Social Media News for the Week of November 23

Brand-New Google+ ​

Google will look different for users due to its latest updates to Google+. Latest improvements focus on Communities and Collections, placing those features front and center for Google social media users to access and use more easily. Communities alone averages around 1.2 million new joins per day, and although Collections is the newer of the two, it is growing even faster. Communities and Collections serve as gathering places to share common interests, and the redesign by Google makes them easier to access and more streamlined. Google+ is now focused around interests and is more user-friendly, as well as mobile-friendly. Working to make the experience more consistent across web, Android, and iOS, Google has rebuilt it to offer users a pleasant experience, no matter what screen device they’re using. Dealerships with an online presence can strategize to spark conversations about your brand on these popular platforms. Optimize word of mouth advertising by engaging consumers in relevant conversations regarding subjects that affect them and link them to your brand.

GIF Creation Simplified on Tumblr

The latest update from Tumblr allows users to GIF, edit, or post any video on their iOS devices via the Tumblr app. Not yet available for Android, this functionality should be following soon. For iOS users, however, look for simplified GIF (and burst) creating capabilities. Previously, it was more of a hassle to make GIFs, but with Tumblr’s latest update, users can simply open a photo post, choose a video or burst, and make a GIF. From there, it can be cropped, trimmed, looped, sped up, or slowed down at the user’s discretion. For dealerships looking for a fun way to spice things up online, try creating fun GIFs to catch consumers’ eyes. GIFs are easy to consume, shoppers are used to seeing them in their online media, and they add a bit of fun to the everyday messaging most businesses send out. Get creative and find ways to incorporate your message grab attention with a GIF.

Hello, Vine Remix!

Vine recently introduced remix to the social media world, giving users the opportunity to recreate, remake, and collaborate with audio from any Vine on the network. When Vines gain popularity, users want to recreate their own versions of them, and now, with Remix, users can create their own Vines using any audio simply by tapping the “…” under a Vine and selecting “Make an audio remix.” Additionally, users can now discover more Vines that use the same audio clip, allowing the source Vine to be located as well as the many Vines that may have stemmed from it. Song metadata has also been added to Vine search, allowing users to search for specific songs via the Explore page. Dealerships, consider using Vine to introduce sales promos, incentives, and service specials. Don’t underestimate the power of video sharing when it comes to getting your brand recognized by a broad consumer base.

YouTube Translation

In an effort to make content more accessible to a broader international audience, YouTube introduced translation tools available in 76 different languages. Translation features include community-contributed subtitles and CC (crowdsourced video subtitles), translated titles and descriptions, and translation marketplace (ability to order professional translation services directly from Video Manager). According to YouTube, 60% of a channel’s views come from outside the creator’s home country, meaning that potentially 2 out of 3 people who access that channel might speak another language. In early testing, translation features doubled watchtime—and even tripled in some cases—depending on language and demand. Dealerships, think about leveraging any multi-language tools and capabilities at your disposal, as there is a high demand for multilingual services. Start by ensuring your basic content and communications are available in the core languages of your local consumers to build better relationships and earn shopper trust.

Tip of the Week—Make Your Customers the Heroes of Your Story

Keep your customers in mind when you’re posting updates to your social accounts, and you’ll be sure to keep them coming back for more. No one wants a social media feed that’s log-jammed with nothing but sales pitches and offers, so instead, provide quality content that offers information on relevant topics of interest. Check out some tips to get you started when it comes to posting information that keeps your followers interested and looking for your online content:

• Post reviews and comparisons. Do some research and post quality reviews of the most common vehicle comparisons and reviews.
• Update consumers on financing trends. When something’s new in the financing world, update shoppers so they get trustworthy information regarding purchasing and leasing options.
• Give seasonal tips. Write posts that include safety and how-to tips for seasonal travel or vehicle maintenance.
• Post industry news. Stay up-to-date with what’s going on industry-wide and share highlights, links, and articles with your followers.
• Share community service activities. Let your followers know you’re interacting with the community and helping those around your dealership by posting stories that highlight your community activities.

Remember to ensure that your posts add value rather than pressure consumers to purchase, and you’ll be well on your way to earning loyal followers who enjoy and benefit from what you have to say. Be creative and think of new ways to reach and broaden your audience via your social posts. In doing so, you’ll position yourself as an industry leader and be the go-to dealership when the time comes for consumers to buy.

The image used in this post was provided by freedigitalphotos.net.

Social Media News for the Week of November 23

Brand-New Google+ ​

Google will look different for users due to its latest updates to Google+. Latest improvements focus on Communities and Collections, placing those features front and center for Google social media users to access and use more easily. Communities alone averages around 1.2 million new joins per day, and although Collections is the newer of the two, it is growing even faster. Communities and Collections serve as gathering places to share common interests, and the redesign by Google makes them easier to access and more streamlined. Google+ is now focused around interests and is more user-friendly, as well as mobile-friendly. Working to make the experience more consistent across web, Android, and iOS, Google has rebuilt it to offer users a pleasant experience, no matter what screen device they’re using. Dealerships with an online presence can strategize to spark conversations about your brand on these popular platforms. Optimize word of mouth advertising by engaging consumers in relevant conversations regarding subjects that affect them and link them to your brand.

GIF Creation Simplified on Tumblr

The latest update from Tumblr allows users to GIF, edit, or post any video on their iOS devices via the Tumblr app. Not yet available for Android, this functionality should be following soon. For iOS users, however, look for simplified GIF (and burst) creating capabilities. Previously, it was more of a hassle to make GIFs, but with Tumblr’s latest update, users can simply open a photo post, choose a video or burst, and make a GIF. From there, it can be cropped, trimmed, looped, sped up, or slowed down at the user’s discretion. For dealerships looking for a fun way to spice things up online, try creating fun GIFs to catch consumers’ eyes. GIFs are easy to consume, shoppers are used to seeing them in their online media, and they add a bit of fun to the everyday messaging most businesses send out. Get creative and find ways to incorporate your message grab attention with a GIF.

Hello, Vine Remix!

Vine recently introduced remix to the social media world, giving users the opportunity to recreate, remake, and collaborate with audio from any Vine on the network. When Vines gain popularity, users want to recreate their own versions of them, and now, with Remix, users can create their own Vines using any audio simply by tapping the “…” under a Vine and selecting “Make an audio remix.” Additionally, users can now discover more Vines that use the same audio clip, allowing the source Vine to be located as well as the many Vines that may have stemmed from it. Song metadata has also been added to Vine search, allowing users to search for specific songs via the Explore page. Dealerships, consider using Vine to introduce sales promos, incentives, and service specials. Don’t underestimate the power of video sharing when it comes to getting your brand recognized by a broad consumer base.

YouTube Translation

In an effort to make content more accessible to a broader international audience, YouTube introduced translation tools available in 76 different languages. Translation features include community-contributed subtitles and CC (crowdsourced video subtitles), translated titles and descriptions, and translation marketplace (ability to order professional translation services directly from Video Manager). According to YouTube, 60% of a channel’s views come from outside the creator’s home country, meaning that potentially 2 out of 3 people who access that channel might speak another language. In early testing, translation features doubled watchtime—and even tripled in some cases—depending on language and demand. Dealerships, think about leveraging any multi-language tools and capabilities at your disposal, as there is a high demand for multilingual services. Start by ensuring your basic content and communications are available in the core languages of your local consumers to build better relationships and earn shopper trust.

Tip of the Week—Make Your Customers the Heroes of Your Story

Keep your customers in mind when you’re posting updates to your social accounts, and you’ll be sure to keep them coming back for more. No one wants a social media feed that’s log-jammed with nothing but sales pitches and offers, so instead, provide quality content that offers information on relevant topics of interest. Check out some tips to get you started when it comes to posting information that keeps your followers interested and looking for your online content:

• Post reviews and comparisons. Do some research and post quality reviews of the most common vehicle comparisons and reviews.
• Update consumers on financing trends. When something’s new in the financing world, update shoppers so they get trustworthy information regarding purchasing and leasing options.
• Give seasonal tips. Write posts that include safety and how-to tips for seasonal travel or vehicle maintenance.
• Post industry news. Stay up-to-date with what’s going on industry-wide and share highlights, links, and articles with your followers.
• Share community service activities. Let your followers know you’re interacting with the community and helping those around your dealership by posting stories that highlight your community activities.

Remember to ensure that your posts add value rather than pressure consumers to purchase, and you’ll be well on your way to earning loyal followers who enjoy and benefit from what you have to say. Be creative and think of new ways to reach and broaden your audience via your social posts. In doing so, you’ll position yourself as an industry leader and be the go-to dealership when the time comes for consumers to buy.

The image used in this post was provided by freedigitalphotos.net.

How to Track Consumer Behavior and Leverage What You Learn

If your dealership is able to take advantage of the right tools, you can easily tell which consumers are in the car-buying market and what vehicles they’re searching for. This knowledge, however, means your employees’ approach is key in making sure they attract potential customers instead of scaring them off.

Why Your Approach Could Turn Consumers Off

Many consumers don’t know why, but they do know that every time they reach out, their phone blows up with sales calls or they start receiving emails containing information about exactly the products they’ve been looking for—even though they haven’t communicated that information directly to you. Since your dealership may be able to gain insight into the consumer journey without individual shoppers handing the specifics to you, it’s important to approach the situation correctly and delicately in order to bring potential customers to your dealership instead of sending them running in the opposite direction. In order to approach your target consumers in a strategic manner, here are some tips to keep in mind:

Check for social network connections. If someone at your dealership or a friend of a friend knows the consumer you’re targeting, make that connection. Get in contact with your connection and use that contact to reach out to your consumer target, referencing your mutual connection.

Check for previous business. If your consumer target has visited the dealership for service, send a message with a deal for the service previously received along with a subtle image of sales or deals on several vehicles—one of which includes the vehicle he or she is interested in. If the consumer target previously bought a car through your dealership, simply check in and offer up potential monthly payment price differences that would make a different vehicle a possibility.

Send a generic email. Don’t be pushy or too straightforward, but instead, if there are no social connections or previous business deals between your dealership and the target consumer, try a generic email for an event or current deals that may reference and include vehicles of interest to the consumer. By creating a generic email or list of vehicles, it’s not obvious you know exactly what consumers have been searching, and they won’t be overly cautious about how you acquired the information when they didn’t provide it to you.

Avoid over-calling. Generally, the last thing modern consumers want to deal with is a call from someone trying to sell them something. They’d rather offer up an excuse and cut ties afterwards, which is bad for your dealership. Finding other creative, noninvasive ways to get in touch and plant the seed is a much more profitable path for dealerships to pursue if they are looking to gain a customer or bring back a previous customer in today’s market.

When you’re executing a creative approach to obtaining consumer information that hasn’t been specifically handed over to you, it’s much easier to get a positive and interested response when you avoid coming on too strong. You’ll end up scaring off consumers when they have no clue how you obtained, for example, the exact make, model, and year of the vehicles they’re looking to purchase.

The image used in this post was provided by freedigitalphotos.net.

How to Track Consumer Behavior and Leverage What You Learn

If your dealership is able to take advantage of the right tools, you can easily tell which consumers are in the car-buying market and what vehicles they’re searching for. This knowledge, however, means your employees’ approach is key in making sure they attract potential customers instead of scaring them off.

Why Your Approach Could Turn Consumers Off

Many consumers don’t know why, but they do know that every time they reach out, their phone blows up with sales calls or they start receiving emails containing information about exactly the products they’ve been looking for—even though they haven’t communicated that information directly to you. Since your dealership may be able to gain insight into the consumer journey without individual shoppers handing the specifics to you, it’s important to approach the situation correctly and delicately in order to bring potential customers to your dealership instead of sending them running in the opposite direction. In order to approach your target consumers in a strategic manner, here are some tips to keep in mind:

Check for social network connections. If someone at your dealership or a friend of a friend knows the consumer you’re targeting, make that connection. Get in contact with your connection and use that contact to reach out to your consumer target, referencing your mutual connection.

Check for previous business. If your consumer target has visited the dealership for service, send a message with a deal for the service previously received along with a subtle image of sales or deals on several vehicles—one of which includes the vehicle he or she is interested in. If the consumer target previously bought a car through your dealership, simply check in and offer up potential monthly payment price differences that would make a different vehicle a possibility.

Send a generic email. Don’t be pushy or too straightforward, but instead, if there are no social connections or previous business deals between your dealership and the target consumer, try a generic email for an event or current deals that may reference and include vehicles of interest to the consumer. By creating a generic email or list of vehicles, it’s not obvious you know exactly what consumers have been searching, and they won’t be overly cautious about how you acquired the information when they didn’t provide it to you.

Avoid over-calling. Generally, the last thing modern consumers want to deal with is a call from someone trying to sell them something. They’d rather offer up an excuse and cut ties afterwards, which is bad for your dealership. Finding other creative, noninvasive ways to get in touch and plant the seed is a much more profitable path for dealerships to pursue if they are looking to gain a customer or bring back a previous customer in today’s market.

When you’re executing a creative approach to obtaining consumer information that hasn’t been specifically handed over to you, it’s much easier to get a positive and interested response when you avoid coming on too strong. You’ll end up scaring off consumers when they have no clue how you obtained, for example, the exact make, model, and year of the vehicles they’re looking to purchase.

The image used in this post was provided by freedigitalphotos.net.

Knowledge is Power​

Today’s consumers are more educated than ever, and that plays an enormous role in how they interact with your dealership and what they expect when they set foot onto your showroom floor. It’s important your dealers are prepared to interact with a generation that has access to endless information online and prefers utilizing it by researching their options before coming to visit you.

Working with Knowledgeable Consumers to Provide the Customer Experience They Want

In 2015, the consumers really are who’s setting the pace for dealerships, and businesses in general. First, it’s important that your dealership understands how consumers are educating themselves:

• 91% of consumers are using a personal computer or laptop, and 80% of consumers use their mobile devices to search the internet.
• 42% of consumers use their mobile device to do automotive research.
• 97% of consumers use the internet for vehicle research.
• 95% of the millennial generation uses the internet to shop for cars.
• 70% of millennials end up purchasing the same make/model they had in mind—from research done beforehand—when they first visited the dealership.
• 70% of a buyer’s journey is complete before they even reach out to you.
• 63% of shoppers use their mobile devices for research while shopping on an auto lot.

Next, your dealership’s way of handling the educated consumer is key in how a consumer will react to you and if a consumer will become your customer. AutoTrader.com’s Vice President of Research and Market Intelligence, Isabelle Helms, says, “Since the majority of millennials are decided on which vehicle they want to purchase by the time they get to the dealership, the opportunity for dealers and OEMs to influence their purchase decisions is online—where millennials spend the majority of their shopping time.” Therefore, focusing on reaching out to your consumers while they’re in the research stage and before they head into your dealership is just as important as how you address educated consumers once they’re on the showroom floor.

Work Smarter Not Harder

Several tactics that appeal to the modern, educated consumer can benefit your dealership and ensure you’re able to influence them and provide them with helpful information before they hit your showroom floor:

Use intelligent advertising. Because the majority of your consumers are already online providing data, your dealership has the ability to send personalized messages and target specific personas better than ever. Learn the ins and outs of intelligent advertising, and be ready to implement it within your dealership.

Provide a constant stream of useful content. Today’s consumers want knowledge available at their fingertips and value reliability. By providing content that’s useful to your specific audience and consistently posting according to a schedule your audience can rely on, your dealership will gain attention, trust, and customers.

Avoid advertising throughout the majority of your content. When consumers sense a sales pitch in your content, it will generally cause them to stop reading and stop clicking altogether. Make sure the information you’re providing via your content on social media and online platforms is focused primarily around providing information and not advertising to consumers. Instead, it’s always a better idea to end a blog post or informational content with a call to action that can solve the problem you’re addressing in your content.

Your employees’ interactions with consumers once they arrive at your dealership are just as important in solidifying new customers and representing your brand in a positive light. Positive interactions and attentiveness will keep customers returning and referring:

Be authentic. The final statistic listed in the bulleted list above is worth repeating: 63% of shoppers use their mobile devices for research while shopping on an auto lot. This is because modern consumers would much rather participate in unenjoyable tasks such as doing taxes, giving up sex for a month, or going to the DMV than bargain with a dealer. Consumers often have the misconception that all dealers are dishonest, and it’s important to be open, authentic, and honest from the first interaction with a potential customer to end that stigma, gain trust, and turn someone who’s “just looking” into a buying customer.

Be haggle-free. Nine out of 10 consumers would be more likely to purchase a vehicle if there was a set price they felt good about, rather than having to haggle. This tactic goes hand-in-hand with a dealership being authentic from the start. Once consumers set foot onto your lot, they want to experience authenticity, whether that be via dealers or prices.

Offer explanation. We know modern and educated consumers want knowledge. Offer them insights, talk with them, and provide all the options. It’s important not to leave out certain pieces of information or use leading tactics because often modern consumers have done enough research to know what’s going on or to know what questions to ask. It’s much easier for a customer to feel at ease and trust a dealer when they’re providing the answers without the customer having to ask or feeling like bits of information are being left out.

Don’t be pushy. Customers often value a dealer that’s made themselves known and available but don’t want to be pressured into a decision. Being too pushy can often cause a potential customer to come up with a reason to leave instead of car shopping on your lot. In other words, after your initial approach, give a car shopper space but remain within an available distance and offer helpful, honest advice when it’s needed. It’s also important to realize that even if your customer doesn’t choose the option you favor or believe is best, as long as you’ve provided all the information and pointed out the specifics you believe are important, don’t push it.

To make sure that your dealership is providing the best experience to the modern, educated consumer and gaining more customers, it’s important to know what works best with consumers both before they head into your dealership and after they’ve arrived. As long as you know the majority of car shoppers are now doing all of their research beforehand, it can also ensure your dealership knows how and why to reach out to consumers online during the research stage and also give you the assurance that you have the best approach toward consumers once they’ve arrived at your dealership.

The image used in this post was provided by freedigitalphotos.net.

Knowledge is Power​

Today’s consumers are more educated than ever, and that plays an enormous role in how they interact with your dealership and what they expect when they set foot onto your showroom floor. It’s important your dealers are prepared to interact with a generation that has access to endless information online and prefers utilizing it by researching their options before coming to visit you.

Working with Knowledgeable Consumers to Provide the Customer Experience They Want

In 2015, the consumers really are who’s setting the pace for dealerships, and businesses in general. First, it’s important that your dealership understands how consumers are educating themselves:

• 91% of consumers are using a personal computer or laptop, and 80% of consumers use their mobile devices to search the internet.
• 42% of consumers use their mobile device to do automotive research.
• 97% of consumers use the internet for vehicle research.
• 95% of the millennial generation uses the internet to shop for cars.
• 70% of millennials end up purchasing the same make/model they had in mind—from research done beforehand—when they first visited the dealership.
• 70% of a buyer’s journey is complete before they even reach out to you.
• 63% of shoppers use their mobile devices for research while shopping on an auto lot.

Next, your dealership’s way of handling the educated consumer is key in how a consumer will react to you and if a consumer will become your customer. AutoTrader.com’s Vice President of Research and Market Intelligence, Isabelle Helms, says, “Since the majority of millennials are decided on which vehicle they want to purchase by the time they get to the dealership, the opportunity for dealers and OEMs to influence their purchase decisions is online—where millennials spend the majority of their shopping time.” Therefore, focusing on reaching out to your consumers while they’re in the research stage and before they head into your dealership is just as important as how you address educated consumers once they’re on the showroom floor.

Work Smarter Not Harder

Several tactics that appeal to the modern, educated consumer can benefit your dealership and ensure you’re able to influence them and provide them with helpful information before they hit your showroom floor:

Use intelligent advertising. Because the majority of your consumers are already online providing data, your dealership has the ability to send personalized messages and target specific personas better than ever. Learn the ins and outs of intelligent advertising, and be ready to implement it within your dealership.

Provide a constant stream of useful content. Today’s consumers want knowledge available at their fingertips and value reliability. By providing content that’s useful to your specific audience and consistently posting according to a schedule your audience can rely on, your dealership will gain attention, trust, and customers.

Avoid advertising throughout the majority of your content. When consumers sense a sales pitch in your content, it will generally cause them to stop reading and stop clicking altogether. Make sure the information you’re providing via your content on social media and online platforms is focused primarily around providing information and not advertising to consumers. Instead, it’s always a better idea to end a blog post or informational content with a call to action that can solve the problem you’re addressing in your content.

Your employees’ interactions with consumers once they arrive at your dealership are just as important in solidifying new customers and representing your brand in a positive light. Positive interactions and attentiveness will keep customers returning and referring:

Be authentic. The final statistic listed in the bulleted list above is worth repeating: 63% of shoppers use their mobile devices for research while shopping on an auto lot. This is because modern consumers would much rather participate in unenjoyable tasks such as doing taxes, giving up sex for a month, or going to the DMV than bargain with a dealer. Consumers often have the misconception that all dealers are dishonest, and it’s important to be open, authentic, and honest from the first interaction with a potential customer to end that stigma, gain trust, and turn someone who’s “just looking” into a buying customer.

Be haggle-free. Nine out of 10 consumers would be more likely to purchase a vehicle if there was a set price they felt good about, rather than having to haggle. This tactic goes hand-in-hand with a dealership being authentic from the start. Once consumers set foot onto your lot, they want to experience authenticity, whether that be via dealers or prices.

Offer explanation. We know modern and educated consumers want knowledge. Offer them insights, talk with them, and provide all the options. It’s important not to leave out certain pieces of information or use leading tactics because often modern consumers have done enough research to know what’s going on or to know what questions to ask. It’s much easier for a customer to feel at ease and trust a dealer when they’re providing the answers without the customer having to ask or feeling like bits of information are being left out.

Don’t be pushy. Customers often value a dealer that’s made themselves known and available but don’t want to be pressured into a decision. Being too pushy can often cause a potential customer to come up with a reason to leave instead of car shopping on your lot. In other words, after your initial approach, give a car shopper space but remain within an available distance and offer helpful, honest advice when it’s needed. It’s also important to realize that even if your customer doesn’t choose the option you favor or believe is best, as long as you’ve provided all the information and pointed out the specifics you believe are important, don’t push it.

To make sure that your dealership is providing the best experience to the modern, educated consumer and gaining more customers, it’s important to know what works best with consumers both before they head into your dealership and after they’ve arrived. As long as you know the majority of car shoppers are now doing all of their research beforehand, it can also ensure your dealership knows how and why to reach out to consumers online during the research stage and also give you the assurance that you have the best approach toward consumers once they’ve arrived at your dealership.

The image used in this post was provided by freedigitalphotos.net.

Bridging the Cross-Device Gap

For consumers, the car shopping journey has morphed into an online, cross-device journey. Now that you’re able to appeal to consumers who are taking the cross-device journey to purchase their vehicles, it’s important to continue that momentum by bridging the gap and pulling more consumers into your dealership. As discussed in Part I, it’s important to make your dealership’s online presence available to consumers by:

• Being accessible on all devices, mobile or otherwise.
• Reaching consumers before they reach you.
• Knowing who’s still car shopping.
• Keeping content flowing consistently.
• Interacting.
• Being available online.

So, What's the Next Step? 

After you've made yourself available and now that your dealership has gained the attention of those on their online, cross-device car-shopping journeys, how do you bring them onto your auto lot? Four sure-fire ways to ensure cross-device car shoppers will end up on your lot on the last leg of their car-buying journeys are:

1. Take advantage of customer personas. Once you’ve made your dealership accessible, efficient, and noticeable online, it’s important you begin the process of targeting your specific customer persona via the part of the car-buying journey he or she is currently in. If you’re able to target and market to your potential customer correctly, you should easily be able to get him or her into your dealership and close the deal.
2. Respond and research. If your potential customer has taken a bite and responded or noticed your dealership, it’s vital you’re responding as quickly as possible with clear, correct, and influential results and information. This includes doing some research and finding/responding to concerns and reviews of other customers, as to not negatively influence or scare away potential customers.
3. Greet your customers in a way that gives them a reason to trust you. Often, consumers would rather do mundane tasks like go to the dentist or give up sex than interact with a dealership salesperson. They’d rather research on their phones than ask a salesperson a question. For these reasons, it’s very important to crush the dealership stereotype and make your presence useful, honest, and inviting. Ask yourself what customers are looking for elsewhere and offer it to them at your location.
4. Embrace the changes so many other dealerships resist. In the modern car-shopping world, people are going to participate in showrooming—they’re going to whip out their devices and do research—so instead of fighting them, join them. Have sales professionals with tablets ready to compare and sync with car shoppers, offer honest feedback and advice, and give customers a reason to notice you and see why your offer is better than everyone else’s.

Although times may be a'changin', there are still clear, simple steps your business can take to stay ahead of the game and ensure yours is the dealership shoppers walk into to end their cross-device car-shopping journeys.

The second image used in this post was provided by freedigitalphotos.net.

Bridging the Cross-Device Gap

For consumers, the car shopping journey has morphed into an online, cross-device journey. Now that you’re able to appeal to consumers who are taking the cross-device journey to purchase their vehicles, it’s important to continue that momentum by bridging the gap and pulling more consumers into your dealership. As discussed in Part I, it’s important to make your dealership’s online presence available to consumers by:

• Being accessible on all devices, mobile or otherwise.
• Reaching consumers before they reach you.
• Knowing who’s still car shopping.
• Keeping content flowing consistently.
• Interacting.
• Being available online.

So, What's the Next Step? 

After you've made yourself available and now that your dealership has gained the attention of those on their online, cross-device car-shopping journeys, how do you bring them onto your auto lot? Four sure-fire ways to ensure cross-device car shoppers will end up on your lot on the last leg of their car-buying journeys are:

1. Take advantage of customer personas. Once you’ve made your dealership accessible, efficient, and noticeable online, it’s important you begin the process of targeting your specific customer persona via the part of the car-buying journey he or she is currently in. If you’re able to target and market to your potential customer correctly, you should easily be able to get him or her into your dealership and close the deal.
2. Respond and research. If your potential customer has taken a bite and responded or noticed your dealership, it’s vital you’re responding as quickly as possible with clear, correct, and influential results and information. This includes doing some research and finding/responding to concerns and reviews of other customers, as to not negatively influence or scare away potential customers.
3. Greet your customers in a way that gives them a reason to trust you. Often, consumers would rather do mundane tasks like go to the dentist or give up sex than interact with a dealership salesperson. They’d rather research on their phones than ask a salesperson a question. For these reasons, it’s very important to crush the dealership stereotype and make your presence useful, honest, and inviting. Ask yourself what customers are looking for elsewhere and offer it to them at your location.
4. Embrace the changes so many other dealerships resist. In the modern car-shopping world, people are going to participate in showrooming—they’re going to whip out their devices and do research—so instead of fighting them, join them. Have sales professionals with tablets ready to compare and sync with car shoppers, offer honest feedback and advice, and give customers a reason to notice you and see why your offer is better than everyone else’s.

Although times may be a'changin', there are still clear, simple steps your business can take to stay ahead of the game and ensure yours is the dealership shoppers walk into to end their cross-device car-shopping journeys.

The second image used in this post was provided by freedigitalphotos.net.

Smartphones and Tablets and Laptops, Oh My!

A Virtual Experience

A car shopping journey isn’t simple anymore, and consumers are using more devices and types of technology than ever to make their purchases. That means dealerships are striving to create the best cross-channel experiences for their consumers.

For consumers on car-buying journeys, devices and channels only continue to increase. This makes it more and more difficult to understand what exactly causes a customer to decide to buy from your dealership. While marketing and targeting significantly helps gain and keep customers, even more solutions exist to guide a consumer’s car-shopping journey to your dealership’s path to purchase.

Remember, a buyer’s shopping journey is done primarily online:

• 91% of consumers use a personal computer or laptop for research.
• 80% use their smartphone to shop or research.
• 47% use a tablet to do their shopping research.
• 70% of the buyer’s journey is complete before they even contact you.

If your dealership wants to strengthen its appeal to car shoppers, it’s important to take a buyer’s entire journey with them, and the best way to do that in today’s online research and shopping world is to reach out to shoppers—before they’ve reached out to you—through efficient, fast, multiple-device-friendly online outlets.

It’s a Winding Trail Toward Making a Purchase

A buyer’s shopping journey has several steps, or lifecycles, and it’s important your dealership is able to identify which part of the journey a buyer is in and use the correct approach. This way your dealership has the ability to approach a buyer before he or she even realizes your dealership has the solution to that’s being searched for.

Here are a few simple ways to appeal to the majority of consumers who are wrapped up in the cross-device shopping journey:

Be mobile-friendly. First and foremost, it’s key to make your website mobile-friendly and viewable on any and every device and browser. It’s also vital that your site loads quickly, or it will lose consumers even faster:

• 67% of consumers move between devices when they’re shopping online.
• 2 out of 3 smartphone users say mobile-friendly sites make them more likely to buy a business’s products or services.
• Sites with a response time of 1-5 seconds cause users to feel unsure and become distracted.

Reach out to consumers before they reach out to you. Make sure your general brand and your brand advocates are working for you. When branding is working well, consumers who are in market can easily run across your dealership and your website online during their research stage.

Know who’s really still car shopping. If you have the technology that provides you with the down-low on who’s looking for a vehicle, even if they haven’t reached out to you or are marked as an inactive lead in your CRM, it can help your dealership gain back the customers who would’ve fallen by the wayside otherwise.

Keep content flowing on a consistent schedule. Consumers like consistency. 61% of consumers are more likely to buy from a company that delivers customized, real-time content. It makes them feel like they can count on you and trust your brand. It’s also key to make sure your content is helpful to consumers and that you’re not advertising throughout your content, aside from a call-to-action at the end. This will ensure your consumers continue reading your content and come back for more on a regular basis.

Interact. Today’s consumers love to interact. Make sure you’re responding online, whether that be via email, Facebook comments, reviews, or otherwise.

Be available online. Make sure your dealership knows where the majority of its consumers lurk. It’s generally beneficial to create accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn along with a blog to accompany your website. All of the social media sites listed are mobile-friendly, as well, which is great for your brand. Other social media platforms that are helpful to utilize include Pinterest, Instagram, Snapchat, Periscope, Flickr, and Tumblr.

To appeal to modern consumers, who are always switching between devices and do the majority of their shopping and research online, it’s important to make your dealership’s brand and website available to them via several outlets. Bridging the gap between your consumer and your dealership as quickly, efficiently, and readily as possible is the best way to ensure more customers choose your dealership.

The second image used in this post was provided by freedigitalphotos.net.

Smartphones and Tablets and Laptops, Oh My!

A Virtual Experience

A car shopping journey isn’t simple anymore, and consumers are using more devices and types of technology than ever to make their purchases. That means dealerships are striving to create the best cross-channel experiences for their consumers.

For consumers on car-buying journeys, devices and channels only continue to increase. This makes it more and more difficult to understand what exactly causes a customer to decide to buy from your dealership. While marketing and targeting significantly helps gain and keep customers, even more solutions exist to guide a consumer’s car-shopping journey to your dealership’s path to purchase.

Remember, a buyer’s shopping journey is done primarily online:

• 91% of consumers use a personal computer or laptop for research.
• 80% use their smartphone to shop or research.
• 47% use a tablet to do their shopping research.
• 70% of the buyer’s journey is complete before they even contact you.

If your dealership wants to strengthen its appeal to car shoppers, it’s important to take a buyer’s entire journey with them, and the best way to do that in today’s online research and shopping world is to reach out to shoppers—before they’ve reached out to you—through efficient, fast, multiple-device-friendly online outlets.

It’s a Winding Trail Toward Making a Purchase

A buyer’s shopping journey has several steps, or lifecycles, and it’s important your dealership is able to identify which part of the journey a buyer is in and use the correct approach. This way your dealership has the ability to approach a buyer before he or she even realizes your dealership has the solution to that’s being searched for.

Here are a few simple ways to appeal to the majority of consumers who are wrapped up in the cross-device shopping journey:

Be mobile-friendly. First and foremost, it’s key to make your website mobile-friendly and viewable on any and every device and browser. It’s also vital that your site loads quickly, or it will lose consumers even faster:

• 67% of consumers move between devices when they’re shopping online.
• 2 out of 3 smartphone users say mobile-friendly sites make them more likely to buy a business’s products or services.
• Sites with a response time of 1-5 seconds cause users to feel unsure and become distracted.

Reach out to consumers before they reach out to you. Make sure your general brand and your brand advocates are working for you. When branding is working well, consumers who are in market can easily run across your dealership and your website online during their research stage.

Know who’s really still car shopping. If you have the technology that provides you with the down-low on who’s looking for a vehicle, even if they haven’t reached out to you or are marked as an inactive lead in your CRM, it can help your dealership gain back the customers who would’ve fallen by the wayside otherwise.

Keep content flowing on a consistent schedule. Consumers like consistency. 61% of consumers are more likely to buy from a company that delivers customized, real-time content. It makes them feel like they can count on you and trust your brand. It’s also key to make sure your content is helpful to consumers and that you’re not advertising throughout your content, aside from a call-to-action at the end. This will ensure your consumers continue reading your content and come back for more on a regular basis.

Interact. Today’s consumers love to interact. Make sure you’re responding online, whether that be via email, Facebook comments, reviews, or otherwise.

Be available online. Make sure your dealership knows where the majority of its consumers lurk. It’s generally beneficial to create accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn along with a blog to accompany your website. All of the social media sites listed are mobile-friendly, as well, which is great for your brand. Other social media platforms that are helpful to utilize include Pinterest, Instagram, Snapchat, Periscope, Flickr, and Tumblr.

To appeal to modern consumers, who are always switching between devices and do the majority of their shopping and research online, it’s important to make your dealership’s brand and website available to them via several outlets. Bridging the gap between your consumer and your dealership as quickly, efficiently, and readily as possible is the best way to ensure more customers choose your dealership.

The second image used in this post was provided by freedigitalphotos.net.