The DrivingSales team would like to extend a big thank you to everyone who made it out to the DrivingSales Executive Summit in Las Vegas earlier this week.  The progressive dealers and auto industry professionals who attended helped make this event the premier event in the industry.  From the outstanding research Dealer.com presented regarding the impact of social media in the automotive world to Gary Vaynerchuk’s f-bomb laden inspirational keynote, the material was top of the line from beginning to end.  Our completely sold out event (and then some) left us scrambling for more chairs and ordering extra breakfast on the fly, but being able to share industry-shifting information with the high-level, decision-making group that was there is what is going to make our industry – and your stores – better.

Thank you to the DrivingSales community, to the #DSES attendees, and to all of our sponsors for making the 2011 DrivingSales Executive Summit a huge success.  Hope to see you all next year!

Social media has always been an important part of DrivingSales.com.  Not only because we’re a social platform built to connect dealers and their ideas to increase dealership profitability, but because we’ve always been certain of the impact that social media has on our lives in general and the enormous influence it has in the automotive industry in particular.

Just like car dealers don’t use marketing tools or strategies without meticulously quantifying their ROI, we now have the hard-crunched numbers indicating just how important social media really is.  Finally, for the first time in the automotive industry, Dealer.com, in partnership with DriverSide and GfK Automotive, is providing us with the very data that supports our dedication. Announced today exclusively to DrivingSales and presented at the 2011 DrivingSales Executive Summit in Las Vegas, the results of the study show that information on social media networks - such as status updates, comments and "likes" - plays a significant and expanding role in car-buying experience.  In fact, 38% of new vehicle shoppers said they used or will use social media to research their next vehicle purchase.  Of those who used Facebook while shopping, 41% said they saw a post that caused them to add a brand or model to their consideration; similarly, 28% said they saw a posting that caused them to add a dealership to their consideration. 

The study delves into the behaviors of car shoppers as they interact with others on social media platforms like Facebook.  At the end of the day, people prefer information from people they trust – their friends.  When someone on Facebook broadcasts that they like a specific car or dealership, their friends take that into consideration.  And it’s likely that they’ll do that -- approximately 25% of buyers use social media post-purchase to broadcast their purchase and ownership experience, showing a high level of engagement after the purchase. This number jumps to 33% for those loyal to a particular brand, and 37% for those loyal to a dealership. 

And with the average person on Facebook having 170 friends, that’s ton of people that they are sharing that information with.  I know, I know.  Most of you are concerned that people could be sharing negative information about your brand, right?  Well, qualm your fears because the study also demonstrated that 82% of the time that people are posting about their car purchase, they are posting about a positive experience and only 5% of the time are they writing something negative.   With all that advocacy potential, perhaps it’s more important to focus on your customers once they drive off the lot. 

Fittingly titled The Rise of Loyalty, Advocacy and Influence: Social Media and the New Automotive Buying Cycle, the study results progress from people advocating for your brand, to becoming loyal to it to the point that they don’t even consider other brands, and finally moving forward to the inevitable influence they have over the people in their social networks to consider your brand as well. This new person-to-person marketing demonstrates how the advocacy of others is becoming more important than traditional marketing. 

Thank you to Dealer.com for sharing this incredible research with the DrivingSales Community.  The possibilities are endless and the study is a cornerstone piece that surely defines our future path in the automotive industry.

We are so pumped for the DrivingSales Executive Summit in Las Vegas and can’t believe it’s just around the corner!  The line-up is packed with amazing keynotes from Gary Vaynerchuk, Aaron Strout, Jason Falls, Rob Siefker from Zappos.com, and Google.  We will also be releasing some amazing auto industry-specific research exclusively at DSES.

The attendees at DSES are high-level decision makers from around the globe, who are eager to push the boundaries of innovation to make their stores more profitable.  And each day, we have more and more of those dealers signing up.  At this point, we’ve reach capacity at the Bellagio and are sold out for the event. 

There are a few seats remaining.  If you’ve previously purchased tickets, your seats are yours.  If you’ve purchased tickets that come with extra dealer passes, we’re saving your seats as well.  But be sure to sign your dealers up this week before we give those last few seats away.

If you’ve registered for the event, we can’t wait to see you there and we’re confident you will leave the event having had a thought-provoking, hands-on networking experience that will take your business to the next level.  If you weren’t able to grab your ticket to the event, be sure to follow along via the live Twitter feed (#DSES), participate in the discussions with the live blogging on DrivingSales, and watch the keynote presentations in real-time on DrivingSalesTV.  It’s not quite the same as being in Vegas for DSES, but we’ll do our best to get you the information you need.

The DrivingSales Executive Summit is clearly set to the automotive event of the year.   Vegas, here we come!

The DrivingSales Executive Summit is less than a month away! The third annual DSES event will bring together the most progressive dealers in the country, along with world-renowned speakers like Gary Vaynerchuk, Jason Falls, Aaron Strout, and Rob Siefker -- all focused on pushing the auto industry’s ‘innovation boundaries’ and translating the latest trends and business realities into solid 2012 action plans for every dealership department.  You’ve registered already, right?! There are only a few spots left, so there’s no time to waste.  Visit our registration page and sign up NOW!

Unlike other automotive industry events, the DrivingSales Executive Summit is 100% dealer driven and designed specifically for the most advanced dealer principals and dealership executives in the industry. The exclusive event has a vendor-neutral policy, meaning no vendor influence on presentation selection and adherence to a strict dealer-to-vendor ratio.  This focus makes DSES the most worthwhile auto event to attend.  Register now using the code DS11 to receive $100 off the current registration price.

In addition to world-renowned speakers and thought provoking workshops, DSES also holds the 2011 DrivingSales Dealer Best Idea Contest. This contest, sponsored by ADP |Cobalt, brings attention to the original and creative ideas that are driving results in dealerships across the country. The award recognizes the most innovative dealership strategies of 2011.

Five auto dealer finalists will have a chance to win over $10,000 in cash and prizes, and the opportunity to present their ‘best idea’ at DSES in October.

All dealership employees are invited to apply.  Applications are reviewed by a dealer panel, which selects five finalists to be invited onstage at DSES to present their ‘best idea’ in competition for over $10,000 in cash and prizes and the award for 2011’s Best Idea.

Apply now via the DSES Awards Page.  There is no charge to apply.  The application deadline for the DrivingSales Dealer Best Idea Award is midnight PST, September 14, 2011, so hurry. Time is running out!

Register for DSES.

Apply for the Dealer Best Idea Award.

Congratulate yourself on taking steps to becoming a better dealer.

Alright, Google +1 is officially here, but is it going to stay?  Previous attempts at a similar button from Google, like wave and buzz, have not remained as Google would have hoped.  So is this one doomed to the same fate?  It's a mighty feat to take on the almighty Facebook it's noteworthy "Like."

On the other hand, one could argue that Google is the all-mighty.  It's the web.  I don't search Facebook for information on the web, I go with Google, and the +1 button is Google saying "We're not a social website.  We are the social web."  But will others jump on with it?  

We've added it to the DrivingSales site to see how it goes and how people interact with it, but what are your thoughts?  Is Google +1 going to stick around?

Want a chance to win $100.00 off dealer registration at the upcoming DrivingSales Executive Summit October 9-11th in Las Vegas?  How about a chance to win a FREE REGISTRATION altogether?  Well, now’s your chance and it’s super easy.  We’re conducting a survey about social media and how it compares to traditional media, but to do that, we need dealers like you.  Don’t worry, completing the survey is easy and takes 3-4 minutes, but it will help us learn about social media strategies and share with you how to build them.

So how do I enter?

All you have to do is fill out this survey and enter an email address to have a chance to win the $100.00 off.  Ten lucky people with completed surveys will be chosen at random as winners.  AND if we reach 175 participants, one lucky dealer participant will receive FREE REGISTRATION at DSES.  FREE!!  That’s right, this type of research is so important to us, that we're will to offer a $699 value just for taking the time to honestly complete a 4-minute survey.  Sweet deal, if you ask me. 

The purpose of this study is to examine potential uses of social media in comparison to traditional media in order to develop an understanding of what impact a social media strategy can have on dealership profitability.  In particular, we will look at social media marketing from a budgetary standpoint, as well as online reviews from a loyalty perspective.  You can learn more information about the research project here.

So, if you’re a dealer (only real dealers are eligible) complete this survey for a chance to win a FREE registration at DSES or $100.00 off!

* Only legitimate emails will be accepted and only one legitimate email address per survey.

Your anonymity is important to us.

*Email addresses will in no way by used to attach identity to information provided in completed surveys.  They are solely for the purposes of the drawing and will otherwise be discarded.  Any information presented in the release of results will be done so as aggregate data, with no reference to any one store's survey information.

*If you don’t want to leave an email, you are not obligated to, but we won’t be able to confirm your participation and thus, you won’t be entered into the drawing to win FREE registration or $100 off.  But we’d love your participation nonetheless!

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them here or email me at Lindsey@DrivingSales.com.

*The following is a contribution by a real dealer who has asked to remain anonymous (you'll understand why), so I've posted the content to respect their wishes.

Dear OEM:  

Really?  You are in bed with a website vendor and are forcing my hand in using it?  Yes, your SEO truly stinks, your sites take long to load, your bounce rates and overall usability is poor – yet you are forcing my hand to use the site you as an OEM has deemed most acceptable.

I did try to move away with another vendor who I have used prior – everything I know about this website vendor is ten fold better than what you offer and about half the price.  You say it is ok for me to leave…but what do you do, big bad OEM?

You penalize the dealership with infraction after infraction because I don’t have the right wording buried eight pages deep in our site?  We fix what you wanted to fix – you approve the site… and then come back and re-review my site and deny it… again!  NOTHING HAD CHANGED!

After jumping through countless hoops, I finally was able talk with someone at the OEM level and find out there seems to be a mass exodus with your current website vendor.  Therefore the OEM will continue to go through my current (non-OEM recommended) site with a fine-toothed comb looking for the smallest infractions to penalize us…

BUT – what you tell me is that if we go back to your current website vendor, you as an OEM will ease up on our dealership AND you will erase my current infraction you gave me!  Seriously?  

So Mr. OEM – there is a mass exodus leaving your current provider and you have yet to ask yourself why.  The dealers are speaking, yet you are forcing their hand to use a sub-par website due to your current relationship with them.

OEMs – you are KILLING your dealers in the digital marketing arena!   Progressive OEMs and independents will CRUSH us in SEO and SEM strategies if you continue to go down the path you going. 

Not all websites are created equal – take a look, Mr. OEM, at why I wanted to go with someone else.  Here is a snap shot of your OEM recommended site’s analytics for 30 days:

Now – below is analytics of our site I had up for all of 30 days.  138% more visitors and each of those visitors ON AVERAGE spent another 2 minutes on the site, went 2.5 pages DEEPER, and less of them bounced off my site.  Let’s not talk about conversion rates as that would REALLY make way too much sense.

So, Mr. OEM – I am going back to your site for fewer visits, less page views, shorter site time, and more customers are bouncing because this is what the executives think will be best.

So here’s to you, Mr. OEM!  May your digital marketing strategies continue to be obsolete, overpriced, and down right piss poor.

Signed,

Just about every dealer in the country

A recent study conducted by SEOmoz on ranking factors indicates that 90% of SEO experts believe that social signals at the page level will be the most important ranking factor in Google’s ranking algorithm.  This trumps even exact keyword match, which significantly dropped in perceived importance over the last two years.

So what does that mean?  Basically, SEO-privy individuals imagine that things like Twitter, Facebook, and Google Buzz will have a high impact on getting your website to the top of the rankings list.  Although StumbleUpon and Digg weren’t the most favored sites and were in fact listed lowest, they expect things like tweets, particularly the authority of tweets, will impact Google’s algorithm.

Facebook's Share

SEOmoz simultaneously conducted a correlational study to see if the survey results fell in line with these expectations.  They found that the #1 factor associated with higher Google ranking was the number of Facebook shares.  This even trumps external links and unique IP addresses that visit the URLs!  They also found that 60% of the over 30,000 URLs they examined had at least one Facebook share.

But can Facebook shares really increase your ranking according to Google’s algorithm?  Not so fast, my Facebook-eager friends.  Further examination showed that the correlation between Facebook shares and Google ranking was spurious, meaning there’s something else that is influencing both.  Don’t get me wrong, Facebook shares are great, but it’s likely that linking to Facebook probably also means that the URL is getting linked to, tweeted about, and shared on a variety of other social media communities.  So getting deeper engagement is important, but not necessarily a cause for high Google ranking.  Perhaps it is an indication that the link is content-rich and there are other things that are driving the rank in Google – an indication of quality and interest, but not something that Google is looking at directly.

Take-away

Listening in on the Webinar that SEOmoz shared last week was super insightful in helping us understand at least a little bit of Google’s algorithm, which is constantly changing and becoming more complex.  Some of these results point to activities that directly relate to high rankings in Google, such as more links linking back to your site from more diverse sources, higher traffic from unique IP addresses, and these.  Some of these characteristics, however, show attributes that are possessed by top ranking sites, but aren’t directly affecting their rank, such as Facebook shares.  The bottom line is both are characteristics that successful sites have and are worth considering if looking to strengthen your marketing efforts and potentially bring your rank up.

Thanks to SEOmoz for sharing this insightful data.  You can check out the study in its entirety on SEOmoz's blog.  Keep an eye on those social signals and your social networking efforts.  There’s no denying the impact that social signals have on Google rankings now, and the potential for their increased influence in the future.  

DrivingSales is trying something new.  Before joining this amazing team, I worked as a researcher, most recently as a research assistant at Stanford University.  Now, we’re combining that previous experience and dedicating ourselves to finding solutions to industry questions.  One of the things Jared wanted me to focus on when joining DrivingSales was starting unique market research to serve dealers.  Nobody knows dealer questions better than you, the dealers, so we’re asking you what new market questions dealers are facing.  Each quarter, we’ll take on a new research project to shed some insight on the industry with real data, real numbers, and real, actionable solutions.  You pose the problem; we’ll find the answers.

We recently had a large dealer group contact us with a market question that is most certainly affecting all of us.  Social media tends to be a hot topic, of course, but how does it impact dealerships in particular?  Together, we’re looking to understand the influence social media has in our industry compared to traditional forms of media.

The purpose of this study is to examine potential uses of social media in comparison to traditional media in order to develop an understanding of what impact a social media strategy can have on dealership profitability.  In particular, we will look at social media marketing from a budgetary standpoint, as well as online reviews from an exposure and loyalty perspective.  

This is where we need your help.  We're interested in collecting real numbers - real data - from dealerships all over the country to get the most accurate picture of what social media looks like in our industry today.  With these numbers, we're aiming to see what benefits a social media strategy can produce, and from that, build strategies or investigate current strategies that are effective in increasing profitability.

Participation in this study is easy and pain-free.  All we ask is for you to complete this quick online survey at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CSIRM. It will take less than 5 minutes!  Of course, all data will be securely stored and completely anonymous.  Any information presented in papers or presentations will be done so as aggregate data, with no reference to any one store's scores.  The more accurate responses we can get, the better information we can get back to you, the dealers, and the more useful it will be.  

Thanks for your brief participation!  Please share this with anyone and everyone!  Of course, if you have an issue you’d like to get to the bottom of, please feel free to contact me at Lindsey@drivingsales.com and we’ll work it in for a future quarter’s research project. 

DrivingSales is excited to announce that the 2nd Quarter edition of the 2011 Dealership Innovation Guide is officially here!  The Dealership InnovationGuide is a free publication from DrivingSales.com full of good stuff for dealers looking to improve.  It's packed full of the latest vendor ratings and articles that will help dealers identify and adopt best practices that affect their bottom line.  We’ve fielded many requests for a more frequent publishing schedule, so we’ve transitioned from publishing the magazine bi-annually to quarterly.  Now you can get more great content, more often!  

Congratulations to Jon Sherrell for making this edition’s cover article with a fantastic story about how he won a brand new Fiat franchise with his stellar SEO strategy!  You can read this article RIGHT NOW at Dealership Innovation Guide - Jon Sherrell. 

Other great articles include:

“Dear Vehicle Manufacturers:  Three Ways You Are Killing Your Dealers” by Jared Hamilton

“Dealers Must CLOSE THE SALE” by Grant Cardone

“More Changes at Google in the Last Six Months than in the Last Six Years” by Richard Winch

Additional authors featured in the edition include:

Rob Fontano

Bryan Armstrong

Marc McGurren

…and MORE!

Gain access to these articles and the entire magazine for FREE at DrivingsalesInnovationGuide.com.  Want the actual magazine in print?  Subscribe to receive your free copy here.  Read the Dealership Inovation Guide hot off the press!