Tech billionaire and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban says he is fed up with the social network giant and plans to go elsewhere with his business. He is sick of getting hit with fees up to $5k to get his message across to Mavericks fans stating on the Inquisitor, "We are moving far more aggressively into Twitter and reducing any and all emphasis on Facebook," Cuban says, via email. "We won't abandon it, we will still use it, but our priority is to add followers that our brands can reach on non-Facebook platforms first."

Mark Cuban's Dallas Mavericks, like other brands, are seeing a disconnect, "I think the same applies to brands as well. Remember most brands don't have social media departments. They rely on common sense. If someone likes your brand, it seems like common sense to me that you can expect your posts to reach 100% of those that like your brand. Doesn't it to you?"

Is limiting your Facebook posts a good idea? According to Adobe engagement levels with  brand posts jumped 896% over those recorded a year earlier (index base of 100%). The figures below show quarterly index changes over the 3Q11 baseline for brand post engagement:

Those increases in engagement are due to three main factors, according to Adobe:

1. Brands' adopting Facebook's Timeline feature, introduced in late 2011.
2. The adoption of new acquisition and engagement metrics.
3. More effective social marketing by brands.

Either way  Mark Cuban says he is no expert in social media stating, "And let me add, I'm not trying to come off as some Facebook expert. I'm not. I have a bunch of little companies via SharkTank and other investments that use Facebook in the normal course of business. They shouldn't have go to great lengths to figure out the nuances of Facebook audience reach. That complexity, IMHO, will come back to haunt Facebook."

What do you think of Mark Cuban’s public outcry of these charges for visibility?

Yes, the election is over and I’m grateful to not be bombarded with political ads every time my favorite show is on commercial break for the next four years. That being said, there are some lessons we can learn the race for the White House as far as brand management goes.

1. Stand for something and stay on message
Quite simply, the more rigorously you can define your brand story and control the projection of it, the better the marketplace will understand what you stand for—and be ready to buy from you.

2. Where are your brand advocates?
Bain & Associates research shows that the brand that is most highly recommended in its category grows 2.5 times faster than the category average. That finding clearly demonstrates the advantages of encouraging your customers to become brand advocates.

3.Remain consistent across all forms of media
The more channels of communications you decide to open means the more difficult it will become to ensure the same message across all platforms of media. It is important to be consistent, and control your communications to ensure that they all speak with one voice.

4. React Quickly
Negative publicity can be overcome—so long as you react quickly and ensure that everyone involved in dealing with the crisis is armed with the same consistent information and approved response.

For example: Remember when Coca-Cola refused to admit its water brand, Dasani, when launched in the United Kingdom, was actually purified tap water produced in a factory in London? Bad call. By contrast, Robinsons sensibly recalled its Fruit Shoots drink recently as a precaution over bottle cap safety—before damage could be done to brand image.

No matter if you’re in the business of politics or commerce, the same rules apply: Keep the message consistent, gain and sustain customer goodwill, and respond quickly to both negative and positive publicity.

Don’t fight it dealers. Mobile email is here to stay, "According to a study by Litmus, more email is now read on mobile (36 percent) than on a desktop (33 percent) or via webmail (31 percent), and opens in mobile devices have increased a full 80 percent in the last six months," notes Stephanie Miller in an article at the Email Experience Council.

You must optimize for emails on mobile devices now, whether you like it or not. So here are some tips to help you do just that:

KISS : Keep it simplistically simple
Mobile devices can delete emails in a flash, keep your subject headlines simple, catchy, and most importantly short.

Test, Test, and Test
Never stop testing technical aspects of your email campaign. If an image doesn’t load correctly or your link is out of whack, your subscribers won’t be too forgiving. "Subscribers will lose interest if they have to keep scrolling to understand your message or if they get stuck waiting for data to download," Miller notes.

Prominently display your links
Smaller screens can make links obscure. Set links apart and make sure they are easy to click on.

Define your call-to-action
Your offer must be clear to the consumer. If they aren't sure what to do, they won’t stick around.

Time it right
When are your consumers checking their email on their mobile device? If you don’t know - find out. There is no perfect answer here, but remember everyone has a daily routine. An info-graphic released by Pure360, an email marketing software company, breaks down the best and worst times to send emails.  Generally, email open and click rates varies about 10% throughout the day.

Doesn't seem too hard right? Remember, be flexible! Customers decide when they read their email, you just have to be ready with a campaign for desktop and mobile devices.

The Internet is practically a limitless form of Media. This interconnected Web has brought together people across the world in ways that no one could have ever imagined some
twenty years ago. Let’s face it, the Internet is here to stay and your dealership’s website is becoming the go-to for interested car buyers. Don't make your customers wonder whether they've visited the wrong side of the Web when they come to your website.

Here are some tips to build trust and in turn, increase conversions:

1. Show where you have been featured
All dealers love press, display what you love! Whether your dealership is featured for hosting a wedding or for having the biggest inventory of electric vehicles in the county.  Add a “featured” or “as seen in” section to your website to achieve this.

2. Join the BBB

Signing up for the BBB and adding its badge to your site is a great way to instill trust in your business. The BBB symbol also lets visitors know that your brand is subject to scrutiny if it operates in a less-than-ethical manner, which creates an added layer of trust.

3. Add testimonials

Actions speak louder than words right? No! Not for your website! A happy customer is! Testimonials enhance the consumer experience and build trust for your dealership, especially if they plan to visit your showroom for the first time.

4. Include photos of you and your staff!
To build that personal connection to your website, add photos of you and the staff! The "About Us" page on your site or the company directory is a great place for staff biographies and pictures.

5. Add social media icons

When people see that dozens or even hundreds of people have "liked" your dealership’s fan page they are more likely to feel the effect of safety in numbers and participate in your brand offering. However, make sure to place these icons in an appropriate place on your site. Plastering these icons on every page is not going to increase your social media engagement. Add social media icons to your  “Thank you for contacting us” pages which consumers see immediately after they submit a Web lead.

6. Clearly display your contact information
Your online customers shouldn’t need to play a scavenger hunt to find your dealership’s contact information and directions. Also, make sure you link your address to a map every chance you get. Website heatmaps show consumers heavily click on addresses hoping a map to your location will appear.

7. Have Chat on your website!
Your consumers want instant communication, they don’t want to pick up the phone and be entered into a queue before speaking directly with someone. With a simple code on your website you are able to add a live chat feature to quickly connect with site visitors. Chat is not the same as a basic lead form on your website. Chats can capture a lot of information about what the consumer is looking for and the end result can be a relationship building conversation between your dealership and a potential customer.

Let’s take a look at a couple of chats where I pretty much rocked in customer service  :-)

Chat #1

Chat # 2

These are just snippets of chats I had with the customers, but I’m sure you get the point what chat can do for your dealership. If you don’t have the time to chat, that’s okay, ActivEngage’s Managed chat has an 80% chat-to-lead conversion, 6-second chat pick up time, and 10% of chats have include an appointment for a test drive.  If you want more information on in-house vs. managed chat, download our FREE ebook here.

So what are you doing to enhance your consumer experience online?

The Holiday season is just right around the corner, are your video promos up to par with your competition? The number of people who watch online video at least once per month is greater than those who watch TV at least once per month, according to a recent Nielsen study.

You still have time to make great video ads and here are some helpful tips from SundaySky:

1. Use pre-roll ads and personalize them for brand and performance value
Pre-roll video advertising is the fastest-growing and most effective form of online advertising. These ads guarantee views, so allocate your holiday ad spend accordingly. Retargeting website abandoners with personalized pre-roll ads can also bridge brand and performance advertising disciplines, supporting the creative messaging, reach, and scale requirements of brand advertisers, as well as critical action-driven, tracking, and optimization elements that performance marketers require.
2. Be festive
The holiday season presents an opportunity to refresh your brand's personality, so infuse video ads with seasonal messages that engage customers in new ways.
For example, last year, Hyundai introduced a new holiday theme into its communications: Hyundai Holidays and Jingle Bells.
3. Keep video ads updated to reflect promotions and price changes
Consumers seek out special offers, and retailers will offer an abundance of limited-time discounts, free shipping, door-busters, and "act now" events during the season. Though time-sensitive promotions are great tactics for motivating customers, they also put added pressure on brands. Communications, regardless of channel, must be timely.
4. Ensure performance with interactivity
Interactive call-to-action buttons are critical to driving the performance of any offer type presented within video ads. In the absence of interactivity, a next-best approach is adding a promotional code, or even a QR code that can be scanned with mobile devices.

What do you think of these tips? Do you have any additional tips to add to this list? What has worked for your dealership in the past? Respond in the comment section below!

You have a loyal group of followers right? They love the content you email out or blog about and share it religiously with their friends. Problem is, that loyal group of followers is pretty darn small. So how do you get your word out there? Recruit people with high influence on the Web to help get your word out to a larger audience. Yes, you need the cool kids.

Danny Iny's Copyblogger post titled "Four Proven Strategies for Finding a Wider Audience for Your Content," outlines the following tips so can help you do just that:

• Involve influential people in your project. First, brainstorm projects.Then, research which influencers would best suit those projects. In your proposal to these popular kids, discuss the benefits to them and their audience. Be available to answer questions, and be patient. If you can get an influencer to join in, you'll have a powerful person talking about your brand and content.
• Interview influencers. "Survey your audience, either directly or indirectly about what kind of information they are looking for from experts," recommends Iny. "Create a list of options that you are fairly confident will be valuable for them—and for people who aren't a part of your audience but should be."
• Launch a Klout Perks campaign. "In a nutshell, you can ask companies like Klout to find key influencers in your niche, and you can give those influencers 'Perks' in hopes that they will spread the word for you," suggests Iny. "This is usually free sample merchandise, but you could just as easily do it yourself using exclusive content."
• Craft an irresistibly sharable presentation. Influencers have spent a lot of time and energy building and maintaining their following. "If you can offer them something incredibly valuable to give their followers...they'll often jump at the chance to help fill their editorial calendar," says Iny.

What do you think of these tips? Do you have any additional tips you feel should be on this list?

Vampire and zombies are everywhere. It’s been a Summer and Fall full of supernatural events and television.. From True Blood to the Walking Dead, and to people showing zombie-like symptoms across the U.S., have you wondered if vampires and zombies lurked into your workplace?  Yes, I did write vampires and zombies. According to  Howard's Gift: Uncommon Wisdom to Inspire Your Life's Work, workers can be categorized into 4 different identities when it comes to workplace culture: stars, potentials, vampires, and zombies.

• Stars are the employees we all love — the ones who do the perform well while adhering to company values and culture.
• High potentials are those whose behavior we value — who do things the right way but whose skills need further training. These potentials, with the right support and training, can become stars.
• Zombies fail on both counts. Their behavior doesn't align with the cultural aspirations of the organization and their performance is almost non-existent. They are basically rotting wood at your company.
• Vampire are the real threat. These vampire employees perform well but in a manner that is deceiving and conniving.  Because their work performance is strong, they gain power and influence. Over time, they also acquire followers: the zombies who share their different set of values and aspire to perform better.  Soon, there's a small army of vampires and zombies attacking the stars, high potentials, and leaders who are doing the right thing.

If you aren't into vampire and zombie terminology, you can always go by  Baron Von Hammerstein Equord's, a German Officer in the 1930’s, methodology:

"I divide officers into four classes -- the clever, the lazy, the stupid, and the industrious. Each officer possesses at least two of these qualities. Those who are clever and industrious are fitted for the high staff appointments. Use can be made of those who are stupid and lazy. The man who is clever and lazy is fit for the very highest commands. He has the temperament and the requisite nerves to deal with all situations. But whoever is stupid and industrious must be removed immediately."

What do you think? Is your dealership full of vampires and zombies or do you have stars and potentials on your team?

The most trusted name in live chat brings the top ten blogs and auto news stories right to you! We monitor industry trends, current events, and the auto dealer community every week to bring you the top ten blogs and automotive stories from around the globe. In this weekly edition – Toyota sells cars on HSN, there’s a giant diamond in outer space, and the EU wins the Nobel Peace Prize.

10. Facebook is as Tempting as Cigarettes and Sex
A report by the University of Chicago Booth School of Business found that the desire to check social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest were among the toughest-to-resist temptations — equivalent to cigarettes and sex.

9. Woman gets $15 Quadrillion Phone Bill
A woman in France cancelled her phone bill early and she expected an early termination fee, but not one of $15 Quadrillion. She said that there were so many zeroes in her bill she lost count.

8. New Car Buyers are Keeping their Cars for a Longer Period of Time. 
Buyers are now typically holding onto new vehicles nearly 6 years, up big from 2006, when the average buyer kept their new car or light truck just under 4.5 years before replacing it

7. Giant Diamond Found in Space
Ladies, forget getting diamond engagement rings in karats! There is a planet called  55 Cancri e and was discovered in 2004 around a nearby star in our Milky Way. At least a third of the planet's mass is likely pure diamond.

6. Why I brought Kevin Root on as President of DrivingSales

Jared Hamilton  explains why he chose Kevin Root to be COO of his “baby.”

5. Slow Sales can Equal High Revenue
Hunter Swifts  from DealerSocket gives tips on how to continue to make money without selling cars.

4.  Toyota Sells Hybrids on HSN
Toyota says it was drawn to the network by the chance to have the time to fully explain its technology. "A lot of our research shows people don't understand how hybrid technology works," says Ed Laukes, a Toyota vice president.

3. The European Union Wins a Nobel Peace Prize
The Norwegian judging panel said the EU received the award for six decades of contributions "to the advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe." Does this mean that all the citizens of the EU won the Peace Prize too?

2. French President Promises to Ban Homework
Hollande wants to outlaw homework, but at the sametime he wants to extend the school week from four days to four and a half days. Oh nooo!

1. Joe Biden’s Teeth Win the VP Debate
The focus of last night’s debate were the immaculate teeth of Joe Biden. I want to know who his dentist is!

Did we miss anything important? Like our top ten blogs this week? Leave us a comment below! Or if you really can’t wait for your automotive fix, follow @activengage on Twitter for daily updates on auto industry news!

Awhile back I wrote a blog on the rumors of a Facebook, “want” button and this rumor turned out to be true! While this new feature is still in beta testing and it’s not really a want button but a product page to collect all your favorite products that are then added to your timeline, I still think that this is the beginning of something pretty amazing.

Right now a couple of brands are testing this new feature, Pottery Barn, Wayfair, Victoria's Secret, Michael Kors, Neiman Marcus, Smith Optics, and Fab.com support this new collections feature.

So I mosied on  over to the Pottery Barn page and tested out this cool feature. Once I clicked on like this is what appeared:

A little window popped up asking me why I liked this. Well, I had no real answer to give since I’ve never set foot in a Pottery Barn, but I’m sure avid customers of this retail store will have loads to say.

On Smith Optics they even  have an option of buying their sunglasses:

So where does these collection of products go? Look below, Facebook kindly organizes what products I liked in my Activity Log-how great this this?

A spokesperson for Facebook in a statement described Collections as "a small test in which a few select businesses will be able to share information about their products," adding, “ we've seen that businesses often use Pages to share information about their products through photo albums. Today, we are beginning a small test in which a few select businesses will be able to share information about their products through a feature called Collections.  Collections can be discovered in News Feed, and people will be able to engage with these collections and share things they are interested in with their friends. People can click through and buy these items off of  Facebook.”

Hmm, that kind of sounds like Pinterest to me. Do you think Facebook will try to buy out Pinterest?