Shocking! Survey finds Ad Agencies are slow when adapting online marketing!

Today’s top story on Marketing Profs (insert link) literally hit me like a ton of bricks, and I’m guessing you’ll be just as surprised and maybe even shocked as well.  According to the latest questionnaire  from-CMO Council  addressed to Senior Level Marketing professionals, just one out of ten business marketing leaders are saying that traditional advertising companies are doing a good job in offering, evolving and servicing their clientele well in regards to online marketing and the challenges the Digital Age brings.

Taking an even closer look to the CMO Council survey; more senior marketers (48%) are on the move – from their prior hired ad agencies over to digital marketing solution and service providers, who can provide seamless integrated digital capacities like social media, mobile and interactive strategies. Further, senior marketers are concerned about agencies lagging or struggling to adapt their core competencies, showing:

• 1.) Even though agencies are acquiring digital marketing capabilities, they are not able to fully integrate their efforts (29%)
• 2.) 22% of senior marketers are of the opinion that agencies are still playing catching up to new technology
• 3.) And 22% say agencies are still struggling with their transition from their “old” business models and service offerings into “new” digital
• 4.) Just 9% are thinking ad agencies doing a good job on “Digital”

Does that mean your agency won’t show the results you are hoping for - especially on the digital front? Hopefully not, but to combat this possibility, make sure you create a “cheat-sheet” with questions you will ask your current ad agency at your next meeting. Find out if they are able to produce the results you are craving right away:

• a) Have them describe how automotive shoppers use traditional and online media today. Are they current with the latest research?
• b) How do you leverage our consumer’s interest in our Brand, Make and Model, combining the national OEM digital marketing efforts with our ambitions to steer created curiosity towards our website and brick & mortar location(s)?
• c) How fast is your turnaround when ad messages on national campaigns are changing? What does your turnkey support look like?
• d) Knowing that a consumer needs around 7 triggers/ad impressions to take (such as researching or even submitting a leads on the advertised campaign, how do you assure to have our ads “in their face” all the time?
• e) How will you remarket our efforts?How can you reinforce our advertising by driving traffic towards our campaign message?
• f) Can you provide a personalized campaign website anytime when OEM messages will change?
• g) Let them walk you through their reporting and what kind of metrics they will provide to you. We all know by now that online measurability will show you clear and actionable data and results helps you to understand the impact of your online advertising and will easily validate the return of your digital marketing investment.

It seems to be that these are tough questions – but think about it – it is your money you are spending, and you want to make sure that you leverage all the new, digital goodies which make online marketing oriented dealer(s) successful.

Every agency will tell you they are digital experts. The best way to judge their expertise is for them to walk through the details of campaigns they have run for others, and the results they have achieved. The great thing about digital is its measurability – have them show their numbers, and tell you what they can deliver for you!

Shocking! Survey finds Ad Agencies are slow when adapting online marketing!

Today’s top story on Marketing Profs (insert link) literally hit me like a ton of bricks, and I’m guessing you’ll be just as surprised and maybe even shocked as well.  According to the latest questionnaire  from-CMO Council  addressed to Senior Level Marketing professionals, just one out of ten business marketing leaders are saying that traditional advertising companies are doing a good job in offering, evolving and servicing their clientele well in regards to online marketing and the challenges the Digital Age brings.

Taking an even closer look to the CMO Council survey; more senior marketers (48%) are on the move – from their prior hired ad agencies over to digital marketing solution and service providers, who can provide seamless integrated digital capacities like social media, mobile and interactive strategies. Further, senior marketers are concerned about agencies lagging or struggling to adapt their core competencies, showing:

• 1.) Even though agencies are acquiring digital marketing capabilities, they are not able to fully integrate their efforts (29%)
• 2.) 22% of senior marketers are of the opinion that agencies are still playing catching up to new technology
• 3.) And 22% say agencies are still struggling with their transition from their “old” business models and service offerings into “new” digital
• 4.) Just 9% are thinking ad agencies doing a good job on “Digital”

Does that mean your agency won’t show the results you are hoping for - especially on the digital front? Hopefully not, but to combat this possibility, make sure you create a “cheat-sheet” with questions you will ask your current ad agency at your next meeting. Find out if they are able to produce the results you are craving right away:

• a) Have them describe how automotive shoppers use traditional and online media today. Are they current with the latest research?
• b) How do you leverage our consumer’s interest in our Brand, Make and Model, combining the national OEM digital marketing efforts with our ambitions to steer created curiosity towards our website and brick & mortar location(s)?
• c) How fast is your turnaround when ad messages on national campaigns are changing? What does your turnkey support look like?
• d) Knowing that a consumer needs around 7 triggers/ad impressions to take (such as researching or even submitting a leads on the advertised campaign, how do you assure to have our ads “in their face” all the time?
• e) How will you remarket our efforts?How can you reinforce our advertising by driving traffic towards our campaign message?
• f) Can you provide a personalized campaign website anytime when OEM messages will change?
• g) Let them walk you through their reporting and what kind of metrics they will provide to you. We all know by now that online measurability will show you clear and actionable data and results helps you to understand the impact of your online advertising and will easily validate the return of your digital marketing investment.

It seems to be that these are tough questions – but think about it – it is your money you are spending, and you want to make sure that you leverage all the new, digital goodies which make online marketing oriented dealer(s) successful.

Every agency will tell you they are digital experts. The best way to judge their expertise is for them to walk through the details of campaigns they have run for others, and the results they have achieved. The great thing about digital is its measurability – have them show their numbers, and tell you what they can deliver for you!

A survey of social brand reception by gender, country and age

With my two posts “Why Online & Offline Marketing could be best partners in crime” and “Why should you listen to the Consumer Voice” I am concluding today with “Brands and Friends – Your Social Opportunity” the series of reflections on the TNS Digital Life Study. 

The question was: “How open are people to brands on Social Networks?”

The Findings: The big elephant in the room here – There is great acceptance and openness from consumers to brands in socially networked brands when the market in the country is considered “fast growing”. On the other hand, there is much higher brand resistance from consumers when in a developed market. For us here in the U.S., this means that the approach to connecting with potential customers needs to be carefully planned. According to the TNS study, the stakes are for damaging a brand, image, and perception are much higher in countries like the U.S. and Central Europe due to social resistance. The luckiest retailers are in Russia, where 17% of people are more open to brands than they are resistant to them.

Focus U.S.A.: People are more resistant to buy actually products they are not familiar with than they are open to learn about them online through social networks. Even so social networks are not considered the most ideal spaces for a retail business; it became clear that the growing popularity of group buying sites like Groupon, Yipit, Livingsocial and others opened up new opportunities as we can see here in the example below.

With localizing and personalizing the business’s digital footprint the retailers could be able to sell or offer a service more overtly rather than pushing too many offers in too frequent manner into their social media streams and networks. It is considered a more unapologetically approach to push these offers onto group buying sites rather than be a social spammer. Driving Traffic to the store – Yes! Creating profits – Depends!

Another interesting finding of this study was looking into gender behavior. Do Women approach brands on social networks different than men? – And? Any guesses? You have 3 more seconds to find out…Okay, here we go:

Survey question: How do you feel about finding out about a brand through a social network?

11% of women in the U.S. are more open to brands than they are resistant to them. Men on the other hand are  only 7% more open to connect via social.

Follow-up survey question: How do you feel about buying products through a social network connection?

[BUMMER ALERT!] 16% of the females are more resistant to brands than they are open to them and just 8% of the males showed more resistance to brands than openness.

VJ’s Question: Knowing now that there are indeed differences in brand acceptance and resistance between male and female – how does the research data reflects on age groups? Is there a chance for us dealerships to target in particular Boomers, Gen-X’s and Millenals (a.k.a. Gen Y’s)?  

VJ’s Answer: “Yes – and - No.”Hold on…I am not at all indecisive to provide you a clear answer. Here is why I came to this mixed conclusion.

According to the Data research of the TNS Digital Study – “Age Does NOT Matter”. [Quote]: Globally people’s openness or resistance for brands on social networks is NOT dependent on age. There is an assumption that younger people are more open, but this study shows that older age groups are as open to brands as their younger counterparts. [Quote-end]

Here are the figures I could dug out for you and indeed the fluctuation of the percentage points are minimal.

So YES, there is a chance to target your marketing messages and social network approach more towards your clientele, focusing on the more reciptive age groups discussed above.

Let’s take our future consumers here at the dealerships – The Millenials. From studies by Exact Target 2010, PEW Research and Morepace Omnibus Report we know that Millenials will “befriend” 51% of brands they like on Facebook. Keep in mind, BRANDS THEY LIKE, and not brands you think they should like! Furthermore, the study states that when Millenials are Facebook friends with an offline retailer (yes, that is you, the dealership) 26% LIKE special offers – again, please read carefully, - and I will spell it out for you “S P E C I A L offers”. Do not use social media “spam them to death” with countless oil-change coupons or car detail specials – they don’t care. Rather tease them with brand clothing and accessories, which appeals more to their brand loyalty. Hip is in! (Scion dealers, VW dealers, Hyundai – are you listening?!).

When looking at the Gen-X clientele consider communicating all the things what could make their life easier, when dealing with your dealership. No matter if you do it via social, in-store or in your marketing messages off- and online. A Nielsen study found that for this age group the convenience factor is considered huge. So when you have a 5-10 miles radius loaner car drop-off and pick-up, – communicate about it. When you want to display your monthly specials on let’s say Facebook, do so in a separate tab of your Facebook Business Page. Gen-X knows how and where to find your offers, believe me – you just need to make sure there are online, considering 80% are checking social networks on a daily basis.

Which brings me to the last group – the Baby Boomers. They are one of the fastest growing groups around social networking. They are still a little bit shy around Twitter, but Facebook plays a huge factor for them to re-connect with all school friends and colleagues. They love to see Reward Programs from businesses they follow. So similar to a frequent flyer card, why not create something similar for your fixed operations department and communicate with messages targeted to them. Loyalty is still highest priority for them and when combined with some savings during a service visit – you’ll win!

I hope you got some brain food reading throughout my “Trilogy” of this TNS Digital Life Study, and I hope you will see the word “Marketing” not any longer as a noun, but foremost as a verb…because it is!

Happy selling and do the right marketing!

A survey of social brand reception by gender, country and age

With my two posts “Why Online & Offline Marketing could be best partners in crime” and “Why should you listen to the Consumer Voice” I am concluding today with “Brands and Friends – Your Social Opportunity” the series of reflections on the TNS Digital Life Study. 

The question was: “How open are people to brands on Social Networks?”

The Findings: The big elephant in the room here – There is great acceptance and openness from consumers to brands in socially networked brands when the market in the country is considered “fast growing”. On the other hand, there is much higher brand resistance from consumers when in a developed market. For us here in the U.S., this means that the approach to connecting with potential customers needs to be carefully planned. According to the TNS study, the stakes are for damaging a brand, image, and perception are much higher in countries like the U.S. and Central Europe due to social resistance. The luckiest retailers are in Russia, where 17% of people are more open to brands than they are resistant to them.

Focus U.S.A.: People are more resistant to buy actually products they are not familiar with than they are open to learn about them online through social networks. Even so social networks are not considered the most ideal spaces for a retail business; it became clear that the growing popularity of group buying sites like Groupon, Yipit, Livingsocial and others opened up new opportunities as we can see here in the example below.

With localizing and personalizing the business’s digital footprint the retailers could be able to sell or offer a service more overtly rather than pushing too many offers in too frequent manner into their social media streams and networks. It is considered a more unapologetically approach to push these offers onto group buying sites rather than be a social spammer. Driving Traffic to the store – Yes! Creating profits – Depends!

Another interesting finding of this study was looking into gender behavior. Do Women approach brands on social networks different than men? – And? Any guesses? You have 3 more seconds to find out…Okay, here we go:

Survey question: How do you feel about finding out about a brand through a social network?

11% of women in the U.S. are more open to brands than they are resistant to them. Men on the other hand are  only 7% more open to connect via social.

Follow-up survey question: How do you feel about buying products through a social network connection?

[BUMMER ALERT!] 16% of the females are more resistant to brands than they are open to them and just 8% of the males showed more resistance to brands than openness.

VJ’s Question: Knowing now that there are indeed differences in brand acceptance and resistance between male and female – how does the research data reflects on age groups? Is there a chance for us dealerships to target in particular Boomers, Gen-X’s and Millenals (a.k.a. Gen Y’s)?  

VJ’s Answer: “Yes – and - No.”Hold on…I am not at all indecisive to provide you a clear answer. Here is why I came to this mixed conclusion.

According to the Data research of the TNS Digital Study – “Age Does NOT Matter”. [Quote]: Globally people’s openness or resistance for brands on social networks is NOT dependent on age. There is an assumption that younger people are more open, but this study shows that older age groups are as open to brands as their younger counterparts. [Quote-end]

Here are the figures I could dug out for you and indeed the fluctuation of the percentage points are minimal.

So YES, there is a chance to target your marketing messages and social network approach more towards your clientele, focusing on the more reciptive age groups discussed above.

Let’s take our future consumers here at the dealerships – The Millenials. From studies by Exact Target 2010, PEW Research and Morepace Omnibus Report we know that Millenials will “befriend” 51% of brands they like on Facebook. Keep in mind, BRANDS THEY LIKE, and not brands you think they should like! Furthermore, the study states that when Millenials are Facebook friends with an offline retailer (yes, that is you, the dealership) 26% LIKE special offers – again, please read carefully, - and I will spell it out for you “S P E C I A L offers”. Do not use social media “spam them to death” with countless oil-change coupons or car detail specials – they don’t care. Rather tease them with brand clothing and accessories, which appeals more to their brand loyalty. Hip is in! (Scion dealers, VW dealers, Hyundai – are you listening?!).

When looking at the Gen-X clientele consider communicating all the things what could make their life easier, when dealing with your dealership. No matter if you do it via social, in-store or in your marketing messages off- and online. A Nielsen study found that for this age group the convenience factor is considered huge. So when you have a 5-10 miles radius loaner car drop-off and pick-up, – communicate about it. When you want to display your monthly specials on let’s say Facebook, do so in a separate tab of your Facebook Business Page. Gen-X knows how and where to find your offers, believe me – you just need to make sure there are online, considering 80% are checking social networks on a daily basis.

Which brings me to the last group – the Baby Boomers. They are one of the fastest growing groups around social networking. They are still a little bit shy around Twitter, but Facebook plays a huge factor for them to re-connect with all school friends and colleagues. They love to see Reward Programs from businesses they follow. So similar to a frequent flyer card, why not create something similar for your fixed operations department and communicate with messages targeted to them. Loyalty is still highest priority for them and when combined with some savings during a service visit – you’ll win!

I hope you got some brain food reading throughout my “Trilogy” of this TNS Digital Life Study, and I hope you will see the word “Marketing” not any longer as a noun, but foremost as a verb…because it is!

Happy selling and do the right marketing!

Want it – Read it – Listened to it – or How to Build Your Context Library

It hit me like a ton of bricks when Gary Vaynerchuk entered the stage during the Driving Sales Executive Summit in Las Vegas this week and shouted out “SEO and Content is Dead – Context is the new King” – and I believe he has a very valid point here.  

With Google+ now open for everyone, Facebook announcing new changes on an almost weekly basis that allow fans to tell their friends not only what they “LIKE” but very soon even having buttons like “Want It” – have “Read It” and “Listened to it”.  

Because of this extension of features we will have an enormous avalanche of CONTEXT rolling towards us. With Google+ circles for example, we see not only what our friends have eaten, but when, where and if it was great. I can see which book my closer circle of friends just finished reading (the book “Go Giver”) and their praise, triggering me to buy it instantly on Amazon’s Kindle store. (Brian Pasch what I am referring to;))  

With this created context I as a consumer now have a much more pinpointed “search” result – even though I didn’t start my Google search engine at this point. The so-called Social Graph of immediate circles, friends or followers will be the new influential factors for checking out new businesses or weighing in on recommendations for which car to test drive or even to buy.  

As Gary Vaynerchuck said, “The more we create context, the more our wallet is going to be decided based on our friends.”

Let’s face it: Isn’t Google feeling more and more cluttered and diluted when it comes to finding exactly what you are craving or searching for? Even the so-called long-tail search terms sometimes leave me frustrated on search engines. I believe that just an SEO strategy alone is not cutting it any longer for dealerships or any other business. The task for 2012 is to have a well-balanced Content and Context strategy in place.  

So what would be my strategy in a dealership to build what I call a Context Index Library?

• Logging in everyday (as a ritual) into search.twitter.com and choose advanced search. In my example, I chose to look for tweets about “Honda” in “Atlanta” within a radius of “15 miles” – QUESTION: Do you think I could somehow engage with the following people below?! ANSWER: You bet! I see possibilities for Sales and Service (Dent removal) here, when approached right.

[Twitter search is next to Google, and YouTube the next "search engine" to consider to find context rich information]

• Make sure you ask your new or existing customers to join and LIKE you on Facebook. A study shown and presented by Kevin Root and Matt Murray during the DSES event showed that 25% of those questioned would say “Yes, I will like you” and 82% of these would actually follow through to “Like” you on Facebook. Pretty good outcome when you ask me, and again it tells us, “When you do not ask you won’t receive!”

• Last but not least. Create context for your clientele, not just context you have on your website, but context on your Facebook business page, your Twitter account, your YouTube channel and hopefully your blog. No die-hard sales pitch but context about everything and everybody.

Some Great Context Examples:

1) World Hyundai does movie reviews and movie ticket giveaways

2) Hare Chevrolet, who posted a “Favorite Things about Fall” poll and in no time received 10 comments.

Using techniques like these, you can then weave the fan responses into your next marketing gig, like hosting a “Warm Cider Tasting Event” or even a “Pumpkin Carving Event” with prices around the car…think about it!  

Please let me know in the comment section how you introduce your context into your marketing strategy and what you found “really works for you”.

Happy Selling and of course do your context marketing constantly!  

Want it – Read it – Listened to it – or How to Build Your Context Library

It hit me like a ton of bricks when Gary Vaynerchuk entered the stage during the Driving Sales Executive Summit in Las Vegas this week and shouted out “SEO and Content is Dead – Context is the new King” – and I believe he has a very valid point here.  

With Google+ now open for everyone, Facebook announcing new changes on an almost weekly basis that allow fans to tell their friends not only what they “LIKE” but very soon even having buttons like “Want It” – have “Read It” and “Listened to it”.  

Because of this extension of features we will have an enormous avalanche of CONTEXT rolling towards us. With Google+ circles for example, we see not only what our friends have eaten, but when, where and if it was great. I can see which book my closer circle of friends just finished reading (the book “Go Giver”) and their praise, triggering me to buy it instantly on Amazon’s Kindle store. (Brian Pasch what I am referring to;))  

With this created context I as a consumer now have a much more pinpointed “search” result – even though I didn’t start my Google search engine at this point. The so-called Social Graph of immediate circles, friends or followers will be the new influential factors for checking out new businesses or weighing in on recommendations for which car to test drive or even to buy.  

As Gary Vaynerchuck said, “The more we create context, the more our wallet is going to be decided based on our friends.”

Let’s face it: Isn’t Google feeling more and more cluttered and diluted when it comes to finding exactly what you are craving or searching for? Even the so-called long-tail search terms sometimes leave me frustrated on search engines. I believe that just an SEO strategy alone is not cutting it any longer for dealerships or any other business. The task for 2012 is to have a well-balanced Content and Context strategy in place.  

So what would be my strategy in a dealership to build what I call a Context Index Library?

• Logging in everyday (as a ritual) into search.twitter.com and choose advanced search. In my example, I chose to look for tweets about “Honda” in “Atlanta” within a radius of “15 miles” – QUESTION: Do you think I could somehow engage with the following people below?! ANSWER: You bet! I see possibilities for Sales and Service (Dent removal) here, when approached right.

[Twitter search is next to Google, and YouTube the next "search engine" to consider to find context rich information]

• Make sure you ask your new or existing customers to join and LIKE you on Facebook. A study shown and presented by Kevin Root and Matt Murray during the DSES event showed that 25% of those questioned would say “Yes, I will like you” and 82% of these would actually follow through to “Like” you on Facebook. Pretty good outcome when you ask me, and again it tells us, “When you do not ask you won’t receive!”

• Last but not least. Create context for your clientele, not just context you have on your website, but context on your Facebook business page, your Twitter account, your YouTube channel and hopefully your blog. No die-hard sales pitch but context about everything and everybody.

Some Great Context Examples:

1) World Hyundai does movie reviews and movie ticket giveaways

2) Hare Chevrolet, who posted a “Favorite Things about Fall” poll and in no time received 10 comments.

Using techniques like these, you can then weave the fan responses into your next marketing gig, like hosting a “Warm Cider Tasting Event” or even a “Pumpkin Carving Event” with prices around the car…think about it!  

Please let me know in the comment section how you introduce your context into your marketing strategy and what you found “really works for you”.

Happy Selling and of course do your context marketing constantly!  

Hello folks, it is Wednesday again and time for me to put on Part II of the series 15 Free Social Monitoring Tools. As I had stated in my first post, these tools were used by me during my "active" duty as an eCommerce Director for several dealer groups and I hope that you will find the tools #6 to #10 as useful as I did. Here we go:

Kurrently: Shows Twitter stream or the Facebook threads on keyword topic. Real-time showing. Good feature: You can control how fast or slow your stream strolling in.

VJ’s comment: “Especially useful for monitoring the "cloud" on Twitter!”

 Same Point: Providing an overview of Social mentioning’s but also real-time Twitter and Facebook. Further crawls through Blogger blogs and LinkedIn. Promises also to show negative mentioning’s but could not see really evidence of legit results. Possibly needs some more improvement on their end.

VJ’s comment: “Needs some improvement but listening also into LinkedIn is pretty cool!”

 Blog Pulse: The name says it all. Reflecting on Blog post results of the desired keyword search.

  VJ’s comment: “Focusing really on the Blogosphere and will surprise you, what actually shows up with the right keyword!”

 Twendz: Very interactive platform. Shows even the trend of searched word in real-time. Clean appearance. Allows immediate response to incoming tweet and direct linking to Twitter account. VJ’s comment: “Design is great and I love the small analytic section. Nice feature - Word Cloud!”

 Yahoo Pipes: One of the “oldtimer” in social conversation and news monitoring. Do not forget about this valuable tool. Shows even tags used in the upcoming search results with sources and which formats were used.

VJ’s comment: “Was one of the first tools I have ever used to see who and what is buzzing. Classy and nostalgic tool!”

...Please check back for next week Part III and another round of 5 Free Social Monitoring Tools!

Hello folks, it is Wednesday again and time for me to put on Part II of the series 15 Free Social Monitoring Tools. As I had stated in my first post, these tools were used by me during my "active" duty as an eCommerce Director for several dealer groups and I hope that you will find the tools #6 to #10 as useful as I did. Here we go:

Kurrently: Shows Twitter stream or the Facebook threads on keyword topic. Real-time showing. Good feature: You can control how fast or slow your stream strolling in.

VJ’s comment: “Especially useful for monitoring the "cloud" on Twitter!”

 Same Point: Providing an overview of Social mentioning’s but also real-time Twitter and Facebook. Further crawls through Blogger blogs and LinkedIn. Promises also to show negative mentioning’s but could not see really evidence of legit results. Possibly needs some more improvement on their end.

VJ’s comment: “Needs some improvement but listening also into LinkedIn is pretty cool!”

 Blog Pulse: The name says it all. Reflecting on Blog post results of the desired keyword search.

  VJ’s comment: “Focusing really on the Blogosphere and will surprise you, what actually shows up with the right keyword!”

 Twendz: Very interactive platform. Shows even the trend of searched word in real-time. Clean appearance. Allows immediate response to incoming tweet and direct linking to Twitter account. VJ’s comment: “Design is great and I love the small analytic section. Nice feature - Word Cloud!”

 Yahoo Pipes: One of the “oldtimer” in social conversation and news monitoring. Do not forget about this valuable tool. Shows even tags used in the upcoming search results with sources and which formats were used.

VJ’s comment: “Was one of the first tools I have ever used to see who and what is buzzing. Classy and nostalgic tool!”

...Please check back for next week Part III and another round of 5 Free Social Monitoring Tools!

As an e-Commerce guy, what would make my life easier when looking for specific data and news? How can I find short, to-the-point information when writing my next dealer blog post about model XYZ? And last but not least, who is actually talking about our cars, the automotive industry and/or our dealership right now?

These are the questions that inspired this post on the 15 free tools I use to monitor the social media sphere. Enjoy!

First 5 Free Tools for Using Social Media Like a Pro (Part I of III) 

OMGILI: Stands for “Oh My God I Love It” – will track a keyword throughout several social networks. This tool has the capability to share results on Facebook and Google+ as well. It also shows further comments of threads and responders.

VJ’s comment: “A very thorough research tool for an advanced user!”

WordPress Search: This tool is an enormous help for finding other blogs writing about your cars, models. It provides very good insights about who to mention in your next dealer blog post.

VJ’s comment: “What should I say? Like a great, red wine – rich bouquet, deep (color) – a classic !”

Addictomatic: This tool will share news and topics from networks and channels like Bing, YouTube, Google Blog Search, Twitter Search, Flickr, Blinkx Video Search,  Yahoo, Twingly Blog Search, Wikio and more. It’s great for writers who need more info on topics.

VJ’s comment: “One of my favorites! And careful – it’s adictive!”

SocialMention: This tool is like Google Alerts for the social sites. It crawls the social sources and displays where the information was gathered, which hashtags (#) are being used in combination for your keywords, sentiment and even the top-users using the keyword. You can even sign up for email alerts.

VJ’s comment: “Known as one of the first tools out there. Should be in everybody’s “toolbox”. Great metrics and stats!”

Ice Rocket: This tool is a so-called “buzz machine.” It allows selective keyword information of blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Images or BigBuzz. The results display in real-time through incoming feeds (like a news ticker.)

VJ’s comment: “Like it a lot! Will let your inbox buzzing.”

...Please check back for next week Part II and another round of 5 Free Social Monitoring Tools!

As an e-Commerce guy, what would make my life easier when looking for specific data and news? How can I find short, to-the-point information when writing my next dealer blog post about model XYZ? And last but not least, who is actually talking about our cars, the automotive industry and/or our dealership right now?

These are the questions that inspired this post on the 15 free tools I use to monitor the social media sphere. Enjoy!

First 5 Free Tools for Using Social Media Like a Pro (Part I of III) 

OMGILI: Stands for “Oh My God I Love It” – will track a keyword throughout several social networks. This tool has the capability to share results on Facebook and Google+ as well. It also shows further comments of threads and responders.

VJ’s comment: “A very thorough research tool for an advanced user!”

WordPress Search: This tool is an enormous help for finding other blogs writing about your cars, models. It provides very good insights about who to mention in your next dealer blog post.

VJ’s comment: “What should I say? Like a great, red wine – rich bouquet, deep (color) – a classic !”

Addictomatic: This tool will share news and topics from networks and channels like Bing, YouTube, Google Blog Search, Twitter Search, Flickr, Blinkx Video Search,  Yahoo, Twingly Blog Search, Wikio and more. It’s great for writers who need more info on topics.

VJ’s comment: “One of my favorites! And careful – it’s adictive!”

SocialMention: This tool is like Google Alerts for the social sites. It crawls the social sources and displays where the information was gathered, which hashtags (#) are being used in combination for your keywords, sentiment and even the top-users using the keyword. You can even sign up for email alerts.

VJ’s comment: “Known as one of the first tools out there. Should be in everybody’s “toolbox”. Great metrics and stats!”

Ice Rocket: This tool is a so-called “buzz machine.” It allows selective keyword information of blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Images or BigBuzz. The results display in real-time through incoming feeds (like a news ticker.)

VJ’s comment: “Like it a lot! Will let your inbox buzzing.”

...Please check back for next week Part II and another round of 5 Free Social Monitoring Tools!