Tweeting is important for automotive marketing, but doing so in a way that gets you Retweeted is just as important. Retweeting boosts your original message, amplifying its reach by orders of magnitude, ensuring it’s seen by more people. Now, having good content will get your message out there, but good content alone can only take you so far. You need to be willing to sink yourself into the nitty gritty and really take a look at what gets Retweeted.

I’ve shared information like this before, but Neil Patel from Quicksprout just released a great, concise infographic that really lays out everything you need to know to get started optimizing your Tweets. Obviously no two businesses are exactly the same, but I feel like most of these rules are general enough that they’ll work for anyone.

Check out the infographic below, and check out the original post about getting Retweets on Wikimotive's blog under the title, "The Art of Getting Retweets." 

Most businesses understand the benefits of search engine optimization, but they waste all that hard SEO work by not having decent landing pages. Getting clicked is only the first step, once a potential customer is on your page, you need to be able to convert them into either a lead or a sale.

Wikimotive has written a limited-edition eBook called ‘Optimizing For Conversion’. This eBook gives you an overview on how to build successful landing pages, test those pages, and optimize every last aspect. The methods we use are simple, affordable, and proven to work.

eBooks—for those who are unfamiliar—are short, downloadable booklets that exist in digital PDF form. In ours, you’ll learn:

• What landing pages are
• Why they are important
• How to build your own
• How to test them out
• How to further promote interaction
• And More

So if you want to know how to optimize for conversion, or if you just want some more ideas, then you’re in luck! Follow this link to get your free copy of our ebook.

Original article releasing the Optimizing for Conversion posted on Wikimotive's blog under the title Wikimotive eBook: Optimizing for Conversion.

We all know that Google is a powerhouse, but in the past they have been a fairly reasonable one. For all the brawn they possess, they let people get away with a lot of activities that are probably technically infractions. This is what makes it so shocking when they truly bring their guns to bear. It’s their right though, and their newest issued penalty may have enormous repercussions on everything from local SEO to international SEO.

Raven Tools, provider of metrics and management tools for SEO and social media, has announced that they are being forced to stop providing their wildly popular rank checking tool. The reason given is that they failed to pass Google’s annual AdWords audit. Similar things have happened to other rankings providers such as SEOMoz and Market Samurai.

What does this mean going forward? Apparently Google is going to start cracking down on people who are scraping data. If they get caught or cross whatever invisible threshold Google has assigned, they’ll have their AdWords API access revoked.

The real question is whether Google is simply trying to ease the load on data centers, or if they are purposefully trying to strike a blow at SEO providers. Everyone in the SEO industry is at Google’s mercy to a degree, and if they want to stem the flow of data, that could mean major changes for both providers and clients. There isn’t too much to worry about yet, and there are always others ways of getting information, but Google is unapologetically using its power here.

Apparently, that thin red (blue, yellow, and green) line that every SEO has to walk just got a little thinner.

Original post on Raven Tools can be found on Wikimotive's blog under the title, "Google Sacks Raven Tools." 

Pinterest is doing a lot right. They know they aren’t the first social network on the block and they aren’t trying to pretend they are. Instead, they’re deliberately studying Facebook and Twitter and implementing similar successful policies. This is great news for Pinterest users, and if you can keep up, it will be great news for your Pinterest marketing efforts.

Over the weekend, Pinterest made an effort to rid itself of fake user accounts. Facebook and (to a much lesser degree) Twitter have made similar efforts, and for good reason. Fake accounts tend to simply spam without adding any value to the social network. The only people who like them are businesses who are trying to inflate their numbers, but even that isn’t worth much as they offer no true engagement.

Should you worry about your account’s followers? Not unless you purchased them. At one point, it was believed that you could purchase real, human followers (this applies to every social network). It didn’t take long to realize that this just isn’t true though. Purchased followers in any substantial quantity are going to be largely fake, and thus useless.

If you didn’t purchase followers, then you will likely not even notice a difference. According to Pinterest Engineer lead Jon Jenkins, 99 percent of accounts will lose fewer than 10 followers. Many won’t lose any at all. If you HAVE purchased followers, you’d do well to monitor your page this week and see exactly how deep the cuts went.

Original blog about Pinterest Marketing can be found on Wikimotive's blog under the title, "Pinterest Cutting Fakes."

Social media is here to stay, and according to the latest study released by the Nielsen group, it hasn’t even finished growing yet. What does this mean for the future of social media marketing and what role will it play in your automotive SEO? Lets take a quick look at the numbers.

As you can see on the graphic to the right, the minutes spent on social media are significantly higher this year than last. More people are logging on and, just as importantly, once they are on they are staying on longer. In fact, according to the Nielsen study, 30% of all time spent browsing on mobile devices was spent on social media sites. For desktops it’s only slightly lower, with social media accounting for 20% of all browsing time.

Facebook and Twitter are still the big two, but blogs and Pinterest are starting to gain ground.

Social media is going to continue to grow. If you haven’t fully embraced it for your business yet, then now is the time to start. Think of it this way, if you knew everyone in your target demographic watched the same program for 30% of all the time  they watched TV, isn’t that where you would market? Even better, the costs of advertising on social media are only a fraction of traditional advertising costs.

Original post about Social Media Growth can be found on Wikimotive's blog under the title, "Social Media Numbers Still Growing." 

Google is the best there is at what they do, and it’s because they never become complacent. Even when a program is working, they are always seeking out ways that it could be improved. That’s why Google should always be the first thing you consider when you are planning your Search Engine Optimization efforts.

In keeping with their never-completely-finished attitude, this week Google released a big update for AdSense text ads. The update is to help the ads continue to succeed even as people move from computer, to phone, to tablet, all within a single workday. As you can see in the example to the right, there is a new, large clickable arrow icon as well as slight updates to the font, spacing and layout.

These changes will roll-out automatically over the coming weeks for most text ads on pages. The color will not always be gray though. Instead, the color of your arrows will be based off of the color palette you have selected for background colors. Whatever color you have selected, your button will be a slightly different shade of that color to ensure a cohesive look on the site.

What do you think of these updates? Are the arrows truly going to help with mobile users clicking the ads, or are they just a swollen eye-sore?

Original article about Google AdSense posted on Wikimotive's blog under the title, "Google Updates AdSense."

Pinterest is experiencing rapid growth, both among casual users and marketers. In the past month, Pinterest has started to embrace businesses that want to utilize their service, and they have made explicit business pages available. In the grand tradition of Facebook and Twitter, Pinterest hopes to use businesses’ need to market to increase their own revenue. When it comes to social media marketing, Pinterest should definitely be part of your strategy, and moving from a personal account to a business account will help in increasing your marketing power.

What are the benefits of moving from a personal account to a business account?

-You get official Pinterest buttons that can be added to websites, allowing people to pin items and follow feeds.

-You can officially link your website to your Pinterest account.

-Information from Pinterest explaining how to best use Pinterest for marketing and social networking.

Those are the big three for now, but you can safely assume that Pinterest isn’t done adding business benefits yet. As they figure out what works for businesses (and what is profitable for them) they will continue to roll out new features and new methods of advertising.

If you want a business account, you can create one from scratch or convert your personal account. All you need to do is simply click the applicable button pictured to the right, and then follow a very short account creation process. Make sure you use the same profile best practices you would with other social networks, such as a strong, short description and relevant user picture!

Original post about Pinterest Business Pages can be found on Wikimotive's blog under the title, "Pinterest Allowing Business Accounts." 

Google is full of surprises. This week, they went out and acquired the company Incentive Targeting. What will this mean for your search engine optimization efforts moving forward? Lets break it down a little and see if we can piece together part of their master plan.

There are a lot of rumors, but this one is for real. In a Tweet, Mike Dudas-part of Google’s mobile commerce division-wrote, “Google acquires Incentive Targeting to power highly targeted manufacturer and private label coupon programs.” Essentially, Incentive Targeting is meatspace Google. They offer the same kind of highly precise, targeted ads and the same powerful ROI measuring tools. As Incentive Targeting put it, both companies make advertising, “simple, relevant, measurable, & effective.”

So what will this mean going forward? Clearly, Google is looking to spread their physical market influence. They are currently reworking Google Wallet, so there’s a chance that this might all fit together quite nicely. With Incentive Targeting’s technology, they’ll be able to deliver incredibly personalized coupons to their users. Additionally, Incentive Targeting has a patent on a method for shoppers to search and then parse those results to find the exact product they are looking for. It’s hard to say exactly how Google will implement this, but it could have major ramifications on the way businesses, especially at the local/regional level, do their marketing.

Original post about Google's Acquisition can be found on Wikimotive's blog under the title, "Google Acquires Incentive Targeting." 

Facebook is pushing hard to extend their influence, and now they are beginning to drill down to a more granular level with their business support. They recently released a guide specifically for automotive dealerships. The only problem is that it isn’t exactly advertised everywhere, so many people may have missed it. It’s nothing revolutionary, but if you are Marketing using Facebook, then it will definitely have a couple tips worth checking out for you.

To download the guide, you can follow the link here. Once there, you simply enter your company name, phone number, job title, and advertising budget. The guide is called Facebook’s 4 Steps to Dealership Success, and it is in the traditional ebook format.

While you may already have your Facebook plan in place, I recommend checking out this guide. After all the time we spend poking, prodding, probing and analyzing what works best on the social network, it’s interesting to read what THEY think is important.

So, what DOES Facebook think is important? Well, as any good marketer knows, they think it would be just a swell idea if you spent a good chunk of your advertising budget with them. The majority of the book, while genuinely helpful, is a value proposition for their paid services. It essentially walks you through the funnel of first getting ads that garner likes, then turning those ads into offers, and finally sponsoring stories.

Read the guide, I’d be curious to see how much of it is actually news to everyone.

Original post about Marketing Using Facebook can be found on Wikimotive's blog under the title, "Facebook's Dealership Success Guide." 

A Facebook username is essentially your domain name on Facebook. For instance, ours is Facebook.com/Wikimotive. Much like your actual website domain name, your Facebook username is best when it is just your brand name. Snagging this username (and the accompanying vanity URL) is an important part of your social media marketing effort, so lets make sure you know how to do it.

Changing your username is extremely simple, even for a Facebook rookie. First, you need to navigate to your business page. If you manage more than one business page, make sure you are aware of which you’re looking at, because you can only change names once. At the top of the business page, there will be a button that says “Edit Page” with a small blue arrow pointing down. Click that button and you’ll get a dropdown menu, from that menu you need to select “Update Info”. A few lines down this page, you’ll see a section called “Username:”. Check to see what your current username is, and if you need to change it, select the “Change Username” option immediately below.

It’s simple enough, but you may run into a few different problems when selecting a username.

• A personal profile or other business page has claimed it
• The name doesn’t fit Facebook’s guidelines for lengths or word restriction.
• Facebook has reserved the page for a well-known brand.
• Someone else in your organization already reserved the page.

Original post about Facebook Usernames can be found on Wikimotive's blog, titled, "Setting Your Facebook Username."