For a while now we've been discussing the concept of posting "sharable" content on your website to support your "money pages" and "SEO pages". Here's a quick breakdown of the three to act as a refresher:

• Money Pages - These are the pages that are designed to generate leads. Inventory details pages, specials, landing pages, contact pages - the places where leads are formed.
• SEO Pages - An SEO page is one that is designed specifically to target specific keywords. You may make a page called "Chevy Camaro Milwaukee", for example. They usually have content of some sort to help them rank but are rarely sharable.
• Sharable Pages - These are the "fun" pages that very few dealers or vendors ever build. They are designed to draw traffic from sources other than search such as social media. The goal is to create content that people will enjoy and that they're willing to share.

We've discussed why these sharable pages are important, but in a nutshell the goal of a sharable page is to support money pages and SEO pages by driving social signals and organic links to your domain. The sharable pages help by linking internally to important pages but they also increase the domain's overall rankings through these social signals and links.

It's all well and good, but people have asked me for an example of the content that a sharable page might have, so here it is. Below is content that was posted on a Dodge dealer's website. It is about classic Dodge Chargers. Most dealers would think that it's useless since they don't have a lineup of 1969 Chargers on their front line, but because of the potential popularity and sharability of such a post, it could help to drive inbound links and social signals in ways that standard dealer website content cannot.

As you look at the content notice a few things:

1. Big images. People love to share large images.
2. Universal appeal. Even non-Dodge people can admire the beauty of this beast.
3. Unique, relevant, but not-too-much content. It doesn't have to be a novel. This is the bare-minimum text content that you would want to post, but it works.
4. Social buttons at the bottom. You want to use the native buttons. Share tools are often ineffective and are not read as easily by the search engines as the native buttons.
5. Embed code. This allows people to quickly and easily share the content on their own site.

Please feel free to ask questions about this content example.

There have been debates in the past about whether or not it's good for businesses to follow everyone who follows them. The old way of thinking (for some, including me) was that if they take the time to follow you, that you should be courteous and return the favor.

I switched my way of thinking in 2009 but for many it continued. Many today still feel that way. It's no longer the right way to work with your Twitter account regardless of what business you're in. Here's why:

So Much Spam

Twitter has always been loaded with spam ever since the days of Ashton Kutcher trying to get to 1 million followers. Once it hit the mainstream the spammers saw an opportunity and they've seized it ever since. Twitter does what they can but with half a million users, the spammers and bots are impossible to keep down without damaging real accounts.

They are often easy to spot and if you are already only following important and relevant people, vetting your new followers is easy. If you follow too many people, it's time to start vetting. Unfortunately, this can be a manual process, but it's worth it.

Start Vetting if the Volume is Low Enough

For those with under 2000 followers, vetting them is something that can be done a little at a time every day until you're done. This is still tedious but if you commit to check out 100 Twitter accounts a day, you'll be done in a month (assuming you end up skipping some days).

It's not as hard as it sounds. If you're at least a little active on Twitter you'll be able to recognize many accounts by name. No need to check them out - just whitelist them and move on. Others will be obvious spammers based upon their name, avatar, or both.

The others will need to be opened manually and checked out. Here's what you're looking for:

• Autoposters: If they are simply using their Twitter account as an RSS feed, you won't see any @replies from them. These are relatively worthless to follow as they aren't going to engage with you or anyone else.
• Overposters: To some, this isn't a problem. For me, I can't stand following someone who Tweets hundreds of times a day. Nobody's life is that interesting to me and I don't need their posts flooding my stream.
• Inactives: It doesn't apply to everyone and some would say that following someone who posts 5 times a year is harmless because they aren't filling up your feed, but there's something that can be said about selectivity. As you can see by the @TKCarsitesInc following, we've knocked it down to where we're only following 700 accounts versus being followed by 19k.
• Spammers and Bots: You'll be able to tell the difference.

Get it down to a manageable number and your feed will be useful, your account will look good, and Twitter can be useful.

But I Followed Thousands!

There is a major challenge facing some Twitter accounts. If you have an account that's simply too large to go through manually, you'll have to start from the bottom up.

It's impractical to think that you can vet tens of thousands of accounts. If, like the TK Carsites account, you followed over 10k (or over 2k for that matter), then it's easier to simply unfollow everyone and refollow the important accounts.

To do this, you'll first want to make a list. If you're using lists on Twitter or other tools like Tweetdeck, this is easier. You've already identified the people you definitely want to follow so unfollowing everyone and refollowing them is a piece of cake.

If you don't have lists, make one. Twitter itself has a decent List option, so build your list of accounts that you want to follow. Then, send out a message to all of your followers letting them know you're about to unfollow everyone.

"Hey everyone. I'm purging my list and following everyone I really know. If I unfollow you, please send me a reply and I will refollow you."

Now, it's time to unfollow. I use JustUnfollow. It's not free, but Twitter is very picky about following and unfollowing, requiring a direct click to do the action. They cut off any programs that allow you to bulk follow or unfollow without individual clicks on each account, but JustUnfollow has the easiest interface that allows you to click straight down the line and unfollow hundreds per minute depending on how fast your index finger can hit the mouse button.

Once you make it through the list, add everyone back that you really want to follow. Then, Twitter gets easy. It will help you by recommending other similar people you might want to follow. By having an accurate following, Twitter can help you find others.

When you're done with the process, the doors to using Twitter as an actual communication and marketing tool swing wide open.

Businesses and organizations have made strides in the last year to improve their overall understanding and strategy in social media. Many who once played in the social media realm using traditional internet marketing techniques such as posting only self-serving links have changed gears and focused on higher-visibility content such as images. Unfortunately, many are still lacking the understanding of how the networks work and how to post properly. It’s like eating. Social media in general likes balance. Facebook and Google+ in particular are most effective when the right balance is created.

They like a balanced diet of content. Both are very similar in the way their algorithms work. Google uses a formula similar to Facebook’s EdgeRank to determine where content appears on the feed. While the strategies surrounding content on each is different, it is better (for now) to post mirrored content on the two networks simultaneously. The main reason for this is human nature; since Facebook has so much more engagement than Google+ right now, splitting the strategies might lead to shortcuts and eventually Google+ will not get the same level of attention. By posting to each together, it simplifies the process and reduces the chance of getting “Google+ fatigue”.

By feeding the networks with the appropriate levels of each type of content, your overall social media strategy can improve. Here’s how:

Understanding the Four Content Food Groups

Just like the food groups comprising a good diet, social media content types have different strengths and weaknesses.

1. Links are like vegetables. Many people don’t like their veggies and wouldn’t eat them if they didn’t have to. They’re healthy, just as links are healthy for your marketing efforts, but they aren’t as desirable as other food types. On Facebook, links are given the lowest “weight” when it comes to EdgeRank. People like them less. The news feed displays them lower (if at all) when your fans surf the stream. Still, they are a necessary component of a strong social media strategy just as they are an important part of a balanced diet.
2. Videos are the starches, the potatoes and grains. They can be very desirable at times but are often merely a side dish to balance out the rest of the food. Videos are treated by Facebook much the way that direct links are, just a bit higher on the news feed.
3. Text posts are the meat of the meal. Many people (other than vegetarians and vegans, of course) love meat. Likewise, both users and EdgeRank put text posts high on the scale. A well-received message posted in the form of text can go almost as viral as the final social media food group…
4. Pictures are the sweets, the dessert that many crave. Just like sweets, pictures are craved by social media users as well as the news feed. They are by far the most popular, but just like with desserts, a diet that consists of only sweet pictures will not be a productive page. There simply aren’t many strong marketing messages that can be conveyed with images alone. Still, they have their place.

Now that we know what the food groups look like, let’s examine how to apply them to your social media strategy.

The Balanced Diet

EdgeRank is a complex algorithm that would require a blog post or two in order to convey the basics. The short version is this: EdgeRank determines how high your content appears on the news feeds of your fans. Not all content is created equal. Not all fans are created equal (or rather, different fans’ news feeds will display your content differently). If you play the EdgeRank “game” by mixing up your content, you can develop the appropriate strategy for your business.

The first thing to understand is thatyour strategy is different from everyone the strategy of other pages. Your goals are different, as are your assets. This is only a guide to help you develop your own strategy. Anyone who has the right “formula” for everyone doesn’t really understand how it all works.

With the understanding that Facebook and its users love pictures and text, you can start to improve your EdgeRank by getting interaction from your fans using them. Videos are not required; they are not liked by the algorithm as much as images or text and are usually not as effective from a marketing perspective as links. That’s not true for some, but most get more bang for their buck from links. Links, the veggies, are least loved and most useful, so they have their place in the diet as well.

Your strategy should be one that builds up “EdgeRank love” through images and text. Once enough of this love is accumulated, you slide in your links or videos. One common schedule is to post 2-4 images or text for every link or video you posts. If your page is very popular and your content is highly-valued, you can increase the frequency of the links, but keep in mind that even the active and engaging pages have to use links sparingly (if at all).

One trap that pages often fall into is the addiction to likes, comments, and shares. Some would argue that posting only images is the best way to go because even though they aren’t necessarily getting specific messages across, they’re able to keep the brand at the top of the news feeds and therefore get more overall exposure. This is true to some extent, but just as a diet of chocolates and candies tastes good and keeps everyone happy in the short term, long term it can be unhealthy. Too many images makes it to where the links themselves get very little visibility. In essence, they are overpowered by the sweet sugary image mess of your Facebook page.

If you’re Audi, for example, you can get away with an image-only strategy. If you’re an Audi dealer, it just won’t work. Your brand isn’t strong enough as an Audi dealership to be able to get the benefit from a dessert-only strategy.

Twitter is not a challenge for most car dealers. It's pretty easy be above average as a dealership because most of your competitors aren't doing it at all. Getting to the next level isn't that hard, either, as long as you apply some basic strategies.

Hashtags are one such strategy.

In the video below, we discuss how to apply Twitter hashtags to your Tweets and posts in order to improve their exposure and enhance your messaging. There are more strategies that we'll discuss soon that are much more advanced, but starting with the basics is often enough to take a Twitter account from above average to really good.

Social media is about conversations. It's not a broadcasting platform like traditional advertising, search marketing, or other forms of internet marketing. Conversations on social media happen all over the place and are pertinent to your dealership's local area. YOU should be involved in as many of these conversations as possible.

The reason is multi-layered but easy to understand. First, it gives the human component that is so often missing from dealerships' social media marketing strategy. You want your dealership to have a personality on social media. People don't like robots. They don't like automation. They don't like broadcast messages.

What people do like are conversations and businesses willing to take part. When your dealership makes comments on posts from other pages that serve the local area like the one displayed above, people become acutely aware that there are real humans behind the operation of the Facebook page. They will be more willing to check you out. They will be more willing to follow you.

Second, the exposure that you gain through a thoughtful comment that takes 20 seconds to write can be wonderful. In the example above, both students and administrators of the page will see the comment and take note of where it's from. Believe it or not, these simple little interactions are often known or even subconscious factors that help them to consider your dealership now or in the future whether they're aware of the connection or not. The thoughtfulness of this single sentence registers with them. In a split second they're minds understand at a subconscious level that your dealership (1) supports education, (2) is active in the community, and (3) thinks highly of the cause being highlighted by the post.

Again, this post took 20 seconds to write but brings goodwill (even at a subconscious level) to your dealership.

Finally, and there are other factors to consider but these three are the most important ones, you get more branding for your dealership while the potential customers' brains are in their most receptive state. Science has proven that one of the reasons that television commercials are so effective for some is because the messages are being placed in the mind during "TV time", an experience that many people have every day when they are more relaxed and enjoying the day rather than doing something strenuous, tedious, or unpleasant (such as work).

Facebook falls under the same category. Our brains or more active while on social media than while watching television but we're still in a "good place" and the branding that happens during this time will make a deeper impact than normal branding. It's one of the reasons that some are shying away from billboard and radio advertising. That's not to say that you should take down your billboards or stop your radio spots but unfortunately the brand is often exposed during a bad time - while sitting in traffic. You want your brand exposed during happy times.

Find local businesses and organizations. "Like" them on Facebook while logged in under the dealership's account. Follow them on Twitter. Interact with them. Unfortunately it's not the most easily trackable ROI activity but if you understand the importance as well as the ease in which it's done, you can find a way to squeeze in the 10-15 minutes a day it takes to make an impact.

The rules have changed in automotive SEO. In fact, they've changed for the entire search engine optimization world. It's no longer a function of quantity that determines rankings. More content, more links, more social signals - that's fine, but it won't help you as of April 24, 2012, the way it used to.

Today is the world of SEO quality over quantity. These changes have been anticipated for some time but only now are they really becoming apparent. Some dealers are dropping in rankings based upon their (or their vendor's) SEO efforts. As a result, others are moving up. Which side of the fence do you want to be on?

Here are some best practices to help you get on the right side of the fence. Click to enlarge.

There is a distinct taste of irony to this post. I made my feelings known about cross-posting on all of the social networks earlier this month. Now I must break my own personal rule.

This time, I have good reason.

We're trying to compile a complete list of automotive social networks. We've put together a good list but I'm sure I'm missing some, so with a heavy heart I must do the thing I prefer to avoid: post this article across all of the social networks I know.

Over the past 5 years, the automotive industry has managed an amazing transition. We were behind the times half a decade ago as an industry with many dealerships still using old technology or leaning on traditional advertising as their primary method of pushing out their message.

In the short amount of time since, we've gone as an industry from being behind other industries in internet marketing practices to setting the trend and embracing the internet as the primary method through which we market our dealerships. It has been an amazing transition and I believe we can thank the networks on the list for helping to blaze the path that has gotten us all here.

Please review the list and let me know if I'm missing any. You can comment here or email me at jrucker@tkcarsites.com with any additions.