Engaging Consumers Via Social Media Makes Them More Likely To Buy, Recommend

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Permalink Reply by Philip Zelinger on March 16, 2010 at 10:10am

Hi David,

Thanks for the article. I will add it to my library of dozens like it that confirm that people are social animals and human nature has survived onto the Internet. People have always liked to do business with people that they like. Old world/real world networking that used to be limited to local spheres of influence have now gone viral onto the World Wide Web with the help of applications that power the Internet and social networking communities like those referenced in the article.

Since car guys sometimes forget that the customers are now in charge, given the unlimited access to information delivered on the Internet Super Highway vs. car row and the ability to gather opinions before, during and after their shopping trip from like minded online friends, it probably would be appropriate to add a point to your post before someone accidentally shoots themselves in the foot by trying to post their inventory and sale of the month onto their Face Book page! The social rules that govern these networking communities are written in some of them, but they are applied in all of them. Direct hard sale messages posted within these sites will not only be shunned, they will likely result in a viral attack on the wolf in sheeps' clothing that dared to join the flock!

The solution is to market to these new online friends from the inside out vs. from the outside in by earning and maturing relationships on areas of common interest vs. sellling your friends a car. Everyone likes to have a friend in the car business so in time, when they need to buy or service a vehicle, they will seek you out; as long as you don't piss them off by trying to take advantage of your relationship before you are asked to help.

After all, what are friends for!

On a more productive and specific note, I should also suggest that new marketing applications are available that integrate with these same social networking communities without risking that your "car salesman" personna will take over and lose you more friends than you planned to make. ronsmap, for example, allows shoppers to their inventory based marketing/search portal to push information on the vehicle and/or the dealer that they are considering directly into their social networking communities to get their opinion on both. As your posted article confirms, these opinions are valued more than any self serving dealer message that may be posted into the same community and Google agrees as evidenced by their announcement that they have adjusted their search algorithms to prioritize real time social media content for S.E.O.. The seceret is that the dealer hasn't initiated or sourced himself in the inquiry, however, their name and their vehicle is carried along with the Ask-A-Friend / Tell-A-Friend feature function on their site so both the community and Google will see it. The viral coefficient is even quantifiable in their R.O.I. analytic tool which confirms their ability to monetize the auto dealer's social networking efforts through ronsmap.

Of course ronsmap isn't the only technology driven application to provide efficiencies to monetize social networking. I will be reviewing many more at my session at The 8th Digital Dealer Conference scheduled for April 19th through April 22nd in Orlando titled; Consumers Own The Dealership Of Tomorrow --- Today; So, Get To Know Your New Boss! DealerMouth, SiSTeR Technologies Video CarLot's new Face Book Integration and many best practices will be included and articles -- like the one that you so generously shared with your ADM friends -- will be presented in a real world venue with practical applications to capitalize on our new virtual world opportunities.

I hope to see you there and then since, after all ---what are friends for!

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Permalink Reply by David Johnson on March 17, 2010 at 10:08am

True, we are social creatures, which boggles my mind when a dealer says that social media is just a fad. I usually quip that all social media is, is a new way to use an old business tool. In a recent post I commented that we are going back to the village mindset, more or less.

What I mean by that is that more and more, we are putting more weight on what our peers say than the ads we see. On Relationship-Economy.com I remember reading that one social recommendation is worth 200 traditional media impressions.

Thank you for the comment Philip, and it was a pleasure meeting you at the Ritz during NADA. I don't expect you to remember, you were a gracious host and spoke to everybody that night! LOL

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Permalink Reply by Philip Zelinger on March 17, 2010 at 6:35pm

Hi David,

I absolutely do remember and thanks for helping us build the buzz on ronsmap there and even now with your appropriate post! Hopefully you will be able to join me and mine again at the 8th Digital Dealer Conference in Orlando. I am hosting a Pre-Conference Networking Party on Monday Evening from 8PM to 10 PM at the Rosen Shingle Creekl Lobby Lounge and it won't be the same without you!

Just in case, if you won't be there Monday night, please attend my session -- Consumers Own The Dealership Of Tomorrow Today; So, Get To Know Your New Boss! I will be picking up the pace on new technologies that help monetize social networking which is obviously a shared passion and I would appreciate your input and your company.

After all, what are friends for!

PS: Yes, the invitation is open to anyone reading this post on ADM -- the more the merrier!

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Permalink Reply by David Johnson on March 17, 2010 at 7:06pm

I hate that I'm missing Digital Dealer 8, I'll be putting on a Social Media seminar in Vegas at the same time, on the 20th and 21st of April. I assure you, those dates picked me! Things just fell into place, but you can bet that Ill be a DD9!

I love the title of your session, at one point in the seminar, I teach something similar. In fact, in the last seminar you should have seen the look one GM's face, it was priceless, you could tell he didn't believe a word of it, but by the end of day 2 he was signing a different tune! LOL

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Permalink Reply by Missy Jensen on March 17, 2010 at 9:31am

Dave:
Thanks for posting this information. I think the data is quite impressive and reaffirms the many reasons I advocate for companies, including those in the automotive industry such as dealerships to join Social Media networks for marketing purposes.

However, I will play devil's advocate for just one moment as I fear that there may be a correlation, it doesn't necessarily mean that there is causality. Many times consumers will become a "fan" of a brand on Facebook or follow them on Twitter because they ALREADY have a relationship with that company. For instance, personally, if I like a particular product or company due to a previous experience, I will follow them to get product updates, discounts, etc. And therefore I'm likely to buy again. I hope I'm making sense.

Don't get me wrong...I am a huge proponent of social media and do believe it has the potential to help marketing of products and services. Even if a current customer follows you, it can affect future purchasing behaviors and word of mouth...so it should be embraced as part of the overall marketing strategy!

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Permalink Reply by David Johnson on March 17, 2010 at 10:01am

I agree, the numbers could be skewed a bit because of that. We are seeing more and more that customers WANT a relationship with the dealership they bought their car from and if we, as the dealer, build towards a more positive relationship with our customers will begin to see more repeat and referral customers.

In fact, to that same end, at a dealer clients of mine fan page, I posed this question:

"As an auto dealer, what can we do to make the buying process easier and more enjoyable?"

Here was one of the responses:

"...Follow up when we buy! Make the marriage last. Y'all divorce us too fast."

While that was just one persons comment, it speaks volumes and should be headed.

Thank you for the comment!

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Permalink Reply by Missy Jensen on March 17, 2010 at 10:24am

Love the question you posed David!

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Permalink Reply by David Johnson on March 17, 2010 at 10:34am

Thank you! I ask it to get insight but its how we follow up with the suggestions that will set us apart. Ill keep you posted.

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Permalink Reply by Ron Morrison on March 18, 2010 at 6:51pm

Knowing that customers share and recommend sites that they are fans of is important. Each of you has aptly pointed out that online consumers and social media users do so and you have recognized the behaviors and intentions of their "fan-ing" and "recommending", and their "sharing." And it is true that your business can benefit from these communal and crowd-sourcing activities. Keep in mind that the research and the studies across the internet and across multiple markets (ours included) are proving regularly that businesses will only benefit from these social interactions when their goal, when their true and complete objective is to give consumers what they want. When your goal is to empower your customers with information, with control, with input... then and only then will your business begin to enjoy true positive word-of-mouth, recommendations, and loyalty.

Work towards empowering your customers everyday and in so doing you'll win them and there vast sphere of influence as customers and advocates for your business.

To your success!

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