March 8, 2008 by admin.

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New Research Reports Support Growing Influence Of Social Media

Even for the naysayers who have written off social media as a passing fad, the numbers are getting difficult to ignore. Several new research reports released over the past two months have not only highlighted the exploding usage of social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, they have also validated the influence these and other networks are now having on the buying process.

From a pure traffic standpoint, the momentum Facebook has built in the past year is staggering. For example, a recent survey from Nielsen showed the average time users spend on Facebook has increased 10% to 7 hours per month. To appreciate this in comparison to other Web site stickiness, Facebook’s closest competitor is Yahoo, which ranks second at 2 hours, 28 minutes per month.

According to a separate report from Compete.com

Facebook has also surpassed Yahoo, as the number-two most popular site (behind Google) in the U.S. , with nearly 134 million unique visitors in January 2010. In fact, the Compete.com data showed that 11.6% of all time spent online in January was spent on Facebook (compared to 4.25% for Yahoo and 4.1% for Google).

Another recent report from the leading technology blog Tech Crunch highlighted the expanding role social sites such as Facebook are playing in sharing widgets and applications. Incorporating data from Gigya, a company that powers widgets on more than 5,000 sites, Tech Crunch found that the distribution of shared items broke down as follows:

• Facebook (44%)
• Twitter (29%)
• Yahoo (18%)
• MySpace (9%)

Twitter recently announced a new feature, called @anywhere, designed to enable users to send and receive its short messages while they are browsing other Web sites, making it easier for partner sites to reach the mass of tweets posted by users.

While the exploding activity among social channels has been impossible to ignore, many companies are still debating the channels potential to drive purchases. However, new research study from Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of Business, which is featured in the March issue of the Harvard Business Review, made strides in supporting the influence businesses see by creating and marketing fan pages.

The research for the article, “How Effective is Facebook Marketing?” built a test case around a Houston-based bakery called Dessert Gallery. The study, based on surveys of more than 1,700 respondents over a three-month period, found that compared with typical Dessert Gallery customers, the company’s Facebook fans:

• Made 36% more visits to its stores each month
• Spent 45% more of their eating-out dollars at the bakery
• Spent 33% more during visits to its stores
• Had 14% higher emotional attachment to the brand
• Had 41% greater psychological loyalty toward DG

While Facebook is clearly having more of an impact from a BtoC standpoint, DemandGen Report’s new “BtoB Buyer Transformation Survey” showed social networks such as LinkedIn and Twitter are having a growing impact with business purchases. More than 20% of buyers connected directly with potential solution providers via social channels, and 37% posted questions on social networking sites looking for suggestions and feedback as part of their research process.

The survey also showed the growing influence social media, blogs and other Web 2.0 tools are having on the BtoB buying process. A majority of respondents said Twitter and LinkedIn influenced their decisions during the “Solution Analysis” and “Problem Identification” phases. Nearly 90% indicated that blogs impacted their research during the “Solution Analysis” phase and 3 in 4 respondents said social bookmarking sites such as Digg and Delicious were utilized during the early Analysis phases.

WRITTEN BY ANDREW GAFFNEY
TUESDAY, MARCH 16, 2010

Posted in Automotive Social, Car Dealer Reputation, Automotive Marketing Research, Automotive Social Media Marketing, Automotive Reputation Management, Ralph Paglia, Reputation Management, Automotive Digital Marketing | Print | No Comments »

March 8, 2008 by admin.

Monday Morning 9 AM
Lot attendant smashes car that was scheduled for delivery at 4 pm that day.
Net cost $2,584.00

Monday Morning 10 AM
Manager’s meeting. Walk the trades from Saturday. Used car manager makes appraisal mistake valuing the wrong model.
Net cost $2,300.

Monday Afternoon 1 PM
Sales person promises a customer lifetime oil changes and tire rotation to deliver a car. Salesperson is no longer there. Customer has it in writing!
Net Cost $1578.00

Total losses for the day as of 1:20PM = $ 6462.00

Monday Afternoon 1:25 PM
Digital Marketing supplier walks through your front door, talks to you about a program that delivers more traffic to the dealership’s showroom, web sites and generates more incoming sales calls and provides the dealership with more vehicle sales opportunities. Just like every other vendor claims, so you tell him NO thanks.

Monday Afternoon 1:45 PM
That same sales person for the sane Digital Marketing supplier that you threw out at 1:25PM walks to your neighboring dealership and sells that digital marketing program. The GM at your competitor invets $25,000 into an online advertising program that will generate 5,000,000 impressions, 15,000 visitors to the dealership’s web sites, 150 email leads, 450 phone calls and 750 showroom visitors… Over the next 30 days, your competitor delivers and additional 50 cars @ $2,500 Gross Profit PVR, generating an additional $125,000 in Sales Department income. But wait, it gets better yet for your competitor, because he cut $35,000 from his general advertising budget when he signed up for $25,000 in online digital advertising… So, a net savings of $10,000 went to the Sales Department’s bottom line before his month even started!

This is a PRICELESS scenario!

At the Automotive Digital Marketing Professional Community web site there are over 535 dedicated and experienced online marketing and advertising veterans sharing the very latest in strategy and tactics for car dealers and automotive retail marketers.

Posted in Automotive Dealership Internet Sales Digital Marketing, Automotive Marketing Research, Automotive Digital Marketing Professional Community Rep, Automotive Digital Marketing Professional Community, Ralph Paglia, Automotive Digital Marketing | Print | No Comments »

March 8, 2008 by admin.

Monday Morning 9 AM
Lot attendant smashes car that was scheduled for delivery at 4 pm that day.
Net cost $2,584.00

Monday Morning 10 AM
Manager’s meeting. Walk the trades from Saturday. Used car manager makes appraisal mistake valuing the wrong model.
Net cost $2,300.

Monday Afternoon 1 PM
Sales person promises a customer lifetime oil changes and tire rotation to deliver a car. Salesperson is no longer there. Customer has it in writing!
Net Cost $1578.00

Total losses for the day as of 1:20PM = $ 6462.00

Monday Afternoon 1:25 PM
Digital Marketing supplier walks through your front door, talks to you about a program that delivers more traffic to the dealership’s showroom, web sites and generates more incoming sales calls and provides the dealership with more vehicle sales opportunities. Just like every other vendor claims, so you tell him NO thanks.

Monday Afternoon 1:45 PM
That same sales person for the sane Digital Marketing supplier that you threw out at 1:25PM walks to your neighboring dealership and sells that digital marketing program. The GM at your competitor invets $25,000 into an online advertising program that will generate 5,000,000 impressions, 15,000 visitors to the dealership’s web sites, 150 email leads, 450 phone calls and 750 showroom visitors… Over the next 30 days, your competitor delivers and additional 50 cars @ $2,500 Gross Profit PVR, generating an additional $125,000 in Sales Department income. But wait, it gets better yet for your competitor, because he cut $35,000 from his general advertising budget when he signed up for $25,000 in online digital advertising… So, a net savings of $10,000 went to the Sales Department’s bottom line before his month even started!

This is a PRICELESS scenario!

At the Automotive Digital Marketing Professional Community web site there are over 535 dedicated and experienced online marketing and advertising veterans sharing the very latest in strategy and tactics for car dealers and automotive retail marketers.

Posted in Automotive Dealership Internet Sales Digital Marketing | Print | No Comments »

March 8, 2008 by admin.

Monday Morning 9 AM
Lot attendant smashes car that was scheduled for delivery at 4 pm that day.
Net cost $2,584.00

Monday Morning 10 AM
Manager’s meeting. Walk the trades from Saturday. Used car manager makes appraisal mistake valuing the wrong model.
Net cost $2,300.

Monday Afternoon 1 PM
Sales person promises a customer lifetime oil changes and tire rotation to deliver a car. Salesperson is no longer there. Customer has it in writing!
Net Cost $1578.00

Total losses for the day as of 1:20PM = $ 6462.00

Monday Afternoon 1:25 PM
Digital Marketing supplier walks through your front door, talks to you about a program that delivers more traffic to the dealership’s showroom, web sites and generates more incoming sales calls and provides the dealership with more vehicle sales opportunities. Just like every other vendor claims, so you tell him NO thanks.

Monday Afternoon 1:45 PM
That same sales person for the sane Digital Marketing supplier that you threw out at 1:25PM walks to your neighboring dealership and sells that digital marketing program. The GM at your competitor invets $25,000 into an online advertising program that will generate 5,000,000 impressions, 15,000 visitors to the dealership’s web sites, 150 email leads, 450 phone calls and 750 showroom visitors… Over the next 30 days, your competitor delivers and additional 50 cars @ $2,500 Gross Profit PVR, generating an additional $125,000 in Sales Department income. But wait, it gets better yet for your competitor, because he cut $35,000 from his general advertising budget when he signed up for $25,000 in online digital advertising… So, a net savings of $10,000 went to the Sales Department’s bottom line before his month even started!

This is a PRICELESS scenario!

At the Automotive Digital Marketing Professional Community web site there are over 535 dedicated and experienced online marketing and advertising veterans sharing the very latest in strategy and tactics for car dealers and automotive retail marketers.

Posted in Automotive Reputation Management, Car Dealer Reputation, Automotive Marketing Research, Automotive Dealership Internet Sales Digital Marketing, Automotive Digital Marketing Professional Community Rep, Ralph Paglia, Automotive Digital Marketing Professional Community, Automotive Digital Marketing | Print | No Comments »