Social media is good for a lot of things: building relationships, finding and spreading news, marketing, a good laugh, keeping up with your friends and family and a host of other things, but there is another aspect of social media that most businesses aren't using. In fact I could argue and you could argue that it's the most powerful part of social media that most businesses aren't using. It's this missing piece that could be the difference your business has been looking for, the competitive edge that could push you over the top and allow you to grab market share.

Since the onset of marketing, marketers have looked at it as a way to get their product or service seen or heard but unfortunately have completely ignored the real reason why marketing works or doesn't work... it's people! Granted, marketing is a way to build awareness but it's the dialogue that's happening between people that will dictate whether or not your marketing efforts work or don't work. In other words, the real marketing gold here is mined from the people of your community, are you listening to what they are saying?

In a post I came across, written by Ross Mayfield, he shares with us a model for understanding how enterprises are assimilating the knowledge learned from listening to the conversations surrounding their business.

• 1% of customer conversations are assimilated as organizational knowledge
• 9% of customer conversations touch the organization, but no learning occurs
• 90% of customer conversations never touch the organization

Listening To The Conversation

It pays to listen and instead of rehashing how you can set up a free social listening station, I go into detail about it in a recent post I wrote on personal branding. If you take a look at the figures above you will notice that 90% of what's being said about your business is never even heard. It's not that your customers don't have a voice, because they do, it's called social networking. The reason 90% of what your target market is saying never gets heard is because you're not listening, and the consequence is that you are ignoring a way to make your business exceptional.

As an example: an emphasis, over creating brand ambassadors, is being put on bringing in new customers to dealerships. On the outside that doesn't sound so bad, and it's not really but if you're starting on the bottom every month it's very difficult, if not impossible, to build an empire. More about that in a bit but first let's take a look at the other 10%.

Almost as alarming as 90% of what people are saying about a particular business is never heard, 9% of it is heard but no organizational learning is happening. Put another way, you hear about the experiences your customers are having at your business (good or bad) but you are doing nothing about it. You aren't assimilating the potential gold mine that your customers are sharing with you into your organizations knowledge base and are missing a huge opportunity to be exceptional. As I've said before it's the difference between what's expected and the actual service received that will dictate whether or not they will talk about you, and they are talking, it's up to you though if you want to exceed those expectations and gain positive word of mouth or fail to meet them and gain negative word of mouth.

Knowledge Assimilation

Be Part of The 1%: If you hear somebody say something good about one of your employees you should reward them, share it with the entire organization and depending on the impact level make sure that other employees duplicate it with the intention of multiplying the effect of the first. With the reverse, if you hear about a customer complaining about it taking too long to get an oil change or to get through F&I at your dealership, then take a look at your internal processes and make a change.

A lot of people take it personally when somebody complains about a product or service, but if you look at it as a cry for help and as a way to have a positive impact on your future business then you will begin to approach what others are saying in a different light. With the onset of social networks and the desire, by the consumer, to have a voice about your business, good or bad, then all you have to do is start thinking of the customer as part of your business, not just marketing but operations as well.

The best part of Social Media – that you can now begin to strategically employ – is that it is a marketing tool that also serves as a collaboration tool as well as a marketing tool. When you implement Social Marketing in this collaborative fashion, then you go a long way to building a true social business by harnessing the true voice of the customer.

Building An Empire By Building Brand Ambassadors

Earlier I said that an emphases was being put on brining in new customers instead of creating brand ambassadors, before you lambaste me though let me explain what I mean by that. Auto dealerships are notorious for being short sighted, they think in terms of today and because of that they tend not to think in terms of compounding customers.

Much like compounding interest, which Wikipedia defines as "when interest is added to the principal, so that from that moment on, the interest that has been added also itself earns interest", compounding customers works much the same way.

Dealership A

Dealership A spends a ton of money on advertising, they have catchy jingles and bring in a ton of customers every month. They give service that is expected but aren't very good at following up. Let's say that they sell 100 new customers every month, by new I mean that they aren't repeat or referrals. Through their advertising they are building top of mind, or so their radio and TV reps are telling them so they keep spending a ton of money each and every month on advertising but they still are only selling 100 cars each and every month.

Dealership B

Dealership B is a referral machine, they treat their customers right and work mainly through word of mouth. Management places an emphases on client follow up but they don't spend much money on traditional marketing so they aren't building a lot of NEW awareness but they are increasing their monthly unit count, but slowly.

Dealership C

Dealership C is a hybrid of Dealership A and B, they have a good marketing mix and spend a fair amount of money on tradition advertising but they also put an emphasis on customer experience and building brand ambassadors and relationship marketing (social media). They understand the Law of Compounding Customers (not really sure if it's a law, I may have just made it up! LOL) and that each and every single month, because 45% of their sales volume is from repeats and referrals, that they will grow perpetually, if they keep doing what they are doing.

If you follow with me here for a second I will explain in mathematical detail, to the best of my ability anyway, how you can take advantage of the Law of Compounding Customers. Let's say that in month 1, Dealership C sells 50 new customers and 35 referral and or repeat customers for a total of 85 units. Because of Dealerships C's exceptional track record they know that 45% of their customer will either come back or give them a referral.

Instead of starting from 0 each month they know that in any given month, the new customers they sold in previous months will either come back or send them referrals 45% of the time. In other words, out of the 50 they sold the previous month they can expect an additional 22 sales sometime in the future. If this keeps happening, month in and month out, the number of repeats and referrals will compound on the new customers in addition to the repeats and referrals in the previous months.

Breaking It Down

By listening to your customers and increasing the total customer experience in your business you create an environment for rampant word of mouth. If the point of sale experience matches how you portray yourself on social networks and in traditional advertising then you have the beginnings of a truly great customer experience and which increases your chance of effectiveness and frequency at creating influential brand ambassadors. But, it all starts with listening to your customers and assimilating that knowledge into your business operations to make an even better customer experience.

David Johnson is the social media strategist for Next Generation Dealer Services and author of PersuasiveConcepts.com. Sign up for the Automotive Social Media Newsletter HERE.

Continuing on the path I started when I wrote "Building Your Personal Brand by Harnessing The Power of Social Media" I wanted to write a second post that digs a little deeper into a few aspects of that earlier post. I can't stress enough about how important building your personal brand is to the future of your business. Just a take a look at the most popular brands out there and what they stand for. When you think "shoes" what brand comes to mind first? What about "soft drinks" or "car insurance?"

What do you stand for? What do you want to be known for? Who is your audience and what are they looking for? Keep in mind that the surest way to building a powerful personal brand is by giving your audience/customers what they want... over and over again.

Below find 5 things that you should start working on right now to build your influence and your own personal brand:

1. Create Valuable Content - Become A Thought Leader

By continually showcasing that you know what you are talking about, by becoming the authority you gain influence by becoming the expert. It's a psychological fact, authority is influential. People want to do business with people that they know (or think) has all the answers. People want to do business with a professional and if you show them, by creating powerful, thought provoking content , you are well on your way to establishing yourself as a thought leader.

Content doesn't just have to be a blog post, it can be a video or a podcast, an engaging topic started on your Facebook wall or even a tweet. The idea is to make people think by giving them valuable insights. If you sell cars you can create content around a number of topics such as:

• Blog Post: 5 Things You Can Do Right Now To Increase The Value Of Your Trade
   
• Facebook Wall Post: If you could ask a car salesperson one question, that they HAD to answer honestly, what would that one question be?
   
• Video: How To Stay Confident During The Negotiation Process

Of course there are many different valuable and thought provoking topics to choose from, but as stated earlier, it's important to be seen as THE thought leader in your field of expertise. Along those same lines it's important that you continually grow in your craft, consume as much content as possible yourself from other leaders in your field as well as in others. Keep in mind that learning is a never ending process and also that "He who knows everything, knows nothing."

2. Influence Others To Talk About You

By creating valuable content that speaks to the people reading it you are, in effect, influencing others to talk about you. But I want to take things deeper than that, if you really want to get other people to talk about you then you have to get them to like, know and trust you.

• Like: Getting somebody to like you is easier said than done but there are some things that you can do to become "likeable." First, don't talk about yourself, get other people to talk about themselves. You can do this online by asking questions of your customers, by starting engaging discussions on social networks and by addressing those that comment on your posts, videos, or podcasts. Also, while you are showcasing that you are a thought leader in your field, don't be unapproachable, thank people for commenting, and make it easy for people to connect with and contact you.
   
• Know: Don't be all professional, allow others to see your personal side. Let them see that you are human. You have likes, talk about them. Post pictures of your family on Facebook, write posts about a family outing or vacation, you can even talk about your favorite books or movies. Give people reasons to want to know you and a way to do so.
   
• Trust: Always, always, always do what you say you are going to do. Be transparent, thoughtful and help other people. Post client testimonials, social proof is a great way to build trust and is influential to others that are looking for somebody to be a car from or to hire to fix their plumbing.

3. Follow Up With Past Clients

By following up with and getting to know your past clients you are working to develop personal brand ambassadors. The best place to start, when building an online following, is by tapping into your current reservoir of clients. Befriend them on Facebook, get to know them beyond "business." Be careful here though, nobody likes to be cyber stalked so make sure that you get permission.

Once you have connected with past clients allow them an opportunity to get to know you, influence them to like, know and trust you. By you taking an active interest in wanting to know them and reading their content they will do the same for you and will quickly learn that you are a thought leader in your field. By working on your client relationships you are showcasing that you are exceptional and exceptional people get spoken about and referred to. These are all things that work toward building an army of brand ambassadors that want to spread your good word.

4. Talk About Other People

You've heard it before, probably because I say it a lot but, the less you pitch, the more you sell. In other words, the less you spend talking about you and what you do the more you will sell. So, instead of talking about yourself, spend more time talking about and referring others. Not only will other people notice that you lift others up but the people you are talking about and referring others to will feel influenced (Law Of Reciprocation) to reciprocate and will begin to talk about and refer others to you.

5. Listen To Conversations, Then Engage

Just as in real life, you can't meet people unless you venture away from home. What I mean by that, is don't spend all of your time on your Home Base (your website or blog). Spend time going to other people homes and outposts. Go to their Facebook pages and get to know them, engage on their discussion topics and comment on their blog posts.

There is a whole world of conversation going on that has nothing to do with you, go join in and become part of it. Add to the conversations and keep in mind that you don't want to pitch, just showcase your willingness to help and others will seek you out to find out more about you. They will read your profile, follow your other discussions and will see that you are a thought leader in your field and will be influenced to do business with and/or refer others to you.

Your Personal Brand

Your personal brand, whether its business wide or a single employee is worth cultivating. By building a strong personal brand, built on moral ethics and the desire to help others, then you are well on your way to building a business based on repeat and referral business. Start working on your brand today, it's the first step to building a fanatical following of brand ambassadors that will talk about and refer other to you.

What can you add? What have you done to build your own personal brand?

Are You Exceptional?

Well, are you? It's a question you should ask yourself sooner rather than later, before you do though you should check your ego at the door and be honest with yourself. I ask because it's the difference between what's expected and the service given that will decide whether or not you are worth doing business with again. We live in a time when just meeting expectations wont earn you repeat business. You must make it a policy to continually strive to go above and beyond and do the things that your customers DON'T expect, of course that just the beginning...

Your Personal Brand

Your brand is who you are, it's about building an identity that will resonate with your customers and keep them coming back to you even when there are no other incentives, besides their relationship with you, to do so. Building your online brand starts with who you actually are, what makes you unique, what can you offer that others will be drawn too? In the auto industry its relatively easy to stand out from the stereotypical auto dealership or automotive sales person.

Being incongruent with what people think about our industry, without you actively saying you are different, will go a long way to increasing the worth of your personal brand. If you keep in mind that people will sometimes believe what they are told, but will always believe what you conclude you will start to see that it's better to show that you are different by your actions, not your words.

If you want to generate leads, increase your repeats and referrals, then you need to recognize that online branding needs to be a priority because it can help you to reach your goals by driving incremental business your way. Simply put, if you want to build more online business (the new networking) then you must first build your online brand or identity.

It all starts with...

Listening

Managing your reputation is as important as marketing your reputation. Word of mouth can spread like wildfire and it's in your own best interest to listen to what others are saying about you or your dealership. While you can spend money on professional social monitoring tools (such as Radian6 and Brandseye) there are some free ways to get nearly the same results.

Setting Up Social Monitoring

1. Sign up for Google Reader, it's easy, free and a great way to manage all your reputation management feeds.

2. Go to Google Alerts and put in keywords that relate to you and your dealership. Make sure "Type:" say's "Everything" and "Deliver to:" says "Feed." Preview your results before you click create alert, make sure that you stay away from broad terms such as Ford or Toyota because they will send a ton of results that don't relate to you or your dealership. After clicking create alert it will automatically go to Google Reader.

3. Go to SocialMention.com and once again put in the keywords that relate to you and your dealership. After clicking search you will see an icon and next to it you will see "RSS Feed." Click on that link and save the feed to Google Reader. You may have to change the drop down to Google before clicking subscribe.

4. Go to IceRocket.com and put in your keywords and click search. Keep in mind that doing all of this may give you duplicate results but will also let you know when somebody says something about you online. After performing the search, grab the feed from the bottom left.

5. Go to YackTrack.com and once gain perform a search and grab the feed.

6. Go to BoardReader.com , search out your keywords and grab the feed.

While there are many others, this is a good start and is very thorough, remember that there will be dupes and some things that aren't relevant but that's just the name of the game.

Where To Start Building

Home Base

Your home base is your website or blog, while building you personal online brand you want it to be your blog. Your blog is your hub, it's your home, its where you send everybody to find out more about who you are. You home base should have a nice about me section, a contact me page and should be easy to make comments on. It will have links to your outposts (we will talk about "outposts" next) and will have a nice "clean" look.

Outposts

Outposts are accounts, profiles or pages on other social networks and social media platforms. It's a way to extend your personal brand outside of your home base. Create a profile on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn and actively grow and engage your connections.

Passports

Passports are spaces that you post information on such as posts and newsletters and could even be other social networks that you send your RSS feed to but don't actively engage on. Passports can turn into Outposts if you start to use those spaces to be social and to engage others.

The idea behind segmenting your personal branding channels into home bases, outposts and passports is to allow you to better understand your flow of information and to allow for maximum influence.

Content Creation

Create content on a regular basis. This could include videos, podcasts or blog posts. Remember that you can repurpose your content if you run out of ideas. Remember that the less you pitch the more you sell. Be humble and remember that the only thing you should be selling is you. When creating content don't forget to include a call to action, that call to action could be to sign up for your newsletter or to leave a comment, but every video you create, podcast you record or blog post you write should have some sort of call to action in it.

When somebody comments, respond. Ask questions to further the conversation along. The more valuable your comments the more it reflects on your brand, on your personality. Create content that is pertinent to the people that you are looking to attract. As an auto dealership you can write posts on detailing tips, how to replace wiper blades, how to set the clock or work the navigation system. The ideas are endless!

Actively Engage

Spend the bulk of your time engaging the people on your home base and outposts. Get to know them, find out who the influencers are and spend more time engaging them. Use a service such as Klout.com to find your own influence score as well as the scores of those in your networks.

When engaging people there are 4 distinct "personality types" that make up your network:

• Consumers read but don't comment, watch videos but don't share, they listen but don't add. Consumers make up about 96% of the people in your network and while they are influenced, they are not influencers.
• Engagers will comment on your posts and make up about 2% of the total number of people in your online community. While they do comment they don't influence others to join the community.
• Influencers equal about 2% of your community and are a lot like engagers but they will actively help to grow the community by inviting others to be part of it.
• Brand Ambassadors equal only 1% of your online community but are golden, when you can find them use them to help grow your community. There are the people that create blog posts and videos about you or your dealership. They tell others, offline, about you, your dealership or your service department.

Give Your Brand A Voice

Based on your research (ask your customers!) determine what your audience wants to hear and what messages you want to put forth, that will build the foundation of your personal brand. Keep The following in mind:

• Be consistent. It's hard to be consistent when the person you are trying to be is not who you really are.
• Speak to your audience not at them, don't use industry terms and always remember to speak in a conversational tone, even when you are writing.
• Have an open mind, remember it's what your customers want and it won't always coincide with what you think.

Inviting Your Customers

Create business cards that has links to your home base and outposts and invite your customers to join you. When you sell your customer a vehicle take a picture of them and ask if you can tag them in it on Facebook. Once you have connected with them check out their profile and learn more about them. Engage them, converse with them and get to know them on a deeper level than just customer/ salesperson.

In Conclusion

While it won't happen overnight, developing your own personal brand will go a long ways to generating you more business. Think about all the big brands out there and how much clout they have. By building your own brand, your own referral network you make yourself harder so no to, so what are you waiting for, get out there and build and if you have an questions, comments or concerns along the way I'm just an email or comment away.

Speaking of comments what would you like to add to this post? I'd love to hear what you have to say.

David Johnson is the Social Media Strategist for Next Generation Dealer Services and PersuasiveConcepts.com.

LinkedIn is a powerful tool to connect with super influence in your community, are you using it? Welcome to the 4th episode of Automotive Social Media – The Podcast! In this episode I will share with you the tips and tricks of LinkedIn and how you can connect with the super influencers in your market. If you’re not using LinkedIn with you Automotive Social Marketing then you are missing out. Keep in mind that if you are a sales person, you don’t have to wait till your dealership says its mandatory, start now, take your future into your own hands!

If you would like to listen to the rest of the "Automotive Social Media - The Podcast" you can do so at Persuasive Concepts.

If you want to take advantange of social media and relationship marketing then you have to understand the Village Mindset and how you can use it to create influence.

Welcome to the second ever Automotive Social Media – The Podcast. In this podcast I will discuss with you how you can tap into the referral mindset of your customers and why we are putting more and more emphasis on what other people are saying. Did you know that we trust only 14% of the advertisement we see or hear each and every single day? 14%!!! What that means is lost dollars and a decrease on ROI, have you watched your cost per car sold skyrocket? There is a reason and I will discuss it in the podcast.

If you would like to lsten to my other podcasts feel free to check them out on my blog at PersuasiveConcepts.com

If you want to gain market share in these turbulent times, you must first adopt a new way of thinking. The old way of thinking about marketing, your customers, selling cars, acquiring service and even financing has to go by the wayside or your dealership will shrivel up and die.

I know those seem like harsh words because they are and it’s my hope that you don’t take them lightly, I sure didn’t when I wrote them. In order to change your way of thinking, your old bad habits so to speak, you must replace it with a new way of thinking because that’s the ONLY way you’re going to be able to survive.

We’re in the beginning stages of a revolution, an uprising that if you choose to stand against it, will crush you. The revolution I’m talking about is the customer revolution. For so long they had no voice, they were like an infant trying to say their first words, and now that they have a way to get their voices heard, they will never be silenced again.

You’re old way of thinking, that the end justifies the means, should be tossed away because now each and everyone of your customers has a soap box and other people are waiting (and wanting) to hear what they have to say. In fact, you don’t even have to be present, these conversations are going on without you and they will continue to do so. It’s up to you, do you want to know what they are saying or do you feel that if you didn’t hear it or see it that it never happened? I’m here to tell you now that if a tree falls in the woods it still makes a sound, even if nobody is around to hear it.

It’s time to change your perspective; it’s time to adopt what Robert Green calls a “strategy in depth.” I’m not referring to what most people think about when they think about strategy, which is often confused with planning and thinking ahead. No, I’m talking about strategic thinking that includes a higher level of perspective.

Right now you are on the ground seeing things on a level playing field, you are reacting to the changing times by holding on to the past because it’s real, or was real, you lived through it, you conquered it and became its victor and nothing is going to take that from you, not even this so called uprising.

As humans, when we are faced with a novel situation, we tend to react in one of two different ways. The first way, the way most dealers are handling the customer revolution, is to deny the reality of it, to say that it just ain’t so. And of course, since they tell themselves that it isn’t they hold on to the old way. In other words we interpret the world in the ways we WANT to see them, not necessarily the way they are. How are you seeing the world?

The second way, which most definitely is the road less traveled, is to accept the new rules by throwing the old ones out the window. By doing that we move above the playing field and gain new perspective, in other words we have elevated our position and instead of looking both our competition and customers in the eyes, thus limiting our strategic vision, we can look down at the playing field and adjust our position on the fly.

Imagine with me if you will, that you were playing chess but you were limited to looking at the board, while standing on the board. In this position you could only see the pieces next to you which would make it very difficult to protect your king. Now, elevate your position to just above the pieces, true you have a better view but still you would have trouble seeing your opponent advance. Lastly imagine yourself with a birds eye view, not only could you see what your opponent’s moves are but you could see beyond the board, past your opponent and into the horizon. Your perspective would give you a more in depth strategic vision, you would be able to see what’s coming and adjust accordingly.

Most auto dealers are playing the game while standing on the chessboard; they react to only what’s going on around them. I’m here to tell you right now, stop it. Raise up, pay attention to what’s coming and protect your king, if not there is more than a check mate in your future.

If you want to survive then adopt a social marketing attitude, humanize your dealership and give your employees a voice, it’s in the relationships your people can create with your local market that is going to determine your market share. The choice truly is yours to make. I hope you make the right one and when you do I’m here to guide you through it.

What’s Beyond My Field Of Strategic Vision Anyway?

The promise land, the land of milk and honey, the land of increased market share, increased repeats and increased referrals. Don’t you see it? Do you want to see it?

For those of you that do it’s a beautiful thing to behold when the people in your community stop going to Google looking for a vehicle, instead they come to you because you have built the reputation of being one of them. Instead of the traditional advertising monologue you have begun to dialogue with the people in your market. Because of that you are in a the unique position of permission marketing, a term coined by Seth Godin, which means that people are giving you their permission to market to them.

So, elevate your position, take in the whole battlefield and pay particular attention to what’s coming. If not, you could be wiped off the battlefield all together.

David Johnson is the Digital Marketing Strategist for Next Generation Dealer Services, you can listen to his daily Automotive Social Media podcast at PersuasiveConcepts.com.

It's not the end all be all, that's for sure. What? But David I've been to one of your seminars, I've seen all your webinars and have read your blog posts, you're a social media guy... aren't you? In a sense you could make the argument that I am, I do preach it, I'm passionate about it and I feel that every dealership in the country can benefit from it to one degree or another but I would argue that I'm more than just a social media guy, allow me to explain.

Wikipedia says the social media is media for social interactions, using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques. It goes on to say that social media uses web based technologies to turn communication into interactive dialogue.

Wha?

Basically social media is a tool. Nothing more, nothing less. And just like any tool there are both wrong ways and right ways to use it. So in other words I'm saying that the "tool" is not the end all be all, it's what that tool can help you accomplish that's the end all be all. Think about it, what's worth more, the hammer or the house it built? Rhetorical I know, but you get my meaning.

So What Does The Social Media Tool Build?

It builds the platform on which social interactions can be built. It's the coffee table we sit around as we get to know each other, it's the telephone held to our ears as we talk about the day's events, it's a communication channel. What are you using that channel for?

Some would say that it's used to sell, that it's another channel to get your vehicle seen. I would say the first part is closer than the second part but the kind of selling that should be done with the social media tool is much different than the kind of selling you're used to. Social media purists would argue that you don't sell on social networks and I would say that they are wrong... in a way. True were not selling products or services but what we are selling is ourselves. We are selling the fact that we are human, that we are more than car people, that we have thoughts outside of selling cars and that we want nothing more than to build positive, win-win relationships with our clients.

I talk to a lot of dealer principals, general managers and sales managers who don't seem to get what social media can do for them, they call it a fad. Fad you say? Networking has been around since the dawn of time, in fact the fancy word I used a few paragraphs up (social interactions) is just another word for networking, is networking a fad?

With social media tools you now have the option to networking with hundreds and thousands, even millions, whereas before you were lucky to network with 2 or 3 at a time. If you're one of those people that stay away from hype for the sake of it being hype then think of it this way: Social media is the tool used to humanize and build relationships with the people in my community, much like the newspaper, way back in the day, was used to sell cars.

Relationship Marketing Is The True Hero

If you haven't had a chance to read last week's blog post please take a moment to do so, it's titled "Harnessing The "Human" Mindset." In that post I go into the mindset behind why social networks are so popular and if you are able to harness the basic desires behind it you are well on your way to increasing your social capital.

Again we can go back to Wikipedia for the definition of relationship marketing: a form of marketing developed from direct response marketing campaigns which emphasizes customer retention and satisfaction, rather than a dominant focus on sales transactions. As a practice, Relationship Marketing differs from other forms of marketing in that it recognizes the long term value of customer relationships and extends communication beyond intrusive advertising and sales promotional messages.

Isn't that refreshing! With relationship marketing the pressure of the sale isn't even there, in fact we are doing what we're are hard wired to do, be social! With the onset of social media it's easier than ever to build relationships with our clients and indirectly relationships sell. Relationships get people to talk about your dealership and your sales people, isn't that what you want, word of mouth?

So I'll say it again, social media isn't the end all be all, but what it can help you accomplish...whoa! So, what are you waiting for, go forth and multiply... your networking that is.

Top of Mind Awareness is one of those terms you hear thrown around a lot by marketing reps. Wikipedia defines it as "Owning the space that your product or service occupies between your prospects' ears. That way, when they're ready to buy they think of you first." One of their definitions anyway, and the one I liked the most!

When a brand, service, or product is able to achieve top of the mind awareness they ensure that when a consumer comes into the market for their particular product or service, they are able to mentally push aside all of the current advertising they are seeing and think of them. Traditionally, this was done by being memorable, consistent and by repeatedly marketing their unique selling position or USP. Given that traditional advertising breeds mistrust (Neilson did a study and found that we trust only 14% of the ads we see) can you imagine how expensive a traditional top of the mind awareness campaign can be? That's where social media comes and why it's the new top of mind.

SEO Is Super Important, But...

Let's face it. When people go to Google or other search engines it's because they are searching for an answer. It could be the answer to the question, "Where can I find the best deal on a 2010 Ford Fusion," or "Where can I find financing, my bank turned me down?" Whatever it happens to be they are searching because they DON'T know the answer.

What would happen if they did know the answers to those questions and instead of typing in a search query in some search engine somewhere they typed your URL into the address bar? Not only would there be a bigger chance that they would submit a lead but they would close at a higher rate as well, that's because you have already built trust with them by creating top of the mind awareness.

Of course you should ALWAYS optimize your website for search but you should also include social media induced top of the mind awareness strategies into your online marketing mix. Here are 5 tips to get you started in the right direction.

1. Start A Blog

There is no better way to create authority, top of the mind and influence than through the creation and authoring of your own blog. As I stated in the previous paragraphs the only reason somebody goes to a search engine is because they want an answer to a specific question but if they already know the answer before the need for an answer surfaces then you have done your job in creating top of mind awareness.

2. Create A Facebook Fan Page

Okay, I know, you've heard this before and you have a fan page but it's not all that you thought it would be, or what you were lead to think it would be. Most people will tell you that you should pitch on your fan page, and odds are you're probably not. In fact you're probably using it to showcase your customers, the exciting stuff that's going on in your world but still you're not seeing any return on time investment, its worthless right?

Of course it is, if you're NOT doing it the right way that is. What's the right way you ask? Engagement. Spend your time asking though provoking questions, running contests and giving stuff away. You want your fans (or likers?) to "like" your posts or better yet comment on them. Talk about local news, showcase that you're part of the community, in fact you can even allow other local business to start discussions on your fan page, this shows you are one of "us" instead of one of "them."

3. Don't Pitch, Let Others Do It For You

Strange isn't it? Strange that the less you pitch the more you sell from your social media efforts, but it's true! Look at what Ford has done with the Fiesta Movement, what can you do to get your fans, followers, customers, or other types of connections to create content for you? What if you did an ongoing, monthly contest where customers created videos about their experience with their sales person.

The rules could be that the sales person with the most videos got a bonus at the end of the month and each customer that created a video could win dinner for two. Of course they would have to label the video with the businesses name and upload it to YouTube to enter the contest but just think about how many videos you could have in just a few short months, these videos would most definitely build top of mind by influencing everybody that watches them.

4. Know Today's Customers

Customers today are too busy, skeptical, cautious, tired of all the sales pressure, and confused about all the choices available to them, you should adjust your marketing accordingly. What I mean by that is everything you do should address one or all of those. Social media is a great tool to do just that!

Battle Skepticism With: As I mentioned in the second paragraph, consumers only trust 14% of the ads they see but 78% of what a peer recommends. That's why it's essential that you get your customers to talk about you on their own social graphs, not only will that defeat skepticism it will build top of mind.

Addressing Cautious Customers: Answer every question, don't hide behind half answers because you just want to get them in the store. Know that today's customer wants to know ALL the facts before they comment. You could address this through blogs and FAQ's.

Forgo The Sales Pressure: You could have the least amount of sales pressure of all your competitors but if you talk about yourself too much on your social networks people will equate that to sales pressure and will cost you business and top of mind.

Helping Busy Customers: We're too busy these days to spend time haggling price, searching for the right deal or shopping around. Showcase the fact that you willing go the extra mile by getting your past customers to comment about or create videos on, how much time you saved them.

End The Confusion: Choices are everywhere and its easier than ever to shop around with the click of a mouse. But, with that, comes confusion. While we all like choices, the more there is the more confused people become. Most people don't have the time to research all their choices but there are a lot of things you can do to help them with that. For instance you could do a video showcasing your product, taking the time to explain exactly what it is, what it does and the many features it has. Don't use these videos to pitch but to showcase your products.

5. Top of Mind By Association

Being part of the clubs, groups, or associations your customers are part of is a great way to build top of mind. I don't what you to think of social media as just ONLINE, take away the technology aspect of it and you are left with people, people talking to people. Of course there are many different online groups you can be part of as well but think about where you can go in your local market and network. If you really want to create top of mind get out there and talk to people. When somebody has the need for your product they will think of you because you are already being accepted by their peers. That's influence by association.

Social Media Is Top Of Mind

Use it wisely, create a strategy and stick to it. Social marketing won't happen overnight but one day you will wake up see a ton of leads in your inbox, a ton more traffic to your website and dozens more calls and think that it did happen overnight. Embrace the new media but embrace it smartly, take advantage of it and give, give, give. Top of mind will be yours!

David Johnson is the Digital Marketing Strategist for PersuasiveConcepts.com and Next Generation Dealer Services.

Are they? I think, in a way, they are. You hear about it all the time, in every forum, every dealer twenty group and in all the industry magazines. Best practice this, best practice that, this is what you should be doing if you want to sell more cars!

I say, take it with a grain of salt. Look at where the auto industry is today, we're behind the times, it's always been that way, many times it has been said, "The auto industry is a late adopter of any new technology." I think the reason why this is, is because there are too many auto dealers out there that are always looking for industry best practices without thinking about their own dealerships best practices.

Wikipedia defines best practices as a technique, method, process, activity, incentive, or reward that is believed to be more effective at delivering a particular outcome than any other technique, method, process, etc. when applied to a particular condition or circumstance.

Wow, that doesn't sound bad, now does it? No, it doesn't. In fact, it's not the actual best practice idea that I want you to think about, it's about the idea of blindly following what another dealership has done with the assumption that it will produce the same results for you. Now, I'm not saying that you shouldn't look into these so called "best practices," because you should. But instead of looking at them as the holy grail, use them to create practices that are best for your particular dealership. In other words, test, measure, test some more, measure again then rinse and repeat. This testing process should never end, in fact, you should make it a habit to continually improve upon your own numbers by measuring and testing on an ongoing basis.

The 5 Fundamentals Of Developing DEALERSHIP Best Practices

Embrace The Chaos and be proactive. Times change, people change, and culture is always shifting. The most important aspect of any marketing strategy is to make it flexible enough so that it won't break when things don't go according to plan. Adhering to industry best practices and not developing your own dealerships best practices is the quickest, surest way to failure.

Be a student, but surpass the teacher. Be proactive in your pursuit of knowledge but a master of adaptability.

Don't Let Fear Stop You from taking on new challenges and trying new things. I see a lot of dealers that won't try anything new because they fear they will lose market share, they are content with doing what has always worked, then lose their minds when it doesn't. In order to grow your business and take over market share, don't be afraid to adjust industry best practice by testing and measuring what works best for your particular dealership.

Use industry best practice, but mold it to fit your needs. Being fearful prevents growth, proceed with caution but don't let fear overtake you.

Put Your Ear To The Wind and pay attention to what it says. Predicting what's going to happen, in most instances, is near impossible. But if you listen to the constant change that is going around you and adjust business practices accordingly your dealership will always stay relevant. People are buying differently, mediums have changed and they put more emphasis in what their peers think than ever before, are you listening to them? If you are, then creating dealership best practices will be a much easier task!

Listening is one of the greatest business practices not being utilized today, what are you listening to?

Communicate Up and Down and Inside and Out. Open communication has been preached on forever but it's something that rarely occurs, good communication anyway. Instead of this being about internal dialogue I want you to think about external dialogue and listening to what your customers have to say. I encourage you to open up dialogue with them, get their opinions on what you can do better, believe me, if you ask they will tell! The best way to turn an industry best practice into a dealership best practice is by asking your customers how THEY would like to purchase a car, get service, or buy parts, then adjust accordingly.

Effective communication is more than a fundamental, it's the bedrock upon which ALL successful businesses are built.

Add Value. Everything you do, every email you send, phone call you make, ad you place and every time you talk to a customer should add value to their lives. If you care passionately about your customers it will become much easier to add value. Take a look at what you're doing now, which processes can be adapted so that they add value?

Adding value builds a stronger win-win relationship with your customers. Stronger relationships equal more sales, more referrals and more repeat customers.

Conclusion

While these fundamentals will get you started never forget that you must always test, measure, then test again. Never be comfortable with where you're at, always push the envelope, be creative and grow. Keep in mind that just because a specific email is working now doesn't mean it will ALWAYS work, the same can be said for a phone script, a liner ad, or a radio spot. Adapt and grow.

David Johnson is the Social Marketing strategist of PersuasiveConcepts.com and Next Generation Dealer Services.

I was forwarded a blog post by a colleague of mine the other day, thank you Rob, it was titled The 3 Types Of Social Media Strategy, I encourage you to read it before reading this post, it is spot on! In summary, the author of the post, Tac Anderson, talks about 3 different types of social media strategies, they are:

Bolt On

Bolt on, or what I refer to as Phase 1, is where most businesses are. It's the stick your toes in the water form of social media strategy. Most auto dealers are here, they create a fan page on Facebook or sign up for a Twitter account with the intention of doing nothing more than talking about themselves. Of course, those that learn from their mistakes and start to see some success will move on from here but the only reason they are on social networks in the first place is because everybody else is.

Optimizing Social Media For Your Business

In this strategy you have clear decision makers and goals put into place. Certain people have certain responsibilities and you have the right resources allocated to optimize social media for your dealership. While this is a more advanced strategy and you have done some internal adjustments they are mostly tactical in nature and have nothing to do with the overall culture of the dealership.

Optimizing Your Business For Social Media

Tac Anderson says that this is "Holy Grail" of social media strategy and one that no business has yet to reach. He says, "A business strategy that is optimized for social media will use social technologies to build collaborative relationships across all company stakeholders." Stakeholders being customers, employees, shareholders, partners and competitors.

Optimizing Your Dealership

While the author states that there isn't any business that is optimized for social media I think it's one that, as an auto dealership, we need to take a closer look at. To better understand what I mean by that take a look at the current relationship the general public has with auto dealers. Lets face it, they hate us. We're the enemy, they loath having to go through the process of buying a car and break out in hives with the thought of having to deal with a car salesperson. While that last sentence may have been a little dramatic I think you get my point.

In order for a dealership to really use social media, and I'm not talking about the way it's used now, but in such a way that the entire culture of the dealership is one based on transparency and trust, then a huge cultural shift must occur. What that means is that the way auto dealers are doing business today goes against everything social media is.

We've heard it time and time again, auto dealers are late adopters of any new technology. But, it's this newest technology, social media and web 2.0, that is going to cause the most trouble. You see, it's not the technology itself that will cause the problems but the cultural shift behind it. Take away social networks, the internet and computers and you are left with people, in fact the ONLY reason why social networks are so huge is because it allows us to do what we've wanted all along and that to be social.

This shift in our culture is one that was started by and ran by people, not businesses. Any dealership that continues with the old ways of conducting itself runs the risk of becoming irrelevant. In order to stay relevant a dealership must have an equal shift in culture. Just take a look at Madonna and her ability to stay relevant for so long, how is she able to it? She does it by changing her style when the culture shifts, she understands that in order to stay on top that she must adapt or she runs the risk of dying, professionally that is.

Culture is constantly shifting, whats true and correct today wont necessarily be true and correct tomorrow. The challenge then is to be aware of, and understanding the moment when the shift happens. Because, if you don't, then you run the risk of being irrelevant. In fact, auto dealers have been irrelevant for a long time and the ONLY reason they are still in business is because the need for an automobile is so profound that it transcends the shift of culture. That's isn't to say auto dealerships are immune to the passage of time, quite the contrary, what that means is that because the need for an automobile is so powerful that people will put up with the "crap" only because they have to, trust me, if there were any other way, they would.

I know this post has gotten deep but it's in the value of knowing when the shift is occurring, where the forward thinking dealership can ride the shift and be part of the new dynamic. Simply put, it's time to change the way we think. It's time to change the normal, adversarial relationship we have with our customers and turn them into one built on mutual trust and respect.

Takeaway

If we are going to change and influence a new way of doing business then we have to change ourselves before we can ever influence the change that is needed. Always remember that you can't give what you don't have. In other words, embrace the chaos, embrace the changing times and adapt along with it. Imagine if yours is the dealership that optimizes themselves for social media, what do you think that would do for your business?

What do you think, what do auto dealers need to do to stay relevant?