ReachLocal helps auto dealerships connect online by combining local digital media and local Internet marketing consultants with technology. The firm has been servicing the auto industry since 2007.

Wall Street skeptics doubt that similar small businesses like Yodle will follow suit with the same returns, criticizing them for their low margin, high cost business models, but IPO specialists claim that their vertical business strategy is built on margins more so than percentages, similar to Amazon, which despite low percentage profits, brings in $1 billion annually.

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.

Today, Social Media sites such as facebook and Twitter are known for their growing benefits in Search Marketing, but I don’t see blogs receiving the hype that these sites are receiving, despite the proven track record that blogs have as a tool for Inbound Marketing. And now with companies like GOSO offering an inventory solution that integrates with facebook, or MediaRevo which manages transaction-geared landing pages for auto dealer sites that are advertised with paid placement on facebook, it seems that the turbines of automotive online retail remain steadfastly drawn towards vehicle sales.

Is this the right approach for auto dealers, to be using Social Media tools such as facebook and Twitter to push their commodity?

Studies and statistics show that Social Media is more about content, conversation, and relationships and less about conversion and transaction. So how will using Social Media to solicit vehicles bid with customers in these marketplaces? Does it not seem that these communication channels may be better utilized by auto dealers to concentrate on other areas of their operation such as service, parts, & financing?

It may be too soon to say what the best practices are for auto dealers when it comes to Social Media. And I am not suggesting that the display of inventory there is a bad or good practice. Dealers respond to this type of marketing because they are accustomed to it. Dealers always want to sell more cars…TODAY.

In today’s economy, new possibilities are opening up. One of those possibilities is for this new marketing medium to offer dealers not just another place to sell autos, but also a place to expand all aspects of their operations.

Click here to view the embedded video.

First you log in to your WordPress site. BlogPro Automotive runs on WordPress so if you are in the auto industry and would like a free account on our system please sign up to receive your free account. If you are not in the auto industry you can visit our other WordPress system at www.autoburstwebs.com to to do the same.

Once you are logged in you will be at what is called the Dashboard. From there, select the blog you wish to work in by choosing the “My Blogs” link in the Dashboard menu section at the top left of your screen. Now you should see a list of all blogs to which you have access. On BlogPro, you can run as many blogs or sites that you wish with your same user account.

Now that you have select the blog on which you wish to work, look for the Pages menu section on the left side of your screen. Here you have two options – Edit or Add New.

To create a new page simply click Add New and to modify an existing one click Edit.

By clicking Edit you will see a list of all your pages on that blog. From here choose the page on which you wish to work and it will open up permitting you to make modifications.

If you want to create a new page then click the Add New link and you will load a blank page where you can insert a title and the contents of the page along with other parameters and settings related to pages. For an explanation of these things please reference the video.

Once you have completed your changes then click on the Publish or Update button to the right of your screen. You will see Publish if the page is new or saved as a draft. You will see Update if it is already published.

This pretty much covers it. Creating and modifying pages is literally that simple. For assistance with this please contact us on AC Assist. We are happy to help.

This technique is not limited to the use of iFrames as you can and probably should use Hana Code Insert to display any large amount of HTML, but this is a good use for Hana Code Insert. You will probably need to watch the video in addition to reading the instructions below so you have a visual reference.

Click here to view the embedded video.

To begin, look for the Hana Code Insert plug-in which is accessible from the Settings tab in your WP Dashboard. There you will see space for a “New Entry” where you can copy/paste your HTML code and label the insert. Then press SAVE or UPDATE which will create the instance of this Hana Code Insert and displays it at the bottom of all other Hana Code Inserts you have created. Now grab (copy to clipboard) the Hana Code Insert from bracket to bracket which should include the words “hana-code-insert” plus your label and looks like this:

[ hana-code-insert name='YOUR LABEL' / ]

Next you go to the Page or Post you wish to create or edit and paste the code from bracket to bracket into your entry. You can paste this code in the Visual editor or the HTML editor. Doesn’t matter. You can also insert text, images, and other copy as necessary above or below your insert.

Now press PUBLISH or UPDATE or SAVE DRAFT to finalize this entry and when you preview it you should see your code appear just like normal. It’s that simple.

Of course this day would come, it was only a matter of time. With the efforts of people like Jeff Kershner of DealerRefresh and Ralph Paglia of Automotive Digital Marketing, dealers and auto insiders are becoming increasingly more emerged in the idea and practice of blogging and social media. But what are these things really?

Let’s be clear about something. Setting up a Twitter account or a Facebook account takes 2 minutes, literally. Setting up a blog takes 5 and it is free. If you are paying someone to do this for you without a master plan and direct correlation to your automotive internet  marketing strategy then you are wasting everyone’s time and money. The set up of these things is the least of your concerns. Utilizing them and incorporating them effectively into your sales process is the real challenge.

Looking back to the late 90’s and early 2000’s, I recall the blitzkrieg of car dealers taking on the Web. In the first few years the big question was “should I or shouldn’t I have a website?” Then it was should I or shouldn’t I do pay-per-click advertising (PPC). Now it is “should I or shouldn’t I have a blog and do social networking?”. It’s easy to say yes to these questions but what is not easy to address is the HOW.

Successful business comes down to 3 things most of us know – People. Product. Process. Car dealers have the product and despite today’s economic situation there is no lack of people. There is an abundance of people at the consumer level and at the industry level. But it is the process that throws a wrench into all this.

Dealers have been able to follow a relatively consistent sales and marketing process for 50 or 60 years or so until the advent of the Web. Since then there has been a constant flux in their business processes. First came email, then came Automotive CRM, then Internet Departments, BDC, e-commerce directors, etc.  Now we have automotive blogging and social media. Anyone who thinks that incorporating blogging and social media into their automotive internet marketing strategy simply for the sake of doing it because they “should” is going to be sorely disappointed. So what if you get 500 people following you on Twitter. Are you selling more cars as a result? Is your service business increasing? Are you improving upon your brand equity?

If you are doing these things, what impact are these efforts having on your results? If you can not draw a clear distinction amongst these things then you may be at risk of treading water. Studying your customer behavior and correlating it directly to your efforts is the ugly side of this business which is no different from any other form or method of marketing, conventional or progressive. Obtaining the tools for the trade is as easy as going to the store and buying them, but that doesn’t mean you end up with a killer deck.

1. The first step is to obtain the URL to your RSS feed. In this case, we went to a Nissan dealer on web2carz.com and obtained their URL.
2. The next step is to log in to your Wordpress site and go to the Widgets section under the Appearance tab.
3. Then, while in Widgets, add the widget for RSS feeds and click on the “Edit” link. Be sure to add the widget to the desired sidebar if you have more than one sidebar.
4. Now paste the URL feed in the appropriate field, give your widget a title if desired, and set any of the optional parameters. Most importantly set the number of items you wish to display.
5. Finally, press “Save” and your new widget is live.

Click here to view the embedded video.

If you have any questions regarding this you may leave your comments below. Alternatively if you require assistance or wish to schedule one-on-one training then please contact us.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.