- Tim Wilson: head of Google’s automotive practice in Canada suggests shaking up your marketing mix and then measuring the results.
Mix up your marketing says Google
After his numbers-filled rapid-fire blitz presentation at the TADA’s social media boot camp event, Canadian auto dealer sat down with the head of Google’s automotive practice, Tim Wilson, to talk about all things Google.
Wilson says he is impressed with the technical savvy in the room, the fact that so many dealer sites are already mobile optimized, and how plugged in they are to the online shopper. “It was a great turnout,” says Wilson in an interview outside the main room where the social media boot camp was held in a Toronto hotel. “It was great to see the interaction and the interest in what’s happening with the Internet.”
One consistent message that Google preaches, is that online search pays dividends. This is often viewed by traditional media as a threat to their business, but Wilson says dealers and retailers just need to mix things up a bit more than they have been. “We have the metrics,” says Wilson.
“We are not here saying, ‘you shouldn’t do newspaper, you shouldn’t do radio, you shouldn’t do television.’ What we are saying is that all of the media you are using offline is driving online. You need to find the traditional, plus online mix that is going to drive — in the case of the automotive industry — more feet into your dealership.”
Beefs with Google Places
One area that dealers gripe about on both sides of the border, is their difficulty in mastering and controlling their Google Places page for their dealerships. The experience is erratic, and just when it seems sorted out, it evolves and the data it presents isn’t reflective of the details the dealer wants to present.
Wilson acknowledge that Google Places is still going through many iterations each year and it’s an ongoing issue. “It is not a perfect experience. We have engineers and folks working on the back end to try to improve it,” says Wilson. “My advice is to stick with it.”
Another new area that dealers are now focused on is trying to figure out what to do with Google Plus and how best to use its functionality.
For starters, says Wilson, they need to build a Google Plus page for their dealership. “They need to talk to their customers about adding them to their circles,” says Wilson. “Google Plus is about conversations. It is about engaging in a dialogue with an existing customer, or a potential customer about the products and services you have to offer.”
Wilson says it’s early days yet for Google Plus, and that it is viewed by industry experts as their attempt to compete with Facebook in the social media arena. “Honestly, we don’t know what Google Plus is going to be in six months, let alone in a year or two years,” he says. The hangouts seem to be the most popular feature, he says, and providing content to a specific circle.
“There’s no doubt we are the second horse in what may be a two or three horse race. Facebook has about 850 million users, we have about 90 million. We have a lot of work to do,” says Wilson. “I think we have a couple of differentiating features that will allow us to stand apart a little bit from Facebook.”
Wilson says his team deals primarily with the OEMs and dealer associations in terms of work for the automotive industry. But dealers have the ability to self-serve in terms of setting up AdWords accounts.
“The product lineup that I am seeing at the auto show and the product lineup we are hearing about is probably one of the best we’ve seen in three or four years,” says Wilson. “That will lend itself to a lot more automotive searches on mobile and desktop for Google. I think it’s going to be a great year.
