The KBG. Komitet gosudarstvennoy bezopasnosti. The Committee for State Security for the former Soviet Union was one of the most feared agencies in history. Thankfully, this post isn’t about them. Here, we’re going to talk about a different type of KGB, the type that is plaguing social media on pages across the internet, hurting businesses and striking fear into the hearts of knowledgeable internet marketing professionals around the world. It’s the type of bad posts that were once thought to be effective but that have been debunked time and time again, yet so many businesses (and even vendors) continue to post them. Today’s social media KBG is this: Kitties Games/Giveaways Bogus Questions If you or your vendor are still using these things, stop immediately. They aren’t helping. In fact, they are hurting the cause of using social media as a proper advertising venue through which to increase business. Here’s why:   Kitties Don&rsq...Read post

Fort Lauderdale, FL – May 20th, 2013 — AutoUSA Internet Sales Solutions (www.autousadealers.com) today introduced Shop-By-Payment for Payment ProSM, powered by DriveItNow, a patent-pending next generation payment marketing tool that offers consumers a new way to shop on auto dealer websites. When a customer visits a dealer website with Shop-By-Payment, they are given the option to search inventory based on their desired monthly payment. The customer is prompted to enter in their name and a few details—no SSN or DOB required. Shop-By-Payment searches the available inventory based on their actual credit, the dealers’ current finance programs and returns a list of new and used vehicles that match the desired payment.   “Shop-By-Payment for Payment Pro revolutionizes the online auto shopping experience,” said Phil DuPree, President of AutoUSA. “Instead of searching for vehicles based on make, model or price, customers can now view and choose...Read post

Can you beleive it? The DrivingSales Executive Summit turns five this year. We've seen a natural progression of learning within the industry over the last several years and the DrivingSales Executive Summit has worked hard to contribute to the culture of dealership improvement based upon high level awareness and skills building. Read post

MarketingProfs recently revealed data by Curalate and Digitas, discussing the engagement of automotive brands and the automotive community on Pinterest. This information reinforces the need for dealerships to get involved on this social media site, and provides helpful information on when it is best to post your content. Below are details from the report that you may find useful for your interactions on Pinterest: 75% of the conversation and engagement around autos on Pinterest is being driven by the community, with only 25% of content originating from brands. Top automotive brands average three repins on every pin, whereas the community averages 10 repins per pin.   Are you using the right keywords? Are you pinning at the right time of day? Are you repinning enough? Are your images eye-catching? These are some questions you should be asking if your brand hasn’t received as much attention as you were hoping for from this social medi...Read post

I'm already regretting posting this before it's even written. It will likely go down as one of my late night rants that shouldn't have been posted, but hey, I've already started. Can't stop now. There's a trend in the industry that has been disturbing me for a few months now. I've been hard at work on a new social media service that combines the experience we've had doing advanced social media marketing outside of the automotive industry with the core of our business in digital marketing for car dealers. What I've learned during this exploration has been disheartening. It seems that the vast majority, both vendors and dealers, are missing the point when it comes to a social media presence. There is still a focus on getting fans regardless of why they clicked "like". There's still a trend towards posting humorous irrelevant pictures rather than taking the amazing base of content available in our industry and in the local area and mak...Read post

As the auto industry gets progressively more competitive, automotive dealerships and dealer groups have to find smarter and more creative ways to grow market share and sell more cars, and a website live chat software option is one of the best ways to achieve this. Read post

I remember working internet leads around the turn of the millenium. It was funny because at the time, there were many at the dealership who didn't even have an email address. My, how times have changed. There was a statement by the general manager that struck me and ended up sticking with me to this day. He was lecturing his brand new internet department, something that none of his competitors had. His internet department was... me. He told me, "Do whatever you can to get them in but don't treat them like real people unless they call or come by. They aren't real until they have a voice." Today, most dealers (and everyone on Driving Sales, I would hope) know that this is far from reality. Today, people are using the internet to do more than ever before. They're shopping your inventory while on test drives at a competitor. They're doing research from the toilet. It's a digital age. We all know that. What we often forget, particularly on social medi...Read post

There’s a case against Twitter and Pinterest that is being waged by some in the automotive industry. They’ll say that there simply isn’t a good return on investment, that they aren’t worth messing with because it’s just too hard to find a benefit from them. This is true until you look at one major factor: time. Twitter and Pinterest require very little time to maintain and keep vibrant. Before we get into the ways that dealers can streamline their efforts to make them more suited for a proper ROI, let’s first take a look at the three major aspects of them that make them worthwhile: Time Driven Algorithm – Unlike Facebook and Google+, the Pinterest and Twitter feeds are completely time driven. When you post something, it appears in the feeds of your followers immediately. Over time, they move down. This is a good thing for their purpose because they’re ideal for getting real-time engagement. Communication – At the end of the...Read post