An undeniable shift is happening in our industry. One that will change how we operate forever. It’s all about delivering on the customer experience with a true online buying process. AutoNation saw it. And, Carvana, Beepi and other start-ups are gaining traction. In addition, other vendors within our industry have built platforms that allow dealers to facilitate this type of buying experience. There’s no doubt that we’ll see mass adoption on some level by dealerships. But, as always, a shift towards technology in one arena brings shifts in other areas.

What am I talking about? Social Media.

The logic behind consumers wanting a more convenient car buying experience is sound. That’s one of the biggest consumer pain points that we’ve heard for decades. Retailers have made it easier and more convenient to buy their products online for quite some time now. Consumers got used to it. Now they want a similar online experience for the vehicle purchase process. Not all of them, perhaps. There will still be tire kickers that want to come in, test drive 5 cars and really don’t know what they want.

However, there will also be that consumer who has done their research and knows exactly what they’re looking for. They want to buy a car and they know exactly which one. Providing these consumers with an easier way to facilitate that transaction should certainly be good for sales.

As dealerships adopt these processes, and consumers embrace them, we’re conditioning them for an online experience. And, what else do consumers do online with companies? They communicate. Many consumers today choose social media as the medium of choice for interacting with companies. Whether that’s asking product questions; airing complaints; or seeking customer service; they have no problem posting on a Facebook page, or tweeting out to the company. And they expect a response.

Most dealerships have social media accounts -- whether they actively use them or not. Even a dormant Twitter account, or Facebook page, is an open door that invites consumers to enter. If you’re not listening for consumers reaching out to you on social media, it is the same as having a phone which nobody ever answers (not that THAT ever happens).

If, as an industry, we’re going to embrace a digital buying experience, we must also embrace all of the ways consumers can interact with us digitally – whether that is via chat, text message, or social media channels. Failure to do so will just frustrate the consumer. They could then quite simply move on to the next dealership. Because, while dealerships that embrace an online buying experience TODAY may be differentiating themselves, we’ll soon see this as the norm.

And, dealerships that haven’t been listening, may find their customers have stopped listening to them as well.

An undeniable shift is happening in our industry. One that will change how we operate forever. It’s all about delivering on the customer experience with a true online buying process. AutoNation saw it. And, Carvana, Beepi and other start-ups are gaining traction. In addition, other vendors within our industry have built platforms that allow dealers to facilitate this type of buying experience. There’s no doubt that we’ll see mass adoption on some level by dealerships. But, as always, a shift towards technology in one arena brings shifts in other areas.

What am I talking about? Social Media.

The logic behind consumers wanting a more convenient car buying experience is sound. That’s one of the biggest consumer pain points that we’ve heard for decades. Retailers have made it easier and more convenient to buy their products online for quite some time now. Consumers got used to it. Now they want a similar online experience for the vehicle purchase process. Not all of them, perhaps. There will still be tire kickers that want to come in, test drive 5 cars and really don’t know what they want.

However, there will also be that consumer who has done their research and knows exactly what they’re looking for. They want to buy a car and they know exactly which one. Providing these consumers with an easier way to facilitate that transaction should certainly be good for sales.

As dealerships adopt these processes, and consumers embrace them, we’re conditioning them for an online experience. And, what else do consumers do online with companies? They communicate. Many consumers today choose social media as the medium of choice for interacting with companies. Whether that’s asking product questions; airing complaints; or seeking customer service; they have no problem posting on a Facebook page, or tweeting out to the company. And they expect a response.

Most dealerships have social media accounts -- whether they actively use them or not. Even a dormant Twitter account, or Facebook page, is an open door that invites consumers to enter. If you’re not listening for consumers reaching out to you on social media, it is the same as having a phone which nobody ever answers (not that THAT ever happens).

If, as an industry, we’re going to embrace a digital buying experience, we must also embrace all of the ways consumers can interact with us digitally – whether that is via chat, text message, or social media channels. Failure to do so will just frustrate the consumer. They could then quite simply move on to the next dealership. Because, while dealerships that embrace an online buying experience TODAY may be differentiating themselves, we’ll soon see this as the norm.

And, dealerships that haven’t been listening, may find their customers have stopped listening to them as well.

It’s been a week now since the seventh installment in the Star Wars franchise hit theaters, breaking all box office records along its way. I’m sure that there is much more money in Disney’s future. That’s the ending of this story. Now for the beginning...

Think about the many months leading up to the release of the latest movie. About how much Star Wars we were all exposed to. Every YouTube video went viral. You pretty much couldn’t go to the grocery store without seeing Star Wars branded food – yes, food – Star Wars Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, cereal, soap, soup… the list goes on. Then there were the toys. You thought Black Friday was a big deal, then along came “Force Friday.” Yes, two months prior to the movie release itself, a release date for Star Wars merchandise became an event. How big? According to most sources, that single day generated over $1 billion (with a “b”) in sales.

But what does this have to do with marketing? Or social media?

Most major big-budget movie releases spend upwards of $50 million on television ads leading up to the movie’s release.  According to the Wall Street Journal, as of Monday, Dec. 7, two weeks before the movie’s release, Disney had only shelled out about $17 million. You want to know the truly amazing part? The companies Disney selected as official partners have spent $38 million in co-branded television advertising. Yes, somehow Disney managed to get other companies to spend twice as much money advertising the movie as Disney itself did.

Just about every company that could – whether in a licensing agreement or not – made some effort to be included in and engage with their audience about this single movie. Even Facebook changed its normal “What’s on your mind” status update prompt to “Star Wars: The Force Awakens opens today! Are you excited to see it? Let your friends know.” It would seem that the marketing machine at Disney is very smart. Could they have spent $100 million on television ads? Of course. But chose not to. The reason is simple. The marketing team threw out content they felt sure people would want to share. They also gave a few top influencer companies permission to piggyback on the hype and then sat back and let the world collectively drool while everything Star Wars sold out, went viral or was blogged about.

And they did this for one simple reason: They knew that there was more power in other people talking about their product than in talking about it themselves. This single concept is true in all marketing, public relations, content marketing and social media. While there certainly were benefits to the co-branding partnerships for the partners themselves (think Star Wars fans buying mac & cheese simply because the box has Yoda on it), there were far more benefits to Disney by letting other brands inundate the world with Star Wars themed packaging and merchandise; essentially transforming grocery stores into huge Star Wars billboards.

So, the next time you’re sitting in your office at the dealership trying to figure out the best way to get exposure with your audience, take a lesson out of the Disney playbook and figure out ways to get others to share your brand for you. You’ll find out very quickly that the Force will be your ally.

It’s been a week now since the seventh installment in the Star Wars franchise hit theaters, breaking all box office records along its way. I’m sure that there is much more money in Disney’s future. That’s the ending of this story. Now for the beginning...

Think about the many months leading up to the release of the latest movie. About how much Star Wars we were all exposed to. Every YouTube video went viral. You pretty much couldn’t go to the grocery store without seeing Star Wars branded food – yes, food – Star Wars Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, cereal, soap, soup… the list goes on. Then there were the toys. You thought Black Friday was a big deal, then along came “Force Friday.” Yes, two months prior to the movie release itself, a release date for Star Wars merchandise became an event. How big? According to most sources, that single day generated over $1 billion (with a “b”) in sales.

But what does this have to do with marketing? Or social media?

Most major big-budget movie releases spend upwards of $50 million on television ads leading up to the movie’s release.  According to the Wall Street Journal, as of Monday, Dec. 7, two weeks before the movie’s release, Disney had only shelled out about $17 million. You want to know the truly amazing part? The companies Disney selected as official partners have spent $38 million in co-branded television advertising. Yes, somehow Disney managed to get other companies to spend twice as much money advertising the movie as Disney itself did.

Just about every company that could – whether in a licensing agreement or not – made some effort to be included in and engage with their audience about this single movie. Even Facebook changed its normal “What’s on your mind” status update prompt to “Star Wars: The Force Awakens opens today! Are you excited to see it? Let your friends know.” It would seem that the marketing machine at Disney is very smart. Could they have spent $100 million on television ads? Of course. But chose not to. The reason is simple. The marketing team threw out content they felt sure people would want to share. They also gave a few top influencer companies permission to piggyback on the hype and then sat back and let the world collectively drool while everything Star Wars sold out, went viral or was blogged about.

And they did this for one simple reason: They knew that there was more power in other people talking about their product than in talking about it themselves. This single concept is true in all marketing, public relations, content marketing and social media. While there certainly were benefits to the co-branding partnerships for the partners themselves (think Star Wars fans buying mac & cheese simply because the box has Yoda on it), there were far more benefits to Disney by letting other brands inundate the world with Star Wars themed packaging and merchandise; essentially transforming grocery stores into huge Star Wars billboards.

So, the next time you’re sitting in your office at the dealership trying to figure out the best way to get exposure with your audience, take a lesson out of the Disney playbook and figure out ways to get others to share your brand for you. You’ll find out very quickly that the Force will be your ally.

If you haven’t heard, it’s getting harder for businesses to reach their audiences on Facebook unless they’re willing to spend some money. Estimates are that the average reach for a company post on its Facebook page is around 2-6 percent organically. There are only two ways to increase that. First, by paying for Facebook ads. And secondly, through interaction with your content. The second part is tricky unless you combine it with the first part, as how do you get people to interact with your content if they don’t see it in the first place? The solution to your problem lies no further than your office door: your employees.

Hopefully, you have created a company culture in which your employees are brand advocates. They should be aware of - and interested in - the content your dealership is posting on its social media accounts. Not only that -- you would hope that they would also engage with your content through liking, commenting and sharing that content. Interaction with your posts by your employees accomplishes two very important things. It increases the reach of your post. AND, that reach is typically very effective. You see, whenever someone interacts with a brand’s content on their page, their friends and families are likely to be delivered that interaction in their own Newsfeeds. Chances are good that a decent percentage of your employee’s networks live in your market and these are exactly the people you want your content delivered to. But what’s the benefit of this interaction for your employee?

How many times in your automotive career have you heard the story of a salesperson discovering that their friend bought a car elsewhere, simply because they were unaware that their friend actually sold cars? This is a tale that just about every person in car sales has heard and, more often than not, experienced. Interacting with the dealership’s social media content benefits the employee when they show those interactions and shares to their own personal audience. This could very easily inform their networks that they do, in fact, sell cars and keep that employee top of mind when someone in their network is in market. The dealership benefits through increased reach organically. It’s a win-win situation. But all too often, when you visit a dealership’s Facebook page, there is very little interaction by employees.

You would hope that your employees are proud to work for you and interested in helping the company succeed. However, more often than not, employees don’t interact because they don’t understand the benefits both to themselves and the dealership. Take the time to sit down with your employees and explain how they can help the dealership through simply clicking a like button, commenting, or sharing content through their own personal social media accounts. Interaction leads to more interaction, just like a snowball rolling down a hill increases in size as it goes. Simply going by the philosophy of “If you build it, they will come,” is no longer a viable strategy. Leverage your employees to jump start the reach of your social media content and you may find that your fans increase, your reach increases and you just might pick up some more business because of it.

If you haven’t heard, it’s getting harder for businesses to reach their audiences on Facebook unless they’re willing to spend some money. Estimates are that the average reach for a company post on its Facebook page is around 2-6 percent organically. There are only two ways to increase that. First, by paying for Facebook ads. And secondly, through interaction with your content. The second part is tricky unless you combine it with the first part, as how do you get people to interact with your content if they don’t see it in the first place? The solution to your problem lies no further than your office door: your employees.

Hopefully, you have created a company culture in which your employees are brand advocates. They should be aware of - and interested in - the content your dealership is posting on its social media accounts. Not only that -- you would hope that they would also engage with your content through liking, commenting and sharing that content. Interaction with your posts by your employees accomplishes two very important things. It increases the reach of your post. AND, that reach is typically very effective. You see, whenever someone interacts with a brand’s content on their page, their friends and families are likely to be delivered that interaction in their own Newsfeeds. Chances are good that a decent percentage of your employee’s networks live in your market and these are exactly the people you want your content delivered to. But what’s the benefit of this interaction for your employee?

How many times in your automotive career have you heard the story of a salesperson discovering that their friend bought a car elsewhere, simply because they were unaware that their friend actually sold cars? This is a tale that just about every person in car sales has heard and, more often than not, experienced. Interacting with the dealership’s social media content benefits the employee when they show those interactions and shares to their own personal audience. This could very easily inform their networks that they do, in fact, sell cars and keep that employee top of mind when someone in their network is in market. The dealership benefits through increased reach organically. It’s a win-win situation. But all too often, when you visit a dealership’s Facebook page, there is very little interaction by employees.

You would hope that your employees are proud to work for you and interested in helping the company succeed. However, more often than not, employees don’t interact because they don’t understand the benefits both to themselves and the dealership. Take the time to sit down with your employees and explain how they can help the dealership through simply clicking a like button, commenting, or sharing content through their own personal social media accounts. Interaction leads to more interaction, just like a snowball rolling down a hill increases in size as it goes. Simply going by the philosophy of “If you build it, they will come,” is no longer a viable strategy. Leverage your employees to jump start the reach of your social media content and you may find that your fans increase, your reach increases and you just might pick up some more business because of it.

In the past, consumers were limited in their options when they had any sort of complaint or service issue with a particular business. Those options, however, have progressed and today’s consumers have moved on from phone calls and e-mails to air their complaints. They now turn to review sites and social media in an effort to get businesses to rectify a perceived wrong. Yes, some of these complaints may escalate into a revenge-sort of rant by an unhappy customer. But, oftentimes a consumer is simply at their wits end after attempting to get the problem solved via traditional methods. Consumers are now getting wise to the fact that taking their unhappiness to social media may be the best way to get their problem solved.

A recent article on NJ.com, described several situations in which consumers tried to get problems solved via traditional methods, to no avail. One story involved a man who purchased a refrigerator which did not work correctly. After more than four service visits attempting to fix the refrigerator, the man demanded a replacement. Only to be told he was out of warranty. So what did he do? He took to the company’s Facebook page. He advised customers daily not to buy the company’s products. And guess what? It worked.

Stories like this are becoming more and more commonplace. Surprisingly, however, a new study from Sprout Social finds that despite an increase in messages sent to brands on social media, nearly 90% go unanswered. However, companies that do pay attention, see those previously unhappy customers share their now positive experience on social media with their friends and family - the equivalent of free advertising. The opposite, of course, happens to those companies that do not respond and fail to assist their customers. Consumers are now more vocal about their bad experiences with a much larger audience. With social media networks providing audiences in the billions, along with Google’s integration of tweets in real-time, those complaints shared via social media are now much more likely to be found by potential customers.

More and more articles keep popping up that advise consumers to take their complaint to social media for a faster resolution. As consumers continue to follow this advice, businesses better start listening and take action. It doesn’t take much for complaints to transform from one upset customer into a mob of them supporting each other’s plight. And that can have a powerful impact on prospects considering your product or service.

If you’re using your social media accounts simply to broadcast messages and fail to pay attention to your customers, and/or potential customers that post messages or complaints, you may soon find a mob of people standing outside your castle armed with torches and pitchforks anxiously awaiting the opportunity to storm the castle. Take care of your customers, show others that you are listening.  Then you will find a group of happy customers that will encourage others to do business with you, rather than a mob awaiting your demise.

In the past, consumers were limited in their options when they had any sort of complaint or service issue with a particular business. Those options, however, have progressed and today’s consumers have moved on from phone calls and e-mails to air their complaints. They now turn to review sites and social media in an effort to get businesses to rectify a perceived wrong. Yes, some of these complaints may escalate into a revenge-sort of rant by an unhappy customer. But, oftentimes a consumer is simply at their wits end after attempting to get the problem solved via traditional methods. Consumers are now getting wise to the fact that taking their unhappiness to social media may be the best way to get their problem solved.

A recent article on NJ.com, described several situations in which consumers tried to get problems solved via traditional methods, to no avail. One story involved a man who purchased a refrigerator which did not work correctly. After more than four service visits attempting to fix the refrigerator, the man demanded a replacement. Only to be told he was out of warranty. So what did he do? He took to the company’s Facebook page. He advised customers daily not to buy the company’s products. And guess what? It worked.

Stories like this are becoming more and more commonplace. Surprisingly, however, a new study from Sprout Social finds that despite an increase in messages sent to brands on social media, nearly 90% go unanswered. However, companies that do pay attention, see those previously unhappy customers share their now positive experience on social media with their friends and family - the equivalent of free advertising. The opposite, of course, happens to those companies that do not respond and fail to assist their customers. Consumers are now more vocal about their bad experiences with a much larger audience. With social media networks providing audiences in the billions, along with Google’s integration of tweets in real-time, those complaints shared via social media are now much more likely to be found by potential customers.

More and more articles keep popping up that advise consumers to take their complaint to social media for a faster resolution. As consumers continue to follow this advice, businesses better start listening and take action. It doesn’t take much for complaints to transform from one upset customer into a mob of them supporting each other’s plight. And that can have a powerful impact on prospects considering your product or service.

If you’re using your social media accounts simply to broadcast messages and fail to pay attention to your customers, and/or potential customers that post messages or complaints, you may soon find a mob of people standing outside your castle armed with torches and pitchforks anxiously awaiting the opportunity to storm the castle. Take care of your customers, show others that you are listening.  Then you will find a group of happy customers that will encourage others to do business with you, rather than a mob awaiting your demise.

Today, most people have the perception that marketing is intrusive, right? Pop ups, banner ads, commercials, e-mail campaigns and junk mail are routinely considered annoying. Well, if this is what you think, you could be wrong. In fact, according to an article in AdWeek, consumers actually like being marketed to. Go figure – it’s pretty surprising that someone would actually ASK consumers if they like being marketed to. However, that’s exactly what research firm MarketingSherpa did. And guess what - only 8% said they didn’t want to be marketed to.

Does that surprise you? We struggle to get 4% open rates on email campaigns, click-throughs on pay-per-click ads, and the many other metrics that indicate our marketing campaigns are successful. So, why do we see low success rates on our marketing efforts, when consumers apparently WANT to receive them?

According to the study, it’s less about whether they want to see them and more about HOW they want to receive them. The article includes a very cool infographic which illustrates that consumers are pretty picky concerning how they want to receive ads. The top three methods include direct mail, e-mail and a company’s website.

But beyond that, some very telling statistics are the ways in which consumers actually discover new products. Right behind the obvious way of in-store browsing at 59%, the top way consumers discover new products is through word-of-mouth from friends, family and colleagues, at 57%. Add in the 20% that indicate that reviews shared by these same people also help them discover new products, and you’re pretty close to figuring out what actually motivates consumers to investigate new products.

We know that consumers visit up to 24 touch points in their online car buying experience. They’re doing the research. Part of that research is deciding which dealership they want to visit. With consumers now averaging less than two dealership visits before purchasing, it’s more important than ever to do everything possible to ensure that your dealership is one of them. Keep in mind that something planted a seed which started the customer’s journey. Sure, they may have wanted a new car. But, unless they’re a true brand loyalist, they may not know which brand is the best one for them. And who do you think they ask first? Their friends, family and colleagues.

So, don’t be shy when considering whether to market to consumers. Just remember that you need to think in an omni-channel way. Most dealerships already do this to some extent with a good mixture of traditional, direct mail and digital marketing.  However, the one channel that typically gets neglected is indirect marketing - i.e. getting those friends, family and colleagues to share your message for you. According to the study, that is the most effective way to turn words into actions. Brand yourself and enlist your customers to help spread your message.

Get your customer to share their new vehicle and/or customer experience with their social networks. This will go far to keep your dealership top of mind when it comes time for their networks to purchase. People trust their family and friends more than any other resource. Leverage them for your benefit and you’ll see more business through referrals - whether you can directly attribute it to a previous customer or not.

Today, most people have the perception that marketing is intrusive, right? Pop ups, banner ads, commercials, e-mail campaigns and junk mail are routinely considered annoying. Well, if this is what you think, you could be wrong. In fact, according to an article in AdWeek, consumers actually like being marketed to. Go figure – it’s pretty surprising that someone would actually ASK consumers if they like being marketed to. However, that’s exactly what research firm MarketingSherpa did. And guess what - only 8% said they didn’t want to be marketed to.

Does that surprise you? We struggle to get 4% open rates on email campaigns, click-throughs on pay-per-click ads, and the many other metrics that indicate our marketing campaigns are successful. So, why do we see low success rates on our marketing efforts, when consumers apparently WANT to receive them?

According to the study, it’s less about whether they want to see them and more about HOW they want to receive them. The article includes a very cool infographic which illustrates that consumers are pretty picky concerning how they want to receive ads. The top three methods include direct mail, e-mail and a company’s website.

But beyond that, some very telling statistics are the ways in which consumers actually discover new products. Right behind the obvious way of in-store browsing at 59%, the top way consumers discover new products is through word-of-mouth from friends, family and colleagues, at 57%. Add in the 20% that indicate that reviews shared by these same people also help them discover new products, and you’re pretty close to figuring out what actually motivates consumers to investigate new products.

We know that consumers visit up to 24 touch points in their online car buying experience. They’re doing the research. Part of that research is deciding which dealership they want to visit. With consumers now averaging less than two dealership visits before purchasing, it’s more important than ever to do everything possible to ensure that your dealership is one of them. Keep in mind that something planted a seed which started the customer’s journey. Sure, they may have wanted a new car. But, unless they’re a true brand loyalist, they may not know which brand is the best one for them. And who do you think they ask first? Their friends, family and colleagues.

So, don’t be shy when considering whether to market to consumers. Just remember that you need to think in an omni-channel way. Most dealerships already do this to some extent with a good mixture of traditional, direct mail and digital marketing.  However, the one channel that typically gets neglected is indirect marketing - i.e. getting those friends, family and colleagues to share your message for you. According to the study, that is the most effective way to turn words into actions. Brand yourself and enlist your customers to help spread your message.

Get your customer to share their new vehicle and/or customer experience with their social networks. This will go far to keep your dealership top of mind when it comes time for their networks to purchase. People trust their family and friends more than any other resource. Leverage them for your benefit and you’ll see more business through referrals - whether you can directly attribute it to a previous customer or not.