After the creation of Facebook’s brand tagging feature, automotive marketing has a new tool at their disposal. Starting on May 11, Facebook users were able to tag more than just their friends in a picture – they could tag pages for brands, products and people. What does this mean for car dealer marketing?

Many dealerships already call for users and fans to submit pictures of their vehicle; brand tagging allows this without the call to action. After the purchase of a new car, the owner can take a picture, upload it, and instantly tag the dealership from which they bought it with a message about their new car. After giving their vehicle a wash, a user might be tempted to take a picture, show it off to friends on Facebook and then tag their dealership in it. Once tagged, this photo won’t just be shared with the dealership – it will be shared with all the other fans of the page and anybody who visits it.

GM has already embraced the feature, encouraging fans to upload photos and be the first to tag their brand in the image. Tagging a brand in a photo is a natural means of product placement. There is also a potential to reward brand loyalty and photo tagging, from a simple recognition on Facebook for uploading to giving a prize to the best picture.

When users tag a dealership in their photos, it won’t just provide name recognition: it will provide a direct link to the dealership’s page. Tagging a brand or dealership in a photo could greatly increase the traffic to the page as well as the fan base. If a friend of the user didn’t already know your dealership was on Facebook, they will now.

While this new feature could potentially result in spam photo submissions on a dealership’s page, these can be moderated by an administrator. The benefits of having users tag brands far outweigh the risks that spam poses. Facebook brand tagging holds the power of word of mouth meets the power of social media, and the results have great potential for car dealer marketing.

With gas prices well above their average this time last year, we can’t expect the summer to bring any relief at the pump. Drivers are changing their habits to cope – driving less often, carpooling, walking, or even buying more fuel efficient vehicles. But do you have the right inventory for this response?

As a car dealership, are you prepared for this shift in demand to more fuel efficient vehicles? Did you buy these higher MPG models three months ago to have in your inventory for today? It is difficult to predict gas prices, so your fleet of fuel-efficient or hybrid vehicles may be lower than public demand. If this is the case, do you then have enough pre-owned high MPG vehicles instead?

Another solution to cope with the low stock of high MPG vehicles is to offer gas incentives. All dealerships have the same rebates to offer, but not all are offering a gas incentive. If you don’t have the 40 MPG model to offer, offer a gas promotion instead. With the purchase of a new vehicle, you could give a $500 gas card. Such automotive marketing techniques can offset the slight difference in MPGs if you are lacking inventory in more fuel efficient vehicles.

Lastly, are your sales people trained to talk about the benefits of purchasing a more fuel-efficient vehicle? With gas prices potentially verging on $5 a gallon, a car with higher MPG could pay for itself when considering the gas savings it will produce. The true cost of driving includes more than just the monthly payment on a car – it includes the cost for service, oil changes, new tires, gas, and all the other miscellaneous work that goes into a car‘s upkeep. In the end, the fuel-efficient hybrid could be the cheaper option when we look at the true cost of driving

Foursquare.  Yelp.  Facebook Places.  Gowalla.  Loopt.  Brightkite.  Some of these you may have heard of…while you may accuse me of making some of them up on the spot.  The truth is that they are geolocation applications (often synonymous with geosocial) that are increasing in popularity and should become a part of your automotive marketing mix to drive traffic to your dealership.

Geo What?

I’ll try not to get all technical on you but a definition may help.  “Geolocation” means that, thanks to your smart phone or other mobile device, your current (as in relative to time) physical location is identified.  “Geosocial”, on the other hand, is the publication of such information on various social channels that allows and encourages interaction with other people. Cliff Notes version: these applications allow you use your mobile device to check-in at businesses and other places of interest, while simultaneously notifying your friends and other social connections where you are and what you’re doing through a social network.

While many dealerships have jumped on the social media bandwagon by participating on sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, few have incorporated geolocation apps and geosocial networking into their marketing efforts. However, automotive marketing professionals should strongly consider including them…because, as we know, people are influenced by the behaviors, choices and purchases of their friends.  And a growing broadcast tool for such information is the geolocation app.

Using Geolocation Apps at Your Dealership

How can your car dealership use geolocation applications? Many brick-and-mortar companies are incentivizing people to ‘check-in’ to their venue; car dealerships should be no different.  This is because geolocation apps provide your dealership with a real opportunity to affect Sales and Service revenue.  Here are a few thoughts and suggestions for your dealership to include geolocation apps into your marketing:

1. Give a little.

According to a Razorfish study, one of the reasons that people follow brands on social sites is fairly obvious: Access to promotions, exclusive deals and discounts.  Having said that, many geolocation services provide you with the opportunity to reward your dealership’s customers for check-ins.  This functionality allows your dealership to encourage customer loyalty in a new and tech-savvy manner.  How you ask?

Your dealership can provide “rewards” to those individuals who are loyal customers by motivating and incentivizing them through the social web.  Perhaps they’ve stopped by your dealership to have an oil change performed, or maybe even something a lot more expensive was done to their vehicle, or possibly they were visiting your lot a few days later to peruse the new models.  Either way, geolocation applications allow and encourage the customer to check into your dealership to receive not only recognition for being a loyal customer, but also a reward.

Using Foursquare’s badge system, you can reward someone the first time or each time they check in…and provide a much bigger special for the individual who becomes the ‘Mayor’.  Your reward can be as simple as a free upgraded car detail with service.  Some dealerships have devised a system that rewards a customer with a free service after ‘x’ number of visits.  The possibilities are endless!

2. Hey You…Over There…Yeah, I’m Talking to You!

One of the biggest benefits of geolocation apps is the ability to alert individuals of a special when they are within the vicinity of your dealership and check into a nearby business.  So, when Joe or Jane Smith is visiting the breakfast restaurant just around the corner from your dealership, their location triggers the application to notify them of specials in the area.  How great is that?!

Your dealership can offer a special, whether it is a small percentage or dollar amount off (i.e., 10% or $10 off, whichever is greater) to the individuals who bring their vehicle in for an oil change (or whatever service you wish) during select hours.  Hey, the person is literally around the corner…it’s quite possible you could strike them at just the right time…and with the right incentive…to have them swing by your dealership for some service.  Talk about direct automotive dealership marketing potential.

However, geolocation-related offers don’t have to be exclusive for your service department.  Some OEMs (Mazda, Mercedes to name a few) have used Foursquare to offer financial incentives in the sales department as well.  Regardless of sales or service, your dealership can conduct some serious automotive marketing endeavors through these services.

3.  All Hands…Ears and Eyes…on Deck!

Just like many of the other social networking services, your dealership is able to learn from and interact with customers via geolocation apps.  On some sites, Foursquare as an example, your customers are given the ability to leave feedback and make comments.  As part of an online reputation management regiment, your dealership must take the time to review the feedback and learn from it.  Certainly it’s also imperative that you take the time to interact with the customers.  Since many applications allow you to contact and converse with the individuals who checked in, why not ask them how their experience was or if they would recommend it to their friends.  Seriously, make conversation with your customers on these social sites, as it will go a long way in building a relationship.

Frankly, there is a lot more to be discussed with regards to geolocation apps as we’ve just touched on the tip of the iceberg here.  If there is one point I’d like to leave you with, it’s this:  as a business, you must provide a clear and tangible incentive for your dealership’s customers to interact with your brand online and for them to share their personal information (whether physical or behavioral) with you.

Are you using geolocation apps at your dealership?  What’s been your experience thus far?

~ Missy Jensen, Social Media Manager at DMEautomotive

Bio:
Missy designs, deploys and maintains the social media initiatives for DMEautomotive in an effort to increase brand awareness, distribute company and industry news, provide updates on products and services and promote consumer engagement. Missy enjoys the process of learning; researching and watching projects come to fruition!

Prior to her transformation into a web specialist and work with DMEautomotive, she has 10 years of experience in the marketing and communications industry. Missy served as the Director, Handicapping & Communications for a regional golf association and helped successfully launch and maintain a cutting edge technology-based ticket resale program on behalf of the St. Louis Cardinals.

Missy attended St. Lawrence University where she graduated Magna Cum Laude with a BS in Psychology. She also holds a Master’s Degree from Miami University in Oxford, OH. She can be reached at missy.jensen@dmeautomotive.com and check her out on LinkedIn.

When the earthquake and subsequent tsunami hit Japan on March 11, 2011, it was a disaster that took its toll not only on the physical landscape and people of the small country, but also drastically affected a number of global industries.  One of the biggest industries affected by the destruction was the automotive industry.  According to Automotive News, the tsunami wiped out over 2,000 Nissan and Infiniti vehicles that were destined for showrooms in both Japan and the United States.  It was also reported that Toyota, who held the top spot as the world’s largest carmaker, would lose its rank (which it has held since 2008) due to the tsunami’s impact on their production.  Additionally, and perhaps most importantly, other carmakers…including American carmakers that merely rely on parts from Japan…are feeling the effects.

While the immediate destruction of the tsunami has passed, automakers that suffered drastic losses and/or disruptions in production report that the summer months will see a big impact in terms of available inventory.

Do you have a strategy to overcome tight supply over the months ahead?  Do you have enough cars to get you through the summer…the hottest selling months of the year?

Here are a few automotive marketing tips to help you with your inventory concerns:

1. Get aggressive on trade-ins!
2. Implement a Vehicle Buy Back Program.
3. Using your database, identify customers who have the car you want and CALL THEM!
4. Don’t advertise the lowest price.  Instead, consider:

• “More for Your Trade!”
• “Free Gas For A Year”
• “Best Selection”

1. If you own a multi-franchise store, stock up on the other automakers’ vehicles.
2. Hit the auctions and buy late models of your best selling vehicles.

One other thing to consider is spending smarter with your marketing and advertising dollars.  During the upcoming months, it may be a good business decision to cut back on your television and print advertising and reallocate to digital based and direct marketing campaigns where there is a low cost to high ROI ratio.

What is your dealership doing to get inventory for the upcoming busy selling months?

~ Missy Jensen, Social Media Manager at DMEautomotive

Bio:
Missy designs, deploys and maintains the social media initiatives for DMEautomotive in an effort to increase brand awareness, distribute company and industry news, provide updates on products and services and promote consumer engagement. Missy enjoys the process of learning; researching and watching projects come to fruition!

Prior to her transformation into a web specialist and work with DMEautomotive, she has 10 years of experience in the marketing and communications industry. Missy served as the Director, Handicapping & Communications for a regional golf association and helped successfully launch and maintain a cutting edge technology-based ticket resale program on behalf of the St. Louis Cardinals.

Missy attended St. Lawrence University where she graduated Magna Cum Laude with a BS in Psychology. She also holds a Master’s Degree from Miami University in Oxford, OH. She can be reached at missy.jensen@dmeautomotive.com and check her out on LinkedIn.

Tired of coming back from the factory meeting just to hear that you’re not on top in your city and that your local market share is slipping?  Tired of wondering where to spend your money and finding it almost impossible to track what automotive marketing efforts actually work?  Well, you’re not alone…far from it really.  Many operators at car dealerships around the country feel the same way.  So what do they do? Typically they react to the news by hiring a new advertising agency, redoing the marketing plan; and/or by firing a general manager or sales manager! 

But the real answer is pretty simple: you have to focus your automotive marketing efforts on YOUR market.  That’s right…own your backyard.  Let’s be completely honest here…stop worrying about the whole city!  If you dominate your market area, you can win the bigger war citywide. 

Here’s the brutal truth…it’s not going to be easy.  And it sure as heck isn’t going to happen overnight!  It’s going to take commitment.  Here are a just a few of the ways you can spend your automotive marketing dollars locally in order to own your market:

1. Send targeted direct mail to your top performing zip codes…but don’t forget about your backyard zip codes.  Don’t assume that these people are going to come to your dealership just because you’re in the neighborhood.
2. Purchase cable television ad spots for your backyard…and your backyard only.
3. Put up local billboards; advertise at bus stops and on benches in your neighborhood.
4. Get involved in your community and sponsor local events.
5. Offer an incentive program to specific zip codes where the customer gets a better deal simply because they are a resident in that area.
6. Sponsor a high school sports program or local team (kids or adult recreation league).
7. Ensure that you have a sound service-to-sales conversion plan.
8. Be nice to your neighbors.  Customer service is such a pivotal part of the automotive industry and it can make or break your dealership.
9. Engage in location-based marketing through the use of social applications (such as Foursquare, Facebook, etc).  For an in-depth look at such applications read our blog, Remember, it’s all about “Location, Location, Location.”

If you keep your eye on your backyard and engage in these activities, you’ll spend less, make more and shoot to the top of your rankings.  Go ahead.  I dare you!

Bio:
Missy designs, deploys and maintains the social media initiatives for DMEautomotive in an effort to increase brand awareness, distribute company and industry news, provide updates on products and services and promote consumer engagement. Missy enjoys the process of learning; researching and watching projects come to fruition!

Prior to her transformation into a web specialist and work with DMEautomotive, she has 10 years of experience in the marketing and communications industry. Missy served as the Director, Handicapping & Communications for a regional golf association and helped successfully launch and maintain a cutting edge technology-based ticket resale program on behalf of the St. Louis Cardinals.

Missy attended St. Lawrence University where she graduated Magna Cum Laude with a BS in Psychology. She also holds a Master’s Degree from Miami University in Oxford, OH. She can be reached at missy.jensen@dmeautomotive.com and check her out on LinkedIn.

When you retrieve your mail from your mailbox, what keeps you from throwing it in the trash when you walk inside?  If you’re anything like me, depending on my mood of course, a piece of targeted direct mail (TDM) will find its way to the trashcan unless it immediately grabs my attention. As an automotive direct marketing professional, how can you keep the interest of the consumer so they do not throw your TDM in the trashcan?  I’ll touch on the following concepts that are key to a successful direct marketing campaign as it relates to mail:

• Form
• Theme
• Message
• Call to Action
• Urgency

Form

Letter – Today’s standard mail pieces are typically informal or official.  In all my years of direct mail experience, I’ve noticed that when a mail piece has a lot of writing on the envelope, it is typically a promotional piece.  If it is fancy (i.e., cluttered or decorative), it’s perceived to be a promotion -- and it ultimately ends up in the trash.  On the other hand, letters that look more official with little to no marketing on them are perceived as formal and containing relevant information for the addressee. Having said that, I strongly suggest you keep your TDM letters simple to improve the likelihood that the recipient will open them.

Postcard – Filled with bulleted announcements, the postcard is one of the best ways to say a lot in a small space.   When designed well with a carefully crafted message, the postcard quickly tells a story and does not irritate the recipient.  Here are a few different suggestions on how to use postcards for your automotive direct mail:

• 5 x 7 Quick Announcements w/coupons
• 6 x 9 BulletedShort Stories w/coupons
• 6 x 11 Artistic Short Stories w/coupons
• 8.5 x 11 Artistic Stories – “Texas Postcard”

Other forms of direct mail include:

• Tri-Fold – Used when you have a lot you want to display. Many direct marketers feel this is the best option for informational and descriptive messages.

• Gimmick – The unique confetti explosion.  Sending a small tube with confetti and a letter rolled up, though a little more expensive, can create traction.

Theme Make sure you have a great graphic artist that understands design. There is nothing worse than a great form that has a really bad artistic composition.  It’s crucial to create an artistic story that the customer can relate to. Your artist should understand the goal of the TDM and what you want the customer to believe or contemplate. All good TDM pieces must grab the attention of the consumer by making them want your product.

Message What is the Offer?  What is the consumer’s benefit? Your eye should be able to pick this off the mail piece quickly and easily.  And perhaps more importantly, is the offer believable?  An unbelievable offer loses credibility quickly.  Remember the saying, ““If it’s too good to be true, it probably is.” People do not want to be scammed.

Call to Action What do you want the customer to do?  Remember, the very objective of sending a TDM piece is to generate a response.  You want the customer to call you, visit the dealership, make an appointment or whatever else you may want them to do. Therefore, within your TDM, clearly and concisely point out what you want the customer to do, when you want them to do it and the benefits of doing so quickly.

  Urgency A successful TDM leaves the consumer with the feeling that not only do they need it now, but also if they pass up on the opportunity, they will come to regret doing so. Pick your form, theme, and message.  Then give it a call to action with a lot of urgency to ensure your TDM will avoid hitting the trashcan.

~ Paul Ryan, Field Account Manager @ DMEautomotive

Bio: Paul Ryan brings over 25 years of experience in sales, sales management, marketing, and client services. He joined DMEautomotive in February of 2008, as a Regional Territory Manager. With proven success as an inside sales representative selling the FullCircle Solutions’ Bullseye program, he was recognized frequently as Sales Person of the Month and received the highest honor of Sales Person of the Year for 2008. In August of 2009, Paul managed, “Direct-To-Dealer” – Mail Division, responsible for overseeing the sales for the “Direct-To-Dealer” Mail Division. Currently he is traveling in the Midwest as Field Account Manager. Paul graduated with a B.B.A, in Business Administration from Iowa State University in 1982.

Several years ago, BDCs were being built in almost every successful dealership around the country.  The main reason was that operators realized the importance of handling the phone properly.  Whether it is incoming sales or service calls, customer satisfaction or renewals, teams of people were established to “focus” on this daunting task: the phone.

So, what happened?  Why are most of these BDCs now storage rooms?  The answer is simple really: we skipped over the importance of using a true call center manager to handle the operations.  The very reason the centers were built was because the typical automotive professional didn’t have the necessary training nor time to properly handle calls.  Yet we used a sales manager or a salesperson that was deserving of a promotion to handle the management of a very complex activity.  If we would have focused on setting these centers up right the first time, using the proper management, software and personnel, they would probably still exist today.

Now, fast-forward 7-10 years to today.  The technology exists to have thoroughly efficient and effective BDCs, and most are significantly less costly through an outsourced basis.  There are a few companies, DMEautomotive being one of them, which can actually handle all of your call activity…virtually without your dealership skipping a beat.  Imagine having access to a team of phone professionals who take calls and make calls successfully in the automotive industry…all day, every day.

The results are staggering: no mishandled sales calls, long wait times or needless over the phone pre-qualification.  All calls are routed to a call center where a knowledgeable phone professional handles the transaction and then communicates to the dealership while utilizing state of the art software designed specifically for the automotive dealership.

A virtual BDC will help you make more money by improving your sales, service and customer satisfaction.  Use a VBDC for the following call types:

1. Unsold Prospect Follow-up
2. Customer Renewal
3. Sales Satisfaction
4. Service Satisfaction
5. After-hours Calls
6. Parts Sales
7. Incoming Sales Calls
8. Incoming Service Calls

A virtual BDC offers both the financial and technological flexibility, as well as professionalism your dealership requires.  Without a firm plan in place, your dealerships may get lost in the crowd – and the building could end up being an even bigger storage closet.

~ Steve Dozier, National Director of Training @ DMEautomotive

Bio:

Steve Dozier brings 15 years of experience in the automotive industry to DMEautomotive (DMEa). Before joining DMEa, he held upper level management positions in the retail industry. Steve also owned a consulting company that specialized in CRM and direct mail, which brought in $2 Million in Sales for approximately 5 years. While serving as a consultant Steve was consistently recruited by the top 3 CRM firms of that time. Steve started at DMEautomotive in a managerial position overseeing the Direct-to-Dealer team, and is now responsible for developing and growing DMEa University; DMEa’s in-house dealer training organization. Steve is married with two children and enjoys scuba diving and boating in his free time.

Let’s face it, pre-owned vehicles are hard to find and it’s even harder to pay the price that you, Mr. Dealer, want to pay.  Pre-owned vehicles are a competitive market because every dealer wants a lot full of vehicles at $10k and under and the prices at auction continue to increase.

Since the basic premise of a science project is to discover “what happens if,” the key element is to track the results so you can make such a determination.

Automotive marketing is no really different.  Every month automotive dealers (and marketing vendors) spend a considerable amount of time, effort and money manipulating various messages, calls to actions and incentives in their automotive marketing pieces…all with the intention to push traffic to the lot and service drive!  Though many dealerships spend hundreds of thousands on advertising and direct marketing, most marginally know the effectiveness of it.

The best way to understand the effectiveness of your marketing efforts – to ascertain what form, message, incentive (and heck, even the best target audience) - is to implement tracking.  By tracking the results, you can determine whether your marketing message is reaching your target audience and encouraging them to take action.  In other words, you can better understand your “what happens if.” What happens if I offer a $19.95 Oil Change to customers who haven’t been in for x number of months? What happens if I send a targeted direct mail piece that is followed up by live calls?  What happens if I communicate with my lost customers via multiple communication channels?

At this time, how do you know if and what ads are driving traffic to your dealership?  Are you requiring sales people to source where a customer is coming from?  Does your F&I department ask the customer?  And how many times do you see “Drive By” and “Paper” as the answer?  You and I both know there are better ways of doing this!

If you’re not doing it already, you must employ 800 phone numbers on every form of advertising.  But don’t stop there…use specific 800 numbers on each specific advertising piece.  In other words, for every newspaper ad, email piece, and targeted direct mail piece, you must have a different 800 number for each.  If you have 5 different mailers going out, use 5 different 800 numbers.  Other dealers are using QR codes, PURLS and barcodes.  By using such tracking components, your dealership is able to assess which ad is effectively causing your register to ring.

Determine ROI by cross-referencing your customer data with the targeted list used for that particular campaign.  Is it by coincidence that Ms. Smith was in your service department 5 days ago or did you send her a mailer to promote a $29.95 lube, oil filter and tire rotation a few weeks ago? Are you reviewing the click-through-rates of your emails?  Additionally if you use a third-party marketing vendor, force them to perform ROI reports to show response rates.  If you’ve never done so, I also strongly recommend an advertising audit on a quarterly basis to know what is working in your advertising efforts.  You have to require that your vendors (and even internal marketing staff) show how their products and services are working by driving revenue to your dealership.  Perhaps the ROI isn’t as high as you’d like it to be and by no means am I suggesting you fire that vendor on the spot. However, you may find that it’s not the form of advertising that is the problem, it’s the messaging that needs a little tweaking.

Lastly, a great way to track your marketing and advertising is by requiring your sales and service staff to accurately source customers to see where they came from.  A dealership group in Colorado required that each and every customer had a source code (advertising), which was tied into the bonus plan for the F&I department.  Within a short time, the dealership was able to source 75% of where the customers came from.

No one, and I mean no one, wants to invest a great deal of money into marketing and advertising that doesn’t work.  But if you don’t investigate and monitor what is working how can you determine if it’s the medium that you’re using, the message/incentive you’ve sent or a combination of both?  It’s critical to track the results by utilizing unique 800 numbers, requiring ROI reports and mandating that your staff precisely and truthfully report customer source information.

How is your dealership tracking marketing efforts to ascertain what is working and what is not?

~ Missy Jensen, Social Media Manager at DMEautomotive

Bio:
Missy designs, deploys and maintains the social media initiatives for DMEautomotive in an effort to increase brand awareness, distribute company and industry news, provide updates on products and services and promote consumer engagement. Missy enjoys the process of learning; researching and watching projects come to fruition!

Prior to her transformation into a web specialist and work with DMEautomotive, she has 10 years of experience in the marketing and communications industry. Missy served as the Director, Handicapping & Communications for a regional golf association and helped successfully launch and maintain a cutting edge technology-based ticket resale program on behalf of the St. Louis Cardinals.

Missy attended St. Lawrence University where she graduated Magna Cum Laude with a BS in Psychology. She also holds a Master’s Degree from Miami University in Oxford, OH. She can be reached at missy.jensen@dmeautomotive.com and check her out on LinkedIn.

Your dealership’s reputation is something that has taken years and probably millions of dollars to build.  It is something that your dealership likely considers to be one of the most important assets of the company.  So let me ask you this…are you prepared to let someone…and I mean someone you may not even know…somewhere ruin your reputation, because in today’s world anyone with a beef about your dealership and internet access can destroy you in minutes with a few keystrokes.  

So, how can your dealership monitor and protect its reputation?

1. Track your reputation online. Listen to everything that people are saying about your dealership by using some of the free tools available online (i.e., Google Alerts and Yahoo Alerts).  Using keywords oriented around your dealership name, owner’s name, the brand(s) you carry, models, geographic location and competitor names, you can monitor what is being said in an organized, efficient manner.
2. Analyze activity. As the alerts start rolling in from online, it’s critical to organize, analyze and prioritize the activity.  Hopefully your dealership’s reputation management inquiries will yield more positive than negative but even then it’s important to determine which need to be addressed first. For instance, you may take a look at your findings and realize that one person has voiced their ire on multiple sites. Or perhaps you’ll find that an individual’s complaint on DealerRater.com has yielded 5 similar complaints about slow service during oil changes. Whatever the results may be, your dealership must determine what can be addressed and how it can be rectified.
3. Respond in a timely fashion. If there’s one thing that’s certain, it’s that negative remarks about your dealership are bound to occur.  Since you cannot avoid them, it’s critical that you are prepared to respond...and to respond quickly.  When you find a negative remark or review, your goal should be to acknowledge the problem and respond in a timely and appropriate manner. When you take the time to address negative comments and proactively attempt to resolve the customer’s issue, you will find yourself with a very loyal fan in the end and you’ll also show others who may be reading the post that your dealership’s customer service is of utmost importance.
4. Be Proactive.  The best way to counteract negative criticisms as well as simultaneously promote a positive image for your dealership is to become active online, interact on social sites with an open-dialogue and provide relevant content that puts you in a positive light with your current customers as well as prospects. Here are some ways to accomplish that:

-     Create a blog where you can really present yourself as the most knowledgeable, capable and trustworthy dealership in town.

-     Create social network profiles and content - A cost-effective way to improve search engine results is via social sites such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Flickr (to name a few). The important thing to remember is to provide meaningful and resourceful information and include keywords.

-     Publish press releases - for any newsworthy event at your dealership or one your dealership is affiliated with (i.e., community fundraiser) a press release should be written. When submitted online to press release sites, the content is distributed all over the Internet very quickly, and is subsequently picked up by search engines.

-     Encourage your satisfied customers to review your dealership online.

Online reputation management is a challenge that faces the automotive industry, more so now than any other point in history. Though the answer seems obvious, it’s worth another explanation. The Internet is a ferocious player in today’s world.Search engines and social media sites act as trusted sources of information. Who you are online influences public perception and the longer you wait to start your online reputation management program, the harder it will be to get under control and to counteract any negativity. The good news is that it is indeed possible, with a bit of direction, persistence, motivation and creativity, to monitor conversations, engage with both your advocates and dissenters, and ultimately take ownership of your brand online.

For more detailed information, please download our white paper, Online Reputation Management for the Automotive Industry, by DMEautomotive Direct Marketing Experts in the Automotive Industry.

~ Missy Jensen, Social Media Manager at DMEautomotive

Bio:

Missy designs, deploys and maintains the social media initiatives for DMEautomotive in an effort to increase brand awareness, distribute company and industry news, provide updates on products and services and promote consumer engagement. Missy enjoys the process of learning; researching and watching projects come to fruition! Prior to her transformation into a web specialist and work with DMEautomotive, she has 10 years of experience in the marketing and communications industry.

Missy served as the Director, Handicapping & Communications for a regional golf association and helped successfully launch and maintain a cutting edge technology-based ticket resale program on behalf of the St. Louis Cardinals. Missy attended St. Lawrence University where she graduated Magna Cum Laude with a BS in Psychology. She also holds a Master’s Degree from Miami University in Oxford, OH. She can be reached at missy.jensen@dmeautomotive.com and check her out on LinkedIn.

About DMEautomotive DMEautomotive provides multi-channel, variable communications for automobile dealers and aftermarket franchises nationwide. Their robust product and service offering includes: data driven, multi-channel acquisition and retention marketing, best-in-class campaign reporting, data management and analytics via the Red Rocket Portal, Virtual BDC call applications, and complete on-site mail and email fulfillment services.  Headquartered in Daytona Beach, Fla., DMEautomotive also has major operations in Jacksonville, Fla.  

Original Source:  DMEautomotive Direct Marketing Expert Blog