I need opinions and advise...

Replies to This ADM Discussion

Permalink Reply by Torrey Russell on June 7, 2009 at 3:33pm

Think that the service is a good idea but a bad business model.... you only have 2 hands and 1 mouth. The model you propose wouldn't pay you enough to make it worth while... the only solution is to find cheap labor like in India to do the leg work, but they don't have the "knowledge" that you hold in your head... the entire purpose of the social networking is to connect with people, giving them ideas and knowledge about cars and car buying that they don't have now.... as they say in Business school... doesn't scale! and can't just apply software to this problem... need that content to make it work

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Permalink Reply by Ralph Paglia on June 7, 2009 at 7:59pm

Torrey.

You bring up a valid argument with the scale issues you cite, however you mention "content" and that is where I have found a model that can work from the perspective of the least amount of dealer effort, input and maintenance... Using the content feeds that car companies provide to their dealers specifically for use in Social Marketing. The SMPR's provide at least 2/3 of the content that dealers need to make the Social Marketing Strategy work for a dealership. If Stan's Service Model would provide the other 1/3 of personal attention needed, then I believe it would scale, if the revenue was high enough per dealership... When I look at the fees dealers pay my team right now for this type of work, if Stan charged half as much, and was able to handle 10 dealerships per month, he could gross over $200,000 a year, less the expenses he would incur for his time and labor.

The key is efficiencies gained while staying effective...

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Permalink Reply by Chris Kivi on October 6, 2009 at 5:17pm

Well I love the fact we have thinkers, dreamers and people alive with passion here - that's something I found in the car business among people that I love. I never stop concocting ideas either. I personally feel that there are already many very well created sites that accomplish many tasks, but where I see an opportunity is converging these into a single entity somehow, where management of these multiple sites is easily accomplished via some sort of dashboard. Sort of like the "Catalytic Converter of Social Networking". Do you like this term?

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Permalink Reply by Paul Rushing on October 10, 2009 at 8:41pm

The dashboard you are talking about is available and my staff uses it daily for a myriad of purposes not just social media. The biggest challenge is making sure you are not violating each sites TOS.

Many of these "social media" providers are in for a rude awakening if they get caught with their guard down. Nothing like seeing a years worth of content disappear because you did not play by the rules...

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Permalink Reply by Keith Shetterly on October 13, 2009 at 11:22am

Stan,

We are talking a scale larger than 24 x 7 x 365 . . . it really is 24 x 7 x 365 x Internet. And that word "Internet" means a whole new set of vectors in social media: multiple posts x multiple friends x multiple subjects x multiple expectations x multiple social media. And likely more. What Ralph points out is a good solution for clients where the offset is more business than just the social media. I'd worry for the business model: Will you be able to sell this for $ that will truly enable you to cover SM for the dealership and make a profit?

Somebody else pointed out how quickly you can be "executed" from Facebook- and MySpace-type SM for being judged outside the rules. There goes a year of content and all the thousand friend links . . . poof! There's a lot to consider and a lot to be careful of.

Keith

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Permalink Reply by Nick Cybela on October 14, 2009 at 1:37pm

Hi Stan,

We've found some success with this breaking it down into the three key areas: Listening, measuring, and engaging as well as following the recent philosophy of LOVE (lifetime opportunity value equation). Where we've found the chance to really rise above our competition is developing thought leadership and regular involvement in key areas as well as maintaining and guiding the brand identity, and enforcing the reputation.

I would love to chat with you about it some time.

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