Is your dealership missing the point of Social Media? The web is the original social media.
Just read a post by Adam Singer about a Business Week article “Beware Social Media Snake Oil”. This post was a great break down of all the myths that come up about social medias impact on business productivity and intellectual property.
I would like to add a dealership spin to this in the hope that dealers look at social media from a different angle.
Business Week Article - “As millions of people flock to these online services to chat, flirt, swap photos, and network, companies have the chance to tune in to billions of digital conversations.”
Dealers let me put some factual numbers behind this statement along with some of my own comments.
Marketing Spend
$55 billion - number of dollars marketers will spend on interactive (display, mobile, email, social, search) channels by 2014
21% – percentage of all marketing spends that the 55 billion figure will represent – and the minimum % of your budgets you should be looking to allocate to these mediums. For dealerships that are such a local market focus probably more that 21% of your budget.
7.8 billion - amount marketers will spend on display advertising in 2009 – Affiliate and display marketing should be a bigger (more interactions) part of your marketing than radio or TV
$15.3 billion – amount marketers will spend on search marketing in 2009 – I know this has been a pit for dealerships because vendors here are focused on the commodity of this medium TRAFFIC. You have to get into this conversion focused not traffic focused your main random access website is not the vehicle for acquiring new business on the web it is for your existing customers.
$716 million – amount marketers will spend on social media marketing in 2009 – not that this will be done wisely as with any new medium we are trying to find out what works and what doesn’t, the only way to do that… get in there and do it!
4% – percentage of budget allocated to social media as compared to search in 2009 – not sure I buy this number, I don't think car dealerships do enough of either of these things.
9% – amount this number will grow to by 2014 – I believe this to be an understatement.
Source for the above
$585 million amount in 2008 marketers spent on MySpace ads – better opportunity than a TV or Radio ad as a percentage of return to spend and accountability.
$210 million amount marketers spent in 2008 on Facebook ads – better opportunity than a TV or Radio ad as a percentage of return to spend and accountability.
9% - amount Facebook’s ad revenue will grow in 2009 – its just going to keep getting more and more crowded
15% – amount MySpace’s ad revenue will fall in 2009 – its just going to keep getting more and more crowded
Source for the above
Twitter Numbers
21% – number of Twitter accounts that are empty placeholders – people are buying these like domains. Get your dealerships name before you have to pay someone else for it…ITS FREE NOW!
94% – number of Twitter accounts with less than 100 followers – the mass of niches is here too. You don't have to have a large following here just a few people willing to retweet to their 2 friends then they retweet to their 2 friends… and so on and so on…
5% – percentage of users who make up a staggering 3/4 of all Twitter activity (participation inequality) – see above
Tuesday – the most popular day on Twitter (not a number but still an interesting fact) – when is the lowest day on your service drive? Tuesday & Wednesday! You think twitter offer in service might be able to help here?
62% – percentage of Twitter users from the US – one of the best way to take you used car sales national…Twitter!
Source for the above
6.46 billion – number of Tweets at the time of posting this (source) – 1000 times the number of people that have ever seen or heard all the TV and Radio commercial your dealership has ever done.
23.04 million - umber of unique visitors to Twitter.com in June of 2009 (source) - National used car sales!!!
Facebook Numbers
200 million – updated number of active Facebook users – probably a few in your dealerships market too! They will have conversations about your dealership here with or without you I think we would prefer with.
30 million -number of those active users who access Facebook via mobile device – Mobile is the poster child of I want what I want when I want it. They are surfing Facebook just like they're not surfing your dealerships website from a mobile device. They are updating and getting quick info usually through an app. Your mobile strategy is to make the information that customers want from your dealership just as easy to get to.
100 million - number of Facebook users who log in daily – NOW THAT’s A DESTINATION…YOUR WEBSITE IS NOT ONE QUIT TRYING TO MAKE IT THAT WAY.
66% – percentage of Facebook users who are outside of college – It’s not just your kid’s space anymore and hasn’t been for some time.
120 – average number of friends per user – Joe Girard found that the average number of people his customer knew was about 200 and he leveraged that into a sales machine long before it could be done at t he speed of light.
900 million – average number of photos uploaded to the site month – you think some inventory photos might need to be here???? Not all of them but some of the neat stuff with a link to all.
10 million - number of videos uploaded each month – Service Videos, Help Videos (How to used and set up all the new gadgets in my car) Hell I can’t figure them all out and I am a computer guy and a car guy what do you think your customers are going through?
1 billion – number of pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photos, etc.) shared each week – about your dealership and everything else.
2.5 million - number of events created monthly – What events does your dealership have that are of value? Why are they not here?
950,000 – number of developers and entrepreneurs leveraging the Facebook platform – We’re one of them
100 – number of applications that have more than 1 million active users – mobile… I want what I want when I want it the way I want it.
10,000 – number of websites using Facebook connect – why isn’t your website using this?
Source for the above
Search Numbers
13.104 billion - number of search engine queries in February of 2009 – Cars are the number one searched product
8.293 billion - number of searches which happened in Google-owned sites – Google Blogger why are you not there?
2.696 billion - number of searches on Yahoo! Sites – a distant 2nd but you should still have strategy here.
1.073 billion – number of searches on Microsoft sites – a distant 3rd but you should still have strategy here.
63.3% – percentage share of core searches which happened on Google – Google commoditizes everything it is so easy for your dealership to manage your own search campaigns now, the conversion is where the rubber meets the road and where you need the help. Conversion doesn’t happen on your main random access website.
Source for the above
Business Week Article “But the same tools carry risks. Employees encouraged to tap social networking sites can fritter away hours, or worse.”
Poor salespeople are already wasting hour upon hours in your dealership. I would much rather they be working on updating and engaging customers on Facebook than smoking a cigarette on the point wait’n for an up.
Business Week Article “They can spill company secrets or harm corporate relationships by denigrating partners.”
They can and have always been able to do this. How many of don't have a story of a moronic salesperson who did, said or email something stupid?
Business Week Article “What’s more, with one misstep, one clumsy entrée, companies can quickly find themselves victims of the forces they were trying to master. Thousands of bloggers attacked Motrin last year because of an advertisement from the Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) brand they found demeaning to mothers.”
Please… if you make a offensive commercial or say something in the wrong context and its going to get to the web, that’s your new reality. Do you really think you can stop it by stopping your people from getting to social media? For that matter do you really think you are stopping your people from getting to social medial or being there… new flash they are already there without you.
At the end of the day my fellow dealers your customers are on the web, looking for you, talking about you, rating your service and doing all this with little or no engagement from you. Any way you slice that up…it’s a bad thing.
Larry Bruce (@pcmguy)
I would like to add a dealership spin to this in the hope that dealers look at social media from a different angle.
Business Week Article - “As millions of people flock to these online services to chat, flirt, swap photos, and network, companies have the chance to tune in to billions of digital conversations.”
Dealers let me put some factual numbers behind this statement along with some of my own comments.
Marketing Spend
$55 billion - number of dollars marketers will spend on interactive (display, mobile, email, social, search) channels by 2014
21% – percentage of all marketing spends that the 55 billion figure will represent – and the minimum % of your budgets you should be looking to allocate to these mediums. For dealerships that are such a local market focus probably more that 21% of your budget.
7.8 billion - amount marketers will spend on display advertising in 2009 – Affiliate and display marketing should be a bigger (more interactions) part of your marketing than radio or TV
$15.3 billion – amount marketers will spend on search marketing in 2009 – I know this has been a pit for dealerships because vendors here are focused on the commodity of this medium TRAFFIC. You have to get into this conversion focused not traffic focused your main random access website is not the vehicle for acquiring new business on the web it is for your existing customers.
$716 million – amount marketers will spend on social media marketing in 2009 – not that this will be done wisely as with any new medium we are trying to find out what works and what doesn’t, the only way to do that… get in there and do it!
4% – percentage of budget allocated to social media as compared to search in 2009 – not sure I buy this number, I don't think car dealerships do enough of either of these things.
9% – amount this number will grow to by 2014 – I believe this to be an understatement.
Source for the above
$585 million amount in 2008 marketers spent on MySpace ads – better opportunity than a TV or Radio ad as a percentage of return to spend and accountability.
$210 million amount marketers spent in 2008 on Facebook ads – better opportunity than a TV or Radio ad as a percentage of return to spend and accountability.
9% - amount Facebook’s ad revenue will grow in 2009 – its just going to keep getting more and more crowded
15% – amount MySpace’s ad revenue will fall in 2009 – its just going to keep getting more and more crowded
Source for the above
Twitter Numbers
21% – number of Twitter accounts that are empty placeholders – people are buying these like domains. Get your dealerships name before you have to pay someone else for it…ITS FREE NOW!
94% – number of Twitter accounts with less than 100 followers – the mass of niches is here too. You don't have to have a large following here just a few people willing to retweet to their 2 friends then they retweet to their 2 friends… and so on and so on…
5% – percentage of users who make up a staggering 3/4 of all Twitter activity (participation inequality) – see above
Tuesday – the most popular day on Twitter (not a number but still an interesting fact) – when is the lowest day on your service drive? Tuesday & Wednesday! You think twitter offer in service might be able to help here?
62% – percentage of Twitter users from the US – one of the best way to take you used car sales national…Twitter!
Source for the above
6.46 billion – number of Tweets at the time of posting this (source) – 1000 times the number of people that have ever seen or heard all the TV and Radio commercial your dealership has ever done.
23.04 million - umber of unique visitors to Twitter.com in June of 2009 (source) - National used car sales!!!
Facebook Numbers
200 million – updated number of active Facebook users – probably a few in your dealerships market too! They will have conversations about your dealership here with or without you I think we would prefer with.
30 million -number of those active users who access Facebook via mobile device – Mobile is the poster child of I want what I want when I want it. They are surfing Facebook just like they're not surfing your dealerships website from a mobile device. They are updating and getting quick info usually through an app. Your mobile strategy is to make the information that customers want from your dealership just as easy to get to.
100 million - number of Facebook users who log in daily – NOW THAT’s A DESTINATION…YOUR WEBSITE IS NOT ONE QUIT TRYING TO MAKE IT THAT WAY.
66% – percentage of Facebook users who are outside of college – It’s not just your kid’s space anymore and hasn’t been for some time.
120 – average number of friends per user – Joe Girard found that the average number of people his customer knew was about 200 and he leveraged that into a sales machine long before it could be done at t he speed of light.
900 million – average number of photos uploaded to the site month – you think some inventory photos might need to be here???? Not all of them but some of the neat stuff with a link to all.
10 million - number of videos uploaded each month – Service Videos, Help Videos (How to used and set up all the new gadgets in my car) Hell I can’t figure them all out and I am a computer guy and a car guy what do you think your customers are going through?
1 billion – number of pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photos, etc.) shared each week – about your dealership and everything else.
2.5 million - number of events created monthly – What events does your dealership have that are of value? Why are they not here?
950,000 – number of developers and entrepreneurs leveraging the Facebook platform – We’re one of them
100 – number of applications that have more than 1 million active users – mobile… I want what I want when I want it the way I want it.
10,000 – number of websites using Facebook connect – why isn’t your website using this?
Source for the above
Search Numbers
13.104 billion - number of search engine queries in February of 2009 – Cars are the number one searched product
8.293 billion - number of searches which happened in Google-owned sites – Google Blogger why are you not there?
2.696 billion - number of searches on Yahoo! Sites – a distant 2nd but you should still have strategy here.
1.073 billion – number of searches on Microsoft sites – a distant 3rd but you should still have strategy here.
63.3% – percentage share of core searches which happened on Google – Google commoditizes everything it is so easy for your dealership to manage your own search campaigns now, the conversion is where the rubber meets the road and where you need the help. Conversion doesn’t happen on your main random access website.
Source for the above
Business Week Article “But the same tools carry risks. Employees encouraged to tap social networking sites can fritter away hours, or worse.”
Poor salespeople are already wasting hour upon hours in your dealership. I would much rather they be working on updating and engaging customers on Facebook than smoking a cigarette on the point wait’n for an up.
Business Week Article “They can spill company secrets or harm corporate relationships by denigrating partners.”
They can and have always been able to do this. How many of don't have a story of a moronic salesperson who did, said or email something stupid?
Business Week Article “What’s more, with one misstep, one clumsy entrée, companies can quickly find themselves victims of the forces they were trying to master. Thousands of bloggers attacked Motrin last year because of an advertisement from the Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) brand they found demeaning to mothers.”
Please… if you make a offensive commercial or say something in the wrong context and its going to get to the web, that’s your new reality. Do you really think you can stop it by stopping your people from getting to social media? For that matter do you really think you are stopping your people from getting to social medial or being there… new flash they are already there without you.
At the end of the day my fellow dealers your customers are on the web, looking for you, talking about you, rating your service and doing all this with little or no engagement from you. Any way you slice that up…it’s a bad thing.
Larry Bruce (@pcmguy)
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