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Social Media Guidelines

A Blueprint for Policies in Dealerships

Social Media Guidelines A Blueprint for Policies in Dealerships At this point, a large number of dealerships have jumped into using social media for one purpose or another—marketing and branding, reputation management, customer relationship management, even lead generation. Even if your dealership has not jumped on the social media bandwagon, however, you can be assured that at least some (if not the majority) of your employees are either occasional or avid users. Some of your salespeople may already be using Facebook or Twitter to communicate with current customers or prospects via their own personal accounts. That being the case, it may soon, if it has not already, become necessary for you to address the proper use of social media by both the dealership and individual employees, and determine what your policies should be. Dealers who embrace using social media in the dealership seem to be of differing opinions on whether or not formal guidelines are needed for employees. Some dealers believe that it is necessary to provide rules and structure only when employees are representing the dealership on social media in an official capacity—posting on the dealership’s Facebook page, contributing to the dealership’s blog or otherwise assisting in the dealership’s reputation management. Other dealers believe that guidelines are needed to address employees’ individual conduct during personal social media use, especially if it relates to their work in any way. Still others are of the opinion that trusting employees to responsibly represent the dealership on social media, whether in a personal or professional capacity, is no different than trusting them to represent the dealership over the phone or out in public; they believe that if they hire the right people it shouldn’t be a cause for concern. Chris Boudreaux, senior vice president of services at social media agency Converseon and creator of the website SocialMediaGovernance.com, in his December 16, 2009, report entitled, “Analysis of Social Media Policies: Lessons and Best Practices,” suggested that a company create at least two policies: “One policy that sets the expectations and boundaries for all employees, including any relevant limitations or suggestions for the personal use of social media,” and “Operational guidelines for employees working on social media as part of their job.” Employees’ Individual Use of Social Media While you can’t exactly dictate how your employees use their personal social media accounts, you can provide some guidance as to appropriate conduct when their use of social media intersects with their professional life, and having these guidelines written down as part of company policy might just protect the dealership from the FTC if an employee behaves improperly online. Jim Radogna of Dealer Compliance Consultants noted in a July 27, 2011, blog post on AutoDealerPeople.com, “According to FTC guidelines, ‘The Commission agrees that the establishment of appropriate procedures would warrant consideration in its decision as to whether law enforcement action would be appropriate use of agency resources. The Commission is not aware of any instance in which an enforcement action was brought against a company for the actions of a single ‘rogue’ employee who violated established company policy that adequately covered the conduct in question.’” Thankfully, establishing social media guidelines pertaining to employees’ individual use of social media needn’t involve pages upon pages of rules. There are some guidelines for employee social media use that seem to be universal among businesses in many different industries: • Any use of social media for work purposes should be confined to your work day. Any social media activities pertaining to work that are conducted outside normal work hours will be considered optional and voluntary on your part. • Be transparent. If a conversation pertains to the business or the automotive industry, identify yourself as an employee of the dealership. If you have a vested interest in what is being discussed, be the first to point it out. • When posting comments on matters related to the business and the automotive industry, identify your views as your own personal opinions and not reflective of the views of the dealership’s owners or management. • Be honest. Don’t post anything that is untrue or misleading, and don’t encourage others to post anything untrue or misleading about the dealership, such as a fake “customer” review. • If you encounter something that requires an official response from the dealership, such as negative comments about the kind of service a customer received or a false statement about an individual at the dealership or about the dealership itself, relay the information to the appropriate person in management so that the matter may be dealt with through the proper channels. Do not attempt to respond on behalf of the dealership. • Be courteous and have respect for others. This means respect for individuals, respect for the dealership and respect for competitors. Don’t make derogatory comments about the competition, whether it’s a competing dealership or another vehicle manufacturer. Respectfully acknowledge differences of opinion and don’t pick fights. Don’t use language that may be deemed offensive, inappropriate, demeaning, threatening or abusive. If you speak about others, do not disparage them or state anything that is not factual. • Protect confidential and proprietary information, and respect others’ privacy. Customer information must be protected in accordance with the dealership’s information safeguards and privacy policy. Do not identify a customer without their express permission; this includes posting photographs of their new vehicle or commenting/congratulating them on their purchase. Do not reveal proprietary information regarding dealership operations. • Respect copyright and fair use laws. Don’t claim authorship of someone else’s work; always attribute quoted information to its original author or source. Do not post copyrighted information without written reprint authorization. As a general rule, it is better to simply link to information you wish to share rather than repost it. • Remember that the Internet is everywhere, and it is permanent. Anything you post can be read not only by friends and family but possibly by other dealership personnel and competing dealerships. Also, search engines and other technologies make it virtually impossible to take something back once it’s “out there.” Think before you post. • Engage in meaningful dialogue. Try to add value to a discussion and provide worthwhile information and perspective. For example, don’t merely jump into a discussion about a 2012 Chevrolet Camaro to tell someone you can get them a great deal on one. No one appreciates random solicitations. Think more along the lines of commenting that you drove one when it first arrived at the dealership and were really impressed with the V6 engine on the 2LS trim. • Own up to your mistakes and correct them. If you have misstated something or been in the wrong, admit your mistake up-front and move quickly to correct it. Use of Social Media in the Dealership Social media sites can be great assets for a dealership when it comes to advertising and/or marketing as well as reputation management, if they are used correctly. When used incorrectly or carelessly, social media can bring headaches and even legal trouble. Here are a few things to keep in mind when it comes to your dealership’s use of social media: • Although social media sites are regarded as comparatively casual communication channels in contrast to traditional media, any advertising activities conducted on social media are subject to the same rules. Any advertising you do or anything you post that could be construed as advertising, including the posting of inventory, must meet state and federal truth-in-advertising standards. Also be aware that the Federal CAN-SPAM Act can apply to messages sent by commercial social networking sites. • Don’t tweet about or post every bit of inventory you have on Facebook. Most dealers have already figured out that this can be a real turnoff for social media followers; it clogs up other users’ news feeds and is considered annoying. That isn’t to say you can never post about your inventory. If you take in a particularly interesting or unique vehicle on trade or get a handful of a certain in-demand new model from the manufacturer, by all means, use it to generate interest. However, if you post listing after listing, eventually others will simply tune it out as virtual white noise or drop you altogether. Also, keep in mind that the posting of inventory could be considered an advertisement and as such is subject to state and federal regulations. • Have a set procedure in place for dealing with any negative comments about the dealership encountered online. Designate someone in dealership management to deal with and respond to negative comments, and make certain employees understand that they are to notify that individual about such encounters rather than attempt to respond on their own. This way, you can ensure that everything is dealt with in the same manner and consistent with the best interests of the dealership. • Don’t post fake reviews. By that same token, don’t alter or omit content or otherwise manipulate the content of a review. The Federal Trade Commission’s Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising state, “Endorsements must reflect the honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experience of the Endorser … [T]he endorsement may not be presented out of context or reworded so as to distort in any way the endorser’s opinion or experience with the product.” The FTC can impose stiff penalties for violating its rules by planting or allowing someone else to plant fake reviews. • Keep in mind that while you can offer a customer an incentive such as a free oil change to write a review about the dealership, according to FTC regulations the customer writing the review must disclose the source and nature of any compensation they receive. • Obtain permission from a customer before posting any photos or messages pertaining to that customer’s vehicle purchase online. They may not want everyone in the virtual world to know they just made a major purchase. Respect their privacy. • If you opt to hire a third-party company to help manage your online reputation or social media presence, be certain that company is aware of and adheres to state and federal advertising regulations as well as your dealership’s own social media policies. • If a customer expresses dissatisfaction online with how something was handled by the dealership or believes a mistake was made, don’t get defensive and don’t argue with them publicly. Acknowledge the customer’s feelings and request that the customer contact the dealership so that you can make a good faith effort to resolve the problem to their satisfaction. HR Use of Social Media The use of social media by a company’s human resource department, either to monitor current employees or screen job applicants, has been hotly debated recently as more and more reports emerge of employers seeking to gain access to current or prospective employees’ social media accounts. In some cases, employers have gone so far as to demand social media login and password information from individuals who have set their profiles to use the highest privacy settings. Facebook specifically addressed this trend in a March 23, 2012, post by Erin Egan, Chief Privacy Officer, Policy, Facebook: “In recent months, we’ve seen a distressing increase in reports of employers or others seeking to gain inappropriate access to people’s Facebook profiles or private information. This practice undermines the privacy expectations and the security of both the user and the user’s friends. It also potentially exposes the employer who seeks this access to unanticipated legal liability. The most alarming of these practices is the reported incidences of employers asking prospective or actual employees to reveal their passwords.” The post went on to note that Facebook has “made it a violation of Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities to share or solicit a Facebook password.” A March 20, 2012, article by Manuel Valdes and Shannon McFarland of the Associated Press noted that some employers, rather than asking for employees’ logins and passwords, are asking applicants to “friend” the company’s HR manager or to log into their social media accounts during interviews. The article also noted, “Questions have been raised about the legality of the practice, which is also the focus of proposed legislation in Illinois and Maryland that would forbid public agencies from asking for access to social networks.” A March 25, 2012, Associated Press article noted that Senators Charles E. Schumer of New York and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut were calling on the Justice Department and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to begin investigations into whether employers asking for Facebook passwords during job interviews are violating federal law. In a press release also dated March 25, 2012, and posted on Senator Blumenthal’s website (blumenthal.senate.gov), the senator stated, “I am alarmed and outraged by rapidly and widely spreading employer practices seeking access to Facebook passwords or confidential information on other social networks .… A ban on these practices is necessary to stop unreasonable and unacceptable invasions of privacy.” Dealer Compliance Consultants, in its “Social Media Policy Guidebook for Auto Dealerships,” said that “friending” an applicant should be avoided and could potentially open an employer up to invasion of privacy claims by potential employees. Even if an individual has not restricted access to their social media profile information and it is easily discovered during an Internet search, this can still be potentially problematic for an employer. That same publication notes, “When a job candidate is the subject of a social media search there’s a possibility that the search will reveal information that would be off limits in an interview, such as age or marital status. Hiring managers should be very careful in using private information people are posting publicly to make hiring decisions.” This practice could open a dealership to allegations of discrimination. The publication also points out that even if the hiring manager did not rely on anything unlawful, the information on social media sites might not be reliable. For these reasons and more, according to Dealer Compliance Consultants, “Given the real possibility for inappropriate and illegal uses in the hiring context, organizations need to carefully consider how, if at all, they utilize the sites when screening candidates.” To insulate the dealership from this type of risk, an outside agency could be used to screen potential employees. However, dealers need to make certain any such third-party company follows the correct procedures and that the dealership’s job applications contain the necessary notifications. According to Dealer Compliance Consultants, “If an employers uses a third party to conduct searches on job candidates, the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act and applicable state law on background checks likely will apply.”

Source - http://www.autodealermonthly.com/72/4565/ARTICLE/Social-Media-Guidelines-for-Dealerships.aspx

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P.S. This Real Really Works!

P.S. headline image

http://www.dealersynergy.com 

Most professional copywriters know that in a sales letter, the most important item after the headline is the postscript (P.S.) at the bottom.

Research shows that when people open a letter, they often scan to the bottom and read the P.S. before they actually read the letter itself. A good writer will take advantage of this opportunity to maximize their message with a strong P.S.

Do your salespeople know that including a P.S. in their emails is also incredibly effective?

It is such an easy way to increase the impact of your emails. That simple sentence at the bottom of a two or three paragraph email can help you increase urgency, reinforce your main message and add value.

Here are a couple of ideas on what you might include in your P.S.:

1. Main Theme with a Twist
Restate your main benefit from a different perspective. Whether or not they read the whole email, this gives you another chance to deliver your most important information.

2. The Time is Now
Use the P.S. to add urgency. Are the incentives expiring in a few days? Do you only have two left of the particular model in the color they are looking for? Let them know.

3. Add Social Proof
This can be a great place to add a customer review, especially if the review reinforces your particular offer or deals with a common objection or concern people have.

4. Sweeten the Deal
Is there a bonus offer you can add? Here’s the place to do it. For instance, “P.S. – Since it’s raining today and the showroom is a little quiet, my sales manager is including floor mats with the next vehicle sold.”

The P.S. should appear right below your signature line and should only be a sentence or two. Make sure it includes a call to action at the end as well.

Are you using P.S. in your’re emails and if so, what are you using in your postscript? 

P.S.
If you want to see exactly how adding a P.S. to your email makes a difference, include a unique tracking URL in the P.S. so you can measure the clicks.

Source - http://www.dealerrefresh.com/using-ps-dealership-email-follow-up-sales-letter/ 

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Google Places Out, Google+ Local Takes Over

Last night several new rollouts were seen in Google+ Local, seeming to merge Google Places accounts into the newest social search display of your Google+ dashboard. Here's what we've seen in our research about the new way search and reviews are changing for Car Dealers for automotive internet marketing on Google.

Do the new changes show in Google Search today?

As of this article's publishing, no. However, we're sure its only a matter of time before the Google+ Local becomes integrated into your standard search engine results page from Google. Where can you find the new Google+ Local Search? Log into your Google+ account. You'll find the new Local button on the left dash.

From there, the Search boxes at the top are broken down into two uses: What you're looking for | Where.

In the following example, we went looking for "jeep dealers" in "Philadelphia, PA". Just like in Google search, the auto complete starts as you begin to type, and its obvious some of the "Categories" from Google Places have made it over to Google+ Local.


What do Google+ Local Search Results Look Like?

From the looks of the new search results, Google has been busy! Immediately we're presented with a new layout of information. You've got your standard Company Name, Address in a lighter color text, then your overall review score, At a Glance terms, and a quote from your most recent review. Photos are a bigger deal taking up a larger portion of the listing.

Even more shocking, where did your star ratings go? Some car dealerships will notice that reviews have been dropped in the transition, something we hope Google notices and fixes in the future. (Read more about reviews below)

While Google has dedicated more room to the first photo of your account, and the new reviews rating system, it has left a lot of the "Where did that come from" information on the listing, namely the "At a glance" terms.

I was fortunate enough to have spoken with some of the Google Places team at a conference earlier this year and I asked them where the "known-for" or At a Glance terms came from. Their response: "even we don't know", its another part of a Google formula most of the Google Places team is not familiar with, or was unable to comment on. My speculation, its from an old patent Google applied for several years ago surrounding actionable or descriptive wording. Type "great customer service" in a review, Google might be grabbing those  descripters after positive or negative indicators.

The map display with pins is nothing new along the right side of search results and the "Key To Ratings" helps describe how the review values have changed.

30 is the new 5! Big Reviews Change for Car Dealers on Google+ Local

There have been many changes in the way review information is handled in Google+ Local. First point of business, they've moved away from the STAR value reviews. Its now apparent Google's acquisition of Zagat several months ago was only the beginning, as  they've rolled out No Stars, but a point scale ranging from Zero to 30. This also brings up the question, will Google move away from displaying Star values in standard SERPs from other sources like Yelp & DealerRater, only time will tell.

Past reviews are there, some have been dropped, but most have made it over. The new 0 to 3 values are a departure from 1 to 5 stars. Perhaps this is an answer to the requests from review writers to be able to give a Zero star rating in the past, so Dealers be warned, no longer can you score a 1, you can be a zero. The overall formula is pretty simple to grasp. Previous reviews are still rated in a conversion of 5 stars now equals 3, averages are made, and then multiplied by 10, rounded and there's your 30 points.

When writing new reviews on Google+ Local, you're prompted for 3 different ratings. As seen in the screen shot above, Google is asking for your feedback based on different "Labels" or areas of review. By default, the systems asks you for a 0 to 3 rating on Quality, Appeal & Service. It appears right now that there are no specific review types for "Car Dealer", so hopefully this will be a change in the future. Even when testing and writing for this article, we found different variations for the "Labels" that were available, first only 5 selections, then by mid-day 7.

Its easy to see that once enough of these new reviews have been created, Google will roll out the individual Label ratings like they do for restaurants; the threshold at which point that will turn on was not apparent in our testing like it is for Places (the star rating turned on when you hit 5 reviews).


Photos, Reviews now pop on Business Listing

The company name is still front and center, but if its more than 33 characters its currently being cut off after character 32 with an ellipsis (...). For some reason, the address is in the listing info twice, once under the company name, and again under About. Fancy new icons represent different parts of the data. Phone number and Toll-Free numbers are displayed but not labeled, and the website URL seems to stand out less. Categories carried over from Google Places, along with the Hours of Business. We'll be watching the "actions" in the Google Places metrics to see how this new layout changes the way customers use the listing.

If you're wondering where all the time you spent picking those 5 key categories went, and now you're only seeing 2 or 3, click on the new Categories terms, and you'll see a list of hidden items, who really knows why they didn't display all by default, there's certainly enough room.

Your standard Description from the old Places listing has been brought over and is now called "From the owner:". The once large, bright red "Write a Review" button has changed to a more soothing white text on light blue. Another more transparent black on white Review button has also been added at the bottom of the page.

Abilities to Google +1, Share (only on Google+ of course) and upload a picture have all been added or moved around, but are in a logical flow as buttons under the Map on the right side of the listing.

Hopefully, the amount of personal data that is now displayed via the Google+ profile when you leave a review will discourage those hit and run negative reviewers.

Claiming and Optimizing your new Google+ Local page


Not much has changed when it comes to claiming your listing, even Google admits this process is the same as it has been.

You're still presented with the old Google Places claim interface asking for verification.

However, from the outside trying to update an unclaimed or claimed listing that is not yours, the editing screen is significantly different, as seen in this screen shot.

You can now select which part of data is incorrect and how it should be corrected. While the old radio buttons are still available a level or two down into the editing screen, there's more specificity to your edit suggestion.


 



What's a Car Dealer to do now that Google+ Local is taking over Google Places?

Go with the flow. Google is just asking you to do what it feels is best business practices. Claim your account, add a description, photos of the staff & showroom, pick the right default categories, fix your marker, ask for reviews in the service lane and at sales.

Start to focus on social indicators like Google and Bing are now doing. They want a personalized feeling for your customers, and increased engagement with social factors like +1, Shares, Tweets, Links and Likes.

Expect that the next change is just around the corner, and when Google flips the switch you'll need to be on the cutting edge to keep up with automotive internet marketing.

UPDATE! As of May 30th @ 5pm Eastern:
There seems to have been an update to Google Maps searches, but not to Google SERPs for straight search. What we're seeing now is if you do a search in "Maps", it now displays the new Google+ Local review ratings and upon clicking "XX reviews" are brought to the new G+ L listing page. Interesting, we'll see if tomorrow brings us the actual Google Search change.

Source - http://www.automotivedigitalmarketing.com/profiles/blog/show?id=1970539%3ABlogPost%3A390656&xgs=1&xg_source=msg_share_post 

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http://www.dealersynergy.com 

(The Intro Video is from Google describing the "Brand Active Initiative") 

Making the Web Work for Brand Marketers

Wednesday, April 18, 2012 | 

Learning from the past

In the 1950s, brands slowly moved to TV, just as they have started to move online today. In both instances, buying and selling systems improved; audiences and new content quickly moved to the new medium; and the creative possibilities inspired great ad campaigns.

However, a key moment for TV came in the 1950 with dramatic improvements in measurement—like ratings and quantitative market research. Once major brands could see who they were reaching and what impact their campaigns were having, they fully embraced the medium, creating a multi-billion dollar industry...and TV’s golden age began.

Making better decisions with actionable brand metrics

Unlike the early days of TV, digital advertising is already incredibly measurable. The only problem is a very old and well-known one: the standardized metrics today are largely clicks, user interaction rates and conversions.

But as brand advertisers - such as movie studios or consumer goods companies - know, it’s a challenge to measure changes in brand favorability of a movie or whether an online campaign is driving more consumers to the store. And it’s even harder to take quick action on any such insights.

That's why today, at the Ad Age Digital Conference I'll be introducing the Brand Activate Initiative, an ongoing Google effort to address these challenges and re-imagine online measurement for brand marketers. With this initIative we're partnering with the industry and supporting the IAB's Making Measurement Make Sense (3MS) coalition. We believe that the industry’s significant investment in brand measurement efforts can substantially grow the online advertising pie, for all.

Is a particular ad in your campaign especially useful at improving brand recall in Illinois? You should be able to immediately increase your coverage throughout the Midwest. Is one ad slightly less effective at driving purchase intent and in-store sales? Tweak the creative, straight away.

The first Brand Activate solutions

We’re working to build truly useful brand metrics into the tools that advertisers already use to manage their campaigns, so they’ll be actionable within seconds, not months.

The first two Brand Activate solutions are rolling out today:

Active View: Advertisers have long looked for insight into whether consumers saw an ad on page 145 of a magazine, or switched the channel during a TV commercial break. It’s similar online, so we’re rolling out a technology, which will be submitted for Media Rating Council(MRC) accreditation, that can count “viewed” impressions (as defined by the IAB’s proposed standard, this is a display ad that is at least 50% viewable on the screen for at least one second).

Called Active View, this will first be available in coming weeks within Google Display Network Reserve. We’ll also be making this metric a universal currency, ultimately offering it within DoubleClick for Advertisers, as well as to our publisher partners. Active View data will be immediately actionable—advertisers will be able to pay only for for viewed impressions. Going forward, we’re working on viewed impression standards with the IAB, and our agency and publisher partners.

Active GRP: GRP, or a gross rating point, is at the heart of offline media measurement. For example, when a fashion brand wants their TV campaign to reach 2 million women with two ads each, they use GRP to measure that. We’re introducing a new version of this for the web: Active GRP. Active GRP has two key features:

  • Built-in: Active GRP is built right into the ad serving tools that our publishers and marketers already use every day. Active GRP will enable real-time decision making, allowing advertisers to make adjustments to their campaigns at the speed of the web. We’ve kicked off a pilot program for DoubleClick for Advertisers clients as a first step, and will roll it out to other products, with brands able to specify a range of audience GRP segments.
  • Robust methodology: Active GRP is calculated by a statistical model that combines aggregated panel data and anonymous user data (either inferred or user-provided), and will work in conjunction with Active View to measure viewed impressions. This approach overcomes problems of potential panel skewing and reliance on a single data source. This approach also has the advantage of never using personally identifiable information, not sharing user data with third parties, and enabling users, through Google’s Ads Preferences Manager, to opt-out. We will be submitting our methodology for MRC accreditation.


More to come

We look forward to bringing other measurement initiatives into our suite for brand marketers, including a brand impact survey pilot with Vizu, our brand lift measurement product (Campaign Insights) and various cross-media measurement research projects globally.

This is just the beginning of the Brand Activate Initiative, with much more to come for brands and publishers. We think that with brand new metrics comes a new brand moment - one that will encourage brands to invest in the web, help publishers show the value of their digital content, and stimulate digital media’s own golden age.

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Global Consumers Place Highest Trust in Earned Media

Online automotive consumers place the most amount of trust in earned media, and the least in ads served on mobile phones, finds Nielsen [download page] in an April 2012 report. An impressive 92% of automotive consumers surveyed around the world said they trust earned media, such as word-of-mouth or recommendations from friends and family, an 18% increase from 2007. Automotive consumer opinions posted online (70%) was next-most trusted, outpacing other formats such as editorial content within newspaper articles, dealership and car company websites (both at 58%). Text ads on mobile phones are trusted by just 29% of automotive consumers.

This finding contrasts with April 2012 survey results from Ipsos, which found that while automotive consumers worldwide may turn to their friends for advice on vehicle purchases and repair services, only 38% will trust a dealership, make of vehicle or a service department more because friends recommended it.

Traditional Media Takes a Fall
Data from Nielsen’s “Global Trust in Advertising 2012″ indicates that automotive consumer trust in traditional paid advertising messages has taken a significant drop. While close to half say they trust TV (47%), magazine (47%), and newspaper ads (46%), confidence in these ads has dropped by 24%, 20%, and 25%, respectively from 2009 to 2011, when the latest survey was conducted.

Despite this fall in trust, traditional media ads, particularly on TV, appear to have their intended effect. According to April 2012 survey results from ExactTarget, TV ads influence a larger proportion of online automotive consumers... a product or service than a variety of other advertising media. 53% of respondents said a TV ad had influenced them to purchase a vehicle or maintenance service in the past 12 months, putting TV ads far ahead of newspaper ads (32%) and magazine ads (30%). In fact, three times more respondents said they had been influenced by a TV ad than by a banner or other ad on a website (53% vs. 18%).

Trust in Online Ads Low, But Growing
The Nielsen study finds that trust in most online ads is relatively lower than on traditional media, save for ads found on OEM branded websites, which are trusted by 58% of consumers. For example, only 40% trust ads served in search engine results, while just 36% trust online video ads, or ads on social networks. These findings are similar to Nielsen and NM Incite survey results released in February 2012, which found more trust in branded website ads than any other form of online adv....

Despite low rates of trust in online banner ads (33%), this represents a 27% increase since 2007. Similarly, while the level of trust placed in mobile phone advertising is still low, at 29%, this is an increase of 61% since 2007, and 21% since 2009.

Attitudes Towards Relevance Mirror Trust
The Nielsen survey also asked respondents to identify which advertising and brand messaging platforms are the most relevant to them when searching for information about the products, finding that the relevancy results often mirrored the trust responses. Recommendations from friends and family again topped the list, at 90% of respondents, followed by consumer opinions posted online (75%), branded websites (59%), and editorial content such as newspaper articles (55%). The relevance of paid traditional media platforms ranged from about 40-50%, while many online platforms scored lower, save for ads served in search engine results (42%).

Other Findings:
Latin American consumers had the highest levels of trust across 17 of the 19 advertising methods identified, when compared to other regions.
Trust in mobile phone ads was highest in the Middle East and Africa, with 40% indicating trust in text ads on mobile phones. These consumers also placed more trust in billboard and outdoor advertising than the global average (59% vs. 47%).
Consumers in Asia Pacific reported a higher level of trust in all formats surveyed when compared to the global average. They also had the highest level of trust in earned media, such as recommendations from friends and family (94%) and consumer opinions posted online (76%).
North Americans and Europeans appear to be the most skeptical consumers, with European respondents reporting the lowest levels of trust in all but 1 format (consumer opinions posted online - 64%).

About the Data: The Nielsen Global Trust in Advertising Survey was conducted in August/ September 2011 and polled more than 28,000 consumers in 56 countries throughout Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and North America. The Nielsen survey is based on the behavior of respondents with online access only. Internet penetration rates vary by country. Nielsen uses a minimum reporting standard of 60% internet penetration or 10M online population for survey inclusion.

Source - http://www.marketingcharts.com/television/global-consumer-trust-highest-in-earned-media-21766/ 

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Listen to internet radio with Hugh Macken Live on Blog Talk Radio

Mary Henige, General Motors Director of Social Media & Digital Communications

http://www.facebook.com/dealersynergy 

If you’ve read this blog for any length of time, you know I’ve been critical of many companies for not quite “getting” social media, in some cases not even by a long shot. But I can tell you after engaging in private discussions earlier this week with General Motors Director of Social Media Mary Henige as well as a public discussion I co-hosted yesterday on Blog Talk Radio with communications strategist and author Deirdre Breakenridge, GM most definitely “gets” social media far better than most.

Our thirty-minute, wide-ranging conversation yesterday on Blog Talk Radio was co-sponsored by LiquidPlanner.com and Ragan Communications. Henige, a 25 – year corporate communications veteran at GM and award-winning corporate communications professional, outlined the company’s approach to social media as it relates to both internal and external stakeholders. In doing so she stressed the importance of an empowering corporate culture that has provided the foundation for strong levels of internal communication. It’s that internal communication and collaboration that have been key to GM’s recent social media successes according to Henige.

“It’s not magic,” said Henige. “What we do in social media is a lot of hard work, it’s engagement, it’s building relationships and that’s something that people in corporate communications and media relations are particularly skilled at doing.”

What struck me as most interesting was the willingness and ability of Henige and her counterparts in marketing to take a collaborative approach to social media rather than one based on a turf-war mentality.

What’s even more interesting to me is the nature of that collaborative relationship. Indeed, one of the most important roles of the social media team led by Henige in relation to social media appears to be that of a trusted internal social media consulting center of excellence. According to Henige, ”Because we serve as a resource to our internal…colleagues, our expertise is sought after all the time.”

Citing GM’s sponsorship of the South by Southest Conference as an example, Henige stressed that the collaboration between GM corporate communications and various departments within the divisional brands like Chevrolet have been key to GM’s success.

“Increased collaboration is the way that you win…[Responsibility for social media - related initiatives] should be shared. If you really want to do [social media-related initiatives] well, you need to leverage the expertise of each team…We’ve made great progress this last year.”

Interestingly the collaboration has extended beyond the marketing and PR silos to also include increased teamwork between corporate communication and customer assistance. And the results there have been equally impressive.

As an example, Henige pointed out that her team was “able to help customer service reduce their lead time from about 24 hours based on when they were online down to about 90 minutes just because we were able to filter out so much of what they were seeing.”

We asked Henige to outline some of GM’s goals for social media and she explained that while the brands that fall under the GM umbrella were primarily concerned with goals related to lead generation, customer loyalty and ultimately sales, GM corporate’s first priority for the use of social media was enhancing the corporate reputation and regaining customers’ trust in the aftermath of GM’s bankruptcy.

She stressed that listening was a key component in these efforts.

“Listening is very important…We’re there and we’re still listening. And that has [also] given us a great way to collaborate among GM employees globally.”

Selim Bingol, GM’s VP of Global Communications
GM uses SocialCast as its internal enterprise collaboration application of choice and the user adoption rate has been solid with some 27,000 employees joining the internal community hosted by the web application in a single year, according to Henige. She says GM has also begun using the Town Hall feature set that Socialcast offers which has allowed managers within GM to hold Town Hall meetings online with GM employees to further enhance internal communication.

From a strategy perspective, the March 2010 appointment of Selim Bingol as GM’s new Vice President of Global Communications appears to have had a positive impact on the significant progress GM has made on the social front. According to Henige, Bingol, who recently started blogging at a new GM blog called BTW, stressed the importance of benchmarking GM’s social performance which prompted Henige’s team to undertake a gap analysis that helped to identify areas of strength as well as areas in need of improvement.

GM’s social media benchmark approach, its marketing and communications’ employees willingness to collaborate rather than compete internally, and its efforts to ensure that the GM story is communicated clearly, may together help to explain the company’s significantly improved reputation.

The recently released 2012 Harris Poll Reputation Quotient (RQ) study evaluates customer and other stakeholder perceptions of the 60 most visible companies in the country, across 20 attributes that are grouped into six dimensions of reputation:

Products & Services
Financial Performance
Workplace Environment
Social Responsibility
Vision & Leadership
Emotional Appeal
General Motors saw the greatest increase this past year among all 60 companies whose reputations are measured in the report, showing gains in every one of the six aforementioned dimensions of reputation.

Some other points of interest regarding GM’s social media – related initiatives:

GM’s FastLane blog began in 2001
GM sent out more than 1000 media releases last year
GM uses Google+ to distribute some of its news releases because of the ability to segment news releases according to blogger and media interests. Google+ also enables GM to add additional multimedia “color.”

SOURCE - http://vmrcommunications.com/blog/social-media-communications-strategy/internal-collaboration-is-the-way-to-win-with-social-media-says-gm-executive/ 

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In the early ‘90s an acquaintance received a new job assignment. He was to set up an outbound telemarketing department to sell off millions of dollars of off-lease computer equipment.

 

He assembled a team of “telemarketers” – accountants and administrative assistants from within the company. He sourced and obtained a prospect database. A sales and call management system – a CRM -- was evaluated and installed. In the meantime, caller phone-skills training got underway while he developed daily call goals and quarterly revenue quotas.

 

In the second year of its operation, this in-house effort generated $20 million for the company.

 

Do you see an application here to your business?

 

What’s your CRM doing for you?

Your CRM should be a money machine. A detailed plan for its use, operation, reporting and management is vital. Hold accountable every user in sales, service and F&I accountable for capturing customer data into it. Be sure these individuals use the CRM to stay in contact with their customers.

 

It should go without elaboration that daily CRM use for customer communication is important. However, to create a money machine from it put it in the hands of individuals capable of riding it hard.

 

Start your engines

The following steps are a guide to CRM profitability:

 

  1. Train internally or hire an individual to be your CRM specialist who likes speaking by phone. Their personality should project well to the listener.
  2. Establish specific calling goals and make them aggressive. Define specific calling objectives: mining customer data for equity-play customers; customers soon to come off lease; or, older vehicles you’d like returning to your service department.
  3. Ask your marketing person or agency to draft phone scripts. Scripts should detail key benefits and selling points for each call type. Train your specialist to use them to guide conversations.
  4. Include in these scripts a variation of the Road to the Sale. Craft the script so your specialist’s conversation brands your dealership.
  5. Determine your calling specifics. These include calling hours, call-out quotas and revenue expectations. Here’s a model: The number of dial-ups per day required to achieve X number of live calls X number of these calls that convert to X number of fruitful discussions = X number of sales opportunities. Decide to whom you will assign resulting live opportunities. This is the individual who will meet-and-greet the shopper when they come into the store.
  6. As management, track this activity to hold your specialist accountable for making the calls as required. Use these reports to monitor performance.
  7. Compensate based on the caller’s adherence to and meeting of the quotas and objectives. Add a spiff for every call resulting in an appointment set. Layer another spiff when the appointment shows (incentivizes proper appointment reinforcement efforts), and consider adding a percentage or flat commission when the appointment converts to sale.

These seven points provide a framework for turning your CRM into a true profit center. Truly, CRM application like this is a “numbers game,” which the right structure, the right objectives and the right specialist can turn into more “solds” on your lot and more ROs in your service department. 

Source - Automotive Digital Marketing (RePost)

http://www.automotivedigitalmarketing.com/profiles/blog/show?id=1970539%3ABlogPost%3A370558&xgs=1&xg_source=msg_share_post 

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KONY 2012 from INVISIBLE CHILDREN on Vimeo.

http://www.dealersynergy.com
If There is ANYONE who thinks Social Media is NOT Important, Valuable, Amazing, Useful, Needed - WATCH THIS VIDEO!

I was BLOWN away by this video!
If they can accomplish ALL of that... You can ALL leverage Social Media for your dealership(s).

*** PLEASE FORWARD THIS VIDEO TO EVERYONE YOU CAN!!

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Afraid of Losing Your Phone? You May Have Nomophobia Like Half the Population (RePost From Mashable - Written By Samantha Murphy)

If you know the panicked and disconnected feeling of leaving your mobile phone at home, you might be one of the many suffering from nomophobia.

A recent survey by U.K.-based mobile security service provider SecurEnvoy conducted among 1,000 people found that two thirds (66%) of respondents fear losing or being without their mobile phone — a fear called nomophobia. The phobia also includes the anxiety someone feels when not in the range of a cell tower to receive optimal reception.

Not surprisingly, nomophonia is on the rise — up 13% from just four years ago — as more consumers become strapped to their smartphones.

However, women (70%) worry more about losing their phones than men (61%). According to Andy Kemshall, chief technology officer and co-founder of SecurEnvoy, men were more likely to have nomophobia in 2008 but feel less overwhelmed now. Why the change of heart? Men are 11% more likely than women to carry around two mobile devices.

Younger demographics are also more likely to be nomophobic, as 77% said they fear being without their phone. Meanwhile, those ages 25 to 34 are the second most nomophobic group, followed by mobile users over 55.

SecurEnvoy also cited a recent study published by the Helsinki Institute for Information Technology found that people check their phones about 34 times a day on average. If you do misplace your phone, it won’t take very long to realize it.

Do you have nomophobia? What tech item can’t you live without? Let us know in the comments.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, mbbirdy

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Nissan Is Gaining Social Media Steam

Automakers have seen the benefits that social media can have on its brands, and as a result, are spending more time (and money) cultivating a presence on these online channels. And this effort is paying off – especially for Nissan. Nissan North America has been interacting with fans of its brands through social media and building a loyal brand following.

Nissan is seeing increased fan interaction on the big three social media venues: Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Nissan ranked #8 on list of Top 15 Brands on Twitter for 2011 (as indexed by HootSuite), joining other famous brands such as Apple and Nike. Boasting more than 75,000 Twitter followers across various Nissan brand accounts, the automaker is following the lead of automakers that like to tweet. Take Lexus – the luxury brand is rated the most active tweeter when it comes to automakers, conversing with 288,000 followers… not too shabby.

Nissan is also making great strides with its Facebook account. The company has passed the 500,000 likes count, thanks it part to the all-new Pathfinder Concept reveal that can be accessed by liking Nissan’s Facebook page. Nissan still has a way to go before catching up with BMW’s Facebook page, which boasts over 7,000,000 fans.

Considering how popular online videos are, it’s no surprise that Nissan is having increased success onYouTube. The Nissan channel views have jumped to 10,000,000, thanks to frequent and updated video content.

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Hyundai-Race--Times-Square-2.jpg

Hyundai has launched an inventive social marketing program called the “HYUNDAI RACE” at Times Square, one of the busiest city cross streets in the world. By downloading a controller app from the iTunes app store, participants can enjoy the HYUNDAI RACE featuring the all-new Hyundai Veloster on a prominent billboard via Hyundai WiFi.

Steve Shannon, Hyundai Motor America vice president of Marketing said, “Having a large video display in Times Square certainly creates awareness among consumers through creative graphic elements. But Hyundai’s racing game takes engagement to a new level. The game invites the audience to interact with Hyundai in the middle of one of the world’s busiest venues for commerce and tourism. It’s a great example of our innovative marketing at work.”

HYUNDAI RACE  is played by tilting a smart phone like one would steer a car. Players race their Veloster against the clock and their score will get posted on the billboard to be ranked amongst other players. HYUNDAI RACE will be up on the billboard in Times Square until the end of this year, and Hyundai will continue launching a number of other interactive experiences in Times Square thoughout 2012.

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The last 3 years, infographics have grown as one of the most effective marketing tools available. They're easily sharable on social media, can offer tremendous SEO benefits, and can help your dealership offer content that people enjoy seeing.

Still, it's also the most underutilized tool by the automotive industry. A lot of it is our fault; vendors in the automotive space have seen infographics as too challenging and too expensive to bring to market. We've had a handful of forward-thinking dealers take advantage of it, but there hasn't been nearly the adoption that has occurred in other industries.

Even at the OEM level, Ford is the only company that has dipped their toes into infographics and found success.

First, let's look at what they do for dealerships:

  • - They give content to visitors of both their websites and social media profiles an item will be shared. People share good content on Facebook and Twitter. They don't share new car specials pages. Some have asked what the benefit is. We've seen that when people share content on Facebook, a good percentage of it is localized. Friends, relatives, and coworkers that see a nice piece of content from a friend will visit the link and land on your site. If you're running remarketing campaigns or simply going for social media exposure, landing them on your site is an opportunity to generate a lead. Don't forget, every Facebook user has 8-9 Facebook friends who are in the market to buy a vehicle in the next 30 days.
  •  - Powerful inbound links are the most important aspect of search engine optimization. Having graphics that can be embedded on other sites is an opportunity to use this "link bait" to generate free links to your site.
  • - Infographics that portray useful information such as proper SYNCing on a Ford or localized information such as a crime-rate map of the area positions the dealership website as a resource on top of being a place to look at cars. Whenever you can become a resource for people, they are more likely to want to do business with you.

Once you know what they do for you, let's take a look at the most successful infographic that we built in 2011. This particular one was generated for a non-automotive client but it will be easy to see why it was so successful. Here are the stats:

  • - Posted on over 400 websites that linked back to the source, including high-value websites that included the New York Times, Mashable, TheNextWeb, and TheAtlantic.
  • - Shared on Facebook over 17,000 times with Mashable having the highest share-rate of nearly 10,000.
  • - Tweeted over 25,000 times with Mashable again leading the way with over 6,000 retweets.
  • - Estimated 2.3 million views of the infographic.
  • - Made the front page of Digg, Reddit, and went viral for 3 different sites on StumbleUpon.

Now, here's the infographic. If you have any questions about why it worked so well or how it translates in the automotive industry, please feel free to email me or ask in the comments.

 

 

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http://www.dealersynergy.com

Popular sharing platform AddThis just celebrated their fifth birthday and to mark the occasion they’ve released an infographic that takes a look at social sharing trends based on their five years of experience.

The AddThis infographic covers everything from the peak hours and days that people share so when people click, the top sites in terms of social growth, and more. The stats are based on AddThis’ experience with 1.2 billion users, 10 million domains and 70 languages. Some of the highlights include the following statistics:

•9:30am EST is the peak hour for sharing
•Wednesdays are the peak days for sharing
•The most users click on content two minutes after it’s shared
•Twitter as seen the top growth of all time, in terms of sharing

 

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Ten Mindful Ways To Use Social Media

Great List from Tricycle on the absolute best ways to utilize social media. My favorite is #6: Be Active. Not Reactive

 

1. Know your intentions.
Doug Firebaugh of SocialMediaBlogster.com has identified seven psychological needs we may be looking to meet when we log on: acknowledgment, attention, approval, appreciation, acclaim, assurance, and inclusion. Before you post, ask yourself: Am I looking to be seen or validated? Is there something more constructive I could do to meet that need?

2. Be your authentic self.
In the age of personal branding, most of us have a persona we’d like to develop or maintain. Ego-driven tweets focus on an agenda; authenticity communicates from the heart. Talk about the things that really matter to you. If you need advice or support, ask for it. It’s easier to be present when you’re being true to yourself.

3. If you propose to tweet, always ask yourself: Is it true? Is it necessary? Is it kind?
Sometimes we post thoughts without considering how they might impact our entire audience. It’s easy to forget how many friends are reading. Two hundred people make a crowd in person, but online that number can seem insignificant. Before you share, ask yourself: is there anyone this might harm?

4. Offer random tweets of kindness.
Every now and then I ask on Twitter, “Is there anything I can do to help or support you today?” It’s a simple way to use social media to give without expectations of anything in return. By reaching out to help a stranger, you create the possibility of connecting personally with followers you may have otherwise known only peripherally.

5. Experience now, share later.
It’s common to snap a picture with your phone and upload it to Facebook or email it to a friend. This overlaps the experience of being in a moment and sharing it. It also minimizes intimacy, since your entire audience joins your date or gathering in real time. Just as we aim to reduce our internal monologues to be present, we can do the same with our digital narration.

6. Be active, not reactive.
You may receive email updates whenever there is activity on one of your social media accounts, or you might have your cell phone set to give you these types of alerts. This forces you to decide many times throughout the day whether you want or need to respond. Another approach is to choose when to join the conversation, and to use your offline time to decide what value you have to offer.

7. Respond with your full attention.
People often share links without actually reading them, or comment on posts after only scanning them. If the greatest gift we can give someone is our attention, then social media allows us to be endlessly generous. We may not be able to reply to everyone, but responding thoughtfully when we can makes a difference.

8. Use mobile social media sparingly.
In 2009, Pew Research found that 43 percent of cell phone users access the Web on their devices several times a day. It’s what former Microsoft employee Linda Stone refers to as continuous partial attention—when you frequently sign on to be sure you don’t miss out anything. If you choose to limit your cell phone access, you may miss out online, but you won’t miss what’s in front of you.

9. Practice letting go.

It may feel unkind to disregard certain updates or tweets, but we need downtime to be kind to ourselves. Give yourself permission to let yesterday’s stream go. This way you won’t need to “catch up” on updates that have passed but instead can be part of today’s conversation.

10. Enjoy social media!
These are merely suggestions to feel present and purposeful when utilizing social media, but they aren’t hard-and-fast rules. Follow your own instincts and have fun with it. If you’re mindful when you’re disconnected from technology, you have all the tools you need to be mindful when you go online.

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Google has finally unveiled Google+, the company’s top secret social layer that turns all of the search engine into one giant social network.

Google+, which begins rolling out a very limited field test on Tuesday, is the culmination of a year-long project led by Vic Gundotra, Google’s senior vice president of social. The project, which has been delayedseveral times, constitutes Google’s answer to Facebook.

The search giant’s new social project will be omnipresent on its products, thanks to a complete redesign of the navigation bar. The familiar gray strip at the top of every Google page will turn black, and come with several new options for accessing your Google+ profile, viewing notifications and instantly sharing content. The notification system is similar to how Facebook handles notifications, complete with a red number that increases with each additional notice.

 

At its core, Google+ is a social network. The first thing users are introduced to is the Stream. It’s much like the Facebook News Feed, allowing users to share photos, videos, links or their location with friends.


Screenshots: What Google+ Looks Like


Circles+


That’s where Google+ begins to diverge from Facebook, though. The focus of this social project is not on sharing with a mass group of friends, but on targeted sharing with your various social groups. To do this, Google uses a system called Circles.

Gundotra explained that most social media services (read: Facebook, Twitter) haven’t been successful with friend lists because they’ve been designed as a “tack-on” product rather than being integrated at every level. Gundotra also believes that current friend list products are awkward and not rewarding to use.

Google+ Circles is an attempt to address that challenge. The HTML5 system allows users to drag-and-drop their friends into different social circles for friends, family, classmates, co-workers and other custom groups. Users can drag groups of friends in and out of these circles.

One of the nice things about the product is its whimsical nature — a puff of smoke and a -1 animation appears when you remove a friend, and when you remove a social circle, it rolls away off the screen.


Photos & Group Video Chat


It’s clear from the extended demo that Gundotra and his team have thought about every aspect and detail of Google+ thoroughly. The photo, video and mobile experiences are no exception.

Google has created a section specifically for viewing, managing and editing multimedia. The photo tab takes a user to all of the photos he or she has shared, as well as the ones he or she is tagged in. It’s not just photo tagging, though: Google+ includes an image editor (complete with Instagram-like photo effects), privacy options and sharing features.

The video chat feature might be one of the most interesting aspects of Google+. Gundotra and his team thought about why group chat hasn’t become a mainstream phenomenon. He compared it to knocking on a neighbor’s door at 8 p.m. — most people don’t do it because it isn’t a social norm. However, if a group of friends are sitting on a porch and you just happen to walk by, it’s almost rude not to say hi.

That’s the concept behind “Hangouts,” Google’s new group chat feature. Instead of directly asking a friend to join a group chat, users instead click “start a hangout” and they’re instantly in a video chatroom alone. At the same time, a message goes out to their social circles, letting them know that their friend is “hanging out.” The result, Google has found in internal testing, is that friends quickly join.

One cool feature of Hangouts is that it doesn’t place a chat window on the screen for each participant. Instead, Google changes the chat screen to whoever is currently talking. It quickly switches from video feed to video feed, moving faster in bigger groups. The maximum members in any video Hangout is 10, though users can get on a waitlist and wait for someone to leave.


Content Discovery Through Sparks


To spur sharing, Google has added a recommendation engine for finding interesting content. The feature, Google+ Sparks, is a collection of articles, videos, photos and other content grouped by interest. For example, the “Movies” spark will have a listing of recent and relevant content for that topic.

The system is algorithmic — it relies on information from other Google products (e.g. Google Search) as well as what is being shared via Google+ and through +1 buttons.

The goal, according to Gundotra, is to make it dead-simple for users to explore their interests and share what they find with their friends. Google+ is attempting to become the one-stop shop not only for sharing content, but for finding it as well. In some ways, it reminds us of Twitter and its mission to become an information network, and “instantly connect people everywhere to what’s most important to them.”


Mobile


Google will also be launching mobile apps for Google+, starting with Android. The Android app includes access to the Stream, Circles, Sparks and multimedia.

The addition of these features in a mobile app isn’t a surprise. What is a surprise, though, is the app’s auto-upload feature. Any photo or video you take on your phone through Google+ will automatically be uploaded to your computer, ready to share. These uploads aren’t public, but the next time you log onto your desktop, the photos button in the status bar will have a number, indicating how many new uploads are available for sharing. It keeps these photos and videos available for sharing for eight hours after upload.

Gundotra says that Google intends to launch apps for Google+ on other platforms in the future.


Conclusion


Google freely admitted to me during our conversation that its previous attempt at social, Google Buzz, did not live up to expectations. Bradley Horowitz, Google’s vice president of product, says that part of the problem was that Buzz was just “tacked on” as a link on millions of Gmail accounts, something that Google won’t be repeating. Horowitz also says that, unlike the Buzz rollout, Google+ is a project that will roll out in stages.

In many ways, it reminds us of Gmail’s rollout. Invites to Google’s email service were so sought after at one point that people were selling them for $50 or more on eBay. While that type of fervor may not hit Google+, we expect the artificial scarcity will drive up interest while giving Google time to work out the kinks.

No matter what Google says, Google+ is the company’s response to the rise of Facebook. The two companies are in heated competition for talent, page views and consumers. While Google controls the search market and has a strong presence on mobile with Android, it hasn’t been able to crack the social nut. Its most successful social product, YouTube, had to be acquired, and it still ranks as one of the most expensive acquisitions in the company’s history.

Has Google finally nailed social with Google+? We’re going to publish more of our thoughts on Google’s new social network in the next few hours, but we will say this: Google no longer gets a free pass in social. It must prove that it can draw users and keep them engaged in a way that doesn’t replicate Facebook or Twitter’s functionality. Only time will tell if Google has finally found its magical arrow.

Readers are invited to follow both Mashable and Ben Parr on Google

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Paul Long on Customer Loyalty Programs - Digital Dealer 10 Conference from Paul N Long

http://www.internetsales20group.com

Discover what frequent flier programs already prove: loyalty programs will give you the best ROI in your digital marketing strategy

Increase your repurchase loyalty, service loyalty and overall profitability. Learn what the airline industry, hospitality industry and the top auto dealers already know: loyalty programs increase bottom line up to 85%. Paul Long defines what customer loyalty programs are and dispels five major myths about them. From his experience in building national loyalty programs in multiple verticals, Long will share what makes a loyal customer and why you want them in your dealership. He will also provide valuable tips to help your business build a loyalty program that will create and keep customers for life. Loyalty allows you to reap the benefits from customers' ongoing relationship to your dealership: increased car sales and fixed operations gross profit.

Learn how to build a loyalty program that motivates action. This seminar will give your dealership the tools and know-how to develop a loyalty strategy that will increase car sales and fixed operations gross profit.

Customer loyalty is a big buzz-word in the automotive world today—in fact most automakers are moving away from CSI scores and focusing on CRS—or customer retention. After all, what good is customer satisfaction if they still don't buy their next vehicle from you? Customer loyalty and retention has a huge impact on profitability, and it's right to focus on it.In fact, as little as a five-percent increase in customer retention can improve a company's bottom-line profitability between 25 percent and 85 percent.

Long will give you an overview of what loyalty marking is and dispel five major myths about it. Then attendees will be shown practical ways to implement a loyalty program in your dealership, and how to track its success. By the end of our session, you'll walk away with both the knowledge and the excitement for building a loyalty program for your business that helps you create and keep customers for life.

After completing this workshop, the attendee will know how to unify sales and fixed operations marketing with a loyalty program

The attendee will be able to calculate the effect which customer loyalty has on bottom-line profitability. • The learner will be able to identify and track three main benefits of successful loyalty programs and loyalty marketing initiatives.

The attendee will be able to develop a loyalty marketing strategy that works for all levels of the organization.

Paul Long, president of re:member group, has been increasing customer loyalty for 15 years. He was integral to the development of the Northwest Airlines WorldPerks Program and has since used his extensive knowledge of and experience with loyalty programs to help businesses worldwide. Long particularly enjoys working with auto dealerships, and he has employed new technologies and cutting-edge strategies to create a state-of-the-art infrastructure for effective communications, member tracking, and rewards distribution

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