According to their research, HubSpot determined that the average number of fans across all Facebook pages and types was 624. They used this number as the marker for most liked versus least liked. Page types with more than 624 were classified as most liked and pages with fewer than 624 were classified as least liked.

Movies, TV Shows, and books were by and far the most liked types of pages. The other types of most liked, which came nowhere near as liked as these 3 were celebrities, stars, personalities, and public figures, large public venues such as museums and airports, government stuff, and surprisingly local businesses.

In the least liked category were things such as websites, retailers, boring local businesses such as banks and libraries, etc. Also in the least likes category were local automotive dealerships and vehicle services which you can see in the embedded image of this post. In fact, dealership Facebook pages average about 150 fans. Considering that the average dealership has upwards to 20k or 30k customers in the DMS, this number seems too low.

What does this tell us? Does this suggest that Facebook is not a viable place for car dealers to be investing? I am sure that the dealers with hundreds (and in some instances thousands) of fans will argue differently. Maybe this tells us that the approach dealers are taking with Facebook isn’t cutting it. Or maybe that’s just the way that it is.

In my experience using Facebook for car dealers I have found that it is a stretch for an outside party, alas a vendor, to make Facebook an impacting leg for dealers when no one at the dealer level is involved. Between the nature of the car business and the nature of social media, it is a tough mesh.

But when someone at the dealership gets behind the idea and drives it home, utilizing the content marketing services of an outside firm, the results are much different. These dealers are able to concentrate on the conversation, engaging with individuals or groups of individuals in regards to not only their automotive needs and interests but other personal interests too. After all, people buy cars from people, not companies.

To make Facebook a success, I argue that you must find a unique and distinctive role for it. Using Facebook to create a replica of your website does not eliminate the cull de sac syndrome that car dealer websites are subject to where the visitor experience is limited to give me all your contact info and I’ll give you moor product info or let’s get married on our first date together. Essentially you must find a way to use Facebook to add value to customers in ways the website can not accomplish.

For instance, your website is effective at generating leads of in-market buyers. That said, leveraging Facebook to cultivate prospects farther out in the buying funnel could be an ideal approach, thus plastering your Facebook page with OEM specials probably won’t do the trick because it’s not unique content. The OEM sites have that information and so do the dealer sites. The edge in social media is unique and compelling content.

Research like this need not be a deterrent for dealers to get off of Facebook. Quite the contrary. The challenge remains for dealers and automotive vendors to seek viable strategies. Success must be defined which may require performing an analysis of how much a website visitor referred from your Facebook page is with, then putting together a plan to achieve that which meets the targeted budget to satisfy the ROI. Some known ways to accomplish this include giveaways, contests, and polls.

Automotive industry marketing professionals build their ADM networks by uploading their contacts and sending invitations to their community, or by placing links to their ADM Profile Pages in their blogposts and emails. There is also an ADM Community Badge that members can put on their websites, blogs and in email templates. All of these activities have  served to encourage the collaboration of people in the car business within an open and unmoderated or censored online environment. 

What’s Coming in 2010

Several ADM Administrators are working on a major sponsorship from a highly respected automotive supplier which will provide the NON-PROFIT ADM Community with the budget to have member receptions, such as they did at Digital Dealer 6 in Las Vegas, which was sponsored by ADP
Dealer Services.

About Ralph Paglia, ADM Community Founder

Ralph Paglia is responsible for establishing ADP business partnerships and alliances with Automotive OEM’s, enterprise class National Accounts and eBusiness organizations in the automotive vertical. He specializes in business development focused on defining and providing Digital Marketing solutions to car companies and dealers that accelerate and expand success in selling vehicles, parts and services using Internet based channels, strategies and tactics.

Ralph has over 20 years of leadership in information-technology-enabled automotive strategy and tactical implementation. He is a recognized expert at development requirements, CRM and Digital Marketing value propositions along with requisite performance measurements.

For more information about Ralph or ADM, visit http://www.automotivedigitalmarketing.com/

The popular seminar, hosted by AutoUpLinkUSA of Philadelphia, is an Internet inventory marketing seminar for new and used auto dealership professionals.

The event brings auto dealership professionals together with some of the industry’s most well-known providers of leading-edge Internet inventory marketing tools.

Date: Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Time: 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

Place: Radisson Hotel, Valley Forge, 1160 1st Avenue, King of Prussia, PA

This seminar is free, and breakfast will be served. Handout materials will be provided for all attendees.

Featured Speakers and topics Include:

AutoConversion: Bridging the gap between dealership and shoppers using blogs, email marketing and video

All Auto Network: Design and develop a website that generates excitement and results.

CARFAX: Vehicle History, Inventory Management, Online Marketing and maximizing your ROI using vehicle history from wholesale to retail.

Liquidus Video: Creating a complete automotive video marketing strategy

E-Auto Business: Best practices for dealerships to ensure that their CRM dollars are spent wisely

Registration closes October 9.

To register, simply download the registration form here or click the image below. Space is limited! Fax in your registration today!

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 ‘how to’ series teaches you about the ACVideo Service, powered by Vidego, and how we integrate it with Wordpress. ACVideo explores the issue of streaming video, and the ease in which you can add it to your website or blog.

In last month’s webinar, we talked about how to set up multi players. But even if you missed last month’s webinar, it’s not too late to take advantage of this series! We still have two more dates booked! Click here to register!

Each webinar in this series focuses on how to use specific features
of the system.

Part two, on May 27, is about Branding Your Player in Vidego.

Here are a few of the topics this webinar will cover:

• changing colors and images
• adding banners
• linking to web pages
• customizing play buttons
• sharing your videos
• and other marketing tips …

Save your seat!

Click here to register!

If you have already registered for this series, you will get a reminder notice in your email. If you have not yet registered, you can still take part in the next two webinars by registering today.

We hope to see you there!

Please direct questions to Tracey D’Aviero. Thank you.

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.

David Kain is president of KainAutomotive.com, and he provides internet sales and business development solutions to dealers in the automotive industry. He has put together this intensive Internet marketing course along with Jennifer Suzuki.

The conference takes place over three days, from May 19-21, 2009 in Seattle, WA.

Highlights of the bootcamp include:

• marketing your brand online
• maximizing your online presence
• generating high quality leads
• converting leads into showroom appointments
• building a more profitable business model
• maximizing your internet presence
• and much more..

For more information, and to register, visit:
“Generation Internet” Marketing, Management and Sales Bootcamp

Reach out to potential customers over the Internet. Learn marketing tools and techniques that will help you turn your leads into sales.

From time to time we will be posting links to events like this one that we think might be of interest to our community at BlogPro Automotive. If you know of an event that might benefit our subscribers, please let us know.

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.

If you’re already using video, or thinking about how video can help you with your dealership’s online marketing initiatives, join AutoConversion for a free live Webinar series that will introduce you to our AC Video service, which explores the issue of streaming video, and the ease in which you can add it to your website or blog.

AC Video, in partnership with Vidego, makes it easy for anyone to upload, manage, and distribute their streaming content online.

There are three webinars in the series, and we will be hosting one each month for April, May and June.

Each webinar in the series will concentrate on a specific how-to element of the Vidego system and Wordpress.

The webinars will be held on the fourth Wednesday of each month from 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM EDT

The dates are as follows:

• Wednesday, April 22, 2009
• Wednesday, May 27, 2009 and
• Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Register Now at: AC Video Webinar Series Registration

Once you register, you will receive a confirmation email with the information you need to join the webinars.

You only have to register once to take advantage of the whole series. We will remind you of upcoming dates so that you don’t miss a minute of this valuable presentation!