a.) Twitter users are actively discussing products and services
b.) Twitter is growing rapidly and driving consumer awareness

Because of this, B2C and B2B marketers continue to incorporate Twitter into their digital marketing strategies and as a marketing tool you want to maximize its potential. But in its simplest form Twitter, which is a lot like SMS text-messaging from your mobile phone, can be limited and time-consuming.

So what are some ways to better leverage the power of Twitter?

One option is with the use of lists. Twitter lists are a feature that enables you to create lists under your account and add other Twitter users to them. By doing this, you essentially create filtered views of messages being published to Twitter which helps you keep a watchful eye on people important to you, be it personally or professionally.

In March we explored ways to utilize the software TweetDeck to manage multiple accounts on Twitter. Our guest presenter for this session was Ryan Taft of Catalyst Marketers who is back with us this week to show us how to create and manage lists on Twitter. In this live web cast, Taft will be covering:

• What is a twitter list?
• Examples of Twitter Lists
• How to create a Twitter List
• How to use a Twitter List

To attend this webinar you must be registered with the AC List Builder series which you can do by clicking button below. By registering you will receive an email notification from GoToWebinar reminding you of each webinar within that series. If you are not able to or are not interested in attending a specific webinar within that series then there is no obligation to attend. You can disregard the notification.

Likewise if you have an interest in attending webinars from another series we run then you can register with those from the training page too. By subscribing to our website then we can notify you of our upcoming events and webinars plus we can share information like this that you can utilize on your own time.

In this final demonstration in the series that began in January 2010, Guest Presenter Brian Collins will be showing us:

• Why mobile sites are important today
• How to create a mobile website within the CMP Mobile system
• How to generate a URL for your mobile site
• How to shorten the URL to insert into text message campaign
• How to insert URL in text message campaign

By the end we will have created a mobile website on the fly that you will be able to view on your mobile phone. Webinar attendees will have an opportunity to test the mobile system live by opting in to receive this link to the mobile web page from their phone so if you can not text while on a call with your mobile phone then you will want to call in using a different phone so you can participate in the live demo. For questions about this please contact us.

SPECIAL: Text AUTOBURST to 41513 from your mobile and show up for this web cast and receive a free mobile website for your business for 30 days.

To register for this free event use the button below. If you are already registered with the AC Mobile series then you would have already received an email notification from GoToWebinar about it and there is no need to re-register.

Likewise if you have an interest in subjects like this and can not make this particular webinar, you can view our schedule of events or sign up to receive email and text alerts for all upcoming web casts. We do record our web casts and make them available for viewing on our Viddler channel and on our new website www.AutoBurstWebTV.com.

For questions or assistance with AC Webinars contact Ryan Gerardi. Thank You.

Foursquare.com is a location-based social networking that requires the use of your mobile phone or device to check in to venues. To “check in” requires you load and log in to Foursquare from your mobile device, pull up a list of places or venues that have been added to foursquare.com by other users, and then use the Check In button. If the venue does not exist then you can add it by entering the name and address.

How does this benefit auto dealers?

Well, it may be too soon to tell however Eric Miltsch from AuctionDirect USA is doing it and he is going to share some of his experiences in this on our next AC Social webinar Thursday May 13 at 11:30am EST.

Sticking with our tradition of keeping AC Webinars simple and useful for applying at your dealership, Miltsch will be covering the following topics:

• New-school engagement using “location-based marketing” concepts
• Creating memorable, interactive experiences for guests
• Leveraging our networks w/regards to surrounding businesses for promotions & the breadth of our personal networks
• Improving brand recognition
• Driving traffic
• Creating sales opportunities

Join us on Thursday May 13 at 11:30am. We will begin with a brief orientation of the AC Webinar series and registration process before handing the controls over to Eric for his presentation which should last about 30-40 minutes.

To register for this event use the button below. If you are already registered with the AC Social webinar series then there is no need to re-register. Likewise if you have an interest in this topic but can not make this particular webinar, click here to view our schedule of events or sign up to receive email and text alerts for all upcoming webinars.

For questions or assistance with AC Webinars contact Ryan Gerardi.

Do you see the disconnect?

People aren’t going to your website to become a lead. They want information to help them make an informed buying decision on such an important purchase. Yet dealers often limit the information they display so that visitors must INQUIRE to get what they want.

In other industries, people can go online to shop for almost any product out there. They can do their research and make an informed decision, be it online or off. However, with auto shopping they can only go online and inquire with dealers to obtain the information they need to complete their purchase. Lack of pricing isn’t always the missing nugget here, but items such as vehicle equipment upgrades and accurate monthly payments by credit tier certainly aren’t part of very many structured processes on many dealer’s sites.

This week we are pleased to welcome Brian Hoecht from Ai-Dealer who about 5 years ago set out to change this with the auto industry’s first true shopping cart for car dealers. His shopping cart gives auto dealers the ability to share 100% of each vehicle’s information and pricing to customers that create a log in, thus pre-qualifying visitors for dealers while giving buyers what they want.

Hoecht wrote about this recently on DealerRefresh.com in his post about best uses of dealership websites. Hoecht will be our guest presenter in this week’s AC Spotlight series which begins at 2:00pm EST on Thursday May 6. In this webinar we will look at…

• What auto shoppers really want
• What your typical dealership website is willing to give
• What a true automotive online shopping experience offers
• Ways that dealers can foster trust online

To attend this free GoToWebinar simply click the Register Now button below and fill in the required information. You will receive your very own log in to the webinar. If you are not able to make the webinar but are interested in receiving information such as this from our site then you can sign up to receive email and text alerts each week when we host a new session. It’s free and you may cancel your subscription at any time. Additionally you can follow us on Twitter @blogproautomo where we announce these webinars as well.

To avoid this you want to grab people’s attention in a different manner. Your website is already effective at converting in-market buyers into leads so there is no point in attempting to replicate that on Facebook. You will only complicate your efforts. Instead, use Facebook as a means for something different that your website does not do.

Video can be an effective way to grab people’s attention on a site like Facebook whereas on your website it can be a distraction and so you may want to use Facebook as a means for sharing your videos. However, you may not want to share the videos you post with all of your friends. Only select ones that you believe is timely or appropriate. Just because you can share does not mean you should.

Fortunately, few sites today, if any, offer to the extensive sharing capabilities available in Facebook, including with your videos. Facebook permits you to choose individuals and groups of individuals with whom you share information with such as with Wall Posts, photos, and videos. You use friend lists to create groups of individuals.

Earlier this month we looked how to use friend lists in Facebook to share information with select friends and lists of friends. Back in March we looked at how to publish and optimize your videos for Viddler, which is rich in interactive features such as tagging clips and leaving video comments on a video, but not as extensive with sharing as is Facebook.

This month’s AC Video Webinar continues an ongoing exploration of various online video publishing possibilities and while Facebook is not out to be the premier publisher in online video, there certainly is a lot of potential in how you share your videos on Facebook.

AutoConversion would like to welcome back our friend and colleague Roger Stix from Atlanta Business Video as our guest presenter who will share with us some useful tips for getting your videos onto Facebook. Roger is the chief Producer at ABV and has extensive experience in video production, publishing, and syndication.

Stix will give us insight on formatting your videos properly for use on Facebook. He then will walk us through the process of….

• Publishing videos to your Facebook Profile
• Making your videos appear on a Page
• Making your videos appear in a Group
• Sharing your video with friends and lists

Please join us for this insightful look at the use of videos on Facebook this Thursday April 29 at 11:30am EST. We will begin with a brief orientation of the AC Webinar series and registration process before handing the controls over to Roger for his presentation which should last about 30-40 minutes.

To register for this event use the button below. If you are already registered with the AC Video Webinar series then there is no need to re-register. Likewise if you have an interest in video but can not make this particular webinar, click here to view our schedule of events or sign up to receive email and text alerts for all upcoming webinars.

For questions or assistance with AC Webinars contact Ryan Gerardi.

Some people struggle with the idea of a single system being utilized for both personal and professional use. Many people do not understand the intricate sharing capabilities of your information on Facebook, that you can post information to be shared with only the people you choose.

For instance, you may want to post commentary on an article that only your auto industry buddies might enjoy, but your prospective customer friends might not need to see that. Maybe you want to post pictures of your kid’s birthday party but you don’t want ALL of your Facebook friends seeing it. Only family members and people that were there.

These are common situations we all have and fortunately Facebook is designed for you to share only what you want and with whom.

One way to achieve this is by using the Lists feature in the Friends section. The List feature enables you to create a variety of lists for various purposes. For instance, you could create lists for people you went to school with, people you work with, people you meet online that are prospective customers, whatever you feel the need for you can create a list for that. You can associate the same person to more than one list and you can create as many layers and combinations you like.

For instance, I have a list called “Pic Friends” which I add friends to when I am comfortable that they would see photos I post, like of my kids especially. I also have a list called “Virtual Buddies” which are people I have never met and do not know much about, but somehow became connected. I don’t need pics of my kids in the browsers of people I do not know well, but I may still want to share harmless fun with them. Lists are perfect for this.

Later this week in our AC List Builder Webinar series we will be exploring the basic use of Lists in Facebook. In this free webinar we will cover…

• How to create a list
• How to add Friends to lists
• How to share Wall Posts with lists
• How to share Photos with lists
• How to send Messages to lists

These core functions in Facebook are highly useful and with a little bit of effort can prove extremely useful, especially when you want to send a message out to more than 20 Friends. By keeping your lists limited to 20 people you can more easily send messages to large groups of the right people.

Join us LIVE this Thursday April 15 at 11:30 am EST by registering for the AC List Builder Series. If you are already registered then you will receive an email reminder from GoToWebinar with your access to the training session. If you are not registered then click here or the button below to receive your private link. By registering you will receive an email for each webinar within the AC List Builder Series which is about every 6 weeks. There is no obligation to attend this or any webinar within the series and you may remove yourself from the series email at any time.

The topic for this private webinar is on the new mobile component we have been building in to the AC Insider program. Specifically we will be looking at:

• The new email auto response with mobile opt-in information and link to mobile site
• The new mobile site options
• Pricing for the new mobile component
• Upgrade options to full mobile version
• How we are incorporating the new mobile component into AC List Builder

You can see there is much to cover and will likely require more than an hour to run through, thus another reason it is not open to the public because it is too much information for one sessions.

Some of you may have received an email communication from GoToWebinar about the AC Spotlight Series going on tomorrow. That communication was a mistake and has been corrected. The next AC Spotlight session is set for May 6.

We have updated the training schedule on our website so please check there for the most accurate information.

To join the AC Mobile Webinar Series you may click here or the button below. By registering you will receive an email notification from GoToWebinar reminding you of each webinar within this series. If you are not able to or are not interested in attending a specific webinar within that series then there is no obligation to attend. You can disregard the notification.

Fortunately there are ways to make your Twitter efforts more efficient. One of these ways is with the use of TweetDeck.

TweetDeck is a browser for select social media networking sites allowing you to manage information on Twitter, facebook, LinkedIn and MySpace. In fact with TweetDeck you can even manage multiplate Twitter accounts, plus any facebook pages to which you are an admin can be managed from TweetDeck too.

For example, we recently launched a new Twitter account for BlogPro Automotive and are using to TweetDeck to manage it along with other Twitter accounts we have in addition to customer Twitter accounts.

This week we are holding a webinar dedicated to the use of TweetDeck and Twitter as part of our AC Social Webinar Series. Our guest presenter will be Ryan Taft from Catalyst Marketers who assists us in managing information on Twitter and facebook for some of our customers. Taft posted to his blog recently offering some extended uses of Twitter and TweetDeck in the post No time for Twitter? Use TweetDeck to save time, but you can benefit from this information first hand by attending this week’s Webinar at 11:30 am EST on Thursday April 1.

In this webinar Taft will be exploring the following topics:

• Quick Twitter for Business Intro
• TweetDeck Overview
• Download for computer & mobile phone
• Add Twitter account
• Add Facebook account
• TweetDeck helps maximize your time on Twitter
• TweetDeck helps show activity at a glance
• TweetDeck recap & summary

As with all our webinars we aim to make them useful and applicable in the real world, this way you can walk away with new skills that can be applied to your endeavours on the web right away.

To attend this webinar you must be registered with the AC Social Webinar series which you can do by clicking here or the button below. By registering you will receive an email notification from GoToWebinar reminding you of each webinar within that series. If you are not able to or are not interested in attending a specific webinar witin that series then there is no obligation to attend. You can disregard the notification.

Likewise if you have an interest in attending webinars from another series we run then you can register with those from the AC Webinar Series page too. Additionally, by becoming a fan of our facebook page or by subscribing to our website then we can notify you of our upcoming events and webinars plus we can share information like this that you can utlize on your own time.

Viddler.com is a video hosting and streaming service that offers a free plan and great community that helps people and businesses benefit from video on the web. Used for both personal and commercial use, Viddler is rich in features, capabilities, and reliability.

In our last video-focused webinar we looked at How to publish video to Brightcove and several months ago we offered some tips and advice on preparing to make videos for the web in general.

This week we are pleased to welcome our friend Roger Stix of Atlanta Business Video as our guest presenter who will share with us some tips for getting your final videos to the web using Viddler. Roger is the chief Producer at ABV and has extensive experience in video production, publishing, and syndication. Viddler.com is a video hosting and streaming service that many people and business utilize.

Stix will give us insight on formatting your videos properly for the web depending on intended actual use. He then will walk us through the process of publishing videos to your Viddler account. Viddler is not the only place to publish videos but it is some good features and benefits worth exploring.

While there Stix will give us pointers for optimizing your videos based on intended target audience, plus some more subtle capabilities of the Viddler system that could be handy.

All-in-all, the game plan for this week’s AC Video Webinar is:

Please join us for this insightful look at the Viddler system this Thursday March 18 at 11:30 am EST. We will begin with a brief orientation of the AC Webinar series and registration process before handing the controls over to Roger for his presentation which should last about 30-40 minutes.

To register for this event use the button below. If you are already registered with the AC Video Webinar series then there is no need to re-register. Likewise if you have an interest in video but can not make this particular webinar, click here to view our schedule of events.

For questions or assistance please contact us. Thank you.

Auto retailers are now putting more focus on providing a great customer buying experience and looking for ways to leverage “word of mouth” (WOM) advertising from their many satisfied customers in an online tangible fashion.

Mark has over 26 years in the automotive, leasing, and financial sectors of the transportation industry. As the first full time editor of Digital Dealer magazine, he got to speak first hand with dealer owners, Internet Managers and vendors on the cutting edge of technology and social media.

He got upset when he saw good dealers being “blasted online” and wanted to help dealers paint a more accurate picture for auto shopping consumers. By offering search engine optimized pages for sales professionals he allows them to build their own personal brand, and since their pages are transportable to any dealership they work for, their efforts benefit them as long as they stay in the business.

Carfolks jump starts the WOM process and in less than 18 months a focused sales person could be selling 25 to 30 vehicles per month by leveraging their Carfolks consumer network.

This special webinar kick starts a new series for the AC Webinar program where we will begin featuring companies rather than features and capabilities of software technology solutions. The webinar is being held on Thursday, March 11 at 11:30 am EST. You can register by clicking the button below.

We begin promptly going through a 5-minute orientation before diving into the material itself. Our webinars are typically recorded for edited versions to be published onto our Viddler channel.

We hope to see you there. Since this is the first webinar in this ongoing series, you must register for this event to attend, even if you already are registered with another series. Webinars and registration are handled through GoToWebinar. Upon registering you will receive an email notification from GoToWebinar each week, day, and hour prior to each webinar within that series, about every 6-8 weeks (per series).