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Social Networking - Are your priorities in order?

by Paul Rushing on Wednesday, September 9th, 2009 at 6:33 pm

Automotive Social MediaAttracting new customers via social networking is an arduous task. There are two ways to attract new business using these mediums, advertising and building connections. In a B2B environment it works wonders because all participants have a common goal, improving their bottom line.

In a B2C environment social networking/social media is not a prospecting tool,it is more of a CRM function. Businesses that look to attract retail customers need to understand that a myspace profile, facebook page and twitter account is best suited for use as follow up tools not lead generation.

B2C organizations can generate revenue in social networking environments and that is the end goal, build a list of raving fans who constantly buy and send new business. Your primary purpose is staying in contact with your customers with social networking.

For B2C organizations who are looking for an quick return on investment social networking may not be the answer. When you are just starting out using these venues you are the same as the green pea salesperson who has no client list. You will also quickly discover that over 70% of your real life connections do not participate in social networking just as the green pea soon discovers that not all of her “friends” will buy from her.

My business has been completely built using inbound marketing. I have landed clients from my participation here at DrivingSales, Ralph’s ADM and Car Dealer Social and many clients have come from referrals via connections in these networks and happy customers.  These efforts are not our best lead gen tools, no more than social profiles will be for B2C companies.

Our best lead generation tool is Google.com, Yahoo.com and Bing.com, because we own the right keywords due to aggressive Search Engine Optimization.  While SEO is not the only way to bring search engine traffic it is the most cost effective and brings more value long term than search engine marketing.

deer_in_the_headlightsWhat we have to understand as marketers who wish to attract new customers we have to go where our customers are.  If we were to walk into a dealership and mention the three networks referenced above to the dealer principal or general manager you would get a deer in the headlights look from that decision maker over 90% of the time.  I know from from personal experience many do not even recognize the main networking sites and resources such as car dealer marketing on craigslist other than their IT person has blocked access to them on all of the dealerships computers.

Social networking is real time, what happens today may not be found tomorrow.  Robert Scoble from Rackspace explained that if you want to get into Google and for that content to “stick” the best device is a blog.  I will add that if you want to develop a strong online marketing presence you need to start with search and understand that Social Media is not primarily a marketing function and probably deserves the least amount of attention until you have search nailed.

I pointed this out in a comment at Gary May’s blog post about social media:

  • - 227,636,000 Internet users in the USA as of June, 2009, 74.1% of the population, according to Nielsen Online.
  • - Only 75,000,000 US users on Facebook Their Numbers
  • - 89% of adult web surfers use search engines. - PEW Internet
  • - Facebook is smoking twitter in growth numbers and most users are “cross pollinated”

It would be safe to assume that ratio of facebook users who also use search engines is close to 100%.  By not concentrating on search first you are missing opportunities that will never find you in social media.  Not to mention the right initiatives in the search arena, a blog, will help fuel your social media exposure.

Still confused by the social media vs search equation?  Leave a comment below or feel free to give me a call or shoot me an email.

Paul Rushing
912-266-1629
www.dealerbytes.com
SEGA Systems, LLC
“Without Traffic Everything Fails”
paul@dealerbytes.com
Chat Google Talk: parushing Skype: parushing
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32 comments

  1. JD Rucker says:

    I almost completely agree. Almost.

    The only part that I think is missing is that social media is an excellent tool for use in SEO as well as reputation management. Social Networking profiles rank so well when properly managed that 3rd party vendors, competitors, and negative reviews can be pushed off of the first page on searches for a dealer’s name.

    The link-building aspect of social news and social networking cannot be overlooked as an SEO tool.

    Finally, social networking is still an emerging segment of marketing. Sales and connections, while limited today, will increase over time. The chances of selling a car as a result of a Facebook fanpage was pretty much non-existent 6 months ago. Today, it’s challenging, but it does happen. Tomorrow - who knows?

    Otherwise, the idea that search is more important than social still holds true, so from that perspective I agree with Paul.

    • Paul Rushing says:

      Ignoring social is not an option, it’s expectations and results that need to be watched. I have sold cars personally and given local clients some great referral due to my existence on facebook.

      The SEO aspect of social is huge if you know how to properly leverage it. The key is to make it work without spamming.

  2. [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Tony Eyles, Jill Schrag, Kurt Sedgwick, kathycabrera and others. Tony Eyles said: relationships take time RT @PaulRushing: Social Networking - Are your priorities in order? http://bit.ly/YTK9t [...]

  3. Stanley Esposito says:

    Things are moving so quickly it is a real challenge to stay on top of all the action. If I read this blog two years ago I would not have the first clue as to what you were writing about. I am excited to see what is next and how I can use these tools to make money.

  4. Eric Miltsch says:

    JD nails it w/the SEO/search comment - its a big part and will continue to evolve as the SE’s make their changes with the real-time element.

    For us, its not about selling the cars via these channels, its about making connections, building the brand and strengthening the word of mouth experiences; and yes - it works.

    Nice post Paul!

    Eric

  5. Blake Lemmons says:

    Hi Paul. I am wondering what kind of dealers social marketing works with though. Obviously, shoppers need to want to be the dealer’s friend to be a Facebook friend, etc. Twitter is different of course because it can be used as a newsletter tool to send out specials and the like. But I am wondering if you have come across those dealers that really don’t have any “friends” or just have built their rep up enough offline, to be able to attract “friends” online? It is these dealers that seem to be the most help, and they read all this stuff about social marketing and how wonderful it is (you mention “Ralph’s ADM” in your post - this is an ideal example over over-hyping things in my opinion, giving false “hope” to those dealers who don’t have the means to do things), and even they had the funds to pursue this, shouldn’t online social marketing come with a prerequisite that the dealer needs to engage in some offline PR first? Have you experienced anything like this when working with clients? And what does one do if you take on a client that has a bad rep and they want to engage in online social marketing? I still think there needs to be education for the dealers, especially the smaller ones that aren’t up-to-date on the state of the internet and how offline and online still co-mingle and in many ways how one still relies on the other.

    • Paul Rushing says:

      Blake thanks for your question I will try to answer them and I hope other in the community here will give their .02 as well.

      But I am wondering if you have come across those dealers that really don’t have any “friends” or just have built their rep up enough offline, to be able to attract “friends” online?

      Connecting in an online networking environment is about attraction. People who want to connect to you will. If dealers are going to take the time build out on networking sites they need to make sure that they let their customers know they are available for connection at every touch point. (So should every customer facing employee… A topic for another day)

      (you mention “Ralph’s ADM” in your post - this is an ideal example over over-hyping things in my opinion, giving false “hope” to those dealers who don’t have the means to do things)

      Not sure what that references other than dealers are being sold a bill of goods at times, which I agree. Budget is not required to be successful using social networking, tenacity is. I have picked up clients, referral sources and potential partner’s on other projects from being involved there and here.

      shouldn’t online social marketing come with a prerequisite that the dealer needs to engage in some offline PR first?

      See answer above..

      Have you experienced anything like this when working with clients?

      I do not set high expectations. Social media brand development is a marathon not a sprint, think “Tortoise and the Hare”. It is not a magic bullet, it requires nurturing.

      And what does one do if you take on a client that has a bad rep and they want to engage in online social marketing?

      Before I would take on a client with a serious problem I would have to investigate them to see if they are a client I would want to have. If they are Social Media/Networking is one of the tools we would use to help them. Not so sure it would be a marketing push as much as “storytelling” to help build rapport with online shoppers.

      btw Blake give me a call when you get a few minutes. I have been needing to connect with you for a while now about your service..

  6. Larry Bruce says:

    All –
    No Question… you cannot ignore social media and its going to change the ways your customers decide who they buy from. However social media is not Facebook, it’s not Twitter or even a blog. Social media is about giving your customers a great experience and then letting them express it. Facebook, Twitter and Blogs are the tools they use to do that, and let me stress THEY use them you don’t.

    As a marketer it is your job to define the message and easy way for a customer to spread that message as long as the dealership delivers on it. Below are some ways to make it easy for your customer to spread your message.

    1. Get your eBay rating on the home page of your website, arguably one of the first social media applications
    2. Allow visitors and respondents to comment on offers you make on your website
    3. Place share to Facebook and Twitter button on offers everywhere
    4. Facebook Groups are dead, Fan pages rock get one and connect it to your site and share all offers there.
    5. Use multiple twitter accounts for customer based on geographic location and run specials on them for customers that can take advantage. I laid out 10 things you can do with Twitter in a recent blog post “What Place Does Twitter Have in Your Dealership?”

    The numbers are staggering, but don’t think for 5 minutes that social media will overtake good online marketing. A good mix of solid basic SEO, good SEM along with Affiliate Marketing and Banner ads and links, supported by good post-click-marketing landing experiences and social media will win the day…these are kinda like Lay’s potato chips…you can’t have just one.

    Hope that helps,

    • Paul Rushing says:

      Larry your right Social media is none of those things. Those sites are social networking sites where you share “MEDIA”. The natural engagement rules are to encourage them to help you spread your word. If the dealer does not use these mediums to connect with customers or potential customers then th conversation goes on around them. Dealers better use them and make it easy for their customers to interact and distribute their media. One good social “sneezer” can bring an avalanche of traffic, good and bad.

      Ebay was far from the first site where people came together to share experiences via a computer. Usenet was the first and still flourishes to some extent today. It predates Ebay by a decade and a half.

      - Ebay ratings are easy to manipulate because it covers everything a seller sells on ebay not just their big ticket items. No amount of positive ebay votes you have will help you if the buyer uses Google to check you out before they place a bid if forums come up second for your name showing how bad the process really is at your store. Fortunate for many dealers most consumers do not do this, they accept ebays “trust factor” and they are still somewhat successful, just not sure how they sleep at night.. -

      Geographic Twitter Accounts- Please elaborate? In application and theory for one store that is an asinine idea. For a large multi-point dealer group covering many cities and states, rock on…

      • JD Rucker says:

        I have to agree with Paul on this one. A proper social media strategy is much more about engagement and search engine control rather than promotions. Twitter changed their terms of service earlier in the week to more harshly deal with multiple accounts, so definitely be careful what you do there.

        A social media strategy has to be intuitive and and “quality” as possible. People just don’t want to be sold to on social media. Using it as a way to promote specials is counter-productive, for example.

        • Paul Rushing says:

          Jim thanks for your reply. The social networking/social media space moves so fast that it is impossible to keep track of everything. That is why people like yourself are so successful driving traffic. You study the nuts and bolts harder than anyone I know.

  7. Larry Bruce says:

    Paul,

    As I said “arguably” the first, depending on how you look at it. EBay was the fist, you saw an online store rate the transaction with a seller instead of allowing any just to rate the seller. I wouldn’t say the ratings on eBay are easy to manipulate, just because they don’t separate big ticket items from smaller ticket items. I would contend that how you take care of your customers in a transaction is relevant no matter the cost and if you taking care of the little things you’re more likely to take care of the bigger one’s…my opinion. As for manipulation, well you anyone can manipulate Google, you don’t have to buy anything or have any association with a store to rate them there.

    On geographic Twitter accounts we looked at this 3 ways.

    1. Customers that lived within a 15 minute drive time of the dealership or had a traffic pattern that would bring them by the dealership. These customers were good for service Tweets.

    2. Customers that lived within 1 HR drive time of the dealership, were good for sales Tweets.

    3. Info tweets were customers that didn’t live close enough to take advantage of any daily offer or immediate sale, so these got tweets that were information in nature and vehicle specials.

    Twitter is an opt in thing and relevancy is the key, at least that is what we think. With that said we belive that if you can’t take advantage of a lot of the offers then you will eventually opt out as easily as you opted in.

    Hope that helps

    • Paul Rushing says:

      Thanks for confirming my statement above RE: Multiple Twitter Accounts for One Store:

      …that is an asinine idea.

      Especially with the content you are proposing.

      If you want to learn how to use twitter for a dealership and see it in action you need to check out @auctiondirect, they pioneered it’s use.

      Social networking is about engagement and offering value, using it solely as a rev tool = #fail.

      RE: ebay, “Arguably”, not even close….

      FWIW Putting that kind of info out there does not help anybody, especially yourself, unless you count the comedic value. The only thing that scares me is some dealer may try to act on it and go down the same path.

  8. Matt Watson says:

    The key to Twitter and Facebook both is providing relevant content that people are interested in reading. Posting 3 tweets a day about the cars you just got in stock is only going to make me unfollow you. It is just overload and annoying.

    These are some of the things dealers should be tweeting about:

    1. New incentives/rebates
    2. Posting to go along with the announcement of OEM ad promos. Ex. GM red tag sales starts
    3. Dealership service and sales promotions
    4. Info on new models coming out
    5. Perhaps vehicles links to featured or internet special vehicles, not every vehicle.

    Make sure it is something people would want to read.

    I personally feel this type of tweeting is overload and not a long term successful strategy:
    http://twitter.com/countryhill

    This is a great example of what dealers should be doing:
    http://twitter.com/OlatheFordSales

  9. Larry Bruce says:

    Well that asinine idea… along with other social and digital media we used helped build an online store and brand selling over 150 units per month all over the world. Eventually we sold it for more than most franchise stores would go for today.

    So before you go making off the wall statments like that Paul I think you need to get your own store and make your ideas work there, then maybe you can make silly comments like that.

    • Paul Rushing says:

      So before you go making off the wall statments (sic) like that Paul I think you need to get your own store and make your ideas work there, then maybe you can make silly comments like that.

      Our business helps dealers sell cars all over the county. From a Ford store that never lead their zone to now a top 50 nationwide, to an independent that was selling 3 cars a month online to over 50 via the web.

      We use strategies that work. We have clients coast to coast that see great ROI from our services. Our job is to help others improve their business.

      The company that I started under a year ago is valued close to $2,000,000.00 with no real hard assets, just AR.

      All we do is digital marketing for car dealers. The only time cold calls were ever made is on ONE DAY, and that was to dealerships in my local community to dealers I know on a first name basis. That volume of business is just a fraction of our accounts receivable.

      All of our other business was from inbound inquiries via social networking and Search Engine Optimization.

      Do my ideas work? I think my customers see the value. From small mom and pop independents to Ferrari - Maserati owned stores and all variations in between.

  10. Larry Bruce says:

    Paul for your clients sake I hope your ideas do work. I hate to see any dealer spend money unwisely, these days especially. Personally I don’t know if they do or they don’t, I don’t know any dealers that are using you or have told me they were.

    That is why you will not see me making comments like “asinine” in any ideas put forth. $2,000,000.00 is a signifigant number good for you :) hopfully it is equally as good for your clients.

    • Paul Rushing says:

      That number is not mine it is my accountant’s. Ill roll with it for now. I asked him to write a check and he did not. :P

      You may not use words like asinine but you sure do know how to make a personal dig that is not relevant to the topic to justify your position.

      My statement was relevant to the topic your challenge statement was:

      So before you go making off the wall statments like that Paul I think you need to get your own store and make your ideas work there, then maybe you can make silly comments like that.

      Preferenced by:

      Eventually we sold it for more than most franchise stores would go for today.

      FYI there are many franchised dealers today that would write a check for you to buy them out.

      ——————-

      Let’s agree to disagree but for more than one reason I stand behind the comment I made that is an asinine idea and you have yet to display a logical reason why the idea works other than your attempted personal slight.

      JD pointed out that twitter is cracking down on multiple twitter accounts from one IP address.

      You could accomplish the same goals you gave with one twitter account. Using multiple accounts to do that is spamming their service.

      The time management aspect of managing multiple twitter and using them properly would require a “twitter” employee or outsourced service.

      Twitter is not going to sell cars or service unless you engage your followers. Sending them specials only has ZERO value to the dealership.

      ——————-
      If the relationship with our clients was not profitable for them we would not have any clients.

      For every dollar they spend with us on average they get back four.

      By the way go get a Gravatar at http://www.gravatar.com, then you will not look like a mad alien..

      • Larry Bruce says:

        Yes Paul on that strategy we disagree, it worked well for us and I would reccomend it to any dealership and know several doing it now. As for my comment about the store, well that is what the last dealer said to me when I told him one of his ideas was crazy. :)

        It’s not personal, I don’t know you.

        But very glad to see your dealers are happy, that is what counts most of all.

        • Paul Rushing says:

          It would be nice to see some links to these twitter accounts?

          I have seen you mention this several times and never have you shown us these geo based twitter accounts you created as part of a marketing strategy or links to the stores accounts doing it now.

          We can debate strategy all day long, however you claim to have proof, now would be a good time to show it….

          “Telling is not selling” —- Jackie B. Cooper

          And yes I have been in the business long enough to attend more than one of his workshops and the principals he taught still have a lasting effect on how I conduct business today.

    • Andy Warner says:

      I tried to stay away from this conversation, but I feel I must speak up.

      I am one of Paul’s clients and have been for close to a year.

      Paul’s results have been and continue to surpass anything we expected. We contracted with Paul initially to provide basic “SEO clean-up” if you will on a couple of our properties. Within 3 months, those properties increased page views and unique visits by more than 50-100% (on average) and direct internet sales averages increased by 25-30%.

      We worked with some of the big name automotive website companies, BZ Results and Dealer.com, prior to working with Paul. The return on investment they provided us were subpar to say the least.

      We will continue working with Paul because our money has been and continues to be spent very wisely.

  11. I can comment on both sides of this discussion. As a witness to some of Paul’s online marketing skills, I’ve been impressed with the results he has brought to his clients. We have worked in cohesion on a project and although his secret sauce has never been revealed (smart move of course), he has brought some tremendous amounts of good relevant traffic from a specific geographic audience into a dealerships’s showroom. I’ve seen the needle move in the right direction for sure, and in a relatively fast time period. Plus the results stuck and continue to stick. In other words, traffic keeps-a-flowin.

    SEO in particular is a “longer term” strategy that is comparable to a professor teaching eager students on a detailed subject. Over time the knowledge and results are obtained and that is often retained for life, or at least a long term if not through the test of time. I have seen the results of good SEO and some of our clients (and Pauls alike) have benefitted from #1 positions in Google organic listings for years.

    Twitter on the other hand could be looked at as town crier who shouts out the important news on the street corner so that people will throw a copper out to read the news. Sometimes they buy the news, sometimes they walk by. It’s good to be there when the buyers are ready of course. However, you need to keep on the corner, keep shouting the news, waiting for the buyers or trying to force them to your street corner. Oh, and let’s not forget that they do not end up on your street corner until they’ve already agreed to enter the town in the first place. Twitter is still fairly closed and is open to those “opt-in” type customers who have taken some action already with you. Again, how did the first introduction take place? Was it by finding you on a search engine or perhaps an eBay listing? Twitter did not generate the lead. Perhaps not even in a single case. How many customers are “first timers” and went to Twitter thinking “I just gotta find a car dealer on Twitter that I can follow, just in case they have a great deal”. It just doesn’t work that way.

    There is a place for both although Twitter is so young yet, and evolving so fast, it is difficult for some dealers, businesses, or other organizations to grasp the best method to capitalize on it properly. Overall however, what use is Twitter if you have no followers? Customer’s are not rushing to Twitter to find the best deal on cars or service so the piece that you are missing here is the traffic. Without traffic everything will FAIL.

    You can Tweet from the highest mountain but without followers you have an empty valley full of yaks. And yaks do not drive cars.

    Get visitors to an Internet property through good on and offline marketing, capture their info and opt them in to everything that is relevant. Your Twitter, Facebook page, have them fill out good reviews on DealerHater.com while you are at it. Of course your Internet newsletter, and perhaps a written testimonial you can post on the site along with a picture.

    Let’s not forget where they came from, and it sure does not start with Twitter. Again, I could be wrong, not the first time. Show me some proof otherwise how Twitter has sold cars in an of itself, and then you have an point worth making. Otherwise it’s fairly foolish to say “Twitter and eBay did it”. Larry you cannot organize your Twitter followers if you do not have any. And to get followers, they need to have discovered you somewhere. ie: SEO, Internet Marketing, inventory sites like eBay, Autoraider, etc.

  12. John Worthington says:

    Very relevant info here for those aspiring to build a strong social networking marketing plan. Social media can have tremendous ROI for dealers who invest the time. Not like you just mail a check to autotrader and the facet turn on. In this realm it takes time to grow, mature, and drive sales consistently. You should start on this today!

    I think social media does play a part in a sucessful digital media plan, but it seems to be a popular topic (more of a buzzword) in all these discussions boards. I don’t agree with the geographic Twitter concept. If Twitter is an opt in thing, how do you tell customers this Twitter account is only for 15 mile customers. Mr Customer you should join the 1 hour Twitter account so I can Tweet sales info at you…? Why wouldn’t you just use CRM targeted email to do the same thing more effectively? Maybe even use the PBM emails to see who opens/clicks your ads to generate a phone list…

    Social media is essentially free removing the TIME it takes, but dealers shouldn’t lose focus of other low cost (very high ROI) ways to drive sales. Use a Craiglist Posting Service for your inventory is a big one. Best ROI of any marketing spend. I use Paul Rushing for my Craigslist Posting, microsites, and SEO. Use whomever you’d like, but I’d trust Paul to make ALL the marketing decision for my store.

  13. Lots of “food for thought” here…

    I believe social media has become one of the most abused/misunderstood marketing mediums currently en vogue of anything I can remember. Done well (see Eric Miltsch and Paul Rushing), it is a powerful tool that can grow a brand, sell cars, and serve as a communication mechanism for current customers. Done poorly (see just about every other dealer/vendor/expert), it is a recipe for disaster.

    What most fail to realize is that social media allows just about anyone to tell THEIR story. Without a good story, social media is a complete waste of time and effort (and hence - MONEY). It is also FAR FROM FREE. If you have the ability to tell a compelling and believable story, social media becomes another bullet in your gun. But its just a bullet. It must be worked into all of your ongoing marketing/advertising/crm initiatives to pay actual dividends.

    Can you sell cars on twitter, facebook, and myspace? Sure!

    Should that be the primary focus of how and why you utilize these services? Not likely!

    SEO should certainly be taken into account in this discussion as many have stated, but without good content (a good story), most dealers fail miserably at the SEO benefits social media can provide. Paul Rushing one of the most knowledgeable SEO experts as it relays to the car business. He has done work for us many occasions and we have been happy with the results he delivered.

    I do agree that as more and more consumers turn to the Internet for their main source of information, Social Media will only become more important to a dealership’s ongoing brand strategy. Without a brand strategy, dealers will continue to languish in Social Media purgatory though.

    My two cents as always…

  14. Eric Miltsch says:

    So many within the SM circles forget Tom’s point - “The Story.” (Thx for the comment as well @Tom)

    I’m someone that loves to tell a good story; I’m also fortunate enough to have a great story to tell - beyond that, it’s a story I believe in.

    @Michael’s street corner reference is strong: The word of mouth channels let me tell our story - and anything else that may compliment that story, create awareness to our brand and build a comfort level around the entire package. On many occasions the people passing by on that street corner have been the people responsible for other people seeing/hearing about us…whether it was a blog post, a link or some other nonsense that happen to spring from my keyboard.

    The tools have been a key factor as they let let me create the illusion that I’m on that street corner 24/7.

    @Larry - I would also be interested in seeing examples of your geo-location based twitter accounts.

    At this point of the game, twitter is simply the most powerful word of the mouth tool - two simple factors have made the difference for my efforts: Time and content.

    Give yourself enough time to deliver quality content…(the hard part isn’t the time - which everyone gripes about. Its the content.)

    • Larry Bruce says:

      Tom & Eric,

      You definitely won’t get any argument from me about the story. Without that there is no need for SEO, SEM or any other driver of traffic. I would submit that social media isn’t a driver of traffic as much as it is a confirmation of your story. The more we live our stories and deliver on what we promise to the consumer, the more they confirm that and spread our story through social media.

      It is my contention that social media belongs to the consumer and it is our job as marketers to tell our story, live that story and deliver on our promise. If we do and we give the consumer an easy way to spread the story many will and social media then becomes a mechanism where our story is credible and confirmed.

      I would like to hear the take on this of all following this post. The biggest lesson I have learned is “You don’t know what you don’t know” and social media is way too new to rate right now.

      @Eric what exactly can I show you Eric shoot me an email to lbruce67@hotmail.com I would be happy to get you what you need.

      THX to all,

      LB

      • JD Rucker says:

        Hi Larry,

        I’m not going to get into the back and forth that’s been going on in this thread. Enough has already been said.

        I would be happy to demonstrate how social media done right can definitely drive relevant traffic (in one case, to the tune of over 2,000 leads in 9 days as a direct result of social media promotions).

        Also, I don’t believe that it’s too new to rate. We’ve been embedded in social media for years. I’ve personally been using Twitter for 2 years now and have grown a good following both for myself and dealers. It’s new to most in the automotive realm, but as it applies to most businesses, it is almost ancient in “Internet years” (not unlike dog years).

        This entire thread has been wonderful to follow. It’s in discussions like these that we can truly make an impact on the future of the automotive industry.

        • Larry Bruce says:

          JD,

          I am always open to new ideas. It’s how we learn and grow so if you have social media experiences to share by all means feel free to contact me. One thing I have learned about marketing especially online marketing there is no “one right way”. Test eveything leave nothing to chance and most of all… make no mistake your customer will let you know now if you are connecting or not.

          lbruce67@hotmail.com

          • Paul Rushing says:

            By the time we tell you the right answer, it’ll be too late. - Seth Godin

            There is no right way or wrong way. Each person will develop their own style and methodology. The right thing to do is not sit on the side lines as a silent observer.

            If you are waiting for a guide to be written for “Social Networking Best Practices” you are in for a huge disappointment. Anything that is really shared freely as far as technique will be historical.

            The big guns in the niche only share ideology to book speaking engagements. They are not going to show you how to turn wrenches. That’s the upsell.

            By the time you took two months to put together a “training” package it would be dated.

            Guess what app will give Twitter a run for it’s money over next 12 months? FOURSQUARE - (in all caps so most DP’s and GM’s can read it. :P )

            • Larry Bruce says:

              Seth is the man! I love that guy. :)

              No doubt FOURSQUARE has got an interesting take on the twitter function and I agree unless Twitter can come out with some new functionality to match this they’re in real trouble. I think it might take FORUSQUARE a bit longer than 12 months though twitter has some good traction right now. However if Twitter doesn’t upgrade wiht in the next 12 months, the following 12 will be a bad time for them.

              Good call on FOURSQUARE Paul, we need to be looking at how that app works.

              All in caps for the grenscreen crowd. ;)

  15. Eric Miltsch says:

    FOURSQUARE is an interesting early-adopter tool that falls nicely into the geo-location engagement category. (Brighkite is big - twitter’s location based tools will be interesting too)

    I’d love to be more active with FS, but I can’t partake in the chicanery unless I’m in a different city. (I only used it once on a recent trip to DC - I’ll give it a try again in Vegas)

    I’ve mentioned it before - as more people use location based, real-time status updates, w/image capabilities, there will be nice opportunities for businesses to leverage the power of these networks.

  16. PianoPlanet says:

    PianoPlanet…

    Megacool Blog indeed!… if anyone else has anything it would be much appreciated. Great website Enjoy!…

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