In the past two years the social media revolution has ignited the automotive manufacturers to success.

IT  WORKS  > >

Auto Social Media Factoids:

• Alan Mulally, Ford CEO, declared, “Social media is the future.” ….Ford’s prowess and investment in social media is legendary.
• Auto industry will spend about $1.2 billion this year on social media advertising, projected to grow to $4.6 billion by 2015
• Michael Wiley, GM Director of New Media says ”The secret to GM’s success is listening to conversations, including the negative comments.” GM is targeting the 80% not in the market to purchase. They are “turning to social-media to engage in meaningful connections with their customers.”
• JD Power Roundtable, “Social Networking: Should it be more About Relationship Building than Selling Cars?” Social media reaches more potential new-car buyers than Google.

What is the buy-in at the dealer level?  The Dealer Debate

The two largest dealer groups diametrically disagree.

Penske Automotive Group is conservative about their role of social media for dealers contending they have “not found any real business results.”

In contrast, AutoNation  is committed to social media with its “UnDealer “campaign. “It is not about selling cars or making offers. We’re doing it because we’re trying to engage with customers.” says Gary Marcotte, Senior Vice President of Marketing for AutoNation.

Many are seeing the current Social Media Revolution as the Internet of 15 years ago!  2010 Internet is focused on social networking sites for branding, interactivity and relationship building. So the resistance in the past to the Internet adoption is now being mirrored in social media as the Internet changes in format and mindset. It’s not “IF” the dealer will engage in Social media it’s “WHEN”!  Will the dealer be an Innovator or a laggard?

Is Social Media going to ignite local Chevy or Toyota dealers?

Or are the dealers going to continue the battle on TV with who has the best 0% interest deal. Is it about who can shout the loudest and most often? Or is it about who is really listening and where are they engaging?

Car purchasing is more than a price tag war. Millions of buyers are looking for a relationship with a dealer and/or salesperson they can trust. Social media changes the mindset of the Dealer – Buyer days from a focus on “Selling Price” to “Engaging the Buyer” and “Building a Relationship”.

Dealers have lived and breathed (and it has worked in the past) broadcasting Price Driven messages. Can dealers accept that there might be a different way?  Social media is not a hype; it has become part of the fabric of social and marketing communications for Fortune 500 companies and small businesses.

More than 65% of car dealers are just beginning, are ready to start or are not using social media. There is a clear marketing opportunity.

Here’s the proof from dealers across the US:

Hyundai of St Augustine (FL) “Our positive customer reviews provides us with tremendous credibility. Web traffic has increased by 40%, nearly doubled our monthly sales, having one of our best months, when the industry is experiencing one of its worst.”

Universal City Nissan (Los Angeles) boosted sales by using mobile codes. “We get as many as 20 to 30 text inquiries when we run the radio spot.”

Scott Clarks Toyota (Mathews NC –near Charlotte) “Our goal is to stay connected with our customers and have the biggest dealer fan base in the US. Social media is not an advertising medium to sell cars directly. Our 4000+ Facebook fan base allows us to stay in our customer’s minds, engage them in what we are doing; serve as a platform for community involvement; and drive users to our website without increasing the bounce rate.” Internet Manager

Acton Toyota (Littleton MA – near Boston) “Our Youtube presence was to showcase our dealership and engage our employees in a playful way. It was not used as individual sales tool with a specific ROI.  Rather it is part of broader SEO strategy to gain viral value to increase our search engine results.” General Manager

They have realized that social media increases brand recognition, connects with their customers and significantly increases traffic to their website. The challenge for the auto dealer is how to implement a Social Media Marketing Strategy and remain competitive on a daily basis. These are not mutually exclusive.

A step by step Digital Marketing Strategy begins with where the dealer’s marketing effort is.   Social / digital media must be integrated with traditional advertising and online marketing.

The dealer’s social quicksand is “I can have my son or friends daughter do it. They are social media junkies— texting and on Facebook all the time.” Dealers need the discipline to outsource this powerful marketing tool to specialists that know how to optimize digital media to extend their current efforts.

The real question to dealers is not if social media works – but if dealers are ready to accept that customers are asking to be spoken to in new ways thru new media. They need to invest some of their resources in connecting with buyers, where they are… on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube.

As Dave McAllister, Internet Manager at Scott Clarks Toyota said “Social media is the defining effort of business as a whole. Dealers who get involved will have a DISTINCT Advantage in the coming years. The future of dealerships is in Relationships!”

Integrated Media Marketing is when you effectively integrate social media with traditional marketing. Here are 23 ideas for integrating Facebook and Twitter in PR, direct selling, customer services, advertising and sales promotions.

Back of Business Card

1. Add Facebook Widget /plugins to website or blog
2. Show Twitter stream on website
3. Use buttons in footer, contact page and sidebar of  website
4. Add Share/Like/Tweet buttons on products and content on website
5. Include links on your business cards
6. Include info in email signature file
7. Add Facebook /Twitter to voice mail messages (office and cellphone)
8. Include Facebook/Twitter info on invoices and receipts
9. Incorporate Facebook/Twitter in radio and television commercials
10. Add Facebook/Twitter to all printed brochures and catalogs
11. Include info in newsletters
12. Incorporate Facebook/Twitter logos in silk screen designs for t- shirts, canvas bags, umbrellas, hats
13. Include Facebook/Twitter info on menus and place mats
14. Include in proposals and RFP’s
15. Add info to billboards
16. Include Facebook/Twitter info with hours on storefront doors
17. Add Facebook/Twitter everywhere you include a phone number
18. Include on tradeshow displays
19. Add to tradeshow giveaways (pens, notepads, rulers, etc)
20. Add links to other social networking profiles (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Foursquare, Yelp, Google, Bing, Yahoo)
21. Include links on PowerPoints and other presentations
22. Include links on YouTube uploads using annotations
    

    Direct Mail Catalog

23. Remind customers to follow you when they call customer service lines

This is a pretty comprehensive list but I’m sure there are others.  Let’s build an incredible list, add your ideas in the comment area below.

After many years as a senior manager, consultant, and co-owner on the retail side of the automotive industry I have a unique “view” as I watch the typical automobile dealership management team wrestle with the idea of implementing social media into their organization.

It seems the manufacturers have done a great job of educating the owners of their franchise on the importance of getting on-board the social media wave. However, most, with little or no understanding of  Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, etc., are struggling with how to get it done.  It doesn’t seem that many years ago we were dealing with a similar issue.  At that time the Internet was the “buzz word” and the majority of us were trying to get an understanding of how to best utilize this new “tool”.  For most of us our new internet manager was someone we chose from our sales team who had an interest in the internet and enough knowledge to ensure us that we were making the right decision.  With the internet manager in place and our limited understanding of the subject we went back to the day to day challenges of running our stores. In hindsight, by hiring from within, it caused us to under-utilize the potential the Internet provided.

Now the “buzz” is social media and I am hearing managers say they could hire teenagers, relatives, college kids etc. (saving money) to run their social media campaigns.  How do you educate someone that does not yet understand the difference in having a personal Facebook profile versus a company running an effective campaign using Facebook, Twitter, etc. and integrating these with their other forms of advertising? Having the benefit of 30 years in the auto industry and a good understanding of the potential of social media, it is somewhat frustrating to witness the lack of understanding that managers have.  On the other hand, as discussed earlier I went through the internet learning curve just as confused as what I am witnessing today.

Complicating the issue, most dealerships are still reeling from the financial hits taken by their business during the last 18 months; so finding ways to stretch their dollars is a high priority.  Unfortunately their inability to see the potential results combined with their tight purse strings will cause many to miss the advantages associated with getting on board early and distancing themselves from the pack.

Like the adoption of the Internet, the only question is not “If” the dealer will join the social marketing wave but “When.”  Will they be an innovator or a laggard??

The dealer’s job is finding a consultant that can patiently walk them through their challenges and prove the value!

I am interested in hearing from auto dealers and marketing consultants on how they are adopting social media into their marketing mix. Are you using a staff member, a consultant, a friend or relative or a combination? What is working best for you? Please use the comment section below to leave us your thoughts.

Digital Marketing synergizes social media with other media channels to realize ROI. Many companies launch into social and mobile media without creating a strategy.

The old school marketers are transaction oriented. Their strategy is to buy more media eyeballs, potentially creating “buzz” and sales. The new media marketers are customer focused, generating interactivity and relationships.

The five phase Digital Marketing Strategy  is comprehensive, customer-centered, and focused on delivering ROI.

Five Phases

1. Assessment
2. Strategic Branding
3. Online Hub
4. Integrated Media Marketing
5. Monitoring/Evaluating

The Assessment Phase utilizes customer insights, touchpoint analysis and digital footprint to determine a company’s market position. Strategic Branding incorporates these findings into a strategy and a Brand. The third phase, Online Environment (website, blog, landing page), is the Hub of the Digital Marketing Strategy.  We select and integrate traditional and social media tools that drive clients to your Online Hub.  Each tool is targeted to different stages of the Integrated Digital Marketing Lifecycle.

Entwine has three new clients that are approaching Digital Marketing from a holistic perspective. David James Custom Homes is one of the largest custom home builders in Virginia. They have a strong reputation for building quality homes. They have been using traditional media (TV, radio, print, direct mail) to gain customer recognition in the market place. Management wants to determine which media channels are most effective at moving a customer through the touchpoint conversion lifecycle – from Awareness to Interest to to Action. They have focused on Assessment before embarking on a Integrated Digital Marketing Plan.

Nancy’s Candy Company, a wholesaler of homemade chocolate candies and confections, has recently opened a new retail store. They are looking at Social Media Marketing as a way to drive traffic into the new storefront. They decided to start with Facebook to test the social media waters.  When they came to Entwine they had a very basic business page with 30 fans/likes.  By using a digital optimization strategy including keyword optimization, custom welcome page, engaging updates and Facebook ads; Nancy’s Candy’s Facebook Page has grown to 240+ fans/likes. The next phase of the project will include a customized targeted Facebook Contest meeting the Facebook Promotion Guidelines. Here’s a sneak peak of the contest.

BMS Direct Inc is a B2B direct marketing solutions provider that upgraded their online environment to be social, interactive and content managed. Our Strategic Branding sessions revealed their need to expand their brand and offer comprehensive solutions. We designed and optimized a WordPress site for their Online Hub, with FTP and ecommerce functionality and a Facebook business page and Twitter account to build an integrated marketing platform.

The vast changes in media have triggered a revolution in marketing.  Rupert Murdoch noted it in 2006.

“To find something comparable, you would have to go back 500 years to the printing press or the birth of mass media… Technology is shifting power away from the editors, the publishers, the establishment, the media elite. Now, it’s the people who are taking control.”

Business Response

Business is quick to acknowledge the changes but their response is varied.  In a recent survey of small business owners

“67% agreed that social media is a good way to increase business, yet 39% did not plan to use social networking in their marketing plan in 2010.”

79% of the  Fortune Global 100 are using at least one social media platform.  Most of the companies have had success with social media.

Office Max: “Marketing is all about change… At OfficeMax, we’ve embraced social media and incorporated it into our marketing strategy to reach today’s digital consumer through humor, entertainment and personalization.”

Cisco: “We see social media, such as blogs, as a great way to build your business and tap into the ideas and input of people using your products.”

Another study suggests “47% of brands are still in the experimental phase with social media”, meaning they “exhibit lots of social activity with little connection or integration with each other.”   Businessweek reports

“Over the last two years, social media have dramatically transformed the pace at which information is shared….71% of companies plan to increase their investments in social media, but only a third have guidelines for how it should be used.”

Clearly there is a marketing opportunity!  But business owners and marketing managers are overwhelmed with the new learning curve and question its effectiveness. Agencies are active in the social space, trying to make sense of all the new tools and prove its value for their clients.  Yet a new evolving group, focusing on Integrated Media Marketing and using social media as art of a comprehensive strategy, is opening up new markets and strategic opportunities.

How are you on implementing Social Media into your marketing efforts?

Traditionally marketing is about advertising or promoting something.  We scream “something”; we hope it is loud enough to interrupt the consumers’ attention and motivate them to take action.  That’s one way to do it.

Marketing has progressed — customer databases target select groups and the internet provides customers with search that directs them to company websites. We say something to the world, await a response and then respond back.  But the communication is still one way.

Social Media, the New Solution?

Enter social media. Two-way conversations are realized in real time – open communication is the objective, controlling the message is almost impossible. The focus is to promote conversations among customers and potential customers. Each conversation is a “touchpoint” with the consumer and provides the company with insights, data and new marketing connections.

To date most marketers see social media as a tool or a component of the marketing mix. Social media is much more than a promotion tool; it is the “atmosphere” or cloud in which more traditional efforts are magnified, grow and flourish.  It requires a comprehensive strategy to be successful.

Social media has begun to impact business communications (e.g., branding, customer service, recruitment, organizational development).  But it has not been integrated into ongoing traditional marketing efforts and the marketing mix.

Integrated Media Marketing, Generating Marketing Capital

Enter Integrated Media Marketing, the next step in the marketing revolution. This strategy is the seamless integration of traditional marketing with online, public relations and social media. This builds on the recent Forester study,  No Media Should Stand Alone which suggests;

“All types of online media can play specific roles in meeting marketers’ objectives — especially when seamlessly working together.”

From the outset Integrated Media Marketing is designed to be holistic; it is not just adding social media as another silo to the other media channels; but blending or “entwining” the components (TV, radio, online, public relations and online marketing) as a unified strategy.  Social media must permeate all elements of their marketing mix, as the driving force of an Integrated Media Marketing Strategy.

This Strategy augments and synergizes the different media components to generate a new asset, marketing capital. The resulting marketing capital is greater than the sum of each of the media inputs, generating new value added by

• Expanding exposure by effectively driving your message across all media
• Efficient use of marketing dollars
• Accessing the viral power of user distribution
• Addressing sensitive and negative issues
• Expanding customer touchpoints to gain new insights on their brand (corporate, employer); interactions on customer service; opportunities for recruitment and product research.

The Obama Presidential campaign successfully generated marketing capital with a unified brand of “Change”. President Obama’s team used all forms of social media and wove them seamlessly with traditional media and PR, while “integrating online advocacy into every element of the campaign.”  His expanded marketing capital resulted in an empowered volunteer network,  high approval ratings, 90% of donors were under $100 and a landslide election victory drawing from political center.

An Integrated Media Marketing Strategy develops engaging customer relationships which generates new marketing capital and a sustainable competitive edge.

Strategy! Strategy! Strategy! -  the key to successfully integrating social media into your marketing mix.  Business Week points out that  companies are moving from Discovery to Experimentation and finally to Adoption in their social media experience.

With this growing expertise, experts agree that 2010 is the year for Developing Strategy,  Integrating Media and Designing Metrics.

As Social Media Marketing is becoming more strategic, companies are adopting a strategy to align their objectives with metrics that define and reflect an Integrated Media Marketing approach.  This will define their success. Mani Karthik compiled an awesome list of ten social media presentations by thought leaders in the industry. These companies are using a social media strategy to achieve their objectives. We thank Mani for including the latest Entwine presentation as the first on his list.  We shared this presentation with executives at the Salem Roanoke County Chamber event in Salem, Virginia.

Who’s following You?  Have you looked in the mirror lately?

What’s the fastest growing marketing tool for businesses today?   It’s Social Media, and did I mention it’s free? We call it BIZ2.0. It’s a new way of thinking and doing business. For simplicity let’s focus on three of the most popular business tools - LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

So you’re collecting Connections on LinkedIn, Friends on Facebook and Followers on Twitter.

• What’s your criteria for following back?
• Are you effectively building your network?

Chris Brogan, a well respected social media thought leader, wrote “You’re Doing it Wrong” openly discussing how we participate in social networks. Here are some of his comments:

• You follow too many people on Twitter.
• You don’t allow blog comments.
• You add people to LinkedIn that you don’t know very well.
• You have ads on your blog.
• You use partial RSS feeds.
• Your blog posts are too short (too long).
• You shoot really long videos and don’t edit.
• You don’t follow people back.

Shawn Welch wrote a follow-up post suggesting that “Social media is not the place for instant celebrity…” and adding

“It’s tempting to join a network like Twitter and follow everyone under the sun because it’s easy and that feels like success. But even if you pick up 500 or 600 auto-follows or a few polite follow-backs, you’ll quickly find you’re not the success you think you are.”

Shawn states there are two key principles to social media:

Patience — slow growth wins over aggressive expansion

Build relationships along the way, interact and engage

What’s your strategy?

• Which tools are you using – LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook?
• What is your strategy for building these networks?
• What are your criteria for accepting a Connection, Friend or Follower?

The Tools – Each tool has a different reach and target market – who uses it.

Reach:

• Facebook - 400 million people globally are active users -50% active users log on to Facebook in any given day and more than 35 million users update their status each day
• LinkedIn - 60 million professionals with high personal incomes
• Twitter -18. 1 million unique visitors in December 09- 579% growth from December 08

Who uses it?

• Facebook – 35+ demographic now represents more than 30% of the entire user base,  55+ audience grew a whopping 922.7% in 2009.
• LinkedIn - In US 52 % are men and 48% are women; 38% make over $100k per year.
• Twitter – 70% are over 25; more females than males

BIZ2.0 Strategy
It’s clear that social media is impacting the business world as documented in Jeremiah Owyang’s Collection of Social Network Stats for 2009. Social media is re-defining and expanding relationships in the global business community.

The key to BIZ2.0 is the building of a strong and relevant network. In the traditional business world, networking is considered a very valuable marketing tool for sales, recruiting, exposure and building relationships. In a WEB 2.0 environment, BIZ2.0 is becoming a tool to build your personal brand, become a Thought Leader and generate targeted sales opportunities. This network represents you and reflects on the work that you do. In addition you now have opened your contacts to the business world.

Social media tools are new to most business people. For the most part they have not developed a strategy to build their valuable network. Many people just collect friends — as many, as fast as they can. They are called open networkers. There are no criteria. You are virtually accepted on a cold contact, based on their belief in open networking or referral from another follower. The more the merrier! The alternative is to step back and develop your personal BIZ2.0 strategy using your own social etiquette.