DrivingSales, LLC
The Impact of Social Media on Car Purchasing: What Does the Data Really Tell Us?
There is huge debate in our industry regarding how influential social media really is in the car purchase cycle. Some venture to say that social media is the new way to sell cars, while others still think social media – and the Internet, for that matter – is just a fad. It’s times like these when we turn to the data to see what the true reach of this new platform is, but even there, we find conflicting information. At the 2011 DrivingSales Executive Summit, Dealer.com presented their study on social media: The Rise of Loyalty, Advocacy, & Influence: Social Media and the New Automotive Purchase Cycle, positively demonstrating the reach and influence of social media in the car buying process. The research paper leaves you feeling energized about the possibility of social media and eager to dive deeper into the platform and potential opportunities. However, at the NADA Convention a month ago, AutoTrader.com shared with us their social media study, the Morpace/AutoTrader.com 2012 Digital Shopping Dynamics. Their evidence prominently indicated that people are hardly (if at all) using social websites to gather information about cars, leaving us ready to abandon our Facebook accounts.
So who is right and who is wrong? If both conclusions are based on real data, how can they be so inconclusive? To be clear, neither company or research project is lying to you, but to gain an understanding of what is really going on, we need to take a deeper look at both sets of data together.
What's the Question?
The conclusions drawn from each set of data are correct, but the real difference lies in the question each is attempting to answer. The Dealer.com study is looking more at the influence of social media on the car shopping process. They ask questions related to seeing and interacting with other people’s posts and how it impacts their consideration of certain vehicles and dealerships. The AutoTrader study, conversely, is seeking to define how many people use social media to actually purchase cars. Those are two very different questions and two very different parts of the purchase cycle, so it makes sense why they would result in such drastically different answers.
Admittedly, social media plays less of a role in the transactional realm of buying a car, as AutoTrader describes. For one, people haven’t fully embraced social media as a resource for purchases. It’s still very much a conversation platform, which is why it works so well in the consideration stage, when people are sharing and discussing their recent or future car buying experiences. Secondly, the automotive industry itself doesn’t fully understand the social media channel, nor have they decided how they are going to use it. It’d be interesting to know how many dealers are posting their inventory on social media platforms. If what we guess to be only a small minority of dealers are posting their inventory on Facebook, for example, it makes perfect sense why people aren’t using it as a purchasing tool – the information isn’t there! Social media is a two-way street and if dealers aren’t talking on their side, there’s no conversation to be made.
Push vs. Pull
Of course, posting inventory on Facebook is a very different approach to social media compared to generating conversation around a brand, which is where I think social media is best situated. It falls in line with pull marketing, where people are seeking out your information and pulling it toward them. This is the premise that the Dealer.com study is based on: People are going online to pull information from their friends and family about their car buying experience. This is in direct contrast to push marketing, where companies are pushing out their communications to an audience in attempt to feed consumers information about their brand. Push marketing is much a like a TV commercial. It’s disruptive and pushes the content on to the audience.
How and Where It Influences
So in reality, when both studies claim to know the truth about how social media interacts in the car buying purchase, they are both right. But differentiating how it interacts during which part of the purchase cycle, and defining the appropriate approach to social media, all impact the framing of the information and the “truth.” At some level, social media does influence the automotive purchase cycle. To say that it doesn’t would be like saying the TV only affects the car purchase cycle when people go into the Vehix section on the TV and buy a car. But, what about all the ads? Has the industry been pushing that marketing in vain for all these decades? Just because it’s not transactional on the spot, doesn’t mean it’s not effective. But is social media the number one influencer throughout the entirety of the car purchase cycle? Not at this point.
As the platform changes and people learn how to interact with the channel better, the influence will change, as will the data. It’s important to know what you’re looking at and fully understand the context of the data before you take someone’s statistics as truth.
DrivingSales, LLC
The Impact of Social Media on Car Purchasing: What Does the Data Really Tell Us?
There is huge debate in our industry regarding how influential social media really is in the car purchase cycle. Some venture to say that social media is the new way to sell cars, while others still think social media – and the Internet, for that matter – is just a fad. It’s times like these when we turn to the data to see what the true reach of this new platform is, but even there, we find conflicting information. At the 2011 DrivingSales Executive Summit, Dealer.com presented their study on social media: The Rise of Loyalty, Advocacy, & Influence: Social Media and the New Automotive Purchase Cycle, positively demonstrating the reach and influence of social media in the car buying process. The research paper leaves you feeling energized about the possibility of social media and eager to dive deeper into the platform and potential opportunities. However, at the NADA Convention a month ago, AutoTrader.com shared with us their social media study, the Morpace/AutoTrader.com 2012 Digital Shopping Dynamics. Their evidence prominently indicated that people are hardly (if at all) using social websites to gather information about cars, leaving us ready to abandon our Facebook accounts.
So who is right and who is wrong? If both conclusions are based on real data, how can they be so inconclusive? To be clear, neither company or research project is lying to you, but to gain an understanding of what is really going on, we need to take a deeper look at both sets of data together.
What's the Question?
The conclusions drawn from each set of data are correct, but the real difference lies in the question each is attempting to answer. The Dealer.com study is looking more at the influence of social media on the car shopping process. They ask questions related to seeing and interacting with other people’s posts and how it impacts their consideration of certain vehicles and dealerships. The AutoTrader study, conversely, is seeking to define how many people use social media to actually purchase cars. Those are two very different questions and two very different parts of the purchase cycle, so it makes sense why they would result in such drastically different answers.
Admittedly, social media plays less of a role in the transactional realm of buying a car, as AutoTrader describes. For one, people haven’t fully embraced social media as a resource for purchases. It’s still very much a conversation platform, which is why it works so well in the consideration stage, when people are sharing and discussing their recent or future car buying experiences. Secondly, the automotive industry itself doesn’t fully understand the social media channel, nor have they decided how they are going to use it. It’d be interesting to know how many dealers are posting their inventory on social media platforms. If what we guess to be only a small minority of dealers are posting their inventory on Facebook, for example, it makes perfect sense why people aren’t using it as a purchasing tool – the information isn’t there! Social media is a two-way street and if dealers aren’t talking on their side, there’s no conversation to be made.
Push vs. Pull
Of course, posting inventory on Facebook is a very different approach to social media compared to generating conversation around a brand, which is where I think social media is best situated. It falls in line with pull marketing, where people are seeking out your information and pulling it toward them. This is the premise that the Dealer.com study is based on: People are going online to pull information from their friends and family about their car buying experience. This is in direct contrast to push marketing, where companies are pushing out their communications to an audience in attempt to feed consumers information about their brand. Push marketing is much a like a TV commercial. It’s disruptive and pushes the content on to the audience.
How and Where It Influences
So in reality, when both studies claim to know the truth about how social media interacts in the car buying purchase, they are both right. But differentiating how it interacts during which part of the purchase cycle, and defining the appropriate approach to social media, all impact the framing of the information and the “truth.” At some level, social media does influence the automotive purchase cycle. To say that it doesn’t would be like saying the TV only affects the car purchase cycle when people go into the Vehix section on the TV and buy a car. But, what about all the ads? Has the industry been pushing that marketing in vain for all these decades? Just because it’s not transactional on the spot, doesn’t mean it’s not effective. But is social media the number one influencer throughout the entirety of the car purchase cycle? Not at this point.
As the platform changes and people learn how to interact with the channel better, the influence will change, as will the data. It’s important to know what you’re looking at and fully understand the context of the data before you take someone’s statistics as truth.
17 Comments
Southern Automotive Group
Great analysis of both studies Lindsey. They are both very valid perspectives. I will venture to say that social will never take over traditional search and third-party expert reviews for the consumer unless we as our brand representatives start directly engaging more with our consumers in these various platforms. Once engaged, I see it as nothing different as being on the telephone or live chat from our website. It is an extension but the question is who is going to say hello to whom first? I see it as sitting on a park bench next to a stranger and I notice a VW key hanging off of their backpack. I could sit there and wonder what type of VW they drive, never say a word and ten minutes later we part ways. Or, I could engage in conversation without being promotional and ten minutes later find out they have been shopping for two weeks for their next vehicle and just haven’t made the move yet. Having a genuine conversation about their needs can leave a positive impression about your brand and you. More than likely they will spread the word and value the information you gave them as a brand representative and just maybe take some sort of action by visiting your marketplace or maybe even purchasing. There are certainly many variables that many may want to measure to prove the true ROI of social but I am not convinced it should be this complicated. It also makes me think of an article you wrote shortly after NADA regarding "getting out of what you put in." I am curious to hear what others think. Great read Lindsey as always. Thank you.
DrivingSales, LLC
Thanks for your feedback, Chris. You are absolutely right. The effectiveness of social media depends on what you're using it for and how you are measuring it's success. When you put it on par with the other tools you use in the overall strategy, its production is a function of the effort you put into it. Great tie in!
ProStar Automotive Solutions
Social Media should not be used for direct selling. Look at the key word "SOCIAL". Dealers should use this media to expose their "social" status. In other words, social media is all about the reputation. So this medium is to be used for INDIRECT selling via the exposed reputation of the dealer. Plastering an ad or inventory on Facebook WILL TURN PEOPLE AWAY! If the dealer decides to go public on Facebook, Twitter, etc, and wants to be successful with it, the dealer must protect its reputation by focusing on customer excellence and satisfaction as its #1 priority. When the dealer takes care of its customer, the customer would share their experience on social media (dealer should encourage and/or give incentives to share their experience). The customer has just now helped the dealer to build their reputation by sharing their positive comments to all of the customer's friends PLUS the fans on the dealer page. THIS is how a dealer can sell more cars in the 21st century.
Lifestyle Integrated Inc.
Lindsey- excellent article. We find that many OEMs and dealers see social as the new shiny object, but really do not understand how to apply, manage, leverage, and infuse it into their marketing mix. Everyday we see articles on "do's and dont's" in social media marketing but I am not sure any of us really have a complete grasp on this. (I equate it to a water balloon- you grip it here, and it squeezes out somewhere else). We have also seen a shift in the mentality from some OEMs believing that social is the answer to their shredded marketing budgets due to its low/no cost. What they are ultimately finding out is that it is not the replacement for lead gen sources that they had previously utilized. Also, one comment from the "dont's" camp: too many companies make the mistake of trying to 'sell' their stuff via their Facebook sites, as an example, and are also getting underwhelming results. One analyst maybe said it best, stating "There was a lot of anticipation that Facebook would turn into a new destination, a store, a place where people would shop, but it was like trying to sell stuff to people while they’re hanging out with their friends at the bar.” 'nuff said.
DealerTeamwork LLC
Great article Lindsey - very thorough. Now that I'm in the market to buy a car for the first time in 6 years, I can say that social media has made an impact on influencing the brands - which I in turn - begin researching online. Word of mouth has been important for me - I asked a good friend how the experience was at a local dealership where she purchased from. SM may influence at some point of the buying process, but as for research, I didn't open up Facebook to begin searching anything about a specific vehicle. I did however spend some time on an amazing automotive blog that offered a ton a great comparison information between the models I was considering. To be fair, I may not be considered the average shopper as well. I've often wondered what the same process may look like through the eyes of shoppers who are not active on Facebook & other SM sites. The obvious answer is that they're simply missing out on the social recommendations. (Which for many - is very important these days, plus its so easy to get)
Marazzi Motors
Please send me a private email with all of the names of the people that still think the "Internet" is a fad. I have an inflatable gorilla and a clown costume for sale.
Vanbortel Used Car Center
Interesting article. First thing I found interesting was that the studies were coming up with numbers that could point towards roi from SM. Something that other platforms have complained about as lacking in the SM platform(although other platforms have a real lack of true numbers to back their roi). The other thing I find really interesting is the strategies or lack of strategies taking place in the automotive industry. More specifically what dealerships are doing. It reminds me a lot of when I was in "internet marketing" and you would be talking to a small business about their website and they would say my nephew-a senior in high school-built it. It was pretty obvious that they were just trying to get something out there and didn't understand the platform or the opportunity to increase their market share. While the exact strategy is not as clear with SM, the ultimate outcome, increased sales and brand loyalty makes SM a platform that needs to be utilized better than it has by most dealers.
DrivingSales, LLC
Thanks for the comments, Jeff. That's an interesting point that you bring up mentioned that people see social media as a replacement for their other lead generators. It's not. It's simply a supplemental tool that dealers can use. As you stated, the interenet is rampant with do's and don'ts of social media, which can be incredibly helpful, but without a strategy to incorporate those do's and don'ts, the information becomes just a bunch of mental clutter.
DrivingSales, LLC
Word of mouth is key within social media, and beneficial for both people (as they learn from their friends what they may or may not be interested in) as well as the brands (who can profit off of their customers' advocacy). It makes sense that people get that positive experience when utilizing social media as a place for conversational exchange, but for the people who are trying to use social media as a dedicated research tool, it's not as effective. Thanks for the comments.
DrivingSales, LLC
Matt, you're totally right. People know that social media is important in some way which is why they jump in, but the eager beavers haven't always fleshed out their purpose, goals, and direction for utilizing the platform. I remember Jeff Cryder in particular saying at one time that his one piece of advice would be don't jump head first into social media, you have to think through it. I think both dealers and OEMs haven't made sense of the space yet, which makes it that much more in the customers' hands to decide how they want to interact with the brands.
Southtowne Volkswagen
Social Media is the old "over the fence" conversation that used to occur within the smaller confines of one's immediate geography. However, even though new channels are allowing us to expand our reach, that doesn't mean that the conversation should change. If anything, it should remain even more focused on that one thing that makes each of us want to engage with others; They are knowledgable and a good listener. Focusing on that across Social Platforms will enhance the validity of your traditional Push Marketing strategies, not replace it. For every conversation you see on your page there are lirally hundred perhaps thousands that you don't. Some may be occuring on-line, while others are still over the fence or at the water cooler. Either way, when my "Brand" is brought up, having the familiarity and trust of those Social Media Fans or Friends will (in my opinion) yeild higher returns.
Friendemic
Mathew (and Jeff) , while I agree that social media is not a sales tool, the idea that you shouldn't be selling at all on social media is just not correct. There is research (ForeSeeResults 2010 and others) that shows that the #1 reason people follow a business page on Facebook: to receive special offers and incentives. So if a dealers is going to post what the consumers say they want, he would post (on occasion) special offers and incentives - isn't that selling to a degree? not in an e-commerce sense of course, but certainly I think more direct selling as opposed to branding.
Friendemic
Lindsey, a great review. It shows the challenge of looking at a single study and making comprehensive conclusions from that alone. It also shows I think the challenges of conducting good research. Vague questions such as "do you use the Internet to buy clothes" lead to answers such as: "no silly, I use a credit card". So vague questions such as "do people use social media to buy cars" are virtually impossible to answer definitively until we carefully define the question, which might be looking at whether consumers use social media in the purchase process, or as an aid in research , or to gather opinions from friends, and so on.
DrivingSales, LLC
Great explanation, Brent, you are spot on. To further clarify the differences between the AutoTrader and Dealer.com research on where they lie in understanding the role of social media in the car buying purpose. Where Dealer.com is looking at social in terms of customers being involved in the conversations online, listening to their friends and family's conversation about car shopping, and being influenced at that level, AutoTrader poses their study in the space that customers are using social platforms as research tools, actively asking for feedback and looking up information within the social platform for information that might sway their decision making in the car shopping cycle. Again, these are two very different frames for the role of social media on the automotive shopping cycle and the main reason for differences in the number. The variability in how the questions are posed and their subsequent responses all flow from this main difference. Both are important perspectives in our search to keep up with this fast-moving trend. After talking further with those at AutoTrader.com more involved with the study, they point out that the study was not confined to using social media for the purchase of a vehicle but how it was used by vehicle purchasers in their shopping process.
N/A
You know, most people go on impulse shopping splurges just because of commercials seen on the media. Look at the Honda Acura as an example. A great car (equipped with state-of-the-art parts) paired with a great commercial that shows it of as a really great car (which it is) could very well turn it to a big selling point.
Ubika Hetu LLP
people are probably making the same mistake that they did at the time of the dot com boom. Online retail is not a new product its a new way to sell existing products so of course sales will go up due to convenience and access etc but it would never be a new product and consequently lead to all those stratospheric valuations and swanky offices and Ivy league college employees. Similarly social media is a substitute for the social structures of the last few decades. The social structure then was friends, neighbors, uncles and cousins, the local pub, travel companions, colleagues and people who came to worship at the same place. The amount of face time has gone down as interactions are shifting to the online world of social media. So now that dealers and OEMS and car companies know that one way to influence the buyer is traditional advertising on TV and etc the other is to make their presence on SM more vibrant and use it to understand problems rather than actual selling. Because if you solve problems new sales will come
DrivingSales, LLC
Be the Leader You Know How to Be
Imagine your worst boss ever. Oh, they were terrible! Mean and degrading; apathetic to your achievements and work, but angry and intimidating when it wasn’t done yet. I shudder to even think about that person and how miserable of an employee I was under them. As organizational psychologist Dr. Nicole Lipkin says, “When people suck, we just kind of suck back.” Under our worst management teams, we failed to learn, grow, and produce in the ways we know we’re capable. Now, think back to the best boss or manager you ever had. Encouraging, supportive, and constantly challenging you to be the best you could be.
Are you challenging your team to be the best they can be?
If you think about it, you know how to be a good boss because you’ve most likely had one, and most likely had a miserable boss that you know not to imitate. Our own experiences will tell us how to do it; we just have to be open to them.
In a presentation given by the keynote speaker at the Women Dealers Breakfast at NADA, Dr. Nicole Lipkin defined ways to use our leadership to grow and retain our teams. These are my takeaways:
Outline Expectations: Define the expectations of the position and what you expect that person to provide within that role. Also clarify what your employee can expect from you as a manager and mentor.
Knowledge Transfer: Take all the knowledge that’s up in your brain that you’ve spent years developing and learning, and pass it on. There’s no point letting all those lessons leave with you while the younger generation is left to reinvent the wheel.
Don’t Forget Rewards and Recognition: Make sure your team knows you see them and recognize their achievements. There’s not a person on this Earth that doesn’t like to be told they’ve done a good job. When it’s appropriate, tell them.
Hold Them Accountable: Ask them how they want to further their own success. You can be a mentor, but you can’t do the work for them, nor should you. Place the accountability in their hands and they will be much more prepared to make the best use of the knowledge, skills, and mentorship that you’re sharing with them.
Keep Challenging Them: Never stop demanding progress and growth. You’re not a babysitter, you’re a boss! Create the best environment for them to grow by continually challenging them to take their own game to the next level.
The right setting for a team can power them to be engaged with their work, loyal to their company, and do great things. In fact, people who are engaged with their work give 25% more discretionary effort. That’s a quarter more effort that they don’t have to give, but do. A good leader can foster and generate these strengths, their teams, and more revenue. Empower your team by being the best leader you know how to be.
No Comments
DrivingSales, LLC
Be the Leader You Know How to Be
Imagine your worst boss ever. Oh, they were terrible! Mean and degrading; apathetic to your achievements and work, but angry and intimidating when it wasn’t done yet. I shudder to even think about that person and how miserable of an employee I was under them. As organizational psychologist Dr. Nicole Lipkin says, “When people suck, we just kind of suck back.” Under our worst management teams, we failed to learn, grow, and produce in the ways we know we’re capable. Now, think back to the best boss or manager you ever had. Encouraging, supportive, and constantly challenging you to be the best you could be.
Are you challenging your team to be the best they can be?
If you think about it, you know how to be a good boss because you’ve most likely had one, and most likely had a miserable boss that you know not to imitate. Our own experiences will tell us how to do it; we just have to be open to them.
In a presentation given by the keynote speaker at the Women Dealers Breakfast at NADA, Dr. Nicole Lipkin defined ways to use our leadership to grow and retain our teams. These are my takeaways:
Outline Expectations: Define the expectations of the position and what you expect that person to provide within that role. Also clarify what your employee can expect from you as a manager and mentor.
Knowledge Transfer: Take all the knowledge that’s up in your brain that you’ve spent years developing and learning, and pass it on. There’s no point letting all those lessons leave with you while the younger generation is left to reinvent the wheel.
Don’t Forget Rewards and Recognition: Make sure your team knows you see them and recognize their achievements. There’s not a person on this Earth that doesn’t like to be told they’ve done a good job. When it’s appropriate, tell them.
Hold Them Accountable: Ask them how they want to further their own success. You can be a mentor, but you can’t do the work for them, nor should you. Place the accountability in their hands and they will be much more prepared to make the best use of the knowledge, skills, and mentorship that you’re sharing with them.
Keep Challenging Them: Never stop demanding progress and growth. You’re not a babysitter, you’re a boss! Create the best environment for them to grow by continually challenging them to take their own game to the next level.
The right setting for a team can power them to be engaged with their work, loyal to their company, and do great things. In fact, people who are engaged with their work give 25% more discretionary effort. That’s a quarter more effort that they don’t have to give, but do. A good leader can foster and generate these strengths, their teams, and more revenue. Empower your team by being the best leader you know how to be.
No Comments
DrivingSales, LLC
The 2011 best of the best according to you, the Dealers.
We’ve put a lot of emphasis on the Vendor Ratings lately and for good reason. The practice of rating your vendors and vendor products provides honest feedback for your dealer peers and keeps the vendor solutions and industry professionals on their toes and evolving to provide better services to the dealer body.
Each year in February, DrivingSales presents the Dealer Satisfaction Awards to the vendors and vendor solutions that have most satisfied their dealer clients throughout the course of the year. Three awards are given in each of 14 categories: one for the Highest Rated and two more for the Top Rated. And if the award recipients’ services or products didn’t knock your socks off enough, the trophies sure will. Hand-crafted and especially designed to embody the Dealer Satisfaction energy, these trophies are custom made of marble and pewter, and stand as solid as the verified ratings that define them.
Award recipients will be announced on February 3rd at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas at the invite-only Dealer Satisfaction Awards Breakfast. Follow along with our countdown to the awards at dealersatisfactionawards.com and after the unveiling, get the full scoop on the winners in each category, the runners-up, and all sorts of images, video, and more.
Rate your vendors in the meantime and all year long at DrivingSales.com/ratings.
No Comments
DrivingSales, LLC
The 2011 best of the best according to you, the Dealers.
We’ve put a lot of emphasis on the Vendor Ratings lately and for good reason. The practice of rating your vendors and vendor products provides honest feedback for your dealer peers and keeps the vendor solutions and industry professionals on their toes and evolving to provide better services to the dealer body.
Each year in February, DrivingSales presents the Dealer Satisfaction Awards to the vendors and vendor solutions that have most satisfied their dealer clients throughout the course of the year. Three awards are given in each of 14 categories: one for the Highest Rated and two more for the Top Rated. And if the award recipients’ services or products didn’t knock your socks off enough, the trophies sure will. Hand-crafted and especially designed to embody the Dealer Satisfaction energy, these trophies are custom made of marble and pewter, and stand as solid as the verified ratings that define them.
Award recipients will be announced on February 3rd at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas at the invite-only Dealer Satisfaction Awards Breakfast. Follow along with our countdown to the awards at dealersatisfactionawards.com and after the unveiling, get the full scoop on the winners in each category, the runners-up, and all sorts of images, video, and more.
Rate your vendors in the meantime and all year long at DrivingSales.com/ratings.
No Comments
DrivingSales, LLC
The SOPA Ship is Sinking!
As you have already noticed today, websites all across the Internet are blacked out to participate in the fight against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (PIPA). DrivingSales is one such website, standing up for free speech and standing against Internet censorship. You can find more about the bills and more about our stance in our previous posts.
All this commotion is already making waves as TechCrunch reports that some Congressmen are pulling their support from the bills and even joining the protests as well! Meetings are getting cancelled and some of the confrontational pieces of the bill are getting a second look. The largest Internet protest in history is causing this bill to move from swift passage to rising barriers and hopefully a steadfast block in Congress.
Thank you for your support and helping to change the tides.
No Comments
DrivingSales, LLC
The SOPA Ship is Sinking!
As you have already noticed today, websites all across the Internet are blacked out to participate in the fight against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (PIPA). DrivingSales is one such website, standing up for free speech and standing against Internet censorship. You can find more about the bills and more about our stance in our previous posts.
All this commotion is already making waves as TechCrunch reports that some Congressmen are pulling their support from the bills and even joining the protests as well! Meetings are getting cancelled and some of the confrontational pieces of the bill are getting a second look. The largest Internet protest in history is causing this bill to move from swift passage to rising barriers and hopefully a steadfast block in Congress.
Thank you for your support and helping to change the tides.
No Comments
DrivingSales, LLC
Blackout Explained: Why DrivingSales Has Gone Dark
Over 1500 websites, including WordPress, Craigslist, Wikipedia, have gone dark today to raise awareness about the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and it’s cousin, Protect IP Act (PIPA). Both of these bills are well intentioned: they aim to put a stop to unauthorized streaming of copyrighted content. Remember Napster? These bills hope to punish sites like that, which promote online content theft. The difficulty arises in that most of those sites are hosted overseas, meaning the US government doesn’t have jurisdiction over their actions. With hands tied, legislators are pushing SOPA and PIPA forward, holding domestic sites responsible for any near infraction regarding copyrighted materials.
DrivingSales fully supports anti-piracy. Plagiarism and content theft of any kind are disrespectful and cowardly; however, the current state of these bills has consequences far greater than providing financial credit to a deserving artist. The verbiage in these bills grants far-reaching power to the government to censor websites and even block their addresses from being accessed – all with little oversight.
This is why we’re joining the thousands of websites all across the country in the strike against SOPA. Our website will be blacked out from 8am to 8pm local time to show our opposition to these bills. You are still able to access our site past the blackout page, but we are steadfast in our support against these bills as they are written today. The passing of SOPA or PIPA could dramatically change how DrivingSales does business, how effectively we can serve our community, and how our community can interact with us. It will undoubtedly affect your own online presence and Internet strategy as well, when the sites you share inventory on and where you socially engage with your customers get pulled down, too.
Join us and thousands of other websites across the country in helping to raise awareness against SOPA and PIPA, in educating ourselves and our industry about the dangers of these bills with regard to censorship and free-speech, and protecting the kind of innovation that only the Internet can engender.
No Comments
DrivingSales, LLC
Blackout Explained: Why DrivingSales Has Gone Dark
Over 1500 websites, including WordPress, Craigslist, Wikipedia, have gone dark today to raise awareness about the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and it’s cousin, Protect IP Act (PIPA). Both of these bills are well intentioned: they aim to put a stop to unauthorized streaming of copyrighted content. Remember Napster? These bills hope to punish sites like that, which promote online content theft. The difficulty arises in that most of those sites are hosted overseas, meaning the US government doesn’t have jurisdiction over their actions. With hands tied, legislators are pushing SOPA and PIPA forward, holding domestic sites responsible for any near infraction regarding copyrighted materials.
DrivingSales fully supports anti-piracy. Plagiarism and content theft of any kind are disrespectful and cowardly; however, the current state of these bills has consequences far greater than providing financial credit to a deserving artist. The verbiage in these bills grants far-reaching power to the government to censor websites and even block their addresses from being accessed – all with little oversight.
This is why we’re joining the thousands of websites all across the country in the strike against SOPA. Our website will be blacked out from 8am to 8pm local time to show our opposition to these bills. You are still able to access our site past the blackout page, but we are steadfast in our support against these bills as they are written today. The passing of SOPA or PIPA could dramatically change how DrivingSales does business, how effectively we can serve our community, and how our community can interact with us. It will undoubtedly affect your own online presence and Internet strategy as well, when the sites you share inventory on and where you socially engage with your customers get pulled down, too.
Join us and thousands of other websites across the country in helping to raise awareness against SOPA and PIPA, in educating ourselves and our industry about the dangers of these bills with regard to censorship and free-speech, and protecting the kind of innovation that only the Internet can engender.
No Comments
17 Comments
Chris Costner
Southern Automotive Group
Great analysis of both studies Lindsey. They are both very valid perspectives. I will venture to say that social will never take over traditional search and third-party expert reviews for the consumer unless we as our brand representatives start directly engaging more with our consumers in these various platforms. Once engaged, I see it as nothing different as being on the telephone or live chat from our website. It is an extension but the question is who is going to say hello to whom first? I see it as sitting on a park bench next to a stranger and I notice a VW key hanging off of their backpack. I could sit there and wonder what type of VW they drive, never say a word and ten minutes later we part ways. Or, I could engage in conversation without being promotional and ten minutes later find out they have been shopping for two weeks for their next vehicle and just haven’t made the move yet. Having a genuine conversation about their needs can leave a positive impression about your brand and you. More than likely they will spread the word and value the information you gave them as a brand representative and just maybe take some sort of action by visiting your marketplace or maybe even purchasing. There are certainly many variables that many may want to measure to prove the true ROI of social but I am not convinced it should be this complicated. It also makes me think of an article you wrote shortly after NADA regarding "getting out of what you put in." I am curious to hear what others think. Great read Lindsey as always. Thank you.
Lindsey Auguste
DrivingSales, LLC
Thanks for your feedback, Chris. You are absolutely right. The effectiveness of social media depends on what you're using it for and how you are measuring it's success. When you put it on par with the other tools you use in the overall strategy, its production is a function of the effort you put into it. Great tie in!
Mathew Thomas
ProStar Automotive Solutions
Social Media should not be used for direct selling. Look at the key word "SOCIAL". Dealers should use this media to expose their "social" status. In other words, social media is all about the reputation. So this medium is to be used for INDIRECT selling via the exposed reputation of the dealer. Plastering an ad or inventory on Facebook WILL TURN PEOPLE AWAY! If the dealer decides to go public on Facebook, Twitter, etc, and wants to be successful with it, the dealer must protect its reputation by focusing on customer excellence and satisfaction as its #1 priority. When the dealer takes care of its customer, the customer would share their experience on social media (dealer should encourage and/or give incentives to share their experience). The customer has just now helped the dealer to build their reputation by sharing their positive comments to all of the customer's friends PLUS the fans on the dealer page. THIS is how a dealer can sell more cars in the 21st century.
Jeff Scherer
Lifestyle Integrated Inc.
Lindsey- excellent article. We find that many OEMs and dealers see social as the new shiny object, but really do not understand how to apply, manage, leverage, and infuse it into their marketing mix. Everyday we see articles on "do's and dont's" in social media marketing but I am not sure any of us really have a complete grasp on this. (I equate it to a water balloon- you grip it here, and it squeezes out somewhere else). We have also seen a shift in the mentality from some OEMs believing that social is the answer to their shredded marketing budgets due to its low/no cost. What they are ultimately finding out is that it is not the replacement for lead gen sources that they had previously utilized. Also, one comment from the "dont's" camp: too many companies make the mistake of trying to 'sell' their stuff via their Facebook sites, as an example, and are also getting underwhelming results. One analyst maybe said it best, stating "There was a lot of anticipation that Facebook would turn into a new destination, a store, a place where people would shop, but it was like trying to sell stuff to people while they’re hanging out with their friends at the bar.” 'nuff said.
Eric Miltsch
DealerTeamwork LLC
Great article Lindsey - very thorough. Now that I'm in the market to buy a car for the first time in 6 years, I can say that social media has made an impact on influencing the brands - which I in turn - begin researching online. Word of mouth has been important for me - I asked a good friend how the experience was at a local dealership where she purchased from. SM may influence at some point of the buying process, but as for research, I didn't open up Facebook to begin searching anything about a specific vehicle. I did however spend some time on an amazing automotive blog that offered a ton a great comparison information between the models I was considering. To be fair, I may not be considered the average shopper as well. I've often wondered what the same process may look like through the eyes of shoppers who are not active on Facebook & other SM sites. The obvious answer is that they're simply missing out on the social recommendations. (Which for many - is very important these days, plus its so easy to get)
Rob Fontano
Marazzi Motors
Please send me a private email with all of the names of the people that still think the "Internet" is a fad. I have an inflatable gorilla and a clown costume for sale.
Matt Farnes
Vanbortel Used Car Center
Interesting article. First thing I found interesting was that the studies were coming up with numbers that could point towards roi from SM. Something that other platforms have complained about as lacking in the SM platform(although other platforms have a real lack of true numbers to back their roi). The other thing I find really interesting is the strategies or lack of strategies taking place in the automotive industry. More specifically what dealerships are doing. It reminds me a lot of when I was in "internet marketing" and you would be talking to a small business about their website and they would say my nephew-a senior in high school-built it. It was pretty obvious that they were just trying to get something out there and didn't understand the platform or the opportunity to increase their market share. While the exact strategy is not as clear with SM, the ultimate outcome, increased sales and brand loyalty makes SM a platform that needs to be utilized better than it has by most dealers.
Lindsey Auguste
DrivingSales, LLC
Thanks for the comments, Jeff. That's an interesting point that you bring up mentioned that people see social media as a replacement for their other lead generators. It's not. It's simply a supplemental tool that dealers can use. As you stated, the interenet is rampant with do's and don'ts of social media, which can be incredibly helpful, but without a strategy to incorporate those do's and don'ts, the information becomes just a bunch of mental clutter.
Lindsey Auguste
DrivingSales, LLC
Word of mouth is key within social media, and beneficial for both people (as they learn from their friends what they may or may not be interested in) as well as the brands (who can profit off of their customers' advocacy). It makes sense that people get that positive experience when utilizing social media as a place for conversational exchange, but for the people who are trying to use social media as a dedicated research tool, it's not as effective. Thanks for the comments.
Lindsey Auguste
DrivingSales, LLC
Matt, you're totally right. People know that social media is important in some way which is why they jump in, but the eager beavers haven't always fleshed out their purpose, goals, and direction for utilizing the platform. I remember Jeff Cryder in particular saying at one time that his one piece of advice would be don't jump head first into social media, you have to think through it. I think both dealers and OEMs haven't made sense of the space yet, which makes it that much more in the customers' hands to decide how they want to interact with the brands.
Bryan Armstrong
Southtowne Volkswagen
Ha! That's great Rob!
Bryan Armstrong
Southtowne Volkswagen
Social Media is the old "over the fence" conversation that used to occur within the smaller confines of one's immediate geography. However, even though new channels are allowing us to expand our reach, that doesn't mean that the conversation should change. If anything, it should remain even more focused on that one thing that makes each of us want to engage with others; They are knowledgable and a good listener. Focusing on that across Social Platforms will enhance the validity of your traditional Push Marketing strategies, not replace it. For every conversation you see on your page there are lirally hundred perhaps thousands that you don't. Some may be occuring on-line, while others are still over the fence or at the water cooler. Either way, when my "Brand" is brought up, having the familiarity and trust of those Social Media Fans or Friends will (in my opinion) yeild higher returns.
Brent Albrecht
Friendemic
Mathew (and Jeff) , while I agree that social media is not a sales tool, the idea that you shouldn't be selling at all on social media is just not correct. There is research (ForeSeeResults 2010 and others) that shows that the #1 reason people follow a business page on Facebook: to receive special offers and incentives. So if a dealers is going to post what the consumers say they want, he would post (on occasion) special offers and incentives - isn't that selling to a degree? not in an e-commerce sense of course, but certainly I think more direct selling as opposed to branding.
Brent Albrecht
Friendemic
Lindsey, a great review. It shows the challenge of looking at a single study and making comprehensive conclusions from that alone. It also shows I think the challenges of conducting good research. Vague questions such as "do you use the Internet to buy clothes" lead to answers such as: "no silly, I use a credit card". So vague questions such as "do people use social media to buy cars" are virtually impossible to answer definitively until we carefully define the question, which might be looking at whether consumers use social media in the purchase process, or as an aid in research , or to gather opinions from friends, and so on.
Lindsey Auguste
DrivingSales, LLC
Great explanation, Brent, you are spot on. To further clarify the differences between the AutoTrader and Dealer.com research on where they lie in understanding the role of social media in the car buying purpose. Where Dealer.com is looking at social in terms of customers being involved in the conversations online, listening to their friends and family's conversation about car shopping, and being influenced at that level, AutoTrader poses their study in the space that customers are using social platforms as research tools, actively asking for feedback and looking up information within the social platform for information that might sway their decision making in the car shopping cycle. Again, these are two very different frames for the role of social media on the automotive shopping cycle and the main reason for differences in the number. The variability in how the questions are posed and their subsequent responses all flow from this main difference. Both are important perspectives in our search to keep up with this fast-moving trend. After talking further with those at AutoTrader.com more involved with the study, they point out that the study was not confined to using social media for the purchase of a vehicle but how it was used by vehicle purchasers in their shopping process.
Curt Cobaine
N/A
You know, most people go on impulse shopping splurges just because of commercials seen on the media. Look at the Honda Acura as an example. A great car (equipped with state-of-the-art parts) paired with a great commercial that shows it of as a really great car (which it is) could very well turn it to a big selling point.
George Antony
Ubika Hetu LLP
people are probably making the same mistake that they did at the time of the dot com boom. Online retail is not a new product its a new way to sell existing products so of course sales will go up due to convenience and access etc but it would never be a new product and consequently lead to all those stratospheric valuations and swanky offices and Ivy league college employees. Similarly social media is a substitute for the social structures of the last few decades. The social structure then was friends, neighbors, uncles and cousins, the local pub, travel companions, colleagues and people who came to worship at the same place. The amount of face time has gone down as interactions are shifting to the online world of social media. So now that dealers and OEMS and car companies know that one way to influence the buyer is traditional advertising on TV and etc the other is to make their presence on SM more vibrant and use it to understand problems rather than actual selling. Because if you solve problems new sales will come