Im starting to see (thanks to advanced searches) more and more local dealers in Indianapolis post updates to their FB pages and tweet about something OEM centric. Most of them are centered around some award an OEM has won, a new marketing program the OEM is pushing or a video. While some of these are pulled via RSS from non OEM and non dealer sites (mind boggling) most of them at least go back to an OEM branded video on YouTube or a Motor Trend type article. While this is a step in the right direction compared with dealers that just post inventory updates and annoy the few people that are listening, it still misses the boat big time.

While one of your goals socially should be to get conversation going about your products and brand (more on that later) one of your other goals is to drive traffic and leads. Posting RSS feed content and OEM branded stuff is great for conversation but absolutely horrible for driving traffic and leads through web entities that you own or have control over. Why on earth would you take the time to build and engage a community only to drive them to the Chevrolet YouTube page? Thats like the locally owned cell phone store that happens to sell Sprint based cell phones driving business to Sprint.com Doesnt make much sense does it?

Car dealers do it ALL the time. I understand wanting to piggy back on the content and marketing of your OEMs, it makes complete sense. How is the easiest way to do this and not drive traffic away from you? Blogging. Repurpose their content into a quick and easy blog post such as this one I did on the new Chevy Cruze Guys Night Out video. It took me a half hour total to do the post and shove it out on our social channels. Also note I didnt auto post it out using a feed system or auto post from the blogging platform. I posted it on our FB page and tagged the Chevy Cruze account. I linked to it with a tweet that included this text "Guys now that you are growing up, or are grown up, have you ever done this before?" Brings in more clicks than Chevy Cruze Guys Night Out video right? Dont have a video? Take that Motor Trend truck of the year article and use snippets and quotes from it wrapped around your keywords and content. 

Moral of the story is this; you are on the right track but......If you are going to take the time to link your FB and Twitter account, setup feeds, read OEM blogs and watch OEM videos please take the time to undo all of that and use the content properly. Your community, and your bosses, will thank you. 

P.S. As I stated earlier here is the more on your branding part. Your brand is your dealership not what OEM vehicles you have. If you sell Chevy post some Chevy stuff but let people know you have used cars and service and and and. By just auto pushing OEM content you brand yourself as the Chevy store, not the place to go whenever someone needs a car regardless of make and model. 

Location Based Services (LBS) are the talk of the online marketing world lately. Sites like Foursquare, Gowalla (with their latest release) and Facebook Places all offer a way to provide discounts based on criteria you select. The opportunities provided to market your business on these channels are as endless as the new LBS services popping up daily. The Indianapolis Convention and Visitors Association launched a contest centered around SCVNGR, the latest hot topic LBS site on the market. Numerous "normal" websites are even adding checkin services to their platforms.

"Chris why should I offer a discount for checking in at my location?" Does your business utilize coupons in any shape or form? If the answer is yes (I hope it is, if not stop reading now) then think of a check-in discount as a coupon, but this coupon helps spread your name to tens, hundreds and even thousands of people online. Not only is a check-in discount a coupon on steroids its the ultimate word of mouth stamp of approval; I do business here and I trust them with my money. Pretty powerful stuff. If you are still reading and still dont have location based discounts, stop reading and go set them up on the platforms listed above. 

Ok for those that never left and those that now have discounts setup, whats next? Do you treat your LBS marketing like Ron Popeil does his Rotisserie ovens; set it and forget it? Or do you leverage the platforms and target users of the services?

Below is a screen shot I took of the Hare Chevrolet Foursquare account. Notice I dont use the account to check-in but to leave Tips at area businesses. 

Before you all start saying "Chris you are a genius!" I cant take credit for this idea. The best executive chef who moonlights as an online marketer, Russ Chargulaf of Houlihan's in Indianapolis was the one who had this idea originally. My other point for mentioning Russ; if you don't like the idea it was his not mine.

All of the businesses in the screen shot have a Foursquare location and are within a par 5 golf hole of our facility. When you check-in at a business within walking distance of Hare you see a tip stating that we are on the same platform and that we have a discount for checking in. Foursquare users seeing that a local business supports a platform they use and that business gives a discount for doing what they already do. How is that for targeted marketing?

Now to be fair I may be stretching the lines with accepted use of the platform. Tips are supposed to be about the location itself, not to market other businesses. Knowing this I've taken a light hearted approach to my tips and tried to make them relevant to the business itself. I also retweet and engage with every user who checks in and posts that check-in to Twitter. I also check the venue stats and send Facebook inbox messages to people who don't attach their Twitter account to Foursquare. That one is good for a few "how the heck did you get my info" messages back but all have been open once I explain. I've even cured some customer service related issues I never would have found out about before it was too late by sending these messages and asking how their experience was. How is that for reputation management?

While Foursquare is the big boy on the block currently due to its user base Gowalla made a major announcement recently and is poised to hop right in on all this LBS crazyness. How to leverage Gowalla? Use their trips feature. I am in the process of creating a trip that takes people to all of the Hare locations over the years and ends at the dealership. How about an LBS based cruise-in type trip where everyone is driving our cars around town for a day? Pretty inexpensive experiential marketing right. Also in the works is a trip that contains all of the local organizations that we help sponsor.

How to leverage Facebook Places you ask? Create a group discount and get people to bring friends along to unlock the discount. The holy grail for Foursquare users is the Swarm badge. Users earn badges by doing certain things or being in certain spots. A user gets a Swarm badge if they check-in to the same location as 50 other people at nearly the same time. Houlihan's and Scotty's Brewhouse has marketed the chance to get a Swarm badge if you attended a certain event. Both succeeded. Now what if you use that theory but give someone a discount for unlocking the group offer via Facebook Places. Foursquare is great but wouldn't you want your business marketed on the biggest social platform going?

My point is this (and it goes for all online marketing really) Don't just set it and forget it. Instead of asking what being on an LBS has done for you, ask what can you do to make your LBS work for you.

Yet another reason to stop selling cars online and start building communities and engaging your current customers and prospects. This is a must read;

http://searchengineland.com/what-social-signals-do-google-bing-really-count-55389

I hear alot of talk these days about customer reviews, and with good reason. They allow your prospects peers to tell your prospects about their experience with your business. This should be a no brainer for any business, but especially car dealerships. With such a negative stigma (most of it earned back in the day) tied into the car buying experience why wouldn't you want people talking about their experiences online. While most reputable dealerships get this part, most miss the big opportunity with customer reviews; allowing them to be indexed by search engines.

"But Chris my Dealer Rater reviews show up when I search for my companies name online" Good for you but you are still missing huge opportunities. "My Google Place listing has 80 reviews" Congratulations and keep up the good work, IF someone is searching for your name.

What if someone is on a search engine but isnt searching for your name? What if they are searching for new Chevy Malibu and happen to live near your dealership. What do you do then? Hope your website shows up in the search result? Even if your website shows up for that search it most likely wont be a targeted landing page and it almost certainly wont contain any customer reviews or user generated content.

Why not take your customer reviews to the next level? Start using services like Compendium (with their web to post feature we utilize at http://blog.harechevy.com) or Presto Reviews that allow you to take your user reviews and experiences and turn them into indexed content by search engines. That same person searching for a new Chevy Malibu sure would like to hear about that guy from the other side of town who just bought that same car and what he thought of it or his experience at your store. You already have this content and are already asking your customers for it, why not optimize it for your advantage instead of just for the Yelps and Dealer Raters of the world. Now Im not saying stop these services. With Google Places returning reviews from these sites on your listing they are a must have as well but use them as needed to enhance your online presence, not as your whole online presence.  

There is one big caveat to this, keyword research. Whether you pay someone (highly suggested) or do the research yourself, you need to know what people are typing into search engines in your area. Stop guessing or optimizing your content for what you type into a search engine, you dont buy cars from you. Once you have hard keyword research evidence you are on your way to turning your customer reviews into indexed content that can truly break down barriers and drive business.

Stop relying on third party review sites that only show in branded searches and start optimizing your customers experiences and reviews so they show when it really matters, before they know who they want to trust with their hard earned money.

Chris Theisen is the director of digital communications for Hare Chevrolet the “Oldest Transportation Company in America” Chris believes in the power of engaging current and future customers via new digital media, and uses it on a daily basis. When not attached to some sort of technology device he enjoys golf, tennis, bowling and coaching youth sports. Chris, his wife Liz and their sons Michael and Jonathon live in Noblesville. He can be reached on Twitter, Facebook or by email at ctheisen@hareauto.com