Frustrated With Social Media? Check Your Source.

I’m just the messenger so please don’t shoot!

Your sources are bad!

There are a number of reasons why dealers aren’t happy with their results from social media.  Every reason seems to go back to the source of advice.

I recently did a webinar on social media to over 100 dealerships.  In a survey at the end of the seminar everyone that responded said they were frustrated with their social media results.  They all realized that they were headed in the wrong direction.

Here are five reasons why dealerships are becoming more frustrated:

1) They don’t understand social media is relationship selling and not retail selling.  Someone has told them to sell, sell, sell and sell.

2) They don’t spend enough time on social media.  It requires hourly and daily activity.

3) Dealerships aren’t following the right model.  Getting a facebook page and a twitter page doesn’t mean your involved in the conversation.

4) They haven’t realized that content is the most critical piece of social media.  Someone told them it’s how many offers you can get on facebook.

5) Dealers fall into the trap of not learning. Don’t just hand off your social media effort to  sales people. In some rare cases this might be effective but it won’t be in most.

I recently read a good article of how a dealership in California is working the social media world.  The title is  “Social Media The New Word Of Mouth.” Go to JM&A Today volume 3 2009.

It makes the point that creativity will be rewarded. It state’s the future of car selling is social media. Now, I don’t know about that but it’s already a big part of it.

There are going to be a lot of success stories out there so be sure you’re one of them.

If you need proof or you need a model to follow let me know. You really do need to learn how to make this work.

I have a 25 minute presentation I’ll be happy to share with you.

Bottom line is be careful of the advice given by automotive advertising agencies or so called social media guru’s in your dealership.

Their results thus far have been far from acceptable!

Are Automotive Ad Agencies On Board With Social Media?

Simple truth is no.  So  here are some stats on Social Media that you should be aware of.

Is Social Media here to stay?

Yes,  if you believe this information.

• 230 million -posting each and every day to social media websites
  
• +83% – the growth of time between 09 and 10 that people in US spent on social networking sites
  
• +145% – the growth of US Facebook users from 2009 to 2010
  
• +3712% – growth of US Twitter users from 2009 to 2010
  
• 25% –One in four US Internet page views occurred at one of the top social networking sites in December 2009, up 83% from 13.8% in December 2008

Here’s another stat that should put a fire underneath you.

What are your competitors doing?

In 3 Hours of announcing our Social Media Webinar we had 25 registrations.

Your competition is hungry for information. Most automotive ad agencies are not engaged in social media.  That’s why dealers are searching for the right program and approach on their own.

I have never seen this kind of response. I’ve been doing webinars for over 12 years and this really blows my mind. I knew dealers were wondering and watching but the sleeping bear is awaking.

Here is my final piece of advise. If you’ve been reading up-your-ups for long you know I provide valuable information and relevant information to the dealer world.   So here goes, don’t let your competition get ahead of you. Get on the move!

Wait… another 10 dealers just signed up!

If you would like any information on webinars on Automotive Social Media shoot me a message.