#1 Social Media Is A Force Multiplier

Stop looking at social media as an add-on, in order for social marketing to be truly effective you must first work to integrate it into your daily processes. Instead of seeing social media as a separate identity, one that needs a separate strategy before it can be implemented fully, you need to see it for what it is, a force multiplier.

In military terms a force multiplier refers to an attribute or a combination of attributes which make a given force more effective than that same force would be without it, that's social media exactly!

So, instead of thinking in terms of new goals, in which a social media strategy would be used to reach, think in terms of how you can use social media, alongside your other marketing efforts, to reach your current business goals.

#2 Never Let Tactics Dictate Strategy

Too many times we look at Facebook as the strategy, when in fact, because it's a tool, much like the phone and email, it's a tactic. As such, remember that it's NEVER okay to let a tactic dictate how you develop your strategy, instead, your strategy will dictate which tactics you use.

The Difference Between Strategy and Tactic

Tactics are the day-to-day activities that are repeatable and clear-cut, they are comprised of the basic components that define the actually strategy.

Strategy is the big picture, it's the overall plan, comprised of tactics, that gives direction towards meeting goals and objectives.

#3 Think Laterally

The "lateral" that I am referring to is the conversation that is happening between people. With traditional advertising you have only one direction that communication can flow: out from the dealership.

With social media you are able to influence the conversation, the lateral communication that is happening between people in different social channels. So, when designing your strategy always think in terms of how you can get people to talk in a positive manner about your dealership.

#4 Connect With Social Objects

Too many times, as marketers, we think about how we can create a social object, that is a purpose, cause, or past time that people want to socialize about and around. Instead, take a look at social objects that people are already congregating around and find a way to connect it with your dealership.

While that is easier said than done, you do this by becoming part of the community, a contributor that adds to the overall enjoyment of the social object. If you live in a collage town, maybe it's the local football team, live in a family friendly city, maybe it's education, it could even be a local charity or fishing, the ideas really are limitless. What can your dealership connect around?

#5 Don't Go At It Alone

While developing a strategy for the dealership, don't go in thinking that you don't need any help. A proper social media strategy will affect each and every department in the dealership and as such, each department should have input into how the strategy is structured. I refer to this group of people at the Strategic Response Team or the SRT.

The SRT is comprised of at least one person from each department in the dealership, even detail and office staff. The reasons are plenty, but I feel the most important reason is creativity. The creativity of the group will always be better than the creativity of the individual.

Have you created your strategy yet? Wait, don't tell me you've gone into battle without a plan for success, you do know that's suicide right? Tell me I'm wrong in the comment section below and that you do indeed have a strategy...

#1 Social Media Is A Force Multiplier

Stop looking at social media as an add-on, in order for social marketing to be truly effective you must first work to integrate it into your daily processes. Instead of seeing social media as a separate identity, one that needs a separate strategy before it can be implemented fully, you need to see it for what it is, a force multiplier.

In military terms a force multiplier refers to an attribute or a combination of attributes which make a given force more effective than that same force would be without it, that's social media exactly!

So, instead of thinking in terms of new goals, in which a social media strategy would be used to reach, think in terms of how you can use social media, alongside your other marketing efforts, to reach your current business goals.

#2 Never Let Tactics Dictate Strategy

Too many times we look at Facebook as the strategy, when in fact, because it's a tool, much like the phone and email, it's a tactic. As such, remember that it's NEVER okay to let a tactic dictate how you develop your strategy, instead, your strategy will dictate which tactics you use.

The Difference Between Strategy and Tactic

Tactics are the day-to-day activities that are repeatable and clear-cut, they are comprised of the basic components that define the actually strategy.

Strategy is the big picture, it's the overall plan, comprised of tactics, that gives direction towards meeting goals and objectives.

#3 Think Laterally

The "lateral" that I am referring to is the conversation that is happening between people. With traditional advertising you have only one direction that communication can flow: out from the dealership.

With social media you are able to influence the conversation, the lateral communication that is happening between people in different social channels. So, when designing your strategy always think in terms of how you can get people to talk in a positive manner about your dealership.

#4 Connect With Social Objects

Too many times, as marketers, we think about how we can create a social object, that is a purpose, cause, or past time that people want to socialize about and around. Instead, take a look at social objects that people are already congregating around and find a way to connect it with your dealership.

While that is easier said than done, you do this by becoming part of the community, a contributor that adds to the overall enjoyment of the social object. If you live in a collage town, maybe it's the local football team, live in a family friendly city, maybe it's education, it could even be a local charity or fishing, the ideas really are limitless. What can your dealership connect around?

#5 Don't Go At It Alone

While developing a strategy for the dealership, don't go in thinking that you don't need any help. A proper social media strategy will affect each and every department in the dealership and as such, each department should have input into how the strategy is structured. I refer to this group of people at the Strategic Response Team or the SRT.

The SRT is comprised of at least one person from each department in the dealership, even detail and office staff. The reasons are plenty, but I feel the most important reason is creativity. The creativity of the group will always be better than the creativity of the individual.

Have you created your strategy yet? Wait, don't tell me you've gone into battle without a plan for success, you do know that's suicide right? Tell me I'm wrong in the comment section below and that you do indeed have a strategy...

I'm tired of hearing it. As you all know I'm a social media guy, different than the rest. I believe that in order to truly harness the business changing aspects of social media that you must first create a social change, not only in your own dealership but within the entire industry as a whole. I'm tired of hearing, "That's not the way we do business. Our processes is more about selling cars than making happy customers."

I totally agree with that statement, as hard as it is to accept. But what I don't agree with is accepting that this is the way it will always be. I don't agree with it as a reason NOT to affect the kind of change that's needed to rebuild the trust most consumers lack with the auto industry. Recently I was having a discussion on Twitter and I admit, I do have some radical ideas, ideas that I feel would have a hugely positive impact on the auto industry, but ideas that may be hard to swallow none-the-less. In that discussion I heard over and over again, that's not the way business is done, you know what I say? SCREW BUSINESS AS USUAL, CHANGE IT!

Take a look at the actual process of buying a car, it's confrontational to say the least. On one hand we're trying to keep all our money, on the other, the customer is trying to keep all their money. Who wins? You can argue that you both do because that's what negotiation is but I would say that you're wrong, nobody truly wins when both sides have to give up something they want, just to make a deal. It's our fault really, we're the ones who make it all about price.

Don't believe me? Just take a look at TrueCar. Why would something like that even appeal to people? It appeals because the consumer feels that they would get a better deal by not having to negotiate with a salesperson, they feel that they could save more money by going through a third party, instead of going right to the dealer.

We've done this to ourselves. There are a lot of reasons why this is happening, the biggest of which is a loss of trust, trust that was lost a long, long time ago. Think politically for a moment, whatever you consider yourself, take a look at the politician you hate the most, the one that irritates you to no end and ask yourself, "Why do I feel that way?"

Now that you've answered that question ask yourself what it would take for that politician to change your mind about them. Some of you no doubt are thinking die and to that I say, that's exactly what the consumer thinks. Answer another question and I want you to be totally honest here, "Why would somebody rather use a third-party site such as TrueCar instead of going right to the dealer?"

Tough question I know but it's one that needs to be answered so that we can screw business as usual and affect the kind of change needed in order rebuild trust, influence word-of-mouth and create brand loyalty.

Tall order? Hell yeah, but one that needs to happen or we run the risk of seeing an end to the era of the auto dealer. Too strong a statement you say? Just take a look at all the unrest around us, take a look at how many leads come through third-party lead providers and you will see it. Be intellectually honest with yourself, don't come at me arguing against what I've said in this post, instead let's talk about what we can do to screw business as usual and make a change.

TrueCar, as despicable as they are, is our fault. The auto industry has caused the uprising, but instead of going to battle we need to take a long hard look at the battle lines, raise a white flag and surrender. From there we need to rewrite our processes, figure out how we are going to do business from here on out and just do it! We have to stop saying, but this is how we've always done it, this is how things are... again, screw business as usual.

I feel that some of the greatest minds in the word are right here in the auto industry, there are dealers all over the country that get it, but they are too few to make a real difference in the minds of the consumer. We need to get together, and soon, and talk about how we can make the type of difference that is needed to bring trust back to our great industry... aren't you tired of hearing jokes that start with, "A politician, a lawyer and a car salesman walk into a bar." I mean come on, their putting us in the same category as politicians and lawyers, screw business as usual!

I'm going to leave you with a lyric from the late Michael Jackson: "

I'm Starting With The Man In The Mirror I'm Asking Him To Change His Ways And No Message Could Have Been Any Clearer If You Wanna Make The World A Better Place Take A Look At Yourself And Then Make A Change

David Johnson
Social Media Strategist
PersuasiveConcepts.com

I'm tired of hearing it. As you all know I'm a social media guy, different than the rest. I believe that in order to truly harness the business changing aspects of social media that you must first create a social change, not only in your own dealership but within the entire industry as a whole. I'm tired of hearing, "That's not the way we do business. Our processes is more about selling cars than making happy customers."

I totally agree with that statement, as hard as it is to accept. But what I don't agree with is accepting that this is the way it will always be. I don't agree with it as a reason NOT to affect the kind of change that's needed to rebuild the trust most consumers lack with the auto industry. Recently I was having a discussion on Twitter and I admit, I do have some radical ideas, ideas that I feel would have a hugely positive impact on the auto industry, but ideas that may be hard to swallow none-the-less. In that discussion I heard over and over again, that's not the way business is done, you know what I say? SCREW BUSINESS AS USUAL, CHANGE IT!

Take a look at the actual process of buying a car, it's confrontational to say the least. On one hand we're trying to keep all our money, on the other, the customer is trying to keep all their money. Who wins? You can argue that you both do because that's what negotiation is but I would say that you're wrong, nobody truly wins when both sides have to give up something they want, just to make a deal. It's our fault really, we're the ones who make it all about price.

Don't believe me? Just take a look at TrueCar. Why would something like that even appeal to people? It appeals because the consumer feels that they would get a better deal by not having to negotiate with a salesperson, they feel that they could save more money by going through a third party, instead of going right to the dealer.

We've done this to ourselves. There are a lot of reasons why this is happening, the biggest of which is a loss of trust, trust that was lost a long, long time ago. Think politically for a moment, whatever you consider yourself, take a look at the politician you hate the most, the one that irritates you to no end and ask yourself, "Why do I feel that way?"

Now that you've answered that question ask yourself what it would take for that politician to change your mind about them. Some of you no doubt are thinking die and to that I say, that's exactly what the consumer thinks. Answer another question and I want you to be totally honest here, "Why would somebody rather use a third-party site such as TrueCar instead of going right to the dealer?"

Tough question I know but it's one that needs to be answered so that we can screw business as usual and affect the kind of change needed in order rebuild trust, influence word-of-mouth and create brand loyalty.

Tall order? Hell yeah, but one that needs to happen or we run the risk of seeing an end to the era of the auto dealer. Too strong a statement you say? Just take a look at all the unrest around us, take a look at how many leads come through third-party lead providers and you will see it. Be intellectually honest with yourself, don't come at me arguing against what I've said in this post, instead let's talk about what we can do to screw business as usual and make a change.

TrueCar, as despicable as they are, is our fault. The auto industry has caused the uprising, but instead of going to battle we need to take a long hard look at the battle lines, raise a white flag and surrender. From there we need to rewrite our processes, figure out how we are going to do business from here on out and just do it! We have to stop saying, but this is how we've always done it, this is how things are... again, screw business as usual.

I feel that some of the greatest minds in the word are right here in the auto industry, there are dealers all over the country that get it, but they are too few to make a real difference in the minds of the consumer. We need to get together, and soon, and talk about how we can make the type of difference that is needed to bring trust back to our great industry... aren't you tired of hearing jokes that start with, "A politician, a lawyer and a car salesman walk into a bar." I mean come on, their putting us in the same category as politicians and lawyers, screw business as usual!

I'm going to leave you with a lyric from the late Michael Jackson: "

I'm Starting With The Man In The Mirror I'm Asking Him To Change His Ways And No Message Could Have Been Any Clearer If You Wanna Make The World A Better Place Take A Look At Yourself And Then Make A Change

David Johnson
Social Media Strategist
PersuasiveConcepts.com

In both parts 1 and 2 of the Three Ideals For Social Marketing Success, I mentioned that success in social media boils down to three things:

1. The Development Of Relationships,
2. The Creation Of High Touch, Emotion Based Connections, and
3. Customer Enchantment (think customer service to the Nth degree).

Want to know the secret behind creating rampant word-of-mouth? Wait for it... wait for it: Give people something positive to talk about! I've blogged about this topic a few times before and the importance of going above and beyond your customer expectations, but in this post I'm going to be laying out the ground rules for customer enchantment.

Remember: it's the difference between what your customer expects and the level of customer service received, that will dictate whether or not your customer talks about you. Failing to meet those expectations will create negative word-of-mouth, going above and beyond will create positive word of mouth, the choice is yours.

What does customer service have to do with social media? Simple, if you want to be part of the conversation that is happening in your customers social graph, with their connections, then you have to give them something worth talking about. This doesn't just happen by chance, it happens by design. Design excellence into your daily routine, every employee, everyday, all the time, no exceptions.

Always be on the lookout for chances to show exceptional customer service. In the service department, if you find out that a customer is having a hard time coming back in to pick up their vehicle, take it to them. Salespeople, offer your customers a concierge service where you schedule all of their service appointments and offer a pick-up-drop-off service.

The Golden Rule Of Customer Service: Never forget that you do this every day and just because you see it all the time doesn't mean that it's no big deal to your customers. Never glaze over an issue and act as if it's not a problem, always reassure your customers that it's a genuine concern and that you will personally take care of it.

In a study conducted by Bain and Company they found out that an increase in customer retention of just 5% improves profits by 25 to 95%! The logic behind this math is predicated on the fact that customer turnover is enormously expensive. The high cost of acquiring new customers can only be offset by maintaining profitable, long term relationships.

Creating Long Term Relationships By Creating High Customer Satisfaction

We've always known that word-of-mouth, by far, is the best form of advertising, but then why do some businesses, and whole industries (the auto industry among them), struggle to achieve it? Look at the car business, people don't expect much, in fact they expect to be treated bad and to be the subject of high pressure sales techniques, which leads me to:

• Set yourself apart from the competition by displaying uncommon courtesy. In the auto industry it's not too difficult to set yourself apart because people expect so little, so take advantage!
• Know your customers. If you expect repeat business then at least remember your customers names! I know what you're thinking, how can I remember them all? You don't have to, that's what CRM's are for, use them. Each visit, if you learn something new about you customer, put it in the database for other employees to use. For example if your customer mentions, during an oil change, that their in-laws are coming to town, put into the CRM. That way, during their next visit you can ask them how it went. Talking about being different!
• Smile... duh! I know that sounds simplistic but by having a genuine smile on your face your customers will feel more welcome and invited.
• Be polite. Say thank you, please, yes ma'am and no sir. Use proper salutations such as Mr. and Mrs. In fact keep using their last name until they give you permission to use their first.
• Be genuine. Obviously generosity can't be faked so don't fake it. If there are people on staff that can't be genuine them maybe a job with the public isn't for them.
• Always over deliver. You will notice that I didn't say under promise and over deliver, I said over deliver. Do it as often as possible.
• Empower your employees to make a difference. What that means is, within reasonable bounds, empower each employee to be able to fix a mistake, that way they don't have to go to a manager.
• Make customer service ordinary, build it into your daily processes and reward employees that go above and beyond.
• Create an enchantment budget, more on that here. Go so far and above what your customer expects that they will be forced to tell others about you.
• Do a touch point analysis at least every other month. What I mean by that is be your customer. Call in as a customer, walk in as a customer, go through the sales process as a customer and even go to the bathroom as a customer. What do you see? Is everything as you would expect it to be? If so, scrap it and start over, be exceptional!
• Call back! Too many times we have the intention of calling back but something comes up and we just don't get around it, stop that! Treat every return call as if it were your wedding day, you wouldn't forget that would you? Yes, it's that important!

Final Thought

Create an environment of exceptional customer service into your dealership. Make it mandatory, tell your employees up front, at the interview, that you only hire people that puts the customer first. You need a staff of people that are quick to smile, want to serve, and understand that a happy customer breeds other happy customers. We all know how expensive it is to create a customer, so keep them happy, keep them coming back and keep them talking about you!

In both parts 1 and 2 of the Three Ideals For Social Marketing Success, I mentioned that success in social media boils down to three things:

1. The Development Of Relationships,
2. The Creation Of High Touch, Emotion Based Connections, and
3. Customer Enchantment (think customer service to the Nth degree).

Want to know the secret behind creating rampant word-of-mouth? Wait for it... wait for it: Give people something positive to talk about! I've blogged about this topic a few times before and the importance of going above and beyond your customer expectations, but in this post I'm going to be laying out the ground rules for customer enchantment.

Remember: it's the difference between what your customer expects and the level of customer service received, that will dictate whether or not your customer talks about you. Failing to meet those expectations will create negative word-of-mouth, going above and beyond will create positive word of mouth, the choice is yours.

What does customer service have to do with social media? Simple, if you want to be part of the conversation that is happening in your customers social graph, with their connections, then you have to give them something worth talking about. This doesn't just happen by chance, it happens by design. Design excellence into your daily routine, every employee, everyday, all the time, no exceptions.

Always be on the lookout for chances to show exceptional customer service. In the service department, if you find out that a customer is having a hard time coming back in to pick up their vehicle, take it to them. Salespeople, offer your customers a concierge service where you schedule all of their service appointments and offer a pick-up-drop-off service.

The Golden Rule Of Customer Service: Never forget that you do this every day and just because you see it all the time doesn't mean that it's no big deal to your customers. Never glaze over an issue and act as if it's not a problem, always reassure your customers that it's a genuine concern and that you will personally take care of it.

In a study conducted by Bain and Company they found out that an increase in customer retention of just 5% improves profits by 25 to 95%! The logic behind this math is predicated on the fact that customer turnover is enormously expensive. The high cost of acquiring new customers can only be offset by maintaining profitable, long term relationships.

Creating Long Term Relationships By Creating High Customer Satisfaction

We've always known that word-of-mouth, by far, is the best form of advertising, but then why do some businesses, and whole industries (the auto industry among them), struggle to achieve it? Look at the car business, people don't expect much, in fact they expect to be treated bad and to be the subject of high pressure sales techniques, which leads me to:

• Set yourself apart from the competition by displaying uncommon courtesy. In the auto industry it's not too difficult to set yourself apart because people expect so little, so take advantage!
• Know your customers. If you expect repeat business then at least remember your customers names! I know what you're thinking, how can I remember them all? You don't have to, that's what CRM's are for, use them. Each visit, if you learn something new about you customer, put it in the database for other employees to use. For example if your customer mentions, during an oil change, that their in-laws are coming to town, put into the CRM. That way, during their next visit you can ask them how it went. Talking about being different!
• Smile... duh! I know that sounds simplistic but by having a genuine smile on your face your customers will feel more welcome and invited.
• Be polite. Say thank you, please, yes ma'am and no sir. Use proper salutations such as Mr. and Mrs. In fact keep using their last name until they give you permission to use their first.
• Be genuine. Obviously generosity can't be faked so don't fake it. If there are people on staff that can't be genuine them maybe a job with the public isn't for them.
• Always over deliver. You will notice that I didn't say under promise and over deliver, I said over deliver. Do it as often as possible.
• Empower your employees to make a difference. What that means is, within reasonable bounds, empower each employee to be able to fix a mistake, that way they don't have to go to a manager.
• Make customer service ordinary, build it into your daily processes and reward employees that go above and beyond.
• Create an enchantment budget, more on that here. Go so far and above what your customer expects that they will be forced to tell others about you.
• Do a touch point analysis at least every other month. What I mean by that is be your customer. Call in as a customer, walk in as a customer, go through the sales process as a customer and even go to the bathroom as a customer. What do you see? Is everything as you would expect it to be? If so, scrap it and start over, be exceptional!
• Call back! Too many times we have the intention of calling back but something comes up and we just don't get around it, stop that! Treat every return call as if it were your wedding day, you wouldn't forget that would you? Yes, it's that important!

Final Thought

Create an environment of exceptional customer service into your dealership. Make it mandatory, tell your employees up front, at the interview, that you only hire people that puts the customer first. You need a staff of people that are quick to smile, want to serve, and understand that a happy customer breeds other happy customers. We all know how expensive it is to create a customer, so keep them happy, keep them coming back and keep them talking about you!

In part 1 of The Three Ideals For Social Marketing Success I mentioned that success in social media boils down to three ideals, they are:

1. The Development Of Relationships,
2. The Creation Of High Touch, Emotion Based Connections, and
3. Customer Enchantment (think customer service to the Nth degree).

In this post, part 2 of 3, we will be exploring the importance of creating high touch, emotion based connections within your online community. Keep in mind that the goal of social marketing is to influence word-of-mouth and create brand loyalty, in other words we want to create brand advocates; customers, that create other customers.

In order for that to happen though you must work to create three types of emotional based connections, they are:

• Employee - Community
• Employee - Employee
• Community - Community

Most of the time social media is used only to create a connection between the dealership and it's community members, when in reality that connection must between the employees of the dealership and the community. The reason is simple: it's nearly impossible to form an emotional based connection between a non-living entity, such as a dealership, and the greater community. I know that last sentence may have come across a little weird but too many dealerships have an unknown person (at least to your online community) in charge of their Facebook page, as an example, and as such they are missing out on the influential bond that is created by being high touch.

High Touch

When it comes to your customers, I want you to always think in terms of high touch, which isn't necessarily high tech. In fact, I want you to evaluate any technological advancement that may come along by asking yourself, will this help me stay in touch with more of my customers or will it just look that way by mimicking high touch? Be careful here because sometimes they look the same.

With the advancement of technology, and the onset of social networks in particular, it may be easier to connect with your customers and your online community as a whole, but those connections usually lack the quality necessary to create the type of relationship with people that influences word-of-mouth. So, you must augment what you do online by being more human, by creating as much you-me time as possible. What I mean by that is instead of spending all your time conversing with the community as a whole spend time getting to know the individuals as well.

Here as some other high touch ideas:

• Have Facebook appreciate days where you give away free oil changes or invite them to the dealership for a meet-up with music, food and games.
• As time progresses you will notice certain members of the community are engaging you more consistently than the others, call them, ask their opinions on an upcoming event.
• As a salesperson, instead of just sending out a birthday card, they can send out a short 30 second video wishing their customers a happy birthday. I'm not talking about creating the video once and sending that out each time, no, I'm talking about an individual video that uses the customer's name within the context of the video.
• Empower your employees to be human and connect on a personal level. This requires a level of trust but with the proper training and the right people you should have nothing to worry about.
• Care. That's right, care. Do whatever you can to show compassion towards your customers, treat them as people, not a transaction. Help out the community, become one of us instead of being just one of them.

Too many dealerships are afraid to trust their employees to be human, they would much rather be hands off and let technology help them connect in a sterile, but in their eyes, more efficient, manner. Just take a look at all these so-called loyalty programs out there, they use cards and point systems to offer something free after a certain amount of money is spent at the dealership. What is that really doing? It's creating a hands-off approach that may be efficient, but where is the human element? Where is the high touch? If you truly want to create brand loyalty then go high touch.

Emotional Based Connections

Connect around an emotion. Are you married? If so, is the person you are married to the only person you've ever dated? Odds are the answer is no. So what caused you to have the type of connection with your spouse that lead to marriage? The answer is emotion, because without an emotional based connection the relationship is ultimately doomed to fail. The same holds true for the relationship that you're creating with both your customers and your online community.

I've said it before, it's almost impossible to create a connection between a business and their community if the only thing they have to connect around is the business itself. Instead, focus on something that the community is passionate about, such as their children's education, sports, or even a local cause. For instance, Metro Honda of Union County put up $5,000 for area schools, which they had to compete for. In all, there were about 40 schools involved, as well as thousands of people from the local community. Because Metro Honda connected with something that was emotional based, their children's education, the bond created between the people of the dealerships and the greater community of Union County has lasted, and will continue to last, long after the Union County School Pride Project announced the winning school.

Your day to day interactions with your community should be emotional based as well. Ask questions that illicit an emotional response or bring up a fond memory such as the question, "What is your fondest childhood memory?" I've had so many great conversations around that one question alone, here are some other emotional fused questions to ask:

• When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
• How do you feel when your child comes home with an A on a test?
• If you could do one thing without the worry of failure what would it be?
• If you were granted one wish that had to be used on a complete stranger, what would that wish be?
• What makes you jump up and scream for joy?

Of course there are thousands of other questions you can ask to start an emotion based conversation, but the idea behind it is to make people feel good about conversing with you. Don't just stop there, questions that bring up moral dilemmas are good questions to ask as well, questions such as "Would you lie under oath to protect a friend you knew was innocent but couldn't prove?" Of course you have to be careful with these types of questions but the depth of conversation that happens surrounding them is nothing short of magical! Remember, if you want to elicit emotions then you have to hold a conversation. Don't just throw out a question for people to answer, ask more questions around their answers, probe. For instance, using the above question you can ask, after a few dozen or so people have answered, what if it was your spouse, not a friend? Well... would you?

David Johnson
Social Media Nut
PersuasiveConcepts.com
 

In part 1 of The Three Ideals For Social Marketing Success I mentioned that success in social media boils down to three ideals, they are:

1. The Development Of Relationships,
2. The Creation Of High Touch, Emotion Based Connections, and
3. Customer Enchantment (think customer service to the Nth degree).

In this post, part 2 of 3, we will be exploring the importance of creating high touch, emotion based connections within your online community. Keep in mind that the goal of social marketing is to influence word-of-mouth and create brand loyalty, in other words we want to create brand advocates; customers, that create other customers.

In order for that to happen though you must work to create three types of emotional based connections, they are:

• Employee - Community
• Employee - Employee
• Community - Community

Most of the time social media is used only to create a connection between the dealership and it's community members, when in reality that connection must between the employees of the dealership and the community. The reason is simple: it's nearly impossible to form an emotional based connection between a non-living entity, such as a dealership, and the greater community. I know that last sentence may have come across a little weird but too many dealerships have an unknown person (at least to your online community) in charge of their Facebook page, as an example, and as such they are missing out on the influential bond that is created by being high touch.

High Touch

When it comes to your customers, I want you to always think in terms of high touch, which isn't necessarily high tech. In fact, I want you to evaluate any technological advancement that may come along by asking yourself, will this help me stay in touch with more of my customers or will it just look that way by mimicking high touch? Be careful here because sometimes they look the same.

With the advancement of technology, and the onset of social networks in particular, it may be easier to connect with your customers and your online community as a whole, but those connections usually lack the quality necessary to create the type of relationship with people that influences word-of-mouth. So, you must augment what you do online by being more human, by creating as much you-me time as possible. What I mean by that is instead of spending all your time conversing with the community as a whole spend time getting to know the individuals as well.

Here as some other high touch ideas:

• Have Facebook appreciate days where you give away free oil changes or invite them to the dealership for a meet-up with music, food and games.
• As time progresses you will notice certain members of the community are engaging you more consistently than the others, call them, ask their opinions on an upcoming event.
• As a salesperson, instead of just sending out a birthday card, they can send out a short 30 second video wishing their customers a happy birthday. I'm not talking about creating the video once and sending that out each time, no, I'm talking about an individual video that uses the customer's name within the context of the video.
• Empower your employees to be human and connect on a personal level. This requires a level of trust but with the proper training and the right people you should have nothing to worry about.
• Care. That's right, care. Do whatever you can to show compassion towards your customers, treat them as people, not a transaction. Help out the community, become one of us instead of being just one of them.

Too many dealerships are afraid to trust their employees to be human, they would much rather be hands off and let technology help them connect in a sterile, but in their eyes, more efficient, manner. Just take a look at all these so-called loyalty programs out there, they use cards and point systems to offer something free after a certain amount of money is spent at the dealership. What is that really doing? It's creating a hands-off approach that may be efficient, but where is the human element? Where is the high touch? If you truly want to create brand loyalty then go high touch.

Emotional Based Connections

Connect around an emotion. Are you married? If so, is the person you are married to the only person you've ever dated? Odds are the answer is no. So what caused you to have the type of connection with your spouse that lead to marriage? The answer is emotion, because without an emotional based connection the relationship is ultimately doomed to fail. The same holds true for the relationship that you're creating with both your customers and your online community.

I've said it before, it's almost impossible to create a connection between a business and their community if the only thing they have to connect around is the business itself. Instead, focus on something that the community is passionate about, such as their children's education, sports, or even a local cause. For instance, Metro Honda of Union County put up $5,000 for area schools, which they had to compete for. In all, there were about 40 schools involved, as well as thousands of people from the local community. Because Metro Honda connected with something that was emotional based, their children's education, the bond created between the people of the dealerships and the greater community of Union County has lasted, and will continue to last, long after the Union County School Pride Project announced the winning school.

Your day to day interactions with your community should be emotional based as well. Ask questions that illicit an emotional response or bring up a fond memory such as the question, "What is your fondest childhood memory?" I've had so many great conversations around that one question alone, here are some other emotional fused questions to ask:

• When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
• How do you feel when your child comes home with an A on a test?
• If you could do one thing without the worry of failure what would it be?
• If you were granted one wish that had to be used on a complete stranger, what would that wish be?
• What makes you jump up and scream for joy?

Of course there are thousands of other questions you can ask to start an emotion based conversation, but the idea behind it is to make people feel good about conversing with you. Don't just stop there, questions that bring up moral dilemmas are good questions to ask as well, questions such as "Would you lie under oath to protect a friend you knew was innocent but couldn't prove?" Of course you have to be careful with these types of questions but the depth of conversation that happens surrounding them is nothing short of magical! Remember, if you want to elicit emotions then you have to hold a conversation. Don't just throw out a question for people to answer, ask more questions around their answers, probe. For instance, using the above question you can ask, after a few dozen or so people have answered, what if it was your spouse, not a friend? Well... would you?

David Johnson
Social Media Nut
PersuasiveConcepts.com
 

A lot of people will tell you that there is no way to track the ROI of social media, I'm here to tell you that they're wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong! But why are they wrong? I have a few ideas on that, the biggest of which is that they don't know what they're doing. Another reason could be that they think it's too hard and instead of admitted that, say it's impossible. Other reasons, I'll keep to myself, but I think you get the point!

If you take a look at the traditional formula for ROI you will see that it's rather simple:

ROI = [(return – investment) / investment ] *100

So, for instance, let's say that your investment was the $1,000 you spent on a radio buy, but it netted you a return of $3,000. All you would have to do is plug into the formula, like so:

ROI=[($3,000 -$1,000)/ $1,000]*100
ROI= 200%

Using the same formula we can covert it for use with social media, it would look something like:

SM ROI=[(sm return - sm investment)/ sm investment]*100

First, let's take a look at your social media investment. The investment can include everything from the cost of giveaways and social management tools to employee compensation and any IT related expenses. Yes, your social media investment should be pretty straight forward, it's in the social media return that some work needs to be done.

Before you can ever hope to calculate an ROI you must first decide what your social media return will be. Your return will fall into one of three categories, as the book, The Now Revolution, points out:

• Awareness
• Sales
• Loyalty

Keep in mind that you can, and should, track metrics for all three, it will give you a much better idea of what your actual return might be. So, pick a different return goal for each ROI category listed above.

Once you have the goal (your return) decided upon, now it's time to assign a metric to it. How will you track your return? What do you have, or are going to put in place to alert you when your goal is reached? For instance, if your goal is to drive more traffic to your website then it's just a matter of looking at your website analytics for social network referrers.

Using the example of website traffic, now it's time to decide what each of those are worth to you. That is, how much is each visit worth? To figure that out, take a look at the total number of sales income you had the previous 6 months from your social traffic (you can try fewer months but 6 will give you a more accurate number) and divide it by the total number of unique social media traffic. That number will help you to establish how much each visit to your website is. I would urge you though, that if you are using website visits as a goal, then you should reevaluate the worth of social visits about every 3 months or so because as you start to use social media the right way, you will notice that leads from your social networks will close higher and higher, thus increasing the worth of a social visit.

$175,000 (Total Sales) / 1,500 (Traffic) = $117 Each unique visit

Now that you have a worth associated with your return, it's just a matter of plugging it back into the social media ROI formula to figure out what your rate of return is.

Social Media ROI Example

First, let's chose a return goal from each category:

• Awareness - For this example our awareness goal will be to increase the number of mentions that are being said about us online, using a reputation management package such as SocialMention.com (free) or BrandsEye.com & UberVu.com(not).
  
  We've decided, through research, that a favorable social mention is worth around $50. While we understand that a blog post (and the creators reach) is worth more than a Tweet, we are only figuring averages here and a little on the low side.
   
• Sales- Our sales goal is pretty straight forward and if you are a car dealerships it's when you sell a car, part or service. In fact, we know the exact return here so there is no need to figure out what each will be worth.
  
  Even the metrics we need to track it are already in place, what business doesn't know when they make a sale?How do we know when a sale is a social media sales? Simple, we ask, 100% of the time. No exception. If it's from a lead on the website, we make sure that each lead is sourced correctly so that we can pinpoint which leads sold and where they came from.
   
• Loyalty - Our loyalty goal will be to increase the number of people that return to buy from us again and again. We do this by tracking a lifetime value impact and can attribute this to social media because we strive to connect all of our customer with our social initiative, that way we can build positive relationships with them that go beyond the sale. To figure out a return, we will take the average lifetime value before we started using social media and subtract if from the post social media figure. We can figure it even further by breaking it down per month, which will help us to figure out our ROI below. (While I'm not using it in this example, the Net Promoter Score is a great way to gauge your customers loyalty)

Now that we have goals (return) for each category, it's time to plug the variables into the social media ROI formula. Before we do that though, it's important to figure out how we are going to figure out how our total investment is going to be split up, among the three ROI categories. Once you do that, let's take out the calculator and figure this thing out!

The Numbers Below Are Monthly Numbers

• Awareness Social Media ROI = [($5,000 - $2,250)/$2,250]*100
  Awareness Social Media ROI = 122%
   
• Sales Social Media ROI = [($25,000 - $5,250)/$5,250]*100
  Sales Social Media ROI = 376%
   
• Loyalty Social Media ROI = [($15,000 - $3,980)/$3,980]*100
  Loyalty Social Media ROI = 277%

Now you can put them all together, if you'd like:

Total Social Media ROI = [($45,000 - $11,480)/$11,480]*100
Total Social Media ROI = 292%

So there you have it, tracking social media ROI! There are others ways that this can be accomplished and other things to consider when tracking social media, so this is just one tool you should be using when deciding if what you're doing with social is giving you the results you have been looking for. Please keep in mind that the ROI ratio I've shown you here is a top level metric, what that means is that it will give you the bottom line but won't show you were you are going wrong, or where you are going right, but that's for another blog post.

David Johnson

Social Media Strategist
Upcoming Workshops
PersuasiveConcepts.com

A lot of people will tell you that there is no way to track the ROI of social media, I'm here to tell you that they're wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong! But why are they wrong? I have a few ideas on that, the biggest of which is that they don't know what they're doing. Another reason could be that they think it's too hard and instead of admitted that, say it's impossible. Other reasons, I'll keep to myself, but I think you get the point!

If you take a look at the traditional formula for ROI you will see that it's rather simple:

ROI = [(return – investment) / investment ] *100

So, for instance, let's say that your investment was the $1,000 you spent on a radio buy, but it netted you a return of $3,000. All you would have to do is plug into the formula, like so:

ROI=[($3,000 -$1,000)/ $1,000]*100
ROI= 200%

Using the same formula we can covert it for use with social media, it would look something like:

SM ROI=[(sm return - sm investment)/ sm investment]*100

First, let's take a look at your social media investment. The investment can include everything from the cost of giveaways and social management tools to employee compensation and any IT related expenses. Yes, your social media investment should be pretty straight forward, it's in the social media return that some work needs to be done.

Before you can ever hope to calculate an ROI you must first decide what your social media return will be. Your return will fall into one of three categories, as the book, The Now Revolution, points out:

• Awareness
• Sales
• Loyalty

Keep in mind that you can, and should, track metrics for all three, it will give you a much better idea of what your actual return might be. So, pick a different return goal for each ROI category listed above.

Once you have the goal (your return) decided upon, now it's time to assign a metric to it. How will you track your return? What do you have, or are going to put in place to alert you when your goal is reached? For instance, if your goal is to drive more traffic to your website then it's just a matter of looking at your website analytics for social network referrers.

Using the example of website traffic, now it's time to decide what each of those are worth to you. That is, how much is each visit worth? To figure that out, take a look at the total number of sales income you had the previous 6 months from your social traffic (you can try fewer months but 6 will give you a more accurate number) and divide it by the total number of unique social media traffic. That number will help you to establish how much each visit to your website is. I would urge you though, that if you are using website visits as a goal, then you should reevaluate the worth of social visits about every 3 months or so because as you start to use social media the right way, you will notice that leads from your social networks will close higher and higher, thus increasing the worth of a social visit.

$175,000 (Total Sales) / 1,500 (Traffic) = $117 Each unique visit

Now that you have a worth associated with your return, it's just a matter of plugging it back into the social media ROI formula to figure out what your rate of return is.

Social Media ROI Example

First, let's chose a return goal from each category:

• Awareness - For this example our awareness goal will be to increase the number of mentions that are being said about us online, using a reputation management package such as SocialMention.com (free) or BrandsEye.com & UberVu.com(not).
  
  We've decided, through research, that a favorable social mention is worth around $50. While we understand that a blog post (and the creators reach) is worth more than a Tweet, we are only figuring averages here and a little on the low side.
   
• Sales- Our sales goal is pretty straight forward and if you are a car dealerships it's when you sell a car, part or service. In fact, we know the exact return here so there is no need to figure out what each will be worth.
  
  Even the metrics we need to track it are already in place, what business doesn't know when they make a sale?How do we know when a sale is a social media sales? Simple, we ask, 100% of the time. No exception. If it's from a lead on the website, we make sure that each lead is sourced correctly so that we can pinpoint which leads sold and where they came from.
   
• Loyalty - Our loyalty goal will be to increase the number of people that return to buy from us again and again. We do this by tracking a lifetime value impact and can attribute this to social media because we strive to connect all of our customer with our social initiative, that way we can build positive relationships with them that go beyond the sale. To figure out a return, we will take the average lifetime value before we started using social media and subtract if from the post social media figure. We can figure it even further by breaking it down per month, which will help us to figure out our ROI below. (While I'm not using it in this example, the Net Promoter Score is a great way to gauge your customers loyalty)

Now that we have goals (return) for each category, it's time to plug the variables into the social media ROI formula. Before we do that though, it's important to figure out how we are going to figure out how our total investment is going to be split up, among the three ROI categories. Once you do that, let's take out the calculator and figure this thing out!

The Numbers Below Are Monthly Numbers

• Awareness Social Media ROI = [($5,000 - $2,250)/$2,250]*100
  Awareness Social Media ROI = 122%
   
• Sales Social Media ROI = [($25,000 - $5,250)/$5,250]*100
  Sales Social Media ROI = 376%
   
• Loyalty Social Media ROI = [($15,000 - $3,980)/$3,980]*100
  Loyalty Social Media ROI = 277%

Now you can put them all together, if you'd like:

Total Social Media ROI = [($45,000 - $11,480)/$11,480]*100
Total Social Media ROI = 292%

So there you have it, tracking social media ROI! There are others ways that this can be accomplished and other things to consider when tracking social media, so this is just one tool you should be using when deciding if what you're doing with social is giving you the results you have been looking for. Please keep in mind that the ROI ratio I've shown you here is a top level metric, what that means is that it will give you the bottom line but won't show you were you are going wrong, or where you are going right, but that's for another blog post.

David Johnson

Social Media Strategist
Upcoming Workshops
PersuasiveConcepts.com