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If I Tell More, Will I Sell More 
Should OEM’s be more active in helping their dealers in social media? I have my own opinions, but I want to start by asking the question and seeing how the community at Driving Sales feels.
Stop, think about how you currently feel, then read on.
As I’ve stated in previous posts, social media is a personal experience that is best handled on the local level when it comes to automotive. When I posted Car Dealer Social Media Basics: YouTube, the idea was that dealers would be able to have all of the tools that they needed to put together a proper video marketing plan. Brian Pasch did the same with Car Dealer Facebook Page Tips, and Paul Rushing showed us Automotive Blogging Advice - both of which are self-service, do-it-yourself style posts that dealers can use.
My next question is: “Why are we having to do this?”
Shouldn’t the manufacturers be putting out a gameplan for their dealers? Shouldn’ t they be offering training, support, and resources for their dealers to use when they’re ready to take the plunge into social media? I posted a long and “ranting” post about OEM’s and Social Media that didn’t quite address the problem, but at least brings to light that there is a problem. Do manufacturers realize it exists? Do dealers?
Vendors certainly do, and many are starting to take advantage of it. I often get sickened by some of the things recommended, but then I get equally impressed by many of the ideas that vendors are pouring out there for dealers. The biggest problem that dealers face today when it comes to social media is recognizing what is real and what will hurt.
That’s the challenge. Unlike other forms of marketing, social media done wrong can do much more damage than any other form of marketing.
It’s here where I would love to see the manufacturers get involved. They have resources that dealers do not in determining what social media strategies make sense and which ones do not. While I do not advocate an iron-fist-approach to dictating social media from a corporate level, I do believe that some guidance is desperately needed.
Will it happen? Of course. It should have happened already, and in some places with some manufacturers the ball is rolling.
Now, back to the original question: How active should OEM’s be in their dealers’ social media?
Tags: social media
@JD
I do believe that OEM’s have the best opportunity to leverage social media by creating tools and feeds that will make it easier for dealers to update their local blogs, twitter accounts and social media sites with great content.
For example, many OEM’s have a press release RSS feed. As you know, some of this stuff is very dry and written to a business community. Wouldn’t it be great if OEM’s created a social media RSS feed for dealers which leveraged their great content and photos. The feed would be written by someone who understands to voice that social media should have.
This custom feed could make it easy to push real-time articles, photos and videos to dealer staff involved in social media. The social media feed would allow them a rich set of content to draw from. Most OEM’s have 100x more content and photos that never reach their dealers or the newswires.
OEM Sponsored Blog Network
Another way dealers can be helped by OEM’s is through a blog network funded by the OWM. For example, if Honda provided a brand consistent skinned WordPress website or private technology for each dealer on a conistent URL, it could add content centrally as well as teach dealers how to blog locally.
In a sense, create a mini DrivingSales platform for each dealer, and benefit from cenral management tools and statistics collection.
Bell Honda in Phoenix for example, could be given an OEM platform called “bellhondanews.com”. Centrally managed CMS sites could push a customized, local keyword optimized article to each dealer’s blog in seconds. For example, if the 2010 Accord won an award, the OEM could write the piece and help dealers by pushing it down locally.
We have written tools like this for WordPress which can push an article to hundreds of sites and each article would have local keywords, messaging and unique links.
The combined effect of OEM customized articles and dealer local stories, videos and photos would go along way for communications in their local PMA as well as help with GPOM. I see teamwork as the best approach if OEM’s would get bold and make the first steps. Best of all, its really not expensive!
Some may argue that a car dealer blog should be 100% written by the local store but I disagree. With search and replace technology, a well written article can be customized for the local PMA and appear local. Since winning an award or launching a new model at a car show is a factual piece, it will still provide value to the reader.
Since some dealers will do nothing, the OEM’s contributions will keep things active until training and accountability for social engagement is part of the dealer agreements.
I like the idea of a newswire type resource to pull some OEM content. I know you kind of answered this question in your comments, but if the OEM’s get too involved won’t it looked canned? A cookie cutter template with national factory news?
IMHO, I agree on training and support over canned solutions. How much of this is the OEM’s lack of knowledge in social media and its importance?
Bart, it’s all about balance. If the OEM’s do nothing, like they have been, 50% of their dealers may do nothing or do it badly. A central feed does not have to look canned. If setup properly, the OEM’s can provide value, execution and scale that dealers can not afford.
I love the idea of having a social media feed that local dealerships could pick and choose from for content for their sites/pages/profiles/whatever. It would also have the advantage of setting the message even more the way the OEM wants it WITHOUT having to be heavy handed in their control of what the dealerships do.
It would also be great if the OEM’s did some research with their dealerships to find out who is effectively using which social media, created training based on that, and provided it to all of their dealers… even if it was only training videos or “how to” guides. It seems like this would be a no-brainer for the OEM, as it would cost very little and almost certainly result in more of their vehicles being sold.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Kurt Sedgwick and Los Angeles Honda, Boston Nissan. Boston Nissan said: How Active Should OEM’s be in their Dealers’ Social Media http://bit.ly/chXayk [...]
Having the OEMs speak for their dealers in social media channels has disaster written all over it. Their agenda’s are distinctly different.
We saw what happened when the OEMs democratized dealer websites and the results are confusing, bland cookie cutter websites with no community individuality. They serve the factory well, but do nothing to brand the dealership, their people or add value at the local level. The OEMs would have been much better off if they provided technical guidelines, basic branding requirements, and other integration specs, and then left the rest up to the dealers. Then give the lazy dealers the option to take the cookie cutter site.
Due to the love/hate relationship between dealers and OEMs it is inevitable that any solution offered will be inadequate for both. The dealer is the retailer of the product and other than offering guidance, advice and graphics, the OEMs should keep a “Hands off” attitude unless a dealer violates any of the rules or restrictions of the dealer agreement or other policies.
Good dealers will work with professioal companies who have the dealers interest at heart and work to insure the dealer presents themselves in a manner appropriate for these sites.
The cream always rises to the top.