@Jared You bring up a good point that car dealers do not have experience with content writing strategies that add value in social media. That would be a great webinar to run for members of DrivingSales.com to coach them how to write more effectively on blogs and social media sites. Let's get one setup! Secondly, posting car specials and individual inventory on your wall will turn off consumers who are looking to engage with the dealership. I find a nice balance is to add a Facebook Tab to your Fan Page that has a car inventory research tool available IF the consumer chooses to engage and shop inside of Facebook. An example of this concept can be found at http://www.facebook.com/Marlboro.Nissan?v=app_360836281011 . This is a clean way to have the dealership's inventory one-click away but not in their face or in the stream of content on the Wall. As these types of apps develop, Facebook Fan Pages will be multi-purpose and a significant sources to promote your brand and sell more cars. As you have stated, the key is to create the content, articles and commentary that makes people want to follow your posts and grow attached to your brand. Then it comes down to the basics of human interaction and communication.

As I said just last week in my last WebEx seminar, Social Media (and it doesn't matter if we are talking about Twitter or Facebook here) will help these dealers, who see their Social marketing followers in the MIDLLE of the purchase funnel, and not at the end - the consumer all ready to make a deal. As we all (should) know the MIDDLE of the Funnel is when our possible prospect is in the mood to find out more about a product or service and uses the time to make her research and observation "whom to pick as TRUSTED vendor". In my opinion, and as Jared has stated absolutely right, the huge chance to convert an "opportunity" begins with a car dealers fixed operations. Show your potential, future what made you the No.1 go to service department in the city, who is frequently holding "free car clinics" every first Wednesday in a month and the customers are receiving free Technician advice how do change oil filters, tires, air filters and so on - and the best thing is, the parts you possible need to perform the just taught are ON SALE the same day, and beats the price of the in-town AutoZone store. These clinics also should be YouTube(d), tagged with the right keywords and also posted on your dealer's URL under the tab "do it yourself" or similar. This is valuable content is what Social Media Marketing si all about and you need to share on all your Social channels - it is active, informative, vibrant content which directly points the interested Social Media consumer into your direction or even better into your store. There are far more ideas and Tips I would love to share, and I promise I will with one of my next posts. Jared, Brian let's work together on the strategy for the next Bootcamp ;)

I am currently an Internet Manager at a small rural GM dealership and we have really worked to make our Facebook page an itegral part of our marketing mix. We currently have over 750 fans, and while many are friends and family members of staffers, we actively invite our customers. I take the email address of each person who buys a car (and most who service with us) and I seacrh for them on Facebook. If they have a page, I use the "Share" button at the bottom of our dealership fan page to sent them a nice message inviting them to become a fan. I have sent hundreds of these and received only 1 message back from an unhappy customer. We try to post fun local events and specials, and have gotten a pretty good response. By no means do we expect to sell cars off Facebook, but I have found that the fans who have posted comments or pictures on our page are now loyal for life. That's just my two cents. You can't expect people to just stumble onto your fan page - you have to be active about inviting them,.

@Erin I agree...to grow your Facebook Fans requires innovation and hard work. That work will be rewarded over time...dealers just have to be patient and NOT measure results in terms on days or months.

Brian, you bring up a very valid point and is the reason, I believe, why most social media attempts by auto dealers end up going awry. Auto dealers are always thinking about the return they can make today, not what they can cultivate for future returns. Having said that, that's the reason why we are seeing so many abandoned social media attempts, with fan pages that get updated once a month if we're lucky, or twitter profiles that haven't been updated in months. Even if they are updated they fall into one of the two categories that Jared talks about in his post. Dealerships need to realize that social media isn't the big splash that they are looking for, rather the ripple that takes time to grow.

@Jared, wonderful blog and quite thought provoking. Frankly, it appears from my interactions with the automotive industry professionals that many just aren’t used to NOT selling. But the suggestion provided by @Brian to have an inventory tab on FB is probably the best option, as it’s not intruding on their daily Facebook experience but available to those interested. Ideally, social media can be used to position a dealership as an industry expert, act as a real-time customer service forum, and educate customers and general public. Instead of the hard sell, dealers MUST think of ways to help customers and general public better understand the car buying process and how financing works, the reasons behind various service requirements, ways to enhance the driving experience, how to improve or better maintain their car and other types of insightful and useful tips. Tidbits about car care, maintenance, and driving tips are usually well received. Those topics are ENDLESS. The important thing is to remember - as @Brian mentioned - is patience and perhaps dealers need to alter the way they are measuring the ROI. I wrote a white paper a few months ago that may be helpful, please check it out and let me know your thoughts: http://www.fullcirclesolutions.com/downloads/hiddenlink.php

Many dealers run the risk of simply creating the same run-of-the-mill page & which becomes the digital equivalent of the boring, ineffective weekend display ad in the newspaper. The average FB user goes into a new "user-mode" that is unlike their behavior on a typical website; think about your own usage - you're seeking fun, new, interactive things to click on, like, try-out, add to your page - you're not there to be sold the old way. (Why do you think Farmville's founders are wealthier than a small nation?) whatever you do, it needs to be different. Here's one small example of how I'm trying to mix it up - and it's got people asking questions: http://www.facebook.com/AuctionDirectUSA?v=app_331973405870&ref=ts

Jared, Great post and one more in a very deliberate path that our valuable dealer base in the US can read. And then hopefully put into action. And the points made above by everyone adding are very valid. To understand social media's place in any retail you must look at how that business operates. Social media, while very natural to us as people that generally network, is very unnatural to the essence of automotive retail. This has been very evident since the mid-90's with everything from online pricing, invoices, listing of dealer "trunk" cash and other intentional transparencies that the dealerships (mostly) have despised. Everything is fought. Any item that shines a light into how dealers sell cars is frowned upon. This may sound off topic but it's not and I've known this from being in the industry for a mere 10 years. Not decades. And I'm not from a line of automotive superstars (my parents, in fact, hate dealerships because of how they've been treated over the years). Social media, as well as other associated activities, is an extension of your brand. Pure and simple. If you don't have a brand and experience that you'd tell EVERYONE about, social is probably not your cup of tea. Success is nearly always top down and if a store's management is not on board, you'll either have to be a renegade or deliberately ignore their frustration with being involved. There are a few missing points in section 2 about ROI. Social is about engagement. Yes, content is hard enough for dealers, especially when a lot of people in the "Internet" departments have a hard enough time with writing emails to customers (both timeliness and content). You have to be on your game in social media and not just for customer service opportunities. First is that engagement via the content shared and commented on DOES drive traffic no matter what part of the 'funnel' they're in (let alone the funnel concept has been blown apart in the past three years due to the social web). This means you have to look at your FB analytics, for example, to see how people are using your content before they even hit your website, if they do at all. Second is process including making sure you go out of your way to engage influencers. Erin made a great point about this. One, she has a process. Second, she looks at the person's profile (and likely how many friends they have) when inviting. And this is no different than what you need to do with the recommendation sites like Yelp, DealerRater, MyDealerReport and more. As a matter of a fact, social reviews are proving...proving...to deliver more leads than any other social media. Also, while I'm not suggesting that anyone and everyone becomes SEO experts, social media done right is part of the equation in dominating Google rank. Again, important to point out done right. And just because you get 2,000 fans doesn't necessarily mean you'll have your FB page show up on page 1 of Google. But with the right traffic, links, interaction, events and more, there is a good chance that you'll have one more portal or dealer fall off of GP1 when your social media does well. IMPORTANT SIDE NOTE Dealers, providers, vendors, consultants: PLEASE stop setting up friend pages. You MUST set up Fan pages. Number one, by having a business as a friend page, you're in violation of Facebook's Terms of Service/Use. Second, you don't get to have analytics/dashboard when you have a friend page. Third, you don't have as much control over the engagement with your page. The list is too long of other things to do and not do but please start with those. DON'T SET UP FRIEND PAGES FOR BUSINESSES!!!!!! (yes I'm yelling after being ignored for the most part of two years). SECOND IMPORTANT SIDE NOTE Because, as pointed out by everyone here, content is king it is important to remind everyone that there is nothing social about inventory, price or automation. If you have an API set up to feed inventory to your Twitter page, you might as well stop. If you have an API set up to post well-followed content into your Twitter page, you're part of the way there. If you don't answer mentions and important follows or take note of what people are commenting about, you might as well not use Twitter because, well, you're not being social. People that use social media, want to be social or are in consideration of using/interacting with your brand and will become social. Don't continue to make the mistakes that most dealerships are making today with not realizing the power, and potential for huge mistakes and misses, that social media not done right allows for. Too many dealers use automation for content, auto follow backs and retweets, get 10,000 followers and think that helps them. To use an oft used Twitter hashtag: #FAIL (if you don't know what a hashtag is and you're in social media, you definitely need to get help). And to Eric's point about people asking questions, that is what social media is all about folks. Stop trying to sell in social media. Stop ignoring opportunities in social media. Stop thinking by having some networks up that you're in social media. Use social media as a tool to drive consideration, retention and information. That is all.

Love your comments Gary...so true. Especially about "Friend" vs. "Fan" Pages. Fan pages are the way to go. And they drive SEO! Missy

Loving this discussion! A few things: has anyone read "The Conversion Code" by Chris Smith? AWESOME tips on using social (particularly Facebook) to do social selling the right way. And yes content is key...but dealers I know don't have time to create hundreds of whitepapers and videos for different consumers. That's why the best strategies tend to advertise specific pieces of content, even "salesy" content, to specific users on Facebook - like pet adoption events to pet lovers, military discounts to active military and veterans, and even particular types of vehicles to shoppers who are In-Market for those specific makes & models. But heads up: since Facebook's organic (unpaid) reach has gone down immensely since 2014, Page fans and Likes hardly impact your reach when it comes to getting your message seen - another likely reason for not being able to measure ROI! According to a study by Social&Ogilvy, Business Pages that had more than 500,000 Likes were only achieving an organic reach of 2%. Even if you had 10,000 FB fans, only 200 would see your posts! When it comes to your dealership FB Pages, your Business Page and your "salesly" content need to be very different entities. That's what Facebook advertising is for - so anything sales oriented sits behind-the-scenes, not on your Page (which should be culture and content driven) - and no, “Boosting posts” doesn’t count! Lastly, another quick comment regarding ROI...if you do decide to run paid ads, you can use Offline Conversion Events (what we call Sales Matchbacks over at Dealers United) to track actual vehicle sale attribution to every ad you run. This is extremely useful when running vehicle ads, so you can see which styles are getting the most VDP views & sales every month, and help you plan your floor accordingly. (More tips can be found on our blog: http://www.dealersunited.com/blog/category/social-media/)

@Jared You bring up a good point that car dealers do not have experience with content writing strategies that add value in social media. That would be a great webinar to run for members of DrivingSales.com to coach them how to write more effectively on blogs and social media sites. Let's get one setup! Secondly, posting car specials and individual inventory on your wall will turn off consumers who are looking to engage with the dealership. I find a nice balance is to add a Facebook Tab to your Fan Page that has a car inventory research tool available IF the consumer chooses to engage and shop inside of Facebook. An example of this concept can be found at http://www.facebook.com/Marlboro.Nissan?v=app_360836281011 . This is a clean way to have the dealership's inventory one-click away but not in their face or in the stream of content on the Wall. As these types of apps develop, Facebook Fan Pages will be multi-purpose and a significant sources to promote your brand and sell more cars. As you have stated, the key is to create the content, articles and commentary that makes people want to follow your posts and grow attached to your brand. Then it comes down to the basics of human interaction and communication.

As I said just last week in my last WebEx seminar, Social Media (and it doesn't matter if we are talking about Twitter or Facebook here) will help these dealers, who see their Social marketing followers in the MIDLLE of the purchase funnel, and not at the end - the consumer all ready to make a deal. As we all (should) know the MIDDLE of the Funnel is when our possible prospect is in the mood to find out more about a product or service and uses the time to make her research and observation "whom to pick as TRUSTED vendor". In my opinion, and as Jared has stated absolutely right, the huge chance to convert an "opportunity" begins with a car dealers fixed operations. Show your potential, future what made you the No.1 go to service department in the city, who is frequently holding "free car clinics" every first Wednesday in a month and the customers are receiving free Technician advice how do change oil filters, tires, air filters and so on - and the best thing is, the parts you possible need to perform the just taught are ON SALE the same day, and beats the price of the in-town AutoZone store. These clinics also should be YouTube(d), tagged with the right keywords and also posted on your dealer's URL under the tab "do it yourself" or similar. This is valuable content is what Social Media Marketing si all about and you need to share on all your Social channels - it is active, informative, vibrant content which directly points the interested Social Media consumer into your direction or even better into your store. There are far more ideas and Tips I would love to share, and I promise I will with one of my next posts. Jared, Brian let's work together on the strategy for the next Bootcamp ;)

I am currently an Internet Manager at a small rural GM dealership and we have really worked to make our Facebook page an itegral part of our marketing mix. We currently have over 750 fans, and while many are friends and family members of staffers, we actively invite our customers. I take the email address of each person who buys a car (and most who service with us) and I seacrh for them on Facebook. If they have a page, I use the "Share" button at the bottom of our dealership fan page to sent them a nice message inviting them to become a fan. I have sent hundreds of these and received only 1 message back from an unhappy customer. We try to post fun local events and specials, and have gotten a pretty good response. By no means do we expect to sell cars off Facebook, but I have found that the fans who have posted comments or pictures on our page are now loyal for life. That's just my two cents. You can't expect people to just stumble onto your fan page - you have to be active about inviting them,.

@Erin I agree...to grow your Facebook Fans requires innovation and hard work. That work will be rewarded over time...dealers just have to be patient and NOT measure results in terms on days or months.

Brian, you bring up a very valid point and is the reason, I believe, why most social media attempts by auto dealers end up going awry. Auto dealers are always thinking about the return they can make today, not what they can cultivate for future returns. Having said that, that's the reason why we are seeing so many abandoned social media attempts, with fan pages that get updated once a month if we're lucky, or twitter profiles that haven't been updated in months. Even if they are updated they fall into one of the two categories that Jared talks about in his post. Dealerships need to realize that social media isn't the big splash that they are looking for, rather the ripple that takes time to grow.

@Jared, wonderful blog and quite thought provoking. Frankly, it appears from my interactions with the automotive industry professionals that many just aren’t used to NOT selling. But the suggestion provided by @Brian to have an inventory tab on FB is probably the best option, as it’s not intruding on their daily Facebook experience but available to those interested. Ideally, social media can be used to position a dealership as an industry expert, act as a real-time customer service forum, and educate customers and general public. Instead of the hard sell, dealers MUST think of ways to help customers and general public better understand the car buying process and how financing works, the reasons behind various service requirements, ways to enhance the driving experience, how to improve or better maintain their car and other types of insightful and useful tips. Tidbits about car care, maintenance, and driving tips are usually well received. Those topics are ENDLESS. The important thing is to remember - as @Brian mentioned - is patience and perhaps dealers need to alter the way they are measuring the ROI. I wrote a white paper a few months ago that may be helpful, please check it out and let me know your thoughts: http://www.fullcirclesolutions.com/downloads/hiddenlink.php

Many dealers run the risk of simply creating the same run-of-the-mill page & which becomes the digital equivalent of the boring, ineffective weekend display ad in the newspaper. The average FB user goes into a new "user-mode" that is unlike their behavior on a typical website; think about your own usage - you're seeking fun, new, interactive things to click on, like, try-out, add to your page - you're not there to be sold the old way. (Why do you think Farmville's founders are wealthier than a small nation?) whatever you do, it needs to be different. Here's one small example of how I'm trying to mix it up - and it's got people asking questions: http://www.facebook.com/AuctionDirectUSA?v=app_331973405870&ref=ts

Jared, Great post and one more in a very deliberate path that our valuable dealer base in the US can read. And then hopefully put into action. And the points made above by everyone adding are very valid. To understand social media's place in any retail you must look at how that business operates. Social media, while very natural to us as people that generally network, is very unnatural to the essence of automotive retail. This has been very evident since the mid-90's with everything from online pricing, invoices, listing of dealer "trunk" cash and other intentional transparencies that the dealerships (mostly) have despised. Everything is fought. Any item that shines a light into how dealers sell cars is frowned upon. This may sound off topic but it's not and I've known this from being in the industry for a mere 10 years. Not decades. And I'm not from a line of automotive superstars (my parents, in fact, hate dealerships because of how they've been treated over the years). Social media, as well as other associated activities, is an extension of your brand. Pure and simple. If you don't have a brand and experience that you'd tell EVERYONE about, social is probably not your cup of tea. Success is nearly always top down and if a store's management is not on board, you'll either have to be a renegade or deliberately ignore their frustration with being involved. There are a few missing points in section 2 about ROI. Social is about engagement. Yes, content is hard enough for dealers, especially when a lot of people in the "Internet" departments have a hard enough time with writing emails to customers (both timeliness and content). You have to be on your game in social media and not just for customer service opportunities. First is that engagement via the content shared and commented on DOES drive traffic no matter what part of the 'funnel' they're in (let alone the funnel concept has been blown apart in the past three years due to the social web). This means you have to look at your FB analytics, for example, to see how people are using your content before they even hit your website, if they do at all. Second is process including making sure you go out of your way to engage influencers. Erin made a great point about this. One, she has a process. Second, she looks at the person's profile (and likely how many friends they have) when inviting. And this is no different than what you need to do with the recommendation sites like Yelp, DealerRater, MyDealerReport and more. As a matter of a fact, social reviews are proving...proving...to deliver more leads than any other social media. Also, while I'm not suggesting that anyone and everyone becomes SEO experts, social media done right is part of the equation in dominating Google rank. Again, important to point out done right. And just because you get 2,000 fans doesn't necessarily mean you'll have your FB page show up on page 1 of Google. But with the right traffic, links, interaction, events and more, there is a good chance that you'll have one more portal or dealer fall off of GP1 when your social media does well. IMPORTANT SIDE NOTE Dealers, providers, vendors, consultants: PLEASE stop setting up friend pages. You MUST set up Fan pages. Number one, by having a business as a friend page, you're in violation of Facebook's Terms of Service/Use. Second, you don't get to have analytics/dashboard when you have a friend page. Third, you don't have as much control over the engagement with your page. The list is too long of other things to do and not do but please start with those. DON'T SET UP FRIEND PAGES FOR BUSINESSES!!!!!! (yes I'm yelling after being ignored for the most part of two years). SECOND IMPORTANT SIDE NOTE Because, as pointed out by everyone here, content is king it is important to remind everyone that there is nothing social about inventory, price or automation. If you have an API set up to feed inventory to your Twitter page, you might as well stop. If you have an API set up to post well-followed content into your Twitter page, you're part of the way there. If you don't answer mentions and important follows or take note of what people are commenting about, you might as well not use Twitter because, well, you're not being social. People that use social media, want to be social or are in consideration of using/interacting with your brand and will become social. Don't continue to make the mistakes that most dealerships are making today with not realizing the power, and potential for huge mistakes and misses, that social media not done right allows for. Too many dealers use automation for content, auto follow backs and retweets, get 10,000 followers and think that helps them. To use an oft used Twitter hashtag: #FAIL (if you don't know what a hashtag is and you're in social media, you definitely need to get help). And to Eric's point about people asking questions, that is what social media is all about folks. Stop trying to sell in social media. Stop ignoring opportunities in social media. Stop thinking by having some networks up that you're in social media. Use social media as a tool to drive consideration, retention and information. That is all.

Love your comments Gary...so true. Especially about "Friend" vs. "Fan" Pages. Fan pages are the way to go. And they drive SEO! Missy

Loving this discussion! A few things: has anyone read "The Conversion Code" by Chris Smith? AWESOME tips on using social (particularly Facebook) to do social selling the right way. And yes content is key...but dealers I know don't have time to create hundreds of whitepapers and videos for different consumers. That's why the best strategies tend to advertise specific pieces of content, even "salesy" content, to specific users on Facebook - like pet adoption events to pet lovers, military discounts to active military and veterans, and even particular types of vehicles to shoppers who are In-Market for those specific makes & models. But heads up: since Facebook's organic (unpaid) reach has gone down immensely since 2014, Page fans and Likes hardly impact your reach when it comes to getting your message seen - another likely reason for not being able to measure ROI! According to a study by Social&Ogilvy, Business Pages that had more than 500,000 Likes were only achieving an organic reach of 2%. Even if you had 10,000 FB fans, only 200 would see your posts! When it comes to your dealership FB Pages, your Business Page and your "salesly" content need to be very different entities. That's what Facebook advertising is for - so anything sales oriented sits behind-the-scenes, not on your Page (which should be culture and content driven) - and no, “Boosting posts” doesn’t count! Lastly, another quick comment regarding ROI...if you do decide to run paid ads, you can use Offline Conversion Events (what we call Sales Matchbacks over at Dealers United) to track actual vehicle sale attribution to every ad you run. This is extremely useful when running vehicle ads, so you can see which styles are getting the most VDP views & sales every month, and help you plan your floor accordingly. (More tips can be found on our blog: http://www.dealersunited.com/blog/category/social-media/)