Why is this important?

It’s important because it shows the mentality of the car dealer industry.

How often do you hear from the dealer Principal or GM state that they don’t see the point in social media because they don’t see how it sells cars? Or how often does your supervisor approach you with questions like, “how are things going for us on Facebook? Are we selling any cars from it yet?”

Study after study suggests, and marketers using social media confirm, that the point of social media is not for selling or closing deals, but rather for numerous other purposes such as to:

• Drive traffic to your website
• Build your brand and reputation online
• Add value to the customer experience
• Establish and maintain relationships
• And more…

Fortunately this is becoming a moot point that I think many dealers are getting past, but for those that aren’t, this is a good story to consider.

Now, this isn’t to say that you should not expect results from your efforts using social media, just that matching it to the number of cars you sell as a result is not the right metric to go by. That’s what lead-to-show and show-to-close ratios do. But that is a whole other topic. I just wanted to draw attention to this important example you can refer to when put under the gun at your dealership for your efforts on the social web.

What are some things you can share from your experience with people at your dealership who are not embracing social media as a viable means for branding your dealership?

FBML stands for Facebook Markup Language which was the required method of use for creating landing pages on your Facebook Fan Page. There was an app for FBML that had to be installed to create a landing page and hundreds of companies and solutions sprouted in recent years around the use of FBML. Many of these solutions will soon be rendered useless.

Starting March 11, 2011, businesses will no longer be able to create new FBML apps and Pages will no longer be able to add the Static FBML app.

FBML itself is not difficult, but it does pose limitations to marketers and so in its place, Facebook will now be supporting iFrames, which gives more control and flexibility to automotive marketers creating landing pages for Facebook. In the long run, this is probably a good move for everyone, but the immediate repercussions will not go unnoticed.

If you have FBML pages on your dealership’s Facebook Fan page then you will need to take action and convert those to iFrames before too long. Even though existing tab pages won’t be destroyed, you will still have to come up with a new plan for creating new ones. HubSpot did a couple of posts that get into detail about this change from FBML to iFrames and also about the recent changes to Facebook Fan Pages which you can read for specifics, but consider the fact that Facebook can and assuredly will make decisions in the future that can have immediate detrimental effects on your dealership Facebook strategy.

Paper.li can be described as a tool that gives individuals the ability to almost effortlessly create an online magazine. Paper.li organizes links shared on Twitter into an easy to read newspaper-style format. Newspapers can be created for any Twitter user, list or #tag. For details about this process read their FAQ.

Before blogging as we know it came about, which was sometime in 1999, we had newspapers and magazines that gave us editorialized content in a journalistic fashion, printed daily or weekly usually. As blogging became mainstream, these publications were forced to change. Some fell to the wayside. Others adapted to the times. New sites also came about such as digg, Mashable, and Huffington Post.

Then along came Twitter and Facebook, which forever defined the term micro-blogging, the ability to broadcast smaller doses of information in a more sporadic fashion, still living up to the attraction to blogging for its SEO benefits and networking possibilities. The nice thing about micro-blogging is that you don’t always have to produce original content. You can link people to existing content, essentially spread the word.

Now, with paper.li, instead of doing either you can effortlessly filter tweets you like to create your own daily magazine soup. It’s like you don’t even have to think about it anymore. Just set it and leave, maybe make a few adjustments here and there.

If you start following these, you will likely see some of the same information you see when you log on to TweetDeck or HootSuite. If you do not use a micro-blogging application like this then following these magazines, or “dailies”, should provide an efficient way to keep a bigger eye on a lot of the same information, or even more.

The project is a culmination of things. It is meant to offer auto shoppers a more private way of obtaining purchase information from local auto dealers and retailers. The site also offers dealers and retailers a social networking platform to promote their specials and cultivate high-quality prospects.

AC features a marketplace similar to Craigslist but rather than having dealers and merchants post ads in a market, shoppers are expected to post requests to which dealers and merchants may respond. The service is free for everyone.

AutoConverse.com supports communication in the format of a blog or forum which is visible to the public or in the form of private messaging which is only visible to the designated members. In either case, the Shopper is not forced to give up his or her phone number and email address in order to have a conversation with dealers and merchants. This is how the site provides a more private way of communicating.

This is how the site provides a more private way of communicating.

The site offers four different member types for people to distinguish one another – Shopper, Dealer, Merchant, or Agent, each containing its own unique set of links that can appear on the member’s profile. An Agent would be someone who represents multiple dealers or merchants, or a webmaster using the site to promote his own automotive sites and interests.

Members can optionally link to their Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare profiles along with links to their blog and website. Dealers have the ability to link people to dealer review sites like Carfolks.com or their dealership page on DealerRater.com.

Dealers, Merchants, and Agents can then create Merchant Sites which are WordPress-based microsites meant to promote a dealership or other brick and mortar storefront, or a website. These members can create as many merchant sites as they like and whatever content they publish to their merchant sites also appears on the AutoConverse.com activity stream.

This is an abridged version of the original press release which has further detail and quotes.

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.

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.

It’s not the name foursqaure but rather what foursquare brings to the playing field – a way for consumers to express their interest in local businesses by sharing daily lives.

See, facebook has limitations when it comes to marketing your business. Facebook was not built to serve as a business marketing tool. It was meant to be a place for young people to connect. Only as these folks became working professionals in the business world did facebook evolve to serve the needs of businesses and individuals. The underlying architecture is flawed from the get-go as a business marketing tool, and so businesses are forced to work around that.

foursquare on the other hand sprouted from a different seed. It is based on the readiness and handiness of the Internet, mobile technology, consumer interests, and business possibilities. With foursquare, consumers can choose to give your business credibility by sharing their association with your business. And unlike in facebook where the business can manage its persona, on foursquare, businesses have no weight. The popularity and interests of its patrons do.

So for car dealers, where does foursquare fit it? Well, try this for starts…

1. Go to foursquare.com and create a profile for yourself. This takes about 5 minutes.
2. Then do a search for your dealership. If you can not locate your dealership on foursquare then add it as a new venue.
3. Now, each time you go to work (at that dealership), check in. By checking in, you are taking the first steps towards becoming Mayor of your dealership, unless of course someone else at your dealership has already begin doing this. (No worry. If you can’t become Mayor there are other awards available.)
4. Remember to “check in” each time you go to work at the dealership.
5. Now, in your dealings with people, be it on your blog, on Twitter, on facebook, wherever, let the people you know see that you are on foursquare. Do everything you can to get people checking in to your dealership on foursquare. This can be done by including a link to your foursquare account in your email signature, displaying it online, in your phone conversations, etc. Probably the most important place to do this is in a text message you send customers. Point is, advertise the fact that you use foursquare.

Here is what you can expect. The Internet-savvy prospects and customers you come in to contact with will connect with you on foursquare, Twitter, and on facebook. All three of these will come in handy through time on Google Search. More importantly, if you engage with these folks via Twitter you can establish a more useful communication with them than you can on facebook. But on facebook you can have a more entertaining and multi media experience with these folks.

On foursquare, you can help them earn savings and incentives by getting them to check in, create to-do lists such getting their vehicle serviced, and adding tips such as, “Talk to Davey Jones he will take care of you”.

Unless you are on foursquare, facebook, and Twitter now it will be difficult to see the value in these simple yet essential acts. But as you learn to embrace these communication tools you will find that cultivating and driving leads onto your desktop is truly attainable even with such new technologies as these.

The exercise for this webinar will be on how to create a custom page on your Facebook Fan Page using the Static FBML application. The Static FBML application enables you to add advanced functionality to your Fan Page using HTML or FBML, like we did this year for our special holiday offer to create our fans and customers a custom page for their Fan Page. The webinar should be short and sweet, probably around 20-30 minutes.

FBML stands for Facebook Markup Language which is exactly what it says, a markup language specific to Facebook. We will not be getting into the use of this markup language, only showing how to add it to your Fan Page and then how to insert HTML into it to create your custom page.

To utilize this application, click on the Applications tab that appears at the bottom left corner of your browser when logged in to your Facebook account. You will most likely also have to select to “Browse more Applications”. From there, do a search for ‘fbml’ in the search box above the application category types. Now you should see the static FBML application. Click that and then from there look for a blue box labeled “Go to Application”. Once you click that then you will be propositioned to “allow” this application on your Fan Page. Once that is done then go to your Page admin and “edit” the application by inserting your code and you are done.

You can visit the Static FBML application page on Facebook for more information or to become a Fan. We will be recording this webinar so after it is complete and we polish up the recording we will then notify everyone who was registered when it is available on our Viddler group.

Earlier this week we posted a video about this to our blog which you may want to watch as well. It’s in the post labeled A Big Bang for SEO and Social Media.

For the webinar we will start by going through a slide show that was put together by Peter Caputa over at HubSpot. It’s a short slide show so we will also journey through his commentary of the subject on the HubSpot blog. All-in-all we expect our webinar to last about 20-30 minutes but we may open it up for discussion if there are not too many people attending.

To register for this webinar, click here (or the button below) for the AC List Builder series, fill in the required information and then expect to receive instructions for connecting to the webinar at 11:30 am EST on Thursday November 12. By registering you will automatically be included on all future AC List Builder/Social webinars (once a month) plus you will receive access to our webinars archive where you can watch and listen to past webinars at your leisure.