I can already hear the vendors scrambling to put together their rebuttals. I'm not going to dwell on the issue, but it's an important one to note.

For most dealers, it's okay to be in the mix. As long as you're on the first page on Google for the major keywords, you're doing just fine. Aggressive dealers, those who truly want to dominate, cannot do so if they're getting the same SEO that's given to hundreds or thousands of other dealers. Even if you believe the argument that SEO is scalable (which it isn't when done properly) then you definitely can't believe that two dealers of the same brand in the same metro can both get excellent SEO from the same company.

There's only one listing that can be ranked #1 for any given search. The math isn't hard. If a company is willing to do optimization for more than one dealer of the same brand in the same metro, there's a disconnect between what they think they can do and what can actually be done.

Again, I'm not going to dwell on it. You're a sharp audience. You can do the math and you can resolve to find better. In an automotive industry where everyone from the OEMs to the third party sites are pushing for parody (better known as "the race to the bottom"), it's easy to fall for the pitches. However, the gap between mediocrity and dominance is separated by strong strategy, proper execution, and exclusive dedication to helping one dealer per brand per metro. Otherwise, you're simply shooting to be in the conversation, not leading it.

Everyone knows about the front-facing part of social media. Some of us use it every day. Whether we're checking updates, following a story, or simply looking into what our friends are doing, we go to our favority social media app on our phones or visit the sites on our computers and explore the world socially.

The other side of social media is more mysterious. It's not that it's a secret; many discussions have been had about it right here on DrivingSales. It's that few dealers are talking about it, fewer vendors are offering it, and the social media sties themselves are doing a terrible job at getting the word out.

That's fine by us. The longer that it's a secret, the better it is for our dealers.

This other side, the "dark side" of sites like Facebook and Twitter, rely on their number one asset to help businesses spread their message to the right audience. That asset is targeting, and the methodology that these social networks employ are can be downright powerful.

Let's take a closer look at both sides to understand how they can work together.

The Front End

This is what you already understand. You probably have a Facebook page for your dealership. You're probablby posting images, links to blog posts, videos, and maybe the occasional special or inventory item. You have a certain number of fans who have a slight chance of seeing your posts. You may even be using advertising dollars to get more engagement or to encourage likes.

There are two primary strategies and a handful of secondary strategies that you can use. An aggressive, offensive strategy is designed to get as much engagement as possible. For us, this is our "high dollar" service that we offer to dealers because it requires daily actions, monitoring, and promoting.

The other primary strategy is a defensive posture. Post great content. Give it an opportunity to shine, but don't put a lot of time, money, or effort into it. While some see this as a give up mentality, it's really not - as long as you're taking advantage of the dark side of social which I'll discuss shortly.

The front end of social media is in play at most dealers. We could talk all day about the various strategies and goals, but as long as you're involved and doing something strong with this, the public side of social, then you're probably in pretty good shape. However, there's more...

The Back End

This is the part that few dealer are using. It's the part that takes the hyper-targeting data that sites like Facebook have in their back pocket and applying it to posting "dark posts" on the news feeds of those people who matter.

Whether you want to target intending buyers, current customers in your database, or people divided by demographics, this is the key to finding ultimate success on social media. Put Truck Month ads in front of people wanting to buy a truck. Put Customer Appreciation ads in front of past customers. Put Special Financing ads in front of people making under a certain amount of money. Do all of this targeting particular zip codes, cities, or radiuses around the area.

This is clearly too much to write in a blog post, but you can get the skinny at the upcoming Driving Sales Executive Summit in Las Vegas, October 12-14 at the Bellagio. JD Rucker will be discussing this very topic.

See you in Vegas!

Everyone knows about the front-facing part of social media. Some of us use it every day. Whether we're checking updates, following a story, or simply looking into what our friends are doing, we go to our favority social media app on our phones or visit the sites on our computers and explore the world socially.

The other side of social media is more mysterious. It's not that it's a secret; many discussions have been had about it right here on DrivingSales. It's that few dealers are talking about it, fewer vendors are offering it, and the social media sties themselves are doing a terrible job at getting the word out.

That's fine by us. The longer that it's a secret, the better it is for our dealers.

This other side, the "dark side" of sites like Facebook and Twitter, rely on their number one asset to help businesses spread their message to the right audience. That asset is targeting, and the methodology that these social networks employ are can be downright powerful.

Let's take a closer look at both sides to understand how they can work together.

The Front End

This is what you already understand. You probably have a Facebook page for your dealership. You're probablby posting images, links to blog posts, videos, and maybe the occasional special or inventory item. You have a certain number of fans who have a slight chance of seeing your posts. You may even be using advertising dollars to get more engagement or to encourage likes.

There are two primary strategies and a handful of secondary strategies that you can use. An aggressive, offensive strategy is designed to get as much engagement as possible. For us, this is our "high dollar" service that we offer to dealers because it requires daily actions, monitoring, and promoting.

The other primary strategy is a defensive posture. Post great content. Give it an opportunity to shine, but don't put a lot of time, money, or effort into it. While some see this as a give up mentality, it's really not - as long as you're taking advantage of the dark side of social which I'll discuss shortly.

The front end of social media is in play at most dealers. We could talk all day about the various strategies and goals, but as long as you're involved and doing something strong with this, the public side of social, then you're probably in pretty good shape. However, there's more...

The Back End

This is the part that few dealer are using. It's the part that takes the hyper-targeting data that sites like Facebook have in their back pocket and applying it to posting "dark posts" on the news feeds of those people who matter.

Whether you want to target intending buyers, current customers in your database, or people divided by demographics, this is the key to finding ultimate success on social media. Put Truck Month ads in front of people wanting to buy a truck. Put Customer Appreciation ads in front of past customers. Put Special Financing ads in front of people making under a certain amount of money. Do all of this targeting particular zip codes, cities, or radiuses around the area.

This is clearly too much to write in a blog post, but you can get the skinny at the upcoming Driving Sales Executive Summit in Las Vegas, October 12-14 at the Bellagio. JD Rucker will be discussing this very topic.

See you in Vegas!

First, a mini-rant. It will make sense why I'm starting with a rant before getting to the meat of the issue.

I was on the phone with a social client and their prospective search marketing provider the other day when I was blindsided by ignorance. It wasn't what I expected from a company that came highly recommended for their search prowess, so I called later on to talk to someone other than a salesperson to confirm that I heard properly.

They selected their keywords straight from a template. The dealer would tell them the cities and then they would plug in those cities into their keyword template and, VOILA, they had a keyword list to plug into their campaigns.

This is the type of treatment I would expect from an OEM-level provider, but to see it coming from a boutique shop really turned me sideways. The whole idea of being small and nimble is the ability to give the personal touch; heck, that's why we built our company in the first place!

That experience prompted me to talk about data. Never before have we had access to so much of it. We know pretty much everything we need to know in order to guide our marketing and advertising decisions. That's the beauty of the digital age and it's often what separates the great dealers from the good ones.

Here are some of the things you should look for to let the data guide your decisions:

Location

Where are you selling? Where are you missing? Where are the buyers in or near your market? These are questions that most dealers can answer based upon their sales sheets and the information that the OEMs provide but all too often dealers are working from gut feeling rather than letting the data drive their decisions.

In most cases when we see dealers exploring the data, they get surprised. I say "most" because it happens regularly and I don't recall a time when some bit of location-based buyer data didn't surprise the dealer, but I can't know for sure that it's all of them. It's a lot. We'll leave it at that.

Purchase Preference

Depending on what part of a metro, county, or state someone lives in, there are tendencies that can be determined by the data. Some places are better for new SUVs. Others are better for used cars. It doesn't always correlate directly to the income levels within an area, either. We've seen occasions when a high-income area offers a lower opportunity for dealers to sell expensive vehicles than a mid-level income area.

In the expensive world of automotive advertising, seeing where the people are and what they're buying is so important when trying to hyper-target them with email, mobile, direct mail, television, and search campaigns. Then, there's social media - you don't want to get me started on how important this data is for social media.

Competitive Success

Who doesn't love to conquest? Unfortunately, we often see dealers that are targeting a competitors immediate area when that is usually not the low-hanging fruit.

Market sales data combined with proper analytics is the key to finding the greatest areas of opportunity for conquest sales, whether you're targeting another brand or a direct competitor. This data is readily available and isn't very expensive, yet we still see so many dealers targeting a radius around the competitors.

Use Your Analytics

Google Analytics combined with buyer data is the key to success. Many dealers have their own internal mechanisms for this. For others, there are companies like String Automotive that combine the data and present it to dealers in ways that are meaningful for them to take action.

Regardless of whether you do it yourself or hire a company, it has to be done. We don't currently offer it, but by golly we'd love to someday.

First, a mini-rant. It will make sense why I'm starting with a rant before getting to the meat of the issue.

I was on the phone with a social client and their prospective search marketing provider the other day when I was blindsided by ignorance. It wasn't what I expected from a company that came highly recommended for their search prowess, so I called later on to talk to someone other than a salesperson to confirm that I heard properly.

They selected their keywords straight from a template. The dealer would tell them the cities and then they would plug in those cities into their keyword template and, VOILA, they had a keyword list to plug into their campaigns.

This is the type of treatment I would expect from an OEM-level provider, but to see it coming from a boutique shop really turned me sideways. The whole idea of being small and nimble is the ability to give the personal touch; heck, that's why we built our company in the first place!

That experience prompted me to talk about data. Never before have we had access to so much of it. We know pretty much everything we need to know in order to guide our marketing and advertising decisions. That's the beauty of the digital age and it's often what separates the great dealers from the good ones.

Here are some of the things you should look for to let the data guide your decisions:

Location

Where are you selling? Where are you missing? Where are the buyers in or near your market? These are questions that most dealers can answer based upon their sales sheets and the information that the OEMs provide but all too often dealers are working from gut feeling rather than letting the data drive their decisions.

In most cases when we see dealers exploring the data, they get surprised. I say "most" because it happens regularly and I don't recall a time when some bit of location-based buyer data didn't surprise the dealer, but I can't know for sure that it's all of them. It's a lot. We'll leave it at that.

Purchase Preference

Depending on what part of a metro, county, or state someone lives in, there are tendencies that can be determined by the data. Some places are better for new SUVs. Others are better for used cars. It doesn't always correlate directly to the income levels within an area, either. We've seen occasions when a high-income area offers a lower opportunity for dealers to sell expensive vehicles than a mid-level income area.

In the expensive world of automotive advertising, seeing where the people are and what they're buying is so important when trying to hyper-target them with email, mobile, direct mail, television, and search campaigns. Then, there's social media - you don't want to get me started on how important this data is for social media.

Competitive Success

Who doesn't love to conquest? Unfortunately, we often see dealers that are targeting a competitors immediate area when that is usually not the low-hanging fruit.

Market sales data combined with proper analytics is the key to finding the greatest areas of opportunity for conquest sales, whether you're targeting another brand or a direct competitor. This data is readily available and isn't very expensive, yet we still see so many dealers targeting a radius around the competitors.

Use Your Analytics

Google Analytics combined with buyer data is the key to success. Many dealers have their own internal mechanisms for this. For others, there are companies like String Automotive that combine the data and present it to dealers in ways that are meaningful for them to take action.

Regardless of whether you do it yourself or hire a company, it has to be done. We don't currently offer it, but by golly we'd love to someday.

If you're like many, you're sick of hearing how big social media is. It's huge. We get it. That's not the real "juice" that comes through utilizing social media for automotive advertising.

The greatest benefit that social media currently offers to car dealers is through hyper-targeting. More dealers every day are taking advantage of the standard targeting components of sites like Facebook and Twitter - targeting by location, age, income, education, and any combination of these and many other demographic components available. Very few dealers are taking advantage of the stronger data that's available through a plethora of very specific data sets.

First and foremost, the use of your customer database is absolutely imperative. You might be sending direct mail to your customers. You're probably emailing them. Unfortunately, your also probably missing a large number of them because of spam filters and a general distaste for junkmail.

Social media offers a very direct way to get your message in front of them. We've discussed "secretly" about unpublished posts and the power of advertising directly to your customers, but that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Facebook has so much data that it's relatively easy for dealers to put very specific messages in front of very specific groups of people. If you're a Nissan dealer, you can target Altima buyers with one message, current Altima owners with another message, and people considering a Camry or Accord with another message.

It goes even further than that. We've seen tremendous success with seasonal posts. For example, targeting "2014 College Graduates" with a college grad buyers' program in May yielded more leads from that page in 3 days than in the previous 365 days combined.

If you are not planning to attend the Driving Sales Executive Summit, October 12-14 at the stunning Bellagio in Las Vegas, I have to wonder if you're really serious about succeeding. This is the conference to attend in October. If you are planning on attending, I encourage you to check out my workshop on this very topic where I'll be discussing in much greater detail how to make it happen at your dealership.

Here's a preview...

If you're like many, you're sick of hearing how big social media is. It's huge. We get it. That's not the real "juice" that comes through utilizing social media for automotive advertising.

The greatest benefit that social media currently offers to car dealers is through hyper-targeting. More dealers every day are taking advantage of the standard targeting components of sites like Facebook and Twitter - targeting by location, age, income, education, and any combination of these and many other demographic components available. Very few dealers are taking advantage of the stronger data that's available through a plethora of very specific data sets.

First and foremost, the use of your customer database is absolutely imperative. You might be sending direct mail to your customers. You're probably emailing them. Unfortunately, your also probably missing a large number of them because of spam filters and a general distaste for junkmail.

Social media offers a very direct way to get your message in front of them. We've discussed "secretly" about unpublished posts and the power of advertising directly to your customers, but that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Facebook has so much data that it's relatively easy for dealers to put very specific messages in front of very specific groups of people. If you're a Nissan dealer, you can target Altima buyers with one message, current Altima owners with another message, and people considering a Camry or Accord with another message.

It goes even further than that. We've seen tremendous success with seasonal posts. For example, targeting "2014 College Graduates" with a college grad buyers' program in May yielded more leads from that page in 3 days than in the previous 365 days combined.

If you are not planning to attend the Driving Sales Executive Summit, October 12-14 at the stunning Bellagio in Las Vegas, I have to wonder if you're really serious about succeeding. This is the conference to attend in October. If you are planning on attending, I encourage you to check out my workshop on this very topic where I'll be discussing in much greater detail how to make it happen at your dealership.

Here's a preview...

We often hear that search and social are very similar. While there are definitely similarities in some regards, they are very different in the way they generate business. Specifically, the way they drive customers to you utilize pretty much opposite strategies.

The easiest way to understand the real difference in strategy is to look at the business model comparison of a food truck and a restaurant. Both serve food just as both search and social are supposed to serve you customers, but their philosophies are very different.

With a food truck, the idea is to go to where the people are and entice them to buy your food for the sake of convenience and serendipity. To do this, they select areas of high population and put their trucks in good locations at the right time - a busy office area around lunch time, for example.

WIth a restaurant, the goal is to pull people into the restaurant. You can't move the restaurant, so you have to entice them to make the trip to see you. There's the beauty of consistency that helps. People will see your restaurant in their travels and may decide to stop by one day. They may even seek your type of food and your proximity to them can make you a valid place to eat.

Social is like a food truck. It's active. It's on the go. It doesn't wait for people to come to it. It actively pursues business, trying different places and different times, even different messages on its flag from time to time. This isn't trying to be the destination. It's trying to catch people while they're at other destinations in hopes of grabbing their attention.

Search is, of course, like the restaurant. You can't take a restaurant to the people, so you have to wait for the people to come to the restaurant. Search is passive - people have to make the conscious decision to go to the search engine and find you, either by name if they already know you or in a general search for your type of "food" in your location.

Having this understanding can help dealers to realize that it's not a matter of focusing on either one or the other. They are going after different types of shoppers. Search passively waits for active shoppers while social actively tries to compel people to shop at that moment.

They're not equal. Search is an essential and social is a bonus. However, when the right strategies are applied to them, there's a tremendous opportunity to hit different people with the same purpose or to hit the same people from different angles. Either way, they both work to generate more sales.

We often hear that search and social are very similar. While there are definitely similarities in some regards, they are very different in the way they generate business. Specifically, the way they drive customers to you utilize pretty much opposite strategies.

The easiest way to understand the real difference in strategy is to look at the business model comparison of a food truck and a restaurant. Both serve food just as both search and social are supposed to serve you customers, but their philosophies are very different.

With a food truck, the idea is to go to where the people are and entice them to buy your food for the sake of convenience and serendipity. To do this, they select areas of high population and put their trucks in good locations at the right time - a busy office area around lunch time, for example.

WIth a restaurant, the goal is to pull people into the restaurant. You can't move the restaurant, so you have to entice them to make the trip to see you. There's the beauty of consistency that helps. People will see your restaurant in their travels and may decide to stop by one day. They may even seek your type of food and your proximity to them can make you a valid place to eat.

Social is like a food truck. It's active. It's on the go. It doesn't wait for people to come to it. It actively pursues business, trying different places and different times, even different messages on its flag from time to time. This isn't trying to be the destination. It's trying to catch people while they're at other destinations in hopes of grabbing their attention.

Search is, of course, like the restaurant. You can't take a restaurant to the people, so you have to wait for the people to come to the restaurant. Search is passive - people have to make the conscious decision to go to the search engine and find you, either by name if they already know you or in a general search for your type of "food" in your location.

Having this understanding can help dealers to realize that it's not a matter of focusing on either one or the other. They are going after different types of shoppers. Search passively waits for active shoppers while social actively tries to compel people to shop at that moment.

They're not equal. Search is an essential and social is a bonus. However, when the right strategies are applied to them, there's a tremendous opportunity to hit different people with the same purpose or to hit the same people from different angles. Either way, they both work to generate more sales.

For the last week, I have spoken to several dealers, a couple of vendors, and members of our team about how to position social media properly so that dealers will be able to take full advantage of it. We blogged about it, prepared a webinar, and adjusted our upcoming presentation at DSES to make sure that we're getting the word out about the tangible, measurable, ROI-based aspects of social media.

There was a lot of bad press going out and I felt the need to combat it.

The first thing that got me riled up was the infamous "nobody shops for cars on social media" post on Automotive News. Then, it was an article here on Driving Sales that got me even more excited about teaching on the subject. It was a comment, just a single sentence, that completely changed my perspective. I'm now endorsing the concept that most dealers should abandon social media.

"Shhh. Craig. Don't tell anyone about the dark posts. We don't want them to get too popular :P"

It hit me like an 18-wheeler. Robert Karbaum's comment made me realize that this isn't something for mass consumption. If too many dealers were aware of the ROI that properly targeted, masterfully crafted dark posts pointing to killer landing pages bring to the table, their effectiveness would be diluted.

The vast majority of what goes on with automotive social media is pretty much worthless. We know of one other vendor that is even remotely doing it right and I've seen a mere handful of dealers taking advantage of it. This is a good thing. It's a good thing for people reading this article. It's the reason that we're currently at 14/14 on our free trials converting into paying clients.

I now realize that this isn't something that needs to be given to the masses. It's not something that can benefit the industry as a whole. The proper social media strategy that actually does sell cars is only effective because so few dealers and vendors understand how it works.

There are many things that I'll post about in the future and many topics that we'll all discuss, but this is one of those that doesn't need to be broadcast to the general automotive industry. There's no need to let the cat out of the bag. It can't be let out. If it ever did, then it wouldn't be a cat anymore. It would lose its effectiveness.

Thank you, Robert, for making an extremely valid point. Social media has a power that cannot be matched by any other advertising venue, but only when utilized properly. If everyone knew that, then it would no longer be as strong.

In essence, I was being Syndrome from The Incredibles.