 "The guy that created our Facebook page doesn't work here anymore..."
GM/Dealer Principals who aren't paying attention to their own dealerships Social Media efforts baffle us! Look we know they have a lot on their plate, the car business is 98 parts chaos and 2 parts insanity, we get it! At the very least GM's should be aware of who is posting on behalf of their store and from time to time take a moment to check out whats being posted. Often times they will have someone who demonstrates a decent level of Internet knowledge take on the duties of dealer postings, which may be fine however it is very important that more than one person know WHERE the dealer is being represented and HOW to access the profile/postings. There should always be a central location for the site address along with user names and passwords, perhaps a shared file even. Should the employee overseeing the social effort for the store leave and not share all the access with someone else its could result in quite a mess! Quite often we speak with potential clients who have numerous social media pages that haven't been updated in MONTHS. Its also not uncommon for a dealership to have multiple pages set up in the same site, ie Facebook etc, because the person who set up the first one left and no one knows how to get in and keep it going. This kind of mess can easily confuse potential customers and also misdirect possible traffic. There should be a central place where ALL the listings, profiles and pages for the company are listed with user names and passwords and it should be kept up to date. We are sure than when a salesperson departs a dealership the first thing that happens is they are blocked from the stores CRM, why would the digital brand of the dealership be any less important?
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 Is Geofencing right for your store?
Although geofencing technology has been around for some time now the retail automotive industry has been slow to understand let alone embrace it. In a post from July of 2015, Automotive News stated; "Geofencing is a key strategy for big retailers such as Target. But only about 10 percent of auto dealers use it." Simply put, geofencing allows a business to create a digital fence around a competing dealer and aimed at individuals who are leaving that dealership after browsing for a vehicle. Sounds great to many, but is it the magic bullet to grab those additional sales?  Do you know WHO is speaking for your dealership online?
Many car dealership owners and General Managers are feeling the pressure from the manufacturer to get their stores more active in social media. Many OEM's even have list of 'recommended' companies that dealers should work with and sometimes there are co-op rewards for signing up with these companies... But, is it truly benefiting the dealer as much as the factory? As a dealer, are you aware of whats being posted on behalf of your store?  One So Cal Ford dealer partners with an automotive artist to create huge loyalty and social attention.
Raceway Ford in Riverside is the former home of Sales Director Mike Correra who is a huge fan of automotive artist Danny Whitfield. Mike often noticed how much attention Danny's prints received from his customers purchasing new cars at his dealership. In a moment of inspiration while working with a potential Mustang buyer Mike offered to have Danny create a personalized print for the buyer of his new Mustang...  In today's fast paced world of short consumer attention spans and small windows of opportunity there is a real need for efficiency in customer communication and autoresponse emails are a critical tool used in sales of all kinds. Although a powerful way to keep ypur sales team in front of your customers there is a time and strategy that needs to be remembered before setting up your auto-reply schedule! The marketing pros at V12 Development had this to say about auto-reponders: "When your dealership is CLOSED, and someone submits an inquiry, there should be an EMail that goes out to creatively express you’re closed at the moment (and that someone will contact them FIRST THING in the morning). THAT IS IT!"
 Leverage your employee’s sphere of influence to increase sales:
Whether you a fan of Kim K or not its impossible to ignore that she has grown a huge audience and has quite the power to influence! Almost completely through Social Media she has grown an empire, wouldn’t it be great to have that kind of following for your dealership? Please keep in mind I’m not saying I have a ‘magic bullet’ that will create millions of loyal followers for your dealership that would only buy from you however, you can expand your stores influence in much the same way as Kim has and who knows how big it could get!  As more and more people spend more of each day online the time spent in a Social Media site of some kind grows as well. Its (past) time to recognize the value of having your message in front of potential consumers at the right time and social selling is the best way to do it. The following is from a great post by a social marketing master who works IN the retail automotive world and helps dealers dominate digitally....
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