It was a packed house for the first social media boot camp event put on by the Trillium Automobile Dealers Association (TADA) in Toronto last week.
Dealers from across Ontario, and even one from Vancouver, came to roll up their sleeves and learn more about the buzz about social media and more importantly what they needed to do about it.
Experts presented topics at a high level, dealing with demographic and societal changes and the growth of the internet, to more granular details and case studies about how to optimize websites and social media tools to improve interactions with customers.
It was a jam-packed session kicked off by the moderator of the day’s event, Todd Bourgon, TADA’s executive director. After his overview, the day launched right into a high-energy overview from Sean Stephens of Treefrog Interactive Inc.
Stephens reminded delegates that the internet is only about 20 years old, and we are still just figuring out how this technology will continue to change our lives. The explosion in internet sites, now estimated at 350 million globally, creates a problem for people — like auto dealers — who are trying to stand out in that crowd. It would take 166 years for someone just to visit the home page of each of the sites that currently exist, he says.
“If there are 350 million websites, how do I build credibility online?” he asked, and said a typical website strategy of “If you build it, they will come” just won’t work. “It’s not just your website, it’s your web presence.”
Stephens also talked about what he called, “Google’s evil little secret,” which is that they are simply a business out to make money, and if you have valuable content, you can make them money, and you matter to them. This led into the next presentation from Tim Wilson, the head of Google’s automotive sales team in Canada.
Wilson said auto dealers should be encouraged that in January 2012 there was a 19 pe cent increase in automotive-related searches, as compared to 2011. Wilson outlined some of the findings from the company’s Think Auto 2011 research study that surveyed 2,300 respondents who talked about their new car buying experience and where they gather their information.
One key finding is that consumers are spending less time buying their vehicles, from an average of 36 days in 2009, to 33 days in 2010 and down to 30 days in 2011. “The message here today is that the window to influence shoppers is getting shorter and shorter,” says Wilson.
When people are researching new vehicles, they are researching on average 2.6 brands, and 90 per cent of the time they buy from that consideration set.
Another key finding from the study is that the use of video and YouTube is up 45 per cent and social media–related searches are up 57 per cent. “You cannot avoid the fact that your customers are talking to their friends through social networks or watching videos. It is the way people are researching,” says Wilson.
Social Media ROI
The next presenter was Canadian auto dealer columnist and CEO of DrivingSales.com Jared Hamilton, who delivered a rapid fire overview of the importance of social media and how it can be measured.
Hamilton reminded dealers that in the social media space, the technology used to connect people is only a small part of the winning equation. “Context is becoming increasingly important in a digital world,” he says. “Social media isn’t about technology; it’s about biology. It’s about relationships.”
The good news, he says, is that many dealers already have good people skills in dealing with customers in person, and just need to extend that to their social media platforms and projects.
Hamilton explained that the changes needed within dealerships to better connect with online customers often required structural and process changes within the dealerships and not just a change to their marketing mix.
Other speakers included Kathi Kruse, from Kruse Control Inc., who provided case studies of social media success with dealers; Brent Wees, client services director at Glovebox, an automotive marketing agency who provided a Canadian case study of how Mississauga Toyota has embraced digital marketing; Arleen Huggins and Nancy Shapiro from the law firm Koskie Minsky LLP who presented a legal overview of the risks of social media in the workplace; and the day was capped off with a powerful motivational speech from Patrick Kelly, president and CEO of CAR-Research XRM.
Look for full coverage of the event, including photos and an interview with Google’s Tim Wilson in the April issue of Canadian auto dealer.
