Many will call me crazy. Some will say that I'm recommending "bending the rules". Some will say that it's too risky.

You may be right, but we're recommending it anyway. When individual employees such as Internet Managers, Sales Managers, and Salespeople utilize their Facebook profiles to enhance dealership exposure and engagement, there are many benefits that can happen. There are risks, yes, but a properly trained staff given the tools to succeed can help a dealership go to the next level in social media marketing.

Below is a video tip that is part of the TK Power Social package. We made this one visible to the public because I really want to hear feedback on whether the benefits of direct Facebook engagement between employees and customers is something that should be encouraged.

The debate has raged since the dawn of search engines as a dramatic traffic source for websites: SEO vs PPC.  DrivingSales offers a venue for this debate to continue in the automotive arena, and despite attempts to spark a panel, nothing has transpired.

Thus, I'll put down my own thoughts on the matter and hope that others confirm or deny what I say.

PPC: Renting Your Search Engine Home

Being flexible, nimble, and in control of your message and where it is placed is the biggest selling point for PPC. While most agree that sponsored listings only account for about 1/4th of the clicks on search engines, there are those who are willing to sacrifice the bulk in favor of that control.

It's like renting a home. You aren't stuck in one place for 15-30 years (or in the case of the search engines, for months at a time). Renting search engine space means that you get to move in quickly and have an instant impact on your traffic.

The bad part about renting search listings through PPC is that the investment is contingent on you continuing to pay. The biggest reason that many vendors push dealers towards PPC over SEO is because it's the gift that keeps on giving. Dealers who rely on PPC must rely on it indefinitely. Once the money stops getting spent, the listings stop sending traffic. Vendors know this. You could spend $20,000 a month for 3 years, but if you ever decide to stop "paying rent" your search results disappear.

SEO: Buying Your Search Engine Home

SEO has many setbacks. It isn't instant (even though it delivers much faster results than most would have you believe). It isn't guaranteed. With PPC, you pay your money and get listed. With SEO, you may pay your money and never really get what you expected (if you pick the wrong SEO firm or web provider).

There are really only 2 clear benefits to "buying" your search engine home:

1. The investment lasts (sometimes indefinitely). If you are ranked at the top for particular keywords and you turn off your SEO service, your listing does not disappear. If your SEO was strong enough, you may retain those positions long after you've stopped spending money getting them.
2. 3/4th of searchers click on organic rather than paid ads (and I would assume that at least a good portion of those clicks that do go to PPC ads are click fraud from competitors or even vendors).

Automotive SEO is more of a commitment. It is more challenging. It is also more rewarding if you select a provider that knows what it's doing.

Rent AND Buy

For those who have the budget to handle both PPC and SEO, you're in a great position. The best strategy is to use organic listings as the base and then utilize PPC to go after keywords that are either too small to "mess with" organically or too large to rank at the top through SEO.

Many like to use PPC as a method of getting more exposure, to "double up" on important search terms. Budget permitting, this isn't a bad idea. If you're like most dealers, having the luxury of extra budget that can be spent doubling up is unlikely.

Footnote on Social Media

Some people have been trying to lump automotive social media into the debate. While social media is something that can be used in SEO as well as search engine reputation management, the type of marketing associated with social media is nothing like search engine optimization or PPC. If anything, social media marketing is closer to television advertising than search advertising, but that's a blog post in the future.

The debate has raged since the dawn of search engines as a dramatic traffic source for websites: SEO vs PPC.  DrivingSales offers a venue for this debate to continue in the automotive arena, and despite attempts to spark a panel, nothing has transpired.

Thus, I'll put down my own thoughts on the matter and hope that others confirm or deny what I say.

PPC: Renting Your Search Engine Home

Being flexible, nimble, and in control of your message and where it is placed is the biggest selling point for PPC. While most agree that sponsored listings only account for about 1/4th of the clicks on search engines, there are those who are willing to sacrifice the bulk in favor of that control.

It's like renting a home. You aren't stuck in one place for 15-30 years (or in the case of the search engines, for months at a time). Renting search engine space means that you get to move in quickly and have an instant impact on your traffic.

The bad part about renting search listings through PPC is that the investment is contingent on you continuing to pay. The biggest reason that many vendors push dealers towards PPC over SEO is because it's the gift that keeps on giving. Dealers who rely on PPC must rely on it indefinitely. Once the money stops getting spent, the listings stop sending traffic. Vendors know this. You could spend $20,000 a month for 3 years, but if you ever decide to stop "paying rent" your search results disappear.

SEO: Buying Your Search Engine Home

SEO has many setbacks. It isn't instant (even though it delivers much faster results than most would have you believe). It isn't guaranteed. With PPC, you pay your money and get listed. With SEO, you may pay your money and never really get what you expected (if you pick the wrong SEO firm or web provider).

There are really only 2 clear benefits to "buying" your search engine home:

1. The investment lasts (sometimes indefinitely). If you are ranked at the top for particular keywords and you turn off your SEO service, your listing does not disappear. If your SEO was strong enough, you may retain those positions long after you've stopped spending money getting them.
2. 3/4th of searchers click on organic rather than paid ads (and I would assume that at least a good portion of those clicks that do go to PPC ads are click fraud from competitors or even vendors).

Automotive SEO is more of a commitment. It is more challenging. It is also more rewarding if you select a provider that knows what it's doing.

Rent AND Buy

For those who have the budget to handle both PPC and SEO, you're in a great position. The best strategy is to use organic listings as the base and then utilize PPC to go after keywords that are either too small to "mess with" organically or too large to rank at the top through SEO.

Many like to use PPC as a method of getting more exposure, to "double up" on important search terms. Budget permitting, this isn't a bad idea. If you're like most dealers, having the luxury of extra budget that can be spent doubling up is unlikely.

Footnote on Social Media

Some people have been trying to lump automotive social media into the debate. While social media is something that can be used in SEO as well as search engine reputation management, the type of marketing associated with social media is nothing like search engine optimization or PPC. If anything, social media marketing is closer to television advertising than search advertising, but that's a blog post in the future.

In case you missed our webinar on Driving Traffic (and Likes) to Your Facebook Page, you may not be aware that many apps on Facebook pages across the Interwebs will be cut off on the right side starting August 23rd.

Last year, Facebook announced on their development blog that they would be reducing the width allowed on tabs. Many developers scrambled to fit their apps into the right size. Oddly, months after the announcement, no change had been made.

The change is finally here. On August 23rd, Facebook will cut the size allowed on tabs to 520 pixels - 200 pixels shorter than before. Some apps auto-size nicely to fit. Most, however, cut off on the right side, leaving no way for people to see what is displayed there.

The effect will be felt as the right side is where many buttons, links, and other calls to action are placed. Even if the apps do not put their buttons there, it still makes many pages look, well, weird.

If you are the page admin, you can get a preview of all of your tabs with the new format simply by logging in and visiting each.

Facebook has been moving in the direction of increasing their relevance as a business tool since 2008. This is another step in that direction as more ads will be served, more tools will be available, and the massive integration into as many sites as possible is underway. All of this is being done in the name of "streamlining".

The "boxes" feature will also be removed with the change.

In this case, at least everyone got plenty of notice.

We will be launching our Power Social tools shortly after Facebook makes its switch.

In case you missed our webinar on Driving Traffic (and Likes) to Your Facebook Page, you may not be aware that many apps on Facebook pages across the Interwebs will be cut off on the right side starting August 23rd.

Last year, Facebook announced on their development blog that they would be reducing the width allowed on tabs. Many developers scrambled to fit their apps into the right size. Oddly, months after the announcement, no change had been made.

The change is finally here. On August 23rd, Facebook will cut the size allowed on tabs to 520 pixels - 200 pixels shorter than before. Some apps auto-size nicely to fit. Most, however, cut off on the right side, leaving no way for people to see what is displayed there.

The effect will be felt as the right side is where many buttons, links, and other calls to action are placed. Even if the apps do not put their buttons there, it still makes many pages look, well, weird.

If you are the page admin, you can get a preview of all of your tabs with the new format simply by logging in and visiting each.

Facebook has been moving in the direction of increasing their relevance as a business tool since 2008. This is another step in that direction as more ads will be served, more tools will be available, and the massive integration into as many sites as possible is underway. All of this is being done in the name of "streamlining".

The "boxes" feature will also be removed with the change.

In this case, at least everyone got plenty of notice.

We will be launching our Power Social tools shortly after Facebook makes its switch.

So, you have a Facebook page for your dealership. You have apps, inventory, photos, and status updates galore. All you need now are a few eyeballs reading it and profiles liking it.

The question is, "How?"

Our webinar last week on Driving Traffic and Likes to Your Car Dealer Facebook Page goes into detail about many different ways to drive traffic, but one of the most relevant ways is to use straight-forward Facebook advertising.

Advertising is simple, but here are few tips that may answer some of your questions.

1) Compel wiht your Ad Thumbnail and Copy

In the example above, there are two major points. It's common to use the dealership logo for the thumbnail. It works just fine and is excellent for exposing your brand. I prefer to use a geo-targeted image whenever possible.

The text should also be compelling but ONLY to the point of being realistic. Do not promise more than you can deliver. Tell people exactly why they should like your page, then deliver on those expectations.

2) Targeting Your Location

There is a debate going on behind the scenes between several vendors, dealers, and OEMs. On one side, the thought is that anyone liking your page is good, regardless of demographic. Getting thousands of people to like your page is the goal.

The other side of the debate says that only local, relevant visitors and likes are needed.

Both sides have valid arguments. It's a matter of strategy preference. For this article and for Facebook advertising in general, we'll focus on lower-volume local traffic only.

Above, you'll see that we targeted the entire state of Oklahoma and that it gives us just over a million potential profiles to which we can advertise. It seems like a lot, but in Facebook numbers it really isn't.

If your local metro is large enough, you can stick with that. In many cases, targeting your state makes more sense, especially for geographically small states such as Massachusetts or states with lower populations such as Oklahoma.

3) Decide on Your Budget

The goal of Facebook advertising is 2-fold: generating engagement and branding. Running a campaign for branding is an entirely different strategy from what I'm about to demonstrate. If your goal is branding, check back in a couple of weeks for that article.

With visitors and getting more "likes" as the goal, you should use a CPC format. In other words, you pay for every click through to your page regardless of how many impressions are served.

On average, you will be able to generate a click for $.55-$1.45 depending on your market. We will assume that you have a custom Facebook landing page created through FBML, in which case your conversion from visitor to Like should be over 40%. If you don't have a custom landing page, work on that part first. Advertise only when this is done.

You daily budget is simply a matter of determining how much you want to spend monthly and dividing it by 30. If you want to spend $300 a month on Facebook advertising, then your budget would be $10 a day. Unless you intend to get really, really aggressive, there is no need to go over $30 a day.

* * *

Getting people to visit your page is one thing. Making it compelling enough for them to like it is another. Facebook can be relatively time-consuming, but at least it normally doesn't cost a lot.

In future articles, we will discuss other methods of driving traffic and likes. We will also be discussing ways to truly use your Facebook page to have an impact on your business. This article is just the start. More to come soon.

* * *

Read more about Car Dealer Internet Marketing on Driving Sales.

So, you have a Facebook page for your dealership. You have apps, inventory, photos, and status updates galore. All you need now are a few eyeballs reading it and profiles liking it.

The question is, "How?"

Our webinar last week on Driving Traffic and Likes to Your Car Dealer Facebook Page goes into detail about many different ways to drive traffic, but one of the most relevant ways is to use straight-forward Facebook advertising.

Advertising is simple, but here are few tips that may answer some of your questions.

1) Compel wiht your Ad Thumbnail and Copy

In the example above, there are two major points. It's common to use the dealership logo for the thumbnail. It works just fine and is excellent for exposing your brand. I prefer to use a geo-targeted image whenever possible.

The text should also be compelling but ONLY to the point of being realistic. Do not promise more than you can deliver. Tell people exactly why they should like your page, then deliver on those expectations.

2) Targeting Your Location

There is a debate going on behind the scenes between several vendors, dealers, and OEMs. On one side, the thought is that anyone liking your page is good, regardless of demographic. Getting thousands of people to like your page is the goal.

The other side of the debate says that only local, relevant visitors and likes are needed.

Both sides have valid arguments. It's a matter of strategy preference. For this article and for Facebook advertising in general, we'll focus on lower-volume local traffic only.

Above, you'll see that we targeted the entire state of Oklahoma and that it gives us just over a million potential profiles to which we can advertise. It seems like a lot, but in Facebook numbers it really isn't.

If your local metro is large enough, you can stick with that. In many cases, targeting your state makes more sense, especially for geographically small states such as Massachusetts or states with lower populations such as Oklahoma.

3) Decide on Your Budget

The goal of Facebook advertising is 2-fold: generating engagement and branding. Running a campaign for branding is an entirely different strategy from what I'm about to demonstrate. If your goal is branding, check back in a couple of weeks for that article.

With visitors and getting more "likes" as the goal, you should use a CPC format. In other words, you pay for every click through to your page regardless of how many impressions are served.

On average, you will be able to generate a click for $.55-$1.45 depending on your market. We will assume that you have a custom Facebook landing page created through FBML, in which case your conversion from visitor to Like should be over 40%. If you don't have a custom landing page, work on that part first. Advertise only when this is done.

You daily budget is simply a matter of determining how much you want to spend monthly and dividing it by 30. If you want to spend $300 a month on Facebook advertising, then your budget would be $10 a day. Unless you intend to get really, really aggressive, there is no need to go over $30 a day.

* * *

Getting people to visit your page is one thing. Making it compelling enough for them to like it is another. Facebook can be relatively time-consuming, but at least it normally doesn't cost a lot.

In future articles, we will discuss other methods of driving traffic and likes. We will also be discussing ways to truly use your Facebook page to have an impact on your business. This article is just the start. More to come soon.

* * *

Read more about Car Dealer Internet Marketing on Driving Sales.

Last month, we posted a request to put together an SEO vs. PPC vs. Maps Panel. As we wrap prepare to launch, I wanted to do one last sweep through to see if anyone else was interested in being on the panel. I know there are several vendors who are here on Driving Sales that offer one or more of these products - it would be amazing to have as many involved as possible.

So far, we have a potentially VERY strong panel including Brian Pasch, Paul Rushing, Eric Miltsch, Jared Hamilton, Ralph Paglia, Dave Erickson, and Volker Jaeckel, with several others chiming in and (hopefully) wanting to participate as well.

Is there anyone else? I would like to get this together and make it available prior to the Driving Sales Executive Summit in October. There are many format options, but as a whole I would love to have a comprehensive discussion through video panels and articles that can assist every car dealer in America in making their choices between the 3 options.

As Adam Stone from Toyota mentioned, dealers today need "to come up with a comprehensive and balanced Marketing plan that includes online and offline strategies that focus directly on improving the customer experience."

Where will the most successful dealers during the rest of 2010 and beyond focus their search marketing budgets? If you have an opinion or would like to be involved with the panel, please comment here or contact me directly.

* * *

Read more about Car Dealer Internet Marketing at Driving Sales.

Last month, we posted a request to put together an SEO vs. PPC vs. Maps Panel. As we wrap prepare to launch, I wanted to do one last sweep through to see if anyone else was interested in being on the panel. I know there are several vendors who are here on Driving Sales that offer one or more of these products - it would be amazing to have as many involved as possible.

So far, we have a potentially VERY strong panel including Brian Pasch, Paul Rushing, Eric Miltsch, Jared Hamilton, Ralph Paglia, Dave Erickson, and Volker Jaeckel, with several others chiming in and (hopefully) wanting to participate as well.

Is there anyone else? I would like to get this together and make it available prior to the Driving Sales Executive Summit in October. There are many format options, but as a whole I would love to have a comprehensive discussion through video panels and articles that can assist every car dealer in America in making their choices between the 3 options.

As Adam Stone from Toyota mentioned, dealers today need "to come up with a comprehensive and balanced Marketing plan that includes online and offline strategies that focus directly on improving the customer experience."

Where will the most successful dealers during the rest of 2010 and beyond focus their search marketing budgets? If you have an opinion or would like to be involved with the panel, please comment here or contact me directly.

* * *

Read more about Car Dealer Internet Marketing at Driving Sales.

Despite the fact that it's a 2-year-old infographic, the 4 basic concepts remain unchanged. It's a clear way of looking at the way that we in the automotive industry should be looking at utilizing social media in our reputation management...

... by doing the things it takes to engage well with our customers.

... by being aware that having a Facebook page is not reputation management.

... by deciding that it doesn't take much time or effort to do it right rather than "manufacturing" a positive reputation for our dealerships.

I'll go more into detail about why this infographic is important and how dealers can apply it, but for now take a look and try to understand why this makes perfect sense (or feel free to ask me if you don't see it clearly).

* * *

Via Infographics Bin. Learn more about Car Dealer Internet Marketing on Driving Sales.