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Digg for Dealerships Part 2 January 27, 2009

Posted by everycarlisted in : Automotive Advertising, For Dealers, Web 2.0, sell a car , add a comment

Online social networks are a bit like different cultures. They each have their own rules, norms, acceptable practices and taboos. As a marketer, your job is to study the environment before you jump in with guns blazing. The last thing you want to do is accidentally offend your target audience! Take the time to Google your questions before you poll your peers! If you present yourself as a fairly informed newcomer, the group is more likely to accept you and answer questions!

Watch the trend setters. Who is submitting the top stories? Take a few minutes to study the most Dugg content and learn from the users who submitted it. Did they change the title to appeal to the Digg audience? What kind of writing made it to the top? Mimic what they do, because they have a winning system!

Submit articles, graphics and videos. Go to the top of the site and click “Submit New Link” at the top left of the page. Follow the instructions to submit articles of interest. Take the time to package your content in a way that will appeal to Diggers.

Make friends. Digg content. Send friendly, non-spammy shouts (those are refreshing!). Cultivate your network and find your place in the community. Many other users are on Digg to add value to their companies as well. Teamwork benefits everyone!

Once you are a part of the community, leverage your community standing and relationship to boost your articles, but be tactful about it! Please remember that you spent time developing these contacts, and the last thing you want to do is harm the friendships you’ve made. Send polite shouts and offer to swap diggs with another user.

In your interactions with the Digg community, please have fun, read the interesting stories and don’t be afraid to meet new people and branch out!

Good luck and happy Digging!

Meg

Digg for Dealerships Part 1 January 22, 2009

Posted by everycarlisted in : Automotive Advertising, For Dealers, Uncategorized, Web 2.0 , 1 comment so far

How many of you use Digg?

Do you use it on a personal basis or as a professional platform?

That was a trick question!

Any social media you use should be somehow incorporated into both your personal and professional lives. Bold statement huh? Please, allow me to explain!

Digg is a great example of this personal and professional relationship, you must become an active part of the community and submit good content to be successful. With no interaction or thrown-together content, your articles will go nowhere.

To make a good impression on the Diggers (over 2.7 million of them), first look into the site’s blog to get a pulse on the community. By reading the blog of a social media site, you will gain access to the trends, changes and debates within that group.

Fill out your profile. On Digg, people would rather interact with a human, rather than a company or brand. Take the time to post a picture and write a sentence about who you are and what you do. Give people something to connect with!

Watch for tomorrow’s post for more guidelines!

Agree? Disagree? Other tips you want to share? Drop a comment!

Meg

How to Use Facebook for your Dealership January 15, 2009

Posted by everycarlisted in : Automotive Advertising, Web 2.0 , add a comment

Ladies and gents, Facebook is something to take notice of! I recently read a blog article that gave me some interesting facts and figures. Here’s the summary

To read the full articles with more facts, please check out these articles from the Inside Facebook and Hubspot blogs.

Those are a lot of eyeballs! Now the question is, how do you jump in and leverage Facebook for your business?

First thing to remember is that Facebook is one way to connect with people that you personally know. These people are friends, family and classmates at first. Please keep this in mind when you’re putting a social media strategy in place. The last thing you want to do is spam the people you are friends with (and want to stay friends with)!

Build a Facebook page for your dealership. Why a Facebook fan page and not a group? The Search Engine Journal wrote an article on that very topic that can be found here, but it boils down to better analytics tracking tools, availability to non-Facebook users, being searchable on the web and giving a more professional impression overall. You can find guidelines to building your fan page here.

Add video, discussion topics and pictures. Fill out your page and pay attention to how it comes across to your customers. Take time to see what other fan pages have done. Learn from the industries around you!

Once you have your page set up, get your contacts involved to get the ball rolling. Write a note and tag your friends in it. Ask them to become a fan your page if it’s interesting and ask for a referral to their friends if your page is useful.

Ask for suggestions. A Facebook fan page is just another medium that you can get feedback from. Ask your fans for opinions, ideas or tweaks to your online communication strategy and implement the suggestions they give.

Keep your fan page current. A fan page is a great way to keep the public informed about sales you might be having, new vehicles you have listed and anything else you would like to broadcast!

Keep learning! The funny thing about the web is that it’s always changing, developing and growing. With these developments, there will be new Facebook marketing strategies, new people to reach, new markets to jump into. Facebook is a great tool, and in order to use it well, you will need to stay informed of those changes.

That’s what I’ve got for now. If you have questions, comments or concerns, please let me know! I’d be happy to help in any way I can!

Meg

Social Media Marketing Guidelines January 15, 2009

Posted by everycarlisted in : Automotive Advertising, Web 2.0 , 12comments

Social Media Marketing? Huh?

Oh yes! Social Media Marketing ties in with a new concept called Web 2.0. This new interactive web is fueled by people rather than technology.

What does that mean? How about I give you an example! Look at Wikipedia. The users of Wikipedia are both consumers and creators of the information on the site. Anyone can go to a page and edit it. This gives the world a growing, developing version of the dictionary. Rather than having a site’s content being limited to the employees of a company, a framework is established to support a user base and moderators are put into place. The content being created by the consumers themselves. Why rely only on the brain power of the people you hire? Why not borrow the brain power of the world?

There are a number of sites that are now run off of a Web 2.0 mentality. These sites have seen the benefit of social media marketing and are growing at astonishing rates. Some companies are even having difficulty with server space because of all the entries being created and updated!

Why is social media marketing important to your business? Simply put, it is the way business is going. You have witnessed the transition from paper to internet and recognized it’s importance in marketing today. Now it’s time to make another transition, one from the old web to the new one. In the same way that your marketing style had to change when print upgraded to internet, your mindset needs to change from side-show announcer to conversationalist. The announcer style of marketing is on its way out and the informed, internet savvy, self-researching public of web 2.0 would rather be spoken to rather than preached at.

Take a deep breath. Relax! As you get ready to test the waters of the social media pool there are a few guidelines that will help you make a more graceful transition from web 1.0 to web 2.0.

Social media marketing is a conversation. Think about networking at a party for example. Someone who only wants to talk about their business is just annoying and you’ll probably get out of that situation as quickly as possible. In the same way, if you are relentlessly promoting your business online, you will be tuned out with all the rest of the “noise”.

Build real relationships. You heard me. Social media marketing is tech-savvy, professional, word-of-mouth marketing stuck into a close-knit community. Join the community. Practice common courtesy. You will get further, faster by caring about the people around you.

Be yourself. There is something to be said for the professionalism of a salesman, but you don’t want to talk to one all the time. Many social media interactions are casual. Remember the party example? You will be meeting new people, take the time to check out their web site, see who they represent and find out what they are passionate about. Chances are, they will be doing the same for you.

Find out how you can help. By building these online relationships and communities, you have, in a way, made friends with the people you are interacting with. A helping hand is always welcome and people will appreciate you for it!

With those guidelines in mind, jump in! You can do it

Please leave a comment!  Questions, comments or topic suggestions are all encouraged!

Meg

How to Leverage Social Media for the Auto Industry January 7, 2009

Posted by everycarlisted in : Automotive Advertising, Web 2.0 , add a comment

Web 2.0. Do you know what it is?

Technology is sweeping the nation and changing the face of business. Automakers have been noticing this trend and some are taking steps to bring their dealerships into the next stage of web.

If you are reading this blog, I would consider you to be one of those dealerships!

Web 2.0 is bringing marketing back into a personal referral based system through sites like Twitter, Driving Sales, Automotive Digital Marketing, Facebook, Myspace and many others.

Are you ready for this new wave of communication?

Do you know how to leverage these growing networks to build your reputation and increase your sales?

Please stay tuned as I cover how to use these sites for automotive advertising! Any site suggestions or feedback are very welcome! Please feel free to e-mail at MStrout@EveryCarListed.com

Meg