Pinterest. The hottest new community everyone is rushing to. So, what's the big deal? Think of it simply as a digital pin board for the stuff you like online, letting you:

• "Pin" images
• Organize them within "boards"
• Allow others to pin items to your board
• Follow other people or just individual boards
• Like, re-pin & comment
• Share items socially
• Pin items using the browser bookmark

Pinterest is very popular with the ladies. Beautiful images of landscapes, vacation homes, clothes and of course, kittens. The visual nature of the community and the "content stream" is a playground for those with ADD. Endless scanning of awesome pictures and cool content.

What can we learn from Pinterest regarding how we curate and organize content for our customers?

1. Image quality makes a world of difference: Are you making sure your merchandising efforts are top notch?
2. Segmented customer groups are powerful: People enjoy great content when it's organized and easy to access. Is your CRM doing everything it can to deliver the content your customers want?
3. Social sharing (word of mouth) is bigger than you imagine: Website platforms should integrate deeper with Facebook to ensure maximum visibility within the new timeline.

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A couple of items I've seen so far:

1. Content gets shared - quickly. I've peppered in a few of our vehicles to my "What Should I Drive?" board and they've all been liked and re-pinned.
2. Boards get followed - quickly. Give them a cool title & add some great content. Boom.
3. When pinning from your website, Pinterest includes a link to your site. Plus, it's a "follow link."
4. When your pins & boards are liked and/or followed, that activity can be pushed to Facebook if users turn on timeline integration.

I like the site's ability to inspire creativity and create additional exposure for great content. If you're going to use it, add the browser bookmark button to pin items quickly. Add it to your mobile browser to pin easily from your phone as well. (And please - don't pin your entire inventory. Nobody wants to see that) Download Pinterest for iPhone.

If the content in Pinterest isn't "manly" enough for you, be sure to check out Gentlemint & request an invite.

Follow me on Pinterest. Let me know if you need an invite.

What are your initial thoughts?

Quora is one of my favorite sites for reading & discovering great info on various topics. Why? Because of it's simplicity, the community dynamic and the ability to get credible information directly from sources I'd otherwise never have a chance to interact with anywhere else. (I've asked questions & received replies from the likes of Dennis Crowley, Ashton Kutcher & one of the original developers of Photoshop) I'm also a fan of being able to vote answers up or down; letting you weed through the junk very quickly.

Here's a simple explanation of Quora, from CrunchBase, if you're not familiar with the site:

Quora, founded in June 2009, first launched in private beta in January 2010.

Quora is a continually improving collection of questions and answers created, edited, and organized by everyone who uses it. The most important thing is to have each question page become the best possible resource for someone who wants to know about the question.

One way you can think of it is as a cache for the research that people do looking things up on the web and asking other people. Eventually, when you see a link to a question page on Quora, your feeling should be: “Oh, great! That’s going to have all the information I want about that.” It’s also a place where new stuff–that no one has written about yet–can get pulled onto the web.

Quora also continues to add new features, such as the ability to create F.A.Q sections, boards (think Pinterest) & the ability to add video to it's Q&A boards.

Besides the hordes of brilliant content within Quora, another way the site can help you is it's ability to rank within search results. Google plays nicely with Quora because of how fresh the content is and because it's generated from authentic sources.

You should be able to rank using the Q&A feature within Quora - our link jumped quickly, after just one post. Click image to enlage.

Anyone else using Quora? What are your thoughts?

Here's something for vendors to think about this year and as we prepare for NADA and other late-Winter/early-Spring conferences: Are you the vendor sales guy who makes dealer staff duck and cover? 

We've all experienced this to a varying degree, it doesn't need to be this way. As much as we all love the shiny new tools, the cool new gadgets and next hottest thing that will provide an eternity of well-qualified shoppers, we still don't like to be "sold."

Of course, we like to be challenged, educated & informed - but you know what we really like? We like being talked to first. Personally, I've enjoyed the relationships that have been created. Simple old adage: We buy from (& stay with) those we like. Here's a few of the characteristics & activities I associate with those I've worked with: 

• Be creative
• Be helpful
• Be real
• Be memorable
• Be available
• Be active in the off-line community
• Be a listener
• Be a strong communicator

Classic examples: Jeff Kershner, Joe Webb, Dennis Galbraith, Gary May, Alex Schoeneberger and Larry Bruce. (Go ahead, call me crazy) My point is these guys do all this stuff without any effort - it just happens. (I wish we had unlimited resources because I would have already assembled an All-Star cast of vendors & their products.) 

And yes, there are many more who can be mentioned, however this is about helping those who miss this mark and show up to the conference as if they busted into a saloon looking for an old-west gunfight. 

What else do you recommend?

Inspired by past events and reinforced by multiple vendor sales pitches received this morning.

What were the most Googled cars in 2011?

Hat tip to VJ for this gem.

Source: Most Googled Cars Of 2011

Whether you've already created a Google Plus Business page for your dealership or plan on doing so eventually, here's two simple things you can do to help make sure it stands out. One is for esthetics, the other for search. 

G+ Business pages allow for a profile image and five window panes to display images from your scrapbook. Why not dress it up a bit? 

Use this tool to create custom profile images with G+ banners, logos and landscape shots for the window panes: Make Google Plus Banners

Once your page is set up, be sure to add a link to your site in the about page. You'll need a link on your G+ page pointing to your website and then from your website back to your G+ page to complete the loop required to have your page indexed properly and included within Google Direct Connect. (G+ Pages don't have custom URL's)

You'll also need to confirm ownership of your G+ page by adding a short snippet of code to your website. Just as Google created the new "author" attribute for individual G+ pages, they also created the "publisher" attribute for these pages.

Get the proper attribute information and the G+ badge code snippet here: Google Webmaster Tools - Google+ Pages

I hear a lot of people wish they had set up their other social properties much earlier. (Facebook, twitter, LinkedIn) - here's your chance to plant a few seeds early.

Enjoy.

One of the things I love to do is find the newest ways for people to connect with Auction Direct online. Here’s two ways that will become increasingly popular.

Everyone on the Internet is looking for Information. What’s the best information we can find? Information from trusted sources such as our family, friends and co-workers. When our friends tell us about a restaurant, a clothing store or even an accountant, we listen to those recommendations because we trust the review.

Word of mouth marketing is one of the most effective methods for any business to increase sales; Facebook and Google have introduced two of the most revolutionary online word of mouth marketing tools.

Facebook understands one simple fact: People love to share the stuff happening in their life. Now, they’re making it even easier to for people to share life events – social consciousness. Items such as getting engaged, getting a new pet or even a new home will be shared even easier within Facebook’s new profile features. The ability for customers to update their status with “Bought a Car” can help us tremendously. Knowing the average Facebook user has 125 friends, having our customers share their new car purchases online will help increase exposure – and build trust. Click image to enlarge

Google also understands the principle behind the value of a trusted connection’s recommendation. Their new social search feature, Google Plus, let’s you show a form of visual word of mouth by clicking on the +1 buttons next to the search results. (You need to be logged into your G+ account to see this this feature within your searches) Click image to enlarge

When the people within your Gmail address book search for things online, they’ll see the items you have +’d and vice-versa. Notice the thumbnail images below the listings when I search for Auction Direct in Google. I can see who else +’d the result. Social validation, trust and influence will become more important to online shoppers as your connections begin to visually endorse their Facebook activities and the content they find within Google’s search results.

Are you using either of these yet?

Originally posted on WhatDidEricSay.com

Google recently turned on it's newest analytics feature: Webmaster Tools SEO Reports. You're missing critical data if you don't integrate your sites within webmaster tools.

Note: This assumes you have already added and verified your site(s) to Google webmaster tools. If you haven't, you can start here)

The webmaster tools SEO reports will add a new layer to your SEO reporting with regards to the following activity: 

1. Queries
2. Landing Pages
3. Geographical Summary

For each category, you'll now see specific data for:

1. Impressions
2. Clicks
3. Average Position
4. Click Through Rate (CTR)

This makes reviewing your data much more efficient by showing where your pages rank, how they perform and ultimately helps you drill down further to determine where your efforts should be focused. If a page is important, but doesn't rank well and isn't getting the desired traffic, you'll be able to identify these opportunities much quicker. 

To access this info, you'll need to link your Google Analytics account to your Webmaster Tools account - here's how in 3 quick steps: (Be sure you click "New Version" in the top right of your analytics account first)

1. Go to Settings
2. Select Web Property Settings
3. Under Webmaster Tools Settings, click Edit & in the new window, select the website you want to link

Once saved, you can see this data by going to:

1. Standard Reporting (top navigation tab)
2. Traffic Sources (left navigation links)
3. Search Engine Optimization - categories: Queries, Landing Pages & Geographical Summary

Already using this data? What are your thoughts?

Nicely organized side-by-side comparison of Google+ and Facebook. Click image to expand.

Everyone knows how powerful Word of Mouth marketing is. It's about to get an incredible shot in the arm thanks to the new social graph features within the upcoming Timeline profile.

Facebook's goal is to let you share every facet of your life with anyone and everyone you care to. Sure, on a personal level we may not be in interested in all of this activity (hello lists) - but from a digital marketing perspective, this is just huge. 

One of the activities users will be able to share is that new car they just bought. (When, where, who they were with, description & share a photo) Should be a fun feature to leverage. 

Click image to expand

Another wonderful infographic showing how businesses are using Facebook. As more business solutions such as Google Plus for businesses, social eCommerce tools and mobile pay wallets gain momentum; social retention will shift even more towards social acquisition. 

Click image to expand.