is list of ideas that I bet has something on it that is worthy of a Tweet which you might have over-looked……

Trivia tweets about the history of your dealership and your brand(s)

News and announcements from your brand

Interesting news from and about the auto industry

Tweet weekly deals, coupons, specials and sales announcements

Tweet daily tips on your vehicles – seasonal car maintenance, driving in different weather conditions, recalls…

Announce a “fan-of-the-week” with some incentives or freebies to the winners and then post pics of them and their winnings

Recognize your “employee-of-the-week” (-month or –quarter) with an ‘at a boy, and post a pic of them

Post your dealership’s blog updates along with the link

Ask for input on what blog topics your followers want to read

Share the upcoming events at the dealership and follow-up by Tweeting pictures afterwards

Share the community and fund-raising events you are participating in and follow-up by Tweeting pictures afterwards

Post light-hearted one-liners, jokes, quotes, daily inspirations for some fun

Tweet about local and national upcoming sporting events

Post dealership milestones, awards and recognition

Tell people about open job positions and opportunities at your dealership

Invite people to share their experiences with their new car and with your dealership, even better if they post a picture

Search your brand name and respond to tweets that are about you

Participate in the relevant hashtags – which will get you more visibility

Follow people and make acknowledgement via tweets

Show your appreciation by thanking those people who have recently followed you

Direct people to all your social media efforts (facebook, LinkedIn, Word Press…) by tweeting about them

Post a photo of a cool concept car, your sales and service departments, your favorite booths at NADA….

Tweet well wishes to everyone for all the holidays

Recognize the many National Awareness Months – Safety Month, Car Care Month, Crime Prevention Month, and many more….

Followers love a daily “tweet-greet” – tell them “good morning”, wish them well…

Ask your followers for responses or stories – What was their first car, When and why did they get their first traffic ticket, What is their favorite car, What was the longest driving vacation they have taken…..

I hope this list has helped, and look forward to reading your Tweets!

A Blog Before it’s Time

March 1, 2012 in Best Practices, Social Media Marketing | by Terry Holbrook | Leave a comment

Have you ever written a blog or read one and thought, “What is that, I will never use that information!” Well, I think my blog on Facebook rankings may have been one of those, it was a little ahead of it’s time for our industry. Here is some great information and I hope it makes a difference in your efforts. Facebook fan pages are a great marketing tool for any business – if used properly. We all know most people become fans of your business on FB because they are looking for special deals or content they can’t get without extensive research, such as recalls or new rebates. So once you build your fan base, how do you stay engaged with them?

Have you ever wondered why certain company’s or people’s post always shows up on your FB page, while others you just never see? This is not by accident; there is a formula that RANKS each post.

At the highest level of this algorithm it is very simple, every item that shows up in your news feed is considered an Object and all Objects are ranked.

Here is the formula:

Affinity * Weight * Time Decay = Rank

Definitions:

Affinity = score between viewing user and content creator
• First, there’s an affinity score between the viewing user and the item’s creator — if you send your friend a lot of Facebook messages and check their profile often, then you’ll have a higher affinity score for that user than you would, say, for an old acquaintance you haven’t interacted with in years.
Weight = create, comment, like, tag, etc…volume
• Second, there’s a weight given to each type of Object. A comment has more importance than a Like, for example.
Time Decay = how long ago the content was created
• And finally there’s the most obvious factor — time. The older an Object is, the less important it becomes.
STOP! I know what you’re thinking, and no, you don’t have to do all the manual calculations yourself to determine if you are doing a good job. Tools have already been created for you to check the Rank of your Facebook fan page. Follow these steps:

1. Go to your Facebook account and click “Insights” (on the far left), then export the insights data as CSV and download to your computer. NOTE: You must be the admin of your FB page to export this data.

2. Visit www.edgerankchecker.com and follow the instructions.

Now that you have your score, see how you stack up:
0-3 is below average
4-7 is average
7+ is above average
And scores above 20 (such as Coca Cola and Pringles) are excellent!

So how do you improve your post ranking?

This is the part that is very simple. What do YOU like to see as a consumer when you visit posts or pages?

• Post content that attracts interaction
o Ask questions that will encourage a response
• Ask people to “Like” your content, and do the same for them
• Use media as much as possible in your post. Video and Pictures =WIN!

Another way to improve your ranking is to eliminate some of your “dead fans”, fans who are in a different country or Spam Fans that you know will never comment and are not even close to your area. This will help: # of Fans / # of interactions = Affinity weight.

I wish you all great success with your FB and Social Media efforts. If you have any questions or want to improve your Social Media efforts, don’t hesitate to leave a comment or call me. In addition, if you need custom FB applications to market your vehicles, parts and service, or need to monitor your reputation, Liquid Motors can help. Please take a minute to “Fan” us on FB and “Like” this blog.

Going Social

December 15, 2011 in Best Practices, Social Media Marketing | Tags: facebook, media marketing, twitter | by jimcrocco | Leave a comment

The Internet has definitely changed the way people shop for products and services. Instead of having to get in their car and drive around to get information about their next product or service everything is now right at their fingertips. It is this simple fact that has made prices for goods and services even more competitive than ever. They days of having a captive market you could sell to at any price are pretty much over. Buyers are in some cases even more knowledgeable about your products than your own sales personnel. So if all things are equal why would someone buy from a company if the price is identical at a store 10 miles closer to home? This is where the wonderful world of Social Media Marketing comes in to play.

Sites such as Facebook and Twitter started out as a way for individuals to information amongst the people they know and trust. I use the keyword TRUST here strategically. Soon social media made a shift into the business world. If individuals can communicate amongst each other it only made sense that businesses could share the latest and greatest about their companies. Now just like before we ever had these networking sites or even the Internet for that matter people tended to buy goods and services from people they trusted. They did not have elaborate sites such as Facebook to instantly share their experiences they communicated with the people they know around their towns.

The main benefit of going social is that it gives businesses a way to become more visible not just to the masses but to the people’s most inner circle within these masses. By building a level of trust with one person that “fans” your page you instantly gain the trust of the people that trust “their” opinion.

Social media marketing needs to be a conversation, a natural process people use to communicate and connect with one another.

How flexible are you in your marketing efforts?

August 12, 2011 in Best Practices, Industry News, Inventory Management, Lead Management, Social Media Marketing, Vehicle Marketing | by Kyle Oyakawa | Leave a comment

I was browsing through the latest delivery of one of Dealer Communications eNewsletters when an article caught my eye – “Consumer Reports Index: Sentiment Plunges To Lowest Level Since December 2009”. Being a person who likes to look at surveys and statistics, I began to read through the article. The article contains survey data and analysis conducted by Consumer Reports around various categories including consumer outlook, financial troubles, employment, stress and purchase behavior. Besides being an interesting read, at least to me, the article also got me thinking about how this information could be used to help increase the marketing effectiveness of a business.

The overall findings in the Consumer Reports study are a bit depressing:
• Consumer sentiment dropped to 43.4 a 5.1 point drop in only one month – this indicates a more pessimistic consumer attitude toward their finances.
• Financial difficulties were reported 10 points higher than the previous month at 60.6 – indicating many more households are experiencing problems paying bills.
• The Employment Index fell to 49 another drop from the previous month and reportedly the largest monthly drop in 2 years.

So what got me thinking about marketing in the midst of all of these woeful numbers? By reading between the lines and looking at the secondary points within the article, you can find data on which categories are faring the best. While the overall consumer outlook is bad, the report indicates the most optimistic consumer groups are ages 18-34 and households with $100k or more income. Consumer retail behavior was actually up from the previous month despite the negative outlook. Vehicle purchases remained static month to month and forecast for new car purchases are expected to increase in following months. Looking at these points, it is possible to see where your marketing efforts and money might best be spent.

So how flexible are you in your marketing efforts? Are you able to review data such as this and make changes based on your analysis or are you locked into doing the same things month after month. I am not suggesting you should make a massive change to your philosophy based on a single article or report but imagine how much more efficient capitalizing on current situations would be. The phrase ‘throwing good money after bad’ comes to mind; being locked into committing time and money pursuing markets that are returning less and less results or are predicted to do so is counter-productive.

So take a look at this study and let us know what you think. How flexible are your marketing efforts and have you seen a return on investment from being flexible? If you wish to see the article in its original post, it can be found here: Consumer Reports

Now Entering the Social Arena – Google

July 8, 2011 in Social Media Marketing | by Kyle Oyakawa | 2 comments

Google has, after a great deal of time, false-starts, and speculation, entered into the Social game with their latest offering – Google+. Google+ is Google’s long anticipated response to Facebook. It is still in its early infancy and currently an invitation-only format where you must be invited to join. This is similar to how they rolled out Gmail with ever-increasing numbers of people able to create accounts. You can visit https://plus.google.com to add your name to the list for future invites if you wish. Should businesses start salivating over another Social Media opportunity in Google+?
First of all, after initial reports of corporations like Ford jumping in with both feet, Google has announced that it does not want businesses to begin launching accounts on Google+ just yet. They have stated they want the program to be for individuals for now but will be launching business profiles by the end of the year. (http://www.clickz.com/clickz/news/2086707/google-brands-fast)
Google has provided an additional sign-up form directed at businesses however – here . The details around this portion of the program are vague at this point but Google does state there is no guarantee of acceptance and that “test profiles will be retired when we launch our business product”. So the benefits of participating as a business are unknown at this point.
Should you sign up for the business profile waiting list? While the potential benefits may not be concrete at this time, what would it hurt? Worst-case scenario would be that you get denied or never make the cut. Maybe you do make the cut but then have to create a new account once the trial period is over. I would guess Google would offer a way to carry over your trial account’s followers but that is just speculation on my part. Conversely, what could be the harm of not signing up? Again, speculation here, but there is a chance of the trial accounts getting preferential placement in line for the full-blown business accounts once they are available. Also, it might be nice to experiment and learn the new system while it is still in ‘trial mode’.
Will Google+ be a true competitor of Facebook and/or will it be another potential benefit to businesses? Only time will tell for certain but Google obviously has some strong factors on its side. Not the least of these benefits is Google’s large cash reserves of over $30 billion – that’s a lot of money to throw at any problems that might arise. Google is also the dominant player in Search Engines. Recently, I wrote a post regarding Microsoft’s Bing search engine and mentioned their partnership with Facebook to tie search and social media together. Google has a potential advantage in this area in that it would control both areas under one large umbrella and it already has a leg up in search.
There are some glaring negatives for Google+ however. Possibly the most difficult obstacle Google will face will be the firm entrenchment Facebook has in the Social arena. There are so many users already on Facebook with all of their friends already established that it may be hard to entice them onto a new platform. While many will jump on board just because it is the ‘new’ thing, there may be just as many if not more who are unwilling to start over or do double effort. There is also Google’s past attempts at entering the social game – Google Buzz and Google Wave. Heard of those? Probably not so much unless it was in regards to the class-action lawsuit about privacy rights. Not Google’s finest hour by any means.
So check out Google+ – http://www.google.com/intl/en-US/+/demo/ and http://www.google.com/+/learnmore/ . Temper your expectations and decide whether this is something you want to try out. At the very least, I would recommend adding yourself to the personal account waiting list just to see if you can get in and experience the application from a user’s perspective. Google+ may be another failure but it may also be the next big thing in Social Marketing.
Let us know what you and your dealership plan to do!

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