A Blog Before it’s Time

March 1, 2012 in Best Practices, Social Media Marketing | by | 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.

Are You a Sales Professional?

February 29, 2012 in Best Practices | by | Leave a comment

If you ask me, being in sales is the best profession you can be in! Sales is one of the highest paying professions in the world. Now, some people may disagree and say being in sales isn’t for everyone. Think about it, from an early age we were all sales professionals. We would ask our parents for something and get a “no”, but we would keep asking in different more creative ways, until we got a “yes”. Being in sales can be tough, there can be so much rejection to deal with on a daily basis. A great sales professional has to remain positive and accept rejection as a “maybe” instead of a “no”. Most sales professionals will typically hear “no” a thousand times a day just to hear one “yes”, and when you hear “yes”, it is truly a sense of accomplishment! Have you ever worked with someone in sales and it seems everything comes so easy for them? Study this person and you will see that they are always prepared, confident, free-spirited, and ready to take on any task at hand. If you have been in sales for a while, or you are just starting out, remember that YOU are in charge of your own destiny and nobody is holding you back. Take charge of your destiny, be a kid-at-heart and don’t take “no” for an answer!

Repeat After Me…..

February 24, 2012 in Best Practices, Social Media Marketing, Vehicle Marketing | by | Leave a comment

Repeat after me, “Facebook and Twitter are not selling tools”, again, but louder, “FACEBOOK AND TWITTER ARE NOT SELLING TOOLS!”, again….
`I can’t tell you how frustrating it is to see auto dealerships continuing to sell on these social (repeat…SOCIAL) networking sites. When I posted a tweet earlier, I saw that a dealership had posted 14 different tweets about 14 different listings. How frustrating, and somewhat insulting, for a potential customer to get on their Twitter or Facebook account to socialize and engage, just to find their account full of annoying sales pitches! These sites are not advertising tools, they are PR tools and you are the spokesperson. Be engaging and interesting and be part of the conversations about your brand and with your community. Don’t be the “stereotypical car salesman” that has gone to the Internet to find his prey. That approach doesn’t work in person, so what makes you think it will work online?

Life Before the Internet

February 23, 2012 in Best Practices | by | Leave a comment

What did we do before the Internet came out in 1993? Just think, most of us were kids without a care in the world, funny how things change! Initially, everyone was trying to figure out what a modem was and why they weren’t connected. Remember the obnoxious dial-up tone? You just waited….waited….waited….and as soon as you finally got connected, someone would call in and knock you off. How annoying! Nowadays we can “get connected” anywhere – in stores, coffee shops, airports, even outside! It’s amazing when you think about how much we depend on the Internet and how it has taken over our lives. Everywhere you go, someone is always online with their phone, laptop or iPad checking their email or surfing the net. We have come a long way since 1993! When I was young we played outside, these days kids would rather play on the Internet. In so many ways the Internet has made our lives simpler, however, I sure do miss those simpler times! Makes you wonder what could possibly be the next great invention to top the Internet?

Another fact about 1993….. The number one hit song was Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love you”.

The Importance of Time to Market

February 20, 2012 in Best Practices, Vehicle Marketing | by | Leave a comment

There are a lot of benefits in finding a single, full-cycle inventory management provider. The main benefit, that I cannot stress enough, is time to market. After talking with a handful of dealerships the other day, I was amazed at how many different service providers they were using to manage everything from pricing, lot services, inventory management and distribution. After taking a long hard look at their current processes, I saw it was taking up to 3 days (and sometimes longer) from the time a car hit their lot to the time it was showing up on their 3rd party marketing sites! It might not sound like a lot of time in the grand scheme of things, but in the marketing world where time is money these dealers are losing nearly 10% of potential leads they could be generating over the course of a 30-day period. Just think…if you are one of those dealers, those 3 days might have caused you to miss the perfect buyer or a potential buyer…who bought a car from the competition down the road simply because the car they were looking for from your dealership was nowhere to be found.

To learn more about how we are helping dealerships across the country speed their time to market give us a call.

First Time to NADA

February 17, 2012 in Best Practices, Industry News, Vehicle Marketing | by | Leave a comment

I attended my first NADA this year, and what better place to do so than in Las Vegas! Being a true car guy at heart I was pretty excited about the convention. It was great to finally see some of the vendors that I had done business with over the past 15 years while I managed a dealership. I was really surprised to see how many opportunities for improvement are out there for dealers. Sometimes as dealers we have tools in our store but don’t understand the full functionalities of them, so we just get by with the basics. I know I personally, along with my former staff, are guilty as charged. I can assure you it was not because we did not want to get better, to be honest, we just did not know any different. I promise you, it would be in your best interest to get the necessary training so you can optimize the full benefit of your Internet tools!

If you have never been to NADA, you owe it to yourself to go at least one time. I would recommend you walk the entire show on day one, then go back the next 2 days to the companies that caught your eye and get more details. I can assure you, you will learn something new, I know I did!

Ferris Bueller is up to his old antics

February 1, 2012 in Industry News | by | Leave a comment

We are headed to Vegas for NADA on Friday and it just so happens that NADA is on the same weekend as the Super Bowl. You know what that means….COMMERCIALS! Oh, and football of course. In case you haven’t seen this Honda commercial yet, it’s a must watch. Who doesn’t love “Ferris Buellers Day Off”??? I have many fond childhood memories of this movie and think Honda did it right with this one! Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhkDdayA4iA

I will take the Night Vision HUB windshield please!

January 31, 2012 in Best Practices | by | Leave a comment

It has been a long time since my blog was anything other than informative in nature, so when I came across this I just had to share, I hope you enjoy!

How about a new Acura with an MSRP of $9,229,000.00 !!!

Well here you go, it’s the 2012 Acura Stark Industries Super Car and comes fully equipped with a palm-scan ID steering wheel, enviro-clone projected hologram of surroundings, self-detonating recon drone, night-vision HUD windshield, and oh so much more. Did I mention the car gets 234 mpg?

OK, back up for a minute what in the world is a self-detonating recon drone? LOL.

What made me really laugh was the list of Standard – No Additional Charge items:
Operating/Durability Features:
• Palladium-powered 80,000 TOHC 32-valve engine with titanium-forged block and nitrous fuel-injection system.
• 9 Speed HYPER-Shift transmission
• Diamond quartz cross-drilled brake calipers
• Steering wheel with palm-scan ID
• Lithium Dioxide-injecting shocks
• Reflex-response steering column with target guidance feedback
• Super-scan theft-deterrent modulator
Defense Systems:
• Info-net sensory tracker system
• Invisa-shield exo-system wave modifier
• Enviro-clone projected hologram of surroundings
• Thermal imaging topography mapping software
• Emergency homing beacon
• Self-detonating recon drone
Exterior Features
• Advanced radar-deflecting capabilities with wave modifier
• Bullet and foreign element-proof clear coat and metal skin
• Night-vision HUD windshield
• Bulletproof hyper-traction tires
• High-grade tint with radar bounce and jam capabilities
• Intermittent blue and red tech flashers in all light assemblies
• Underbody kit with aero-dynamic spoiler lip
• Black-night painted-wheels with particle matter technology
Tactical Package
• Anti-ballistic shielding body panels
• Incoming scan scrambler
• Low-density plasma emitters with UV flares
• Encrypted computer with backup-powered interface and satellite link

My absolute favorite part of the entire car is this:

Is this for real? Well, if you follow the Sundance Film Festival in Park City you would have seen this bad boy on display as part of a brilliant promotion for the culmination of the Marvel superhero movies with the May release of The Avengers.

Well I hope you got a laugh out of this like I did, and please stop by and say hello at our booth 3229 in Las Vegas this weekend at NADA, I would love to meet you all face to face.

Your Vehicles Need Photos!

January 26, 2012 in Best Practices, Vehicle Marketing | by | Leave a comment

Over the weekend, my husband and I were looking for cars online on Autotrader. We are about to add another little one to our family so we need a larger SUV. We have just begun the search and haven’t narrowed down what we want exactly, so we were checking out a few different makes and models just to see what is out there. Being in the auto industry, I am not the best person to look at these sites since I look at them daily. And yes, I was instantly annoyed by the lack of information the dealers in our area provide on their vehicles! Being the main “chauffer” for our children, I have a list of must-haves such as: captains seats, 3rd row seating, DVD player and remote start. We started the search by looking at Expeditions to see what the interior was like and what kind of leg room the car had – and let me tell you how frustrated we got by the lack of interior pictures! Again, I expected it, but it really was ridiculous! I can’t tell you how many cars we started looking at and as soon as we noticed that there were no interior pictures we were on to the next car. Even if the vehicle had notes and said it had everything we wanted, we didn’t look any further. Why not take pictures to back it up…a picture is worth a thousand words right? I will say across the board, and not just in the case of Expeditions or any dealer in particular, the amount of pictures was really disappointing. Luckily we have some time to decide on what vehicle we want – but instead of conveniently going online, we might be forced to go the dealership from the get-go to see with our own eyes what the interiors look like.

Remember That Customer Loyalty Must Be Earned

January 24, 2012 in Best Practices | by | Leave a comment

Not long ago, I went to the local Ford dealership with my giddy, newly-licensed daughter. She walked briskly about 15 steps ahead of me, occasionally glancing back with the stereotypical teenage eye-roll indicating her frustration that I wasn’t walking as fast and that I apparently did not share her level of excitement. By that evening, both of us were rather excited. Not only had her dreams of car ownership come true, but I had traded in my previous ride for a big, beautiful shiny new truck. We were happy women! Not only was I content that I was driving off in a vehicle with that wonderful new car smell, I was content knowing that I “owned” that salesman! I had just blessed the guy with not only 1, but 2 fairly quick and simple car sales and my expectations were nothing short of high. I had visions of coupons, offers, free oil changes and inspections – all sorts of “ass-kissing” coming from our grateful salesman.

As we all know, customer loyalty is the heartbeat of any thriving dealership. Fostering true customer loyalty requires some creativity and initiative on your part – but just a little effort will result in BIG rewards. Studies show that if you increase customer retention by just 5%, you could increase profits by a whopping 25% or more! It seems crazy then, that according to NADA and J.D.Powers, almost 90% of retail customers are never contacted after delivery. NEVER!

So here I am, just a stat. I fall into that 90% because after the painless sale of 2 automobiles, the salesman has never bothered to contact me. EVER. In fact, I had the hassle of calling him numerous times to get the window tinting done on the vehicles, that he so graciously “threw in” for us. Unfortunately, customer turnover is a fact of business life, but with a little appreciative TLC from the dealership, I would have faithfully returned, over-and-over. Silly salesman, my daughter was only the first of 3 eventual teenage drivers in our household.

Luckily we are more than satisfied with the vehicles we purchased, we LOVE them – and I will admit, they are affectionately known to us as “Shelby” and “Ladybug”. Yes, somewhat goofy, my truck has a name. Goofier than that, however, is that I cannot recall the name of the man that sold me Ladybug, seems he foolishly never gave me reason to!

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