For a decade now, businesses and marketers have attempted to decipher the jumbled mess of social media and turn it into a true ROI generator. Hundreds of thousands of Ponce de Leóns have explored the social media countryside in search of the ultimate prize - tangible benefit from social media marketing.

Thankfully, it's not as mythical as the Fountain of Youth. Most are getting minor benefits from social media as long as they're sticking with it and applying some basic strategies. A few are getting real results from the branding and communication components of social media that are achievable by nearly anyone who tries hard enough and invests a little money into the endeavor.

For those who are really wanting to make a dramatic impact on their social media presence, the key is in storytelling. This is hard. That's not one of those feigned discouragements that marketers often use to dissuade businesses from trying to do it themselves. It truly is extremely difficult to take the mundane aspects of most businesses and turn them into something truly special that people are willing to passionately follow.

With social media storytelling, it's not about telling lies. It's definitely not about looking for the thunder in a bottle that some companies have been able to find through a combination of luck and some viral secret sauce that eludes the rest of humanity; how many tried to duplicate what Oreo did at the Super Bowl? Lastly, it's not about manufacturing buzz where it doesn't exist.

Storytelling requires finding those creative elements that are present in any business (regardless of how mundane the industry might seem) and forming them into a strategy that yields a path to success. It only takes one sentence to describe it but one could write a book on the actual strategy behind it. We'll try to keep it shorter here.

The story itself can be about nearly anything as long as it's relevant to the business in some way. It doesn't even have to be a direct attachment. It can be about customers. It can be about employees. It can be the journey that was taken to arrive at a particular product or service launch.

Think about it like making a movie. It isn't about the end result of the movie itself, but rather the Blue-Ray extras and behind the scenes shots. Taking us through the process can be as fun (or more fun) than watching the end result itself. As humans, we have a tendency to enjoy watching things as they unfold.

A pretty good (not great, but good) example of this was when Pepsi MAX worked with NBA star Kyrie Irving to put the Uncle Drew series together for YouTube. The reasons that it was good is because it was able to tell stories that were interesting enough to get millions of views, was sustainable for a few posts to make it a series, and gave the behind-the-scenes view that we love. The reason that it wasn't great is because it had very little to do with the product itself with only occasional views.

A much better example is a Thai Pantene commercial from a few years ago. It told a compelling story and had all of the right elements but it did not let the product get in the way. In fact, you'll have no idea it's a Pantene commercial until the end. One thing that most will definitely notice is that during the concert, the main character has absolutely incredible hair. When the Pantene logo is shown at the end with the tagline, "You can shine," it all comes together for the viewer.

These are both big productions that most businesses cannot duplicate, but that doesn't mean that you can't draw inspiration from their creativity. The key is to make it last. It doesn't have to revolve around a video, either. A friend, , did an excellent job of using social media to tell the story of her new job. She had a countdown of the top 5 reasons to be excited about her new job. It kept anticipation high, friends (and potential clients) guessing, and showed that even individuals have the ability to tell the right stories about their business.

To succeed at social media marketing, businesses and marketers must embrace the right strategies and couple them with incredible stories. This post itself is an example of this as we will be rolling out stories of our own very soon for our clients. Stay tuned!

Today, using the “free” social media platforms as a marketing tool without spending money on them is about as useful as playing the first level of the freeware version of iPad game.

It used to be so exciting to think about how to market a business on social media. We would read articles, watch videos, go to conferences, exchange ideas, try things out, and come up with the very best way to reach the people. Just a few years ago, it was exciting to be in the social media marketing world.

Things have changed. Many of my contemporaries who have been working in social media for nearly a decade have talked to me lately about how it’s all going downhill, how organic reach is gone and that the pay-to-play model has ruined the industry. They say things like “money makes the crap float to the top” or “there’s nothing creative about paying for exposure.” I agree with them during these conversations, not because I believe what they are saying, but because I’ve found that the exact opposite is true. I’m just trying to avoid an argument.

The reality is that the death of organic reach on social media sites is the best thing that could happen to creative social media marketers. Does it mean that some of the bottom line dollars must be spent in order to get the content the exposure it needs? Yes. Does it also mean that the crap that once filled news feeds across sites like Facebook have been yanked in favor of a proper mix of profile posts with a sprinkling of important, targeted, and paid-for exclusive posts? Absolutely.

It was once pretty futile. Sure, a few posts could get some pretty good exposure, reach, likes, retweets, shares, +1s, or whatever, but there were times when the best content didn’t reach the audience at the degree it deserved. Relying on organic when organic was still an option was a poor strategy. Now that there needs to be a budget (a very small budget, mind you), the potential exposure for high-quality content has actually increased due to the shift in need towards social media advertising.

Facebook and Twitter are the two obvious choices for embracing the paid model and in both cases, the shift was a very positive thing. Our messages can’t get muscled out by the big players just because they’re more popular. Paying to get the attention to the best content or most important posts is a sure-fire way to make certain that the message reaches the right people every time.

The thought that it killed creativity is ludicrous as well. In fact, the dollars attached to the campaigns mean that more care must be put into them. Nobody wants to waste money, so embracing a higher standard of post quality is now at top of mind. As much as we’d all like to think that we were putting out incredible content every time before, the reality is that everyone has days where they’re going through the motions. It’s on those days that a free post can slip through that is terrible. With the paid model, we must pay more attention. It’s better for everyone involved.

We all got suckered into it. We didn’t want to pay for it and for many of us, the reason that we got into this game in the first place was because we could gain exposure for our own pages or our clients’ pages by being good at the game. The paid model doesn’t change that if you really think about it. By paying, we are more invested and will perform better across the board. It’s part of human nature.

They got us to try it. In many ways, it’s like the freeware games that we download that try to get us hooked so we’ll pay for the full version. We got addicted to this world of social media marketing and now we can’t get out of it. Thankfully, the shift is starting to weed out those who are ineffective at taking advantage of what’s given to us all. If you’re not willing to pay to play this game, you should probably find another. Organic reach is dead on social media. Perhaps getting better organic search rankings is better suited for those who can’t play in social media anymore.

Today, using the “free” social media platforms as a marketing tool without spending money on them is about as useful as playing the first level of the freeware version of iPad game.

It used to be so exciting to think about how to market a business on social media. We would read articles, watch videos, go to conferences, exchange ideas, try things out, and come up with the very best way to reach the people. Just a few years ago, it was exciting to be in the social media marketing world.

Things have changed. Many of my contemporaries who have been working in social media for nearly a decade have talked to me lately about how it’s all going downhill, how organic reach is gone and that the pay-to-play model has ruined the industry. They say things like “money makes the crap float to the top” or “there’s nothing creative about paying for exposure.” I agree with them during these conversations, not because I believe what they are saying, but because I’ve found that the exact opposite is true. I’m just trying to avoid an argument.

The reality is that the death of organic reach on social media sites is the best thing that could happen to creative social media marketers. Does it mean that some of the bottom line dollars must be spent in order to get the content the exposure it needs? Yes. Does it also mean that the crap that once filled news feeds across sites like Facebook have been yanked in favor of a proper mix of profile posts with a sprinkling of important, targeted, and paid-for exclusive posts? Absolutely.

It was once pretty futile. Sure, a few posts could get some pretty good exposure, reach, likes, retweets, shares, +1s, or whatever, but there were times when the best content didn’t reach the audience at the degree it deserved. Relying on organic when organic was still an option was a poor strategy. Now that there needs to be a budget (a very small budget, mind you), the potential exposure for high-quality content has actually increased due to the shift in need towards social media advertising.

Facebook and Twitter are the two obvious choices for embracing the paid model and in both cases, the shift was a very positive thing. Our messages can’t get muscled out by the big players just because they’re more popular. Paying to get the attention to the best content or most important posts is a sure-fire way to make certain that the message reaches the right people every time.

The thought that it killed creativity is ludicrous as well. In fact, the dollars attached to the campaigns mean that more care must be put into them. Nobody wants to waste money, so embracing a higher standard of post quality is now at top of mind. As much as we’d all like to think that we were putting out incredible content every time before, the reality is that everyone has days where they’re going through the motions. It’s on those days that a free post can slip through that is terrible. With the paid model, we must pay more attention. It’s better for everyone involved.

We all got suckered into it. We didn’t want to pay for it and for many of us, the reason that we got into this game in the first place was because we could gain exposure for our own pages or our clients’ pages by being good at the game. The paid model doesn’t change that if you really think about it. By paying, we are more invested and will perform better across the board. It’s part of human nature.

They got us to try it. In many ways, it’s like the freeware games that we download that try to get us hooked so we’ll pay for the full version. We got addicted to this world of social media marketing and now we can’t get out of it. Thankfully, the shift is starting to weed out those who are ineffective at taking advantage of what’s given to us all. If you’re not willing to pay to play this game, you should probably find another. Organic reach is dead on social media. Perhaps getting better organic search rankings is better suited for those who can’t play in social media anymore.

It's okay if you've given up on the idea of selling cars or increasing service penetration through social media. On Driving Sales, it's likely that the majority of dealers have tried and found varying degrees of success or failure, whether on their own, through a vendor, or a hybrid of the two.

The reason that' it's okay for you to give up is because true automotive social media marketing requires a full commitment. You're either all the way in and you're embracing it wholeheartedly or you're simply maintaining a good presence without investing much time or any money. The in-between areas are pretty much worthless.

To get a better understanding of what this means, let's take a look at five truths that my team has found to be completely undeniable.

1. Small is the New Big

Everyone knows how big social media is. For dealers, the key is to get stronger reach and put your message in front of the right people by getting smaller. That doesn't mean you need shorter posts. That means that you should be taking advantage of the targeting capabilities and data that makes social media special.

2. Go on Offense or Defense, not Special Teams

We're using a little internal terminology here, but let me explain. We give clients two choices - going on the offensive with aggressive, "all-in" social media designed to go after local people who are in-market for a vehicle purchase, or going on the defensive by investing very little time and as little budget as possible (if any) to maintain a presence that represents the dealership well enough to pass muster. 

When we refer to "special teams" play on social  media, we're referring to what some dealers (and most vendors) are doing - trying (or pretending) to go on the offensive with social media but without putting the right mix of time, energy, budget, and strategy that can actually make it successful. The results of special teams play means that there's an ever-so-slight chance of scoring, but for the most part it's extra effort without any more benefit than a less-aggressive defensive posture.

3. Facebook and Twitter are Pay-to-Play (and the others are moving in that direction)

There is no such thing as true organic reach potential on for car dealers. One out of hundreds can ever achieve it and few in the world have been able to sustain it in the last few months since Facebook and Twitter have changed the way they operate with dealers.

Between Facebook's algorithm and Twitter's noise, you really have to be putting some, though not a lot, of budget towards your social media marketing.

4. Strategy Rules Over Frequency

In the world of search marketing, more is usually better. The more keywords you rank for organically or buy through PPC, the better. That's not necessarily the case with social media.

It would not be hard for a dealership to have a successful social media presence with one or two posts per week. It is very easy to have a very bad social media strategy with several posts a day. That's not to say that posting less is better. That just means that the strategy determines the frequency and not the other way around.

5. Social Supports Other Marketing Efforts (at least it should)

Even after the infamous Google video that denies social signals affect search rankings, they still came out and demonstrated ways that social media can be used to improve search rankings. They're not talking out of both sides of their mouths. They're simply making sure that SEOs understand the distinction between causality and direct benefit.

Traditional, website, and 3rd-party advertising and marketing can all use social media to benefit them and visa versa. Even with a defensive social media stance, it's possible to integrate social with other strategies to fulfill your needs.

Buying In

For some of you, it's a matter of embracing social media. For others, it's a matter of getting others at the dealership to embrace it. Social media can help improve business, and not just in an intangible way. It's more than branding. It's aggressive strategies. It's a lot of things, really, that make social media work. Unfortunately, that means that most dealers aren't doing it properly right now.

If you need help becoming convinced that it works or you want to try to convince someone else that an offensive posture can be truly beneficial, please feel free to ask me for help. I can walk you through the possibilities.

It's okay if you've given up on the idea of selling cars or increasing service penetration through social media. On Driving Sales, it's likely that the majority of dealers have tried and found varying degrees of success or failure, whether on their own, through a vendor, or a hybrid of the two.

The reason that' it's okay for you to give up is because true automotive social media marketing requires a full commitment. You're either all the way in and you're embracing it wholeheartedly or you're simply maintaining a good presence without investing much time or any money. The in-between areas are pretty much worthless.

To get a better understanding of what this means, let's take a look at five truths that my team has found to be completely undeniable.

1. Small is the New Big

Everyone knows how big social media is. For dealers, the key is to get stronger reach and put your message in front of the right people by getting smaller. That doesn't mean you need shorter posts. That means that you should be taking advantage of the targeting capabilities and data that makes social media special.

2. Go on Offense or Defense, not Special Teams

We're using a little internal terminology here, but let me explain. We give clients two choices - going on the offensive with aggressive, "all-in" social media designed to go after local people who are in-market for a vehicle purchase, or going on the defensive by investing very little time and as little budget as possible (if any) to maintain a presence that represents the dealership well enough to pass muster. 

When we refer to "special teams" play on social  media, we're referring to what some dealers (and most vendors) are doing - trying (or pretending) to go on the offensive with social media but without putting the right mix of time, energy, budget, and strategy that can actually make it successful. The results of special teams play means that there's an ever-so-slight chance of scoring, but for the most part it's extra effort without any more benefit than a less-aggressive defensive posture.

3. Facebook and Twitter are Pay-to-Play (and the others are moving in that direction)

There is no such thing as true organic reach potential on for car dealers. One out of hundreds can ever achieve it and few in the world have been able to sustain it in the last few months since Facebook and Twitter have changed the way they operate with dealers.

Between Facebook's algorithm and Twitter's noise, you really have to be putting some, though not a lot, of budget towards your social media marketing.

4. Strategy Rules Over Frequency

In the world of search marketing, more is usually better. The more keywords you rank for organically or buy through PPC, the better. That's not necessarily the case with social media.

It would not be hard for a dealership to have a successful social media presence with one or two posts per week. It is very easy to have a very bad social media strategy with several posts a day. That's not to say that posting less is better. That just means that the strategy determines the frequency and not the other way around.

5. Social Supports Other Marketing Efforts (at least it should)

Even after the infamous Google video that denies social signals affect search rankings, they still came out and demonstrated ways that social media can be used to improve search rankings. They're not talking out of both sides of their mouths. They're simply making sure that SEOs understand the distinction between causality and direct benefit.

Traditional, website, and 3rd-party advertising and marketing can all use social media to benefit them and visa versa. Even with a defensive social media stance, it's possible to integrate social with other strategies to fulfill your needs.

Buying In

For some of you, it's a matter of embracing social media. For others, it's a matter of getting others at the dealership to embrace it. Social media can help improve business, and not just in an intangible way. It's more than branding. It's aggressive strategies. It's a lot of things, really, that make social media work. Unfortunately, that means that most dealers aren't doing it properly right now.

If you need help becoming convinced that it works or you want to try to convince someone else that an offensive posture can be truly beneficial, please feel free to ask me for help. I can walk you through the possibilities.

The more people that are shopping for a car that you can get in front of your inventory, the more cars you're going to sell. Some would say it's a bold statement. Others would say that it's pretty obvious. Depending on which side of the coin you're on, you'll either need to be convinced or you're already doing it.

Let's start with the disclaimer. Everything our company does is geared around driving more VDP views. Search, social, and even our partner products like LotLinx are all "inventory drivers" for our clients. We don't believe in coaxing people to these pages. We're going after intent.

With that out of the way, let's get into the hard facts. People have so many choices when it comes to finding their next vehicle purchase. There are more third-party sites vying for their attention than dealers in any given market. These sites try different things in order to generate revenue. Some sell subscriptions and placement like AutoTrader and Cars.com. Others sell listings themselves like Craigslist and eBay. Others sell leads. They all know that the automotive industry is lucrative and they want to make money. There's nothing wrong with that.

A recent trend has been for many dealers to focus specifically on generating their own leads. They don't want to be part of these other listing sites. They don't want to buy leads. They are finding that the highest quality comes from people who are visiting their own site and they would be correct. However, there's an important fact to note before cancelling all of your third-party subscriptions.

The reason that the leads from a dealer's website usually convert so much better than other leads is because they are often a captive audience. Most of your search traffic is coming from searches for your dealership by name, which means that they want to consider doing business with you. There are fewer barriers to overcome to sell them a car when they are already inclined to like you, so the lead quality will always be higher here.

This is why we recommend to dealers to still participate in other sites while focusing on their own. It's why we partnered with LotLinx. It's why we push SEO so heavily and it's why we position our social media product to be specifically geared towards driving people intending to buy a car to your website.

The reason that driving shoppers to your VDPs will increase sales is the same reason that putting people behind the wheel will sell more cars. It's excitement. When they're shopping, they're in the early stages of excitement, but it's still present. They can picture themselves driving it. They like to look at pictures. They want to read the specs. They want to scrutinize the history report, compare the prices, check out the features, and imagine what Toreador Red would look like in their driveway.

As dealers move forward with their evolving strategies, it's important to look at the numbers. There are no tricks to this, really. Regardless of where they are on the internet, there's a chance that you can get them in front of your inventory. The advertising possibilities are endless. Don't get caught up in complicated strategies. Get more people in front of your cars and you will sell more of them.

The more people that are shopping for a car that you can get in front of your inventory, the more cars you're going to sell. Some would say it's a bold statement. Others would say that it's pretty obvious. Depending on which side of the coin you're on, you'll either need to be convinced or you're already doing it.

Let's start with the disclaimer. Everything our company does is geared around driving more VDP views. Search, social, and even our partner products like LotLinx are all "inventory drivers" for our clients. We don't believe in coaxing people to these pages. We're going after intent.

With that out of the way, let's get into the hard facts. People have so many choices when it comes to finding their next vehicle purchase. There are more third-party sites vying for their attention than dealers in any given market. These sites try different things in order to generate revenue. Some sell subscriptions and placement like AutoTrader and Cars.com. Others sell listings themselves like Craigslist and eBay. Others sell leads. They all know that the automotive industry is lucrative and they want to make money. There's nothing wrong with that.

A recent trend has been for many dealers to focus specifically on generating their own leads. They don't want to be part of these other listing sites. They don't want to buy leads. They are finding that the highest quality comes from people who are visiting their own site and they would be correct. However, there's an important fact to note before cancelling all of your third-party subscriptions.

The reason that the leads from a dealer's website usually convert so much better than other leads is because they are often a captive audience. Most of your search traffic is coming from searches for your dealership by name, which means that they want to consider doing business with you. There are fewer barriers to overcome to sell them a car when they are already inclined to like you, so the lead quality will always be higher here.

This is why we recommend to dealers to still participate in other sites while focusing on their own. It's why we partnered with LotLinx. It's why we push SEO so heavily and it's why we position our social media product to be specifically geared towards driving people intending to buy a car to your website.

The reason that driving shoppers to your VDPs will increase sales is the same reason that putting people behind the wheel will sell more cars. It's excitement. When they're shopping, they're in the early stages of excitement, but it's still present. They can picture themselves driving it. They like to look at pictures. They want to read the specs. They want to scrutinize the history report, compare the prices, check out the features, and imagine what Toreador Red would look like in their driveway.

As dealers move forward with their evolving strategies, it's important to look at the numbers. There are no tricks to this, really. Regardless of where they are on the internet, there's a chance that you can get them in front of your inventory. The advertising possibilities are endless. Don't get caught up in complicated strategies. Get more people in front of your cars and you will sell more of them.

I've taken some criticism over the last week for selecting CarChat24 as the dealer website chat provider that I like the most. Angry calls. Angrier emails. Nobody wants to hear that their product was not selected and I understand the vast majority of the criticism from other chat providers in the industry.

One piece of criticism that I do not understand comes when providers try to convince me that 24/7 chat isn't important. In the digital age, availability is often the deciding factor for consumers. Perhaps I get this from personal experience. I know that I work during the day, have dinner with the family, spend some time with them, and then begin any online activities that don't pertain to my business. This time, late at night, is when I do research (in my case, I'm looking for a house AND a car), order things online, and surf the web before going to bed.

My wife is different. She wakes up early. She does all of her planning, research, and shopping for the day before the kids wake up. It was actually an experience she had with a dealership chat that prompted my exploration of them in the first place. She needed to drop the Jeep off before taking the kids to school and wanted to know how early she could do it. At the time, the store wasn't open (she called anyway, just in case) and so went to try to chat with some dealers. The first two had contact forms where the chat would normally be. The third had a chat operator that informed her when she could drop off her vehicle. Needless to say, she went to the third dealer for service.

These two situations are, of course, anecdotal, which is why I spent the last couple of months exploring the various options. It was in looking at the data, reviewing the statistics and reading through some overnight chats that I realized just how important always-on chat really is.

This is the age of availability and convenience more than anything else. We have grown accustomed to getting answers to nearly any question we have in moments. Since the majority of dealers do not have a receptionist standing by to answer the phone 24-hours per day, the instant access of information can only be delivered by dealers who have 24-hour chat. The numbers are growing. More and more people are online late at night or early in the morning and the trends are showing no signs of reversing.

The opportunities are out there. Dealers that are willing to take advantage of as many of them as possible are the ones who are going to be most successful both in the long term as well as the short.

I've taken some criticism over the last week for selecting CarChat24 as the dealer website chat provider that I like the most. Angry calls. Angrier emails. Nobody wants to hear that their product was not selected and I understand the vast majority of the criticism from other chat providers in the industry.

One piece of criticism that I do not understand comes when providers try to convince me that 24/7 chat isn't important. In the digital age, availability is often the deciding factor for consumers. Perhaps I get this from personal experience. I know that I work during the day, have dinner with the family, spend some time with them, and then begin any online activities that don't pertain to my business. This time, late at night, is when I do research (in my case, I'm looking for a house AND a car), order things online, and surf the web before going to bed.

My wife is different. She wakes up early. She does all of her planning, research, and shopping for the day before the kids wake up. It was actually an experience she had with a dealership chat that prompted my exploration of them in the first place. She needed to drop the Jeep off before taking the kids to school and wanted to know how early she could do it. At the time, the store wasn't open (she called anyway, just in case) and so went to try to chat with some dealers. The first two had contact forms where the chat would normally be. The third had a chat operator that informed her when she could drop off her vehicle. Needless to say, she went to the third dealer for service.

These two situations are, of course, anecdotal, which is why I spent the last couple of months exploring the various options. It was in looking at the data, reviewing the statistics and reading through some overnight chats that I realized just how important always-on chat really is.

This is the age of availability and convenience more than anything else. We have grown accustomed to getting answers to nearly any question we have in moments. Since the majority of dealers do not have a receptionist standing by to answer the phone 24-hours per day, the instant access of information can only be delivered by dealers who have 24-hour chat. The numbers are growing. More and more people are online late at night or early in the morning and the trends are showing no signs of reversing.

The opportunities are out there. Dealers that are willing to take advantage of as many of them as possible are the ones who are going to be most successful both in the long term as well as the short.

In October, 2013, I posted a controversial article about the differences between responsive and adaptive websites and came to the conclusion that, at that time, properly coded adaptive websites were performing better than responsive websites in the automotive arena. I stand by that assertion as long as the timestamp is attached. In other words, adaptive was better in the automotive industry than responsive in October, 2013.

Today, I am happily reversing my opinion. The industry has caught up. There are a handful of companies in our space that have not only improved on the earlier iterations that I did not like but who have taken their responsive sites beyond the adaptive sites that were performing phenomenally well. It's not that adaptive sites are bad or that they've fallen off at all. Today, the responsive sites (and the numbers attached to their results for dealers) have surpassed their adaptive counterparts.

The real difference in the platforms that I have seen launched in recent months compared to the original batch of automotive responsive website designers is that they seem to have followed (coincidentally, I'm sure) a different assertion I made a week after the original post that dealers and their vendors should build websites for mobile first. Mobile is today. It's getting bigger tomorrow.

Responsive websites that are built to accommodate the demands and limitations of mobile devices do not lose out on desktop functionality. If anything, today's savvy buyer has grown accustomed to a more mobile experience on their desktops and appreciate the simplicity that such design brings to the table.

I am dying to name some of the companies that I have looked at over the last few months that have impressed me with their designs and website management tools, but now is not the time. There are five strong responsive design firms that have impressed the heck out of me lately. Two are well known. Two are less known. One is pretty much unknown in the industry. I won't name them because I have yet to do a comprehensive review of everyone's platform. Considering that there are about 50 players in the automotive website arena, it's likely that I will never make it through them all.

In lieu of recommendations or direct endorsements, I'll keep it simple and show you what you should be considering...

• Speed and User Experience: While I have never been big on "quality test" sites that spit out a score about how good your website is, Google has a pretty good one out there with their PageSpeed Insights. The desktop component isn't a huge deal but look at both numbers in mobile - Speed and User Experience. Shoot for a speed over 50 as a bare minimum and the UX should be high, preferably over 90.
• Mobile-Only Functionality: One of the arguments that adaptive website providers make is that you can't put mobile functionality such as "Click to Call" or GPS-enabled navigation on responsive sites. This isn't true, though most of the responsive sites that I have seen do not take advantage of this. You can have that sort of unique functionality appear on your responsive sites when they are on a mobile screen and have them not available on a desktop. If you're considering responsive, ask your vendor if this is the case for their sites.
• Morphing Buttons: Many of the buttons on desktop websites are square. This doesn't lend to an effective mobile translation most of the times because they are too big to see on a single mobile screen. When a responsive website is rendered on a small screen, those large buttons should "morph" into mobile-friendlier buttons, preferably long rectangles that are still big enough for those of us with fat fingers.
• Intelligent Navigation Bars: Just like with the buttons, the navigation bars at the top that are so easy to use on desktop often become a challenge on mobile devices. Most responsive websites stack the navigation options when viewed on a small screen. This is a mistake. Instead, there should be a transition to a drop-down menu for the mobile experience. It should be at the top right and be easy to push for us fat-fingered-folks.
• Remove of "Extras": Even though we'd like to think that everything on our website is of vital importance to our visitors, there are always "fillers" that make sense on desktops but not on mobile. For example, that scrolling display of all of your vehicle types (you know, the one that gets somewhere south of 20 clicks per month) should not be taking up space on mobile. It' fine for desktops but make for a bad mobile experience. Remember, mobile is about getting to the point.

There are plenty of other things that I could go into regarding what to look for in a responsive website design, but I'll leave it off where it is and add a single closing thought: a great adaptive website is still better than a good (or bad) responsive website. Let the numbers guide you in your decision. It's about getting leads and driving more people to your inventory both online and offline. Make sure that the experience they're receiving in their mobile exploration of your website is better than any of your competitors. It makes a difference.