In this era of dealership expansions and acquisitions, groups are often put in the unenviable position of inheriting promises or perks that were offered prior to the dealership acquisition. One would think that it is simply a matter of grandfathering the customer into a perk offered by the previous owners. However, one automotive group chose to take a different approach, as recently covered in an article in Automotive News.

Unique Value Propositions – or differentiators – are increasingly important in the automotive industry. Regardless of whether a dealership offers free oil changes, free “tires for life” or any other perk, each dealership will do what it thinks best to attract, sell, service and retain the maximum number of people. But what happens when a dealership has perks it’s promised to buyers and then is acquired? In this case, the acquiring dealer group decided NOT to honor those perks – which, in and of itself, may seem like a risky move – but was it the right one?

In any acquisition, one of the attributes considered is any existing promises made and how the community views the dealership as far as its honesty, integrity and reputation. Obviously, the better the reputation, the more attractive the dealership is for the acquiring dealer group. That being said, when a dealer group is expanding – and doing so under an umbrella brand name, versus simply taking over and retaining the original dealership name – the challenge is how to retain the acquiring dealer group’s existing value propositions and embrace its newly acquired customer base.

In some cases, those two things can be at odds, as it was with this automotive group, a well-known and highly respected group with its own unique set of values. According to the article, if they were to adopt the values of the previous owners for each dealership acquired, they would “be all over the map” and that would be very hard to keep track of and also incredibly confusing for customers. Imagine 10 dealerships all under the same brand name. One of them offers free oil changes for life. Another offers nothing. Another offers free tires. This list could go on. Not only would it be hard for executives to keep track of, it would also make consumers question which dealership they should do business with. It really doesn’t matter if the group’s dealerships are in the same PMA or not. It only boils down to this – when you go to one Wal-Mart, you expect every other Wal-Mart to have the same “rules”, if you will.

In this case, the existing customers of the dealership being acquired didn’t take the changes very well. The local media covered the issue and the customers also took to social media to vent. Did that change the new owner’s minds? No… and for a very simple reason. An organization with multiple value propositions that differ from location to location is doomed to fail. Customers will come in expecting one thing, simply because it is offered at another location, and will then be disappointed when they don’t receive it.

This group, however, understood the value of consistency in brand message and, despite the fact that they knew there would be upset customers because of this change in ownership and loss of perks, it chose to stay with the values and propositions the group was founded upon.

But what about those upset customers who lost the perks promised when they purchased their vehicles?

Their organizational values were non-negotiable so the dealer group trained its entire staff in how to handle these complaints and ensured that online reviews and social media complaints were quickly responded to and addressed appropriately.

The acquired dealership also addressed the ownership change on its website, offering customers discounts on maintenance packages and every fourth tire free. It also explained that Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. now gives free oil changes for the first two years.

As a result the group has begun renewing relationships with each individual customer and things are calming down.

They certainly didn’t buy the dealership because they wanted to alienate the customer base they acquired. But they also weren’t willing to deviate from their organizational values and selling propositions.

This is an interesting conundrum. Consistency and core values are key to any company. But, on the other side of the coin, customer acquisition costs are sky rocketing and the market is so competitive that an upset customer can easily defect to the competition. Did this group make the right move?

Last week, a UK based travel company received an interesting Facebook post – a user posted a screenshot of a travel itinerary that listed a layover of 413,786 hours (or roughly 47 years). This, of course, was a technical glitch, as the itinerary did not show the traveler arriving at their destination 47 years later and I’m fairly certain the post was simply to inform the travel company about this technical glitch. The social media team – or one person on that team in particular – chose to acknowledge that post in a rather humorous way…

Of course, this quickly went viral and resulted in a HUGE amount of comments – all of which praised the social media rep for Skyscanner – Jen – for her humorous response. But it didn’t stop there. As the comments piled up from readers/fans, she continued to insert personality and fun into replies which, to any outside observer, certainly seemed to win over just about every commenter and reader. In addition, this witty back-and-forth resulted in wonderful news coverage by organizations such as Mashable and the Huffington Post.

But what made THIS particular technical glitch and social media response so fantastic that it connected with readers, made new fans, attracted potential new customers and also captured the attention of media?

The company showed personality.

As The Huffington Post reported in a statement from Skyscanner regarding the interactions between Jen and their Facebook fans they “never imagined the Facebook discussion between Jen and James would gain this much interest,” but “being able to deal with customers’ questions while building relations with them is key.”

Now, many corporate policies and supervisors may have frowned upon this sort of engagement. If you look at some of the comments, Jen was never rude or sarcastic, but she did step outside-the-box and her responses were humorous, on point and engaged each person. And that is exactly the point of social media… engagement.

Most companies would have responded to a report of a technical glitch in their system in a stoic manner, such as, “Thank you for reporting this technical glitch. We’re sorry if this inconvenienced you in any way. We’re having our technical team correct this issue now and we appreciate both your reporting this to us and your business.” This response would not have been improper, nor would it have been abnormal. In fact, the reason that “Jen” became a viral Internet sensation was exactly because her responses were abnormal. However, they were also spot on and resonated with and connected her company to its customers.

If you need proof, look no further than this one example of many…

There’s nothing wrong with what essentially boils down to making fun of yourself and entertaining your audience. Yes, the company had a technical glitch. Despite the obvious corporate “Thank you” this social media rep took it a whole skyscraper beyond that and engaged each and every one of the commenters. In the end, the company got a ton of exposure simply because Jen took a small technical glitch and used that to engage customers in personal ways that they found humorous. Take this example:

Jen interjects relevant and popular pop culture references into her humor (if you don’t know this is a Game of Thrones reference.)

Or this one:

I’m sure you see the picture.

The point is that consumers aren’t used to companies exhibiting personality and having fun on social media which is exactly why people get so excited when they actually do!

Taco Bell, Audi and other big brands do this regularly. And those results pay off in the form of customer engagement. The reason this was so engaging is that Jen was trusted, empowered and Skyscanner allowed her to express those attributes spontaneously and in a manner than entertained and engaged their audience. And, because of that, they won new fans and I am sure acquired some new customers… all resulting from a travel agency reporting a 47 year layover itinerary to a customer.

It is such a great example of how mistakes can turn into customer relations gold if handled correctly. They can be a great opportunity to show your true personality and just how great you really are at providing an exceptional customer experience.

All too often, a company gets intrigued with content marketing and decides to give it a try. But then, after just a couple of blogs, executives decide that there just isn’t any tangible return on their investment, or that it’s not measurable, and so lessen their content output, or abandon the initiative altogether.

In most cases this is due to poor planning and a failure to ensure that the content produces the best impact possible. And, with so many options these days, businesses can get confused about what content marketing actually is. Content marketing includes video content, social media, blogs, articles, white papers, how-to articles and even press releases -- Any way you can get good information out in front of your audience and create an impact. The types of content and ways to distribute this content are increasing almost daily.

The key is to ensure you plan well in order to deliver the best message and ensure that it creates an impact. Have a strategy in place to coordinate your content so again, you create maximum impact. You could have written the best blog in the world, but if nobody reads it, it won’t matter. So coordinate your content strategy. If you post a blog on your site, post a link to Facebook and promote it. Tweet it out. Be sure to post it on your Linked In and to any Linked In groups that make sense. If you are a member of any relevant industry best practice social sites, consider posting it there too.

Some content, such as social media, is designed to deliver a relevant message in a fast, short format, similar to a sound bite. You don’t have much time, or many words, in which to craft a message and catch the person’s attention. So this type of content needs to be relevant, interesting and formatted properly for the platform. If your post drives them to a destination site, you better be sure that the promises you make in any social media content are delivered when they get to that site. Unless it is a targeted ad, if they click through and get a big product pitch and not the article, blog or piece of advice they were hoping for, the chances of them returning decrease with every occurrence.

Next, all your pieces of content should be designed to support each other. Perhaps your company is planning a sale or launching a product. A great strategy would be to start with some soft-sell, educational blogs and articles supporting the concept overall and the need for the product you are about to launch. Please don’t be promotional, just touch on the general subject with an opinion piece, or some industry best practices. For example, if your company is launching a mobile product, blogs and articles should be focused around mobile, and perhaps explain the importance of a mobile experience. Write articles on the subject and publish them in an industry publication. Create a social campaign around the subject. These blogs, articles and social postings can help to reinforce and keep the importance top of mind until... surprise… you publish a press release announcing a new mobile product.

Each piece of content should be tailored to guide your customers down the buying funnel. At the Top of the funnel your audience should receive messages and content that supports the overall concept and market need of the product and service you are about to offer. A soft sell, overall educational approach – not promotional. Each subsequent piece of content should then support that message.

Content marketing isn’t inexact. Each platform has a purpose and the lower you take someone down the buying funnel, the more promotional you can get. The end game is that your audience will start paying attention to your content when they are top funnel and follow you down the funnel as their need for your product or service (or your content convincing them of that need) progresses.

Only then will the audience think that your service is right for them. And when that happens, and they contact you, you no longer need to sell value, but only close the deal. Why? Because you’ve been selling value for months … and that’s why they contacted you in the first place.

Take advantage of content marketing. But be sure to do so in a way that is less about aggressively pushing your product, and is more of a coordinated strategic path. You will see your efforts pay off much faster and your executives will start buying into your strategy and be a heck of a lot happier about it!

Consumers increasingly use their smartphones to research which businesses they should patronize. These days, online reviews are a big part of that decision process. If managed incorrectly, these reviews can easily flip your prospective customer away from your dealership and into the lap of your competition. And it’s not just a bad review, it’s how you respond to them and interact with the customer. Responsiveness is key -- Keep in mind that saying nothing is almost as bad as saying the wrong thing.

But what should you say when an upset customer takes to a review site and bashes you, your business, or your staff -- when you weren’t even aware there was a problem?

An interesting article on Moz.com shares some great facts about online reviews and how to respond, both correctly and incorrectly

Owners and managers can feel blindsided when a negative review appears. Quite often they aren’t even aware of the problem. Most business owners and managers care about their businesses, value their customers and, when negative reviews appear, take them personally. To summarize the article, the owner of a food truck involved in a really busy festival woke up to a negative review from a customer complaining about the length of time it took to get the food and that the food itself was not equitable to the price paid. The owner essentially blasted the consumer with all sorts of excuses and some aggressive insults. This, in turn gave the consumer an even lower opinion of the business. As a result they edited the review from 2-stars to 1, making the situation even worse. The article dissects the actual review along with the owner’s response and shares how the author would have chosen to respond had they been in a similar situation.

Rather than rehash the whole article (which you should definitely read), I’ll focus on why responding appropriately to negative online reviews is so important.

When it comes to a negative online review, it is important to keep in mind that they are on public forums. They can be read by other prospective customers and are typically memorialized forever. In enough quantity, reviews can make or break your business. While each and every negative review due to a poor customer experience needs an individualized and appropriate response, it’s difficult to advise an umbrella policy. That being said, one easy rule to remember is this:

When reading and preparing a response to a negative online review, imagine that you’re standing in the middle of your showroom floor packed with customers who are considering buying a vehicle from you. The customer is directly in front of you stating their upset loudly enough for everyone to hear -- both what the customer says and any response you give. Because of that, your response can impact whether or not other customers choose to complete their transactions with you.

This simple action can help you be more thoughtful in your response. It’s highly unlikely (hopefully) that you would rant at and insult this upset customer in front of the other customers.

In reality there is little, if any, difference between talking irately to a customer live in the showroom surrounded by other customers, or in responding abrasively to a negative online review – except for one major detail:

The potential size of your audience!

While the handful of customers in your showroom are the only people to witness this event, EVERY customer that visits your online review sites will witness it in perpetuity.

So which is more important? Well, they both are. How you handle a guest standing in front of you and fix a problem, or apologize for a mistake, is exactly how you should handle a customer online. It doesn’t matter whether you think the customer is wrong, is overreacting, or just trying to get something for nothing. Take your personal feelings out of the equation and focus on improving (or at least attempting to improve) THIS customer’s experience – which will also show every other customer that you care and would be willing to help them if a problem should arise.

People do business with people they like. Make sure that everything you do – whether that’s in person or in an online interaction – reinforces the message that you care about your customers and are willing to work hard to rectify any problem. You won’t be able to make everyone happy -- but other prospective customers will see that you tried. And in the end, that’s all that really matters to them.

Related resource: Top Reasons to Respond to Negative Reviews

These days, most companies have a social media presence. Some are healthy and vibrant, while others merely exist. Regardless of how well any particular company presents itself on these channels, social media has transcended beyond the term “social media” and could now also be said to be a:

1. Marketing channel
2. Content distribution channel
3. Customer service venue
4. Online review platform
5. Communication channel

While you personally may not believe social media is worth the time and effort -- your customers certainly do. For instance, customers now use social media to reach out to their airline when a flight is delayed or something happens. And, guess what? If it is one of the major airlines, they tend to respond.

Why do so many big brands respond to social media if it’s so unimportant? Because consumers value it. In today’s mobile, smartphone-enabled world, in a time of turmoil, many find that it is much more convenient to reach out to an airline or hotel provider than to attempt to call them. And, frequently, it produces a faster response. Consumer behavior is then reinforced and they continue to use social media platforms for customer service issues. While this may be limited to BIG BRANDS, it’s quickly becoming an expectation for consumers across the board. If you have a Twitter or Facebook account for your business, your customers will be talking to you.

For this reason, the employee you choose to respond to posts on your social media properties, and exactly how you set up the account, is essential to your continued online social presence.

Imagine this scenario. You establish a social media presence and post relevant and interesting messages about your dealership. You build a nice size following. After all of this hard work and nurturing, something unexpected happens – an administrator leaves. Or, perhaps your dealership hired a vendor to create and/or manage your Facebook account… and then you cancel with them. What happens now? Well, I hope you set your page up correctly.

The first thing you need to know about Facebook pages is that you ALWAYS need an administrator. Of course, most companies just assign everyone as an administrator -- whether that’s the owner, employees or vendors. Everyone can do their thing, whatever their thing is -- and everyone is happy, right? Wrong!

The problem is that as people drop off – employees leave, vendors get cancelled, etc. – your Facebook page can be at risk. In the worst case scenario, a disgruntled employee or vendor can remove every administrator, and then themselves as well, leaving no available access. This means your page is orphaned. Which literally means that, while your Facebook presence still exists, you no longer have control and cannot post any content, reply to any comments, or messages. It’s sort of in a state of limbo. And it’s not easy to regain control.

The good news is that there is a solution. Facebook provides multiple levels of access which include different types of privileges. If you pay attention and set things up correctly, you should never encounter a situation whereby you lose control of the Facebook page you worked so hard to build.

The levels of access are as follows:

1. Administrator – Think of this level as that of a dictator. You can do anything. You are the man. Whatever you want to do, you can do. Be careful who you assign this to.
    
2. Editor – This is the setting that you probably want most of your assigned employees and vendors to have. This will allow them to do everything EXCEPT manage administrators. This means that you always have complete control over your page. YOU can delete them (if needed) but they cannot delete YOU.
    
3. Moderator – This setting is very similar to that of Editor, except that they cannot delete or create posts on behalf of you. This would be the ideal setting for any online reputation company you hire, as they can respond to comments and posts,  but cannot mess with any content you create or post.
    
4. Advertiser – If you hire a company to specifically facilitate Facebook ads, this is the setting you should choose when adding them. This allows them to create and post ads for you and view metrics, which is exactly – and only – what they need to do.
    
5. Analyst – This is the lowest security setting of all. This only allows someone to see metrics and data, as well as view who (on an individual level) posted content.

As social media becomes more and more integrated into the everyday lives of consumers, these rules will become more important. It’s better to assign security settings that fit the tasks your employees and/or vendors need access to now, than to regret it later.

Ensure that you have control over your Facebook page through a rigid security standard -- or you could end up in a place where you cannot even access your own Facebook page… and I guarantee that an orphaned Facebook page isn’t easy to reclaim.

It only takes a couple of clicks. Pay attention, just as you would when giving someone access to your CRM or DMS, and you’ll be fine.

While lead generation is important, according to this article on Inc.com, many companies would see far greater results (and better, more-qualified leads) if more emphasis were placed on nurturing, engagement, and providing value through content marketing.

A good content marketing strategy should include many different types of content. The article lists the following top ten types of content most used by businesses, along with the percentage of businesses that report using each:

• Social Media Content (93%)
• Case Studies (82%)
• Blogs (81%)
• e-Newsletters (81%)
• In-Person Events (81%)
• Website Articles (79%)
• Videos (79%)
• Illustrations / Photos (76%)
• White Papers (71%)
• Infographics (67%)

While this list only contains the top ten types, all of the content on this list can serve to engage your audience and keep your brand top of mind. That is your goal in marketing, right?

Why is content marketing so effective? Simple. Because this content provides value to your audience. Each of these ten types of content is a way for your business to engage your audience other than screaming “Buy my stuff!” You’ve seen it yourself. Constant in-your-face style promotion just gets old.

Content marketing, on the other hand, can transform a business from obscurity into a resource where executives are viewed as thought leaders. Your audience’s perception is invaluable and can help place your business top-of-mind when the time is right.

According to the article, the first thing many companies want to do when entering the content marketing space, is generate leads. In fact 85% focus on lead generation, which in the author’s opinion, is a mistake. He states that, “companies would see far greater results (and better, more-qualified leads) if more emphasis was placed on nurturing, engagement, and providing value through content marketing.”

There is a place for content that generates leads. But, don’t make your content a constant stream of promotion after promotion. Instead, aim to engage your audience, by creating the types of content that they want to see – and you can only do that by listening and responding to the needs and wants of your audience.

Video content has pretty much become the preferred medium for consumers. Social media platforms increasingly give video content preferential reach and content producers have adjusted their strategies accordingly.

In retail automotive, video is used very effectively to market dealerships and their inventory, because the content successfully attracts consumers’ eyeballs in a very crowded market.

However, for automotive vendors in the B2B, rather than B2C space, video tends to be underutilized, despite the fact that it can be (and is) just as effective. I counsel clients all of the time to create video content as it typically performs well and elicits response and engagement.

If you are looking to use video in your content marketing strategy to increase your digital footprint and reach more potential customers, here are a few suggestions that can help:

1. Informational Videos: How often does your support team have to answer common questions? Video FAQs and tutorials can help answer those most commonly asked questions and alleviate some of the strain placed on support staff. These type of videos also tend to provide excellent SEO value.
   
   You can have the best product or service in the universe. But, if a dealer isn’t utilizing it (whether that’s because they don’t know how, or don’t know the feature exists), a cancellation letter is likely to follow. Informational videos can include explanations of features (existing or new), and tips and tricks about how your customers can get maximum value from your products and services. These videos can then be viewed on demand and the client can get any questions answered quickly and more efficiently learn how to use a particular feature.
    
2. Personal Introductions: Just as dealerships have a “Meet the Staff” page on their websites, most vendors do as well. Consider injecting some personality into your staff pages through the inclusion of video introductions and bios. Be creative, as these are a really great way to highlight your personality and company culture.
    
3. Video Emails: Video emails are a highly effective way for dealers to interact with consumers because they show some time and effort was taken to personally respond, and help build more of a connection. The same technology use can be used by vendors to elicit a more positive response and personal interaction with customers. Most will appreciate the time and effort that went into the video response.
    
4. Testimonials: Testimonial videos can be an extremely powerful way to leverage your existing customers to communicate the success they’ve had with your products or services. Consumers (and business owners) rely heavily on reviews, whether online, or through word-of-mouth. Video reviews tend to be that much more impactful, because viewers can hear and also see the sincerity, enthusiasm and satisfaction the reviewer shares.
    
5. Video Blogs: Video blogs tend to produce more views and interaction than written blogs. If you write and post blogs, consider adding video blogs into the mix. Just as in written blogs, these really should not be promotional. There is a time and place for product-driven blogs – posted on your site to explain new technologies or features, for example. However, for your social media and external sites, consider sharing your advice and best practices with the dealer community. There are several online communities where you can share your opinion, voice and expertise. And, if your content is good, your blogs will be welcome, read with interest and you can become better known as an industry expert, helping to keep you top of mind.

So, give it a try. Get out that camera and start filming. You’ll quickly find any time and effort put into creating video content will pay off through increased exposure, attention and business.

Social Media has become an important channel customers use to reach out to businesses. From tweets expressing their displeasure, to Facebook wall posts asking for additional information, increasingly, customers utilize these channels to engage and communicate with you.

Facebook realizes this and, as a result, has opened up new ways for customers to communicate with businesses, and vice versa. It also now holds businesses accountable through public notations that highlight how fast a business responds to customers.

These days, an improperly handled Facebook page or Twitter account can lose business and alienate customers. I have therefore put together 5 social media errors you can easily make, and why it is so important to avoid them. I hope these help!

1)    Ignoring Interaction:

For most customers, if they have an issue, there is nothing worse than reaching out to a company and feeling ignored. Yet this is exactly what businesses do when they ignore customer interaction on social media, and it happens more often than you may think.

Regardless of whether the interaction is a complaint, or a simple product or business question, be sure to pay attention and respond in a timely manner. You will earn the goodwill of the customer and at the same time show potential customers that your company cares.

In our digital world, ignoring these interactions is the equivalent to ignoring a phone call or a question asked in person. Make sure that you pay attention to your social media properties and acknowledge your customers when they choose to interact with you.

2)    Being Completely Promotional:

 By definition, social media is, well, social. Individuals do want to interact with any friends, families and businesses they may care about. However, while there’s nothing wrong with running ad campaigns, or even occasional posts about your product or service, bombarding your fans or followers with promotional content is the fastest way to lose your audience.

It’s hard enough to get their attention in the first place. If you spam their newsfeeds or Twitter streams, you’ll find out quickly just how easy it is for consumers to hide, unlike or unfollow you.

3)    Lack of Consistency:

As digital noise increases, social networks are making it harder for businesses to deliver content to their audiences. With organic reach hovering in the 4-6% range (or lower), it is important to maintain a consistent presence by posting relevant content on a regular basis.

Your Facebook page is rather like an extension of your storefront or business location. When someone visits your Facebook page and finds that the latest post is months old, it seems like the lights are on but no one is operating the business – you are obviously not very creative and care little for your customers.

It doesn’t take much time to find a single piece of content that’s relevant to your business and/or share an interesting picture with your audience daily. Make it a priority to ensure that something gets posted regularly and avoid the appearance of apathy.

4)    Ignoring Your Audience’s Needs & Wants:

It’s very easy to fall into the “social media as advertising channel” trap. However, Facebook, Twitter and other social media networks make it easy to ensure that you serve up desirable content, with tools that inform you of the types of content your audience desires. It’s actually quite simple. Every time content is posted, the audience votes. They’ll engage with the content they like and ignore (or fail to engage) with the content they don’t.

Pay attention to the content that your audience engages with and post more content along similar lines. In general, content that gives your some personality, such as videos and pictures of employees, community involvement or other real-time events at your business will be the best performing content.

There’s a big push for video content which performs very well. So highlight what’s going on at your business through images and video and you’ll find that your engagement soars.

5)    Inappropriate Content on Personal Accounts:

Just as social media is now a useful tool for screening potential employees, potential partnerships can easily be dismissed by an errant post on social media. When key executives of a company post content that is divisive (religion, politics, etc.) or illustrates inappropriate behavior (excessive drinking, partying, etc.) this can cause a potential customer or partner to disappear.

I’m not saying that executives need to live their lives as saints. I’m simply saying that if the content or activity wouldn’t be appropriate in front of customers or partners – potential or actual – than it’s probably wise not to memorialize those same things on personal social media accounts.

An argument could be made that privacy settings can prevent this. However, keep in mind the simplicity of taking a single screenshot and the damage that it can do unbeknownst to the executive.

Social media has become a viable and oft-used form of communication. As companies have increasingly realized its importance and become faster at responding to and resolving customer problems, customers have become better trained in the fact that social media is an effective means of interaction. When and if a customer reaches out, failing to react appropriately can result in negative consequences which are so simple to prevent. I hope that these 5 tips help improve your presence on social media. By no means is this a complete “how-to” list, but rather a guide to help you begin to have a solid social media presence.

Today, it’s a content-drive world. There is so much content in existence there’s simply no way any person could ever truly absorb all of the messages being thrown their way. Consumers have to get picky about what messages they choose to pay attention to and which to ignore. Frequently, that decision is made in seconds. So you don’t have a lot of time to grab the reader’s attention. And, it’s not enough to simply have the reader’s attention -- nowadays you must be able to keep it.

Blogs are a great way to stay in touch with your audience and remain top-of-mind. But, just as quickly as you have attracted their attention, it only takes one or two false moves for the reader to decide to stop paying attention to you.

I therefore thought I would share 5 common blogging mistakes which can turn off readers. I hope you find them helpful!

1. Being Promotional – Don’t make the mistake of using your blog as just another channel to market your products. Sure, there is a time and place for blogs targeted to customers about such topics as how to better use your products, new features they should know about, etc. But don’t do it so much that you scare off your readers. People pay attention to blogs because they find them interesting and valuable. That value could lie in the fact that they are educational, funny, or relevant to your industry. If you choose to push promotional content through your blog – or outside industry blogs – you may find that your blog gets ignored very quickly. There’s nothing wrong with an occasional piece discussing a new feature, product or service, if it’s limited to the company blog. However, in general find topics that your audience will find interesting and valuable. Use your blog to capture and keep their attention by creating unique content that is relevant.
    
2. Too Long – While there is no real rule these days about length, and I have found that, in some cases, longer blog content can be quite successful, in general blogs that are short and to the point will get read by more people. In most cases, there’s no reason to write blogs that are excessively long. Readers simply don’t have time to consume all of that content at once. People have limited attention spans. While they may start reading your blog, if it’s too long you may lose them.
    
3. Talking to A Wall – A great strategy when writing blogs is to write them in a conversational tone. Readers are much more engaged when the content seems as if it is speaking to them. Don’t be too detached in your writing style. Write as if the reader is sitting in front of you and you are verbally relaying the content in a conversation. You’ll find that people are more receptive and will relate to the content much better.
    
4. Lack of Engagement – One of the best things about blogs is that, for the most part, your customers or audience can engage with you should they find a blog article particularly interesting, or have additional questions. However, all too often, comments are left to sit without any response. This is detrimental for a couple reasons. First, it makes the commenter feel as if you don’t value them, or that you’re ignoring them, which will discourage any future engagement from that person. Secondly, future visitors to the blog will see that, while someone attempted to engage with you, there was no reciprocal engagement. This could also discourage that future visitor from leaving a comment or question.
   
   It’s also very important HOW you engage with your readers. Tone of voice, sarcasm or dismissal of different opinions can easily turn a great piece of content into one which simply showcases that your businesses may not be willing to look at things from another perspective. Just remember that not everyone is going to agree with your advice -- and that’s alright. Keep producing content that brings value to your audience, pay attention and engage them when they engage you, and you’ll begin the process of building a loyal audience.
    
5. Grammar and Spelling Mistakes – Think of blogs like clothes: How you look to your audience makes a difference. Have you ever come across a poorly written piece of content riddled with spelling or grammar errors? Did it distract you and put you off the content? You always want to ensure that each piece of content you produce looks and reads well and is a professional representation of your business. Grammar and spelling errors could make your readers feel that your business is not very good at paying attention to detail – and that is NOT good for business. The more attention you pay to detail with your blogs – in both content and form – the more likely your content will be syndicated.

Simply creating content isn’t enough. It needs to be content that your audience cares about if you want to attract and keep their attention. I hope these tips help you avoid the 5 common mistakes that many people make when blogging. You should then be less likely to be on the receiving end of a press of the “delete” button.

Dealers are in for a wild ride. The next 5+ years will be filled with revenue from recall work; a shortage of technicians; shop capacity that can’t keep up with demand; parts availability issues; and, as a result, irate customers.

Recalls certainly challenge consumers’ patience and dealers can find themselves in a constant battle, fighting to put out fires, attempting to appease and retain customers.

A lack of parts availability for these recall repairs has already presented a huge challenge for many dealers. Customers are upset and there is sadly very little dealers can do to help. How do you handle a customer that has been informed that they will now have to drive an unsafe car for as long as 6 months before a part is available?

As it is such a huge issue, many media outlets have turned to tabloid press tactics, blowing things out of proportion due to some localized dishonest dealers that do not necessarily represent how dealers nationwide would choose to handle their customers.

A local Cincinnati news outlet reported an incident in which a customer was sent a recall notice from a local dealer. The customer went in to get the repair completed and the part wasn’t available and needed to be ordered, so the dealer told the customer about some needed front end work, to the tune of $922. The customer accepted the work. Two weeks later, when the part arrived, the customer returned to the dealership to get the recall repair completed. Another inspection was done and the customer was informed that his vehicle now needed an additional $2,000 worth of work. Needless to say, the customer declined and went to an independent repair facility for a second opinion. There he was told that he only needed $300 worth of work. While one might think this is an isolated incident, the article quotes an article in Consumer Reports which stated that, “some dealerships are exploiting safety recalls as a marketing hook to sell additional repair work.”

Due to these type of media reports, along with that Gallup poll that annually ranks car dealers near the bottom, sadly this industry does not always enjoy a very good reputation in the eye of the consumer. Recalls bring an even bigger challenge to this perception – even for the good, honest, transparent, customer-centric dealerships.

One dealership by itself, perhaps can’t change industry-wide perception. However, what you can do is have some impact on your local community. Do everything within your power to set yourself apart from your competition and, perhaps, earn new customers through a commonly used public relations technique.

When a business is under fire and the news is full of how “bad” they are, one of the tactics that can be used is to get out as much content as possible, in as many places as possible, that tells the other side of the story. If the public only hears how everything is bad, you should tell your customers and community why YOU are good. In order to do this, you DO have to make sure it is the truth. So, if you need to change things to ensure that you DO offer a great customer experience, then take a look at what you need to do internally first, to ensure you do maximize the customer experience for each and every customer.

Then, put out content in as many ways and on as many channels as you can that reassure people in your community that you care about your customers and that you are there to help. Make sure that you are including these messages in your newsletters and on your website. Place it on all your social media properties. Include it in your print ads, email communications, radio and TV ads. Identify happy customers that you assisted with a recall repair and get testimonials from them. Perhaps film your service advisors talking about challenges the dealership is facing with parts on a specific recall and put that online on your site, on YouTube and on your social media. Publish blogs and press releases with dealership specific information on parts availability, average timelines for repairs and resources that your dealership has to help make everything more convenient for your customers. It may not all be great news to the consumer, but the point is to be a resource of real information and be a trustworthy source for the consumer.

Don’t stay silent. The media has already done a great job of filling the vacuum with bad news, souring public perception. And, be careful not to keep forwarding the negative message that the press puts out there. Don’t talk about all the bad news in an effort to counter it. Your job is to forward positive news about your dealership. Yeah, it’s tough as there is a lot of truth out there and this current recall situation certainly is not a pretty picture. However, the goal is to fill the vacuum with YOUR message. One designed, in essence, to counter at least some of the negativity. Doing this can help to spread the word and reassure the community that your dealership is a great place to do business with. That you care about your customers and the local community.  If done properly, all of this content can also serve to increase your page ranking in search results and grow your dealership’s digital footprint.