FTC Social Media Ruling Puts Businesses on Alert - Just as it’s highly unlikely the FBI
will break down your door for recording a movie, the chances are small
that our businesses will gain the attention of the FTC regarding these
social media postings. That doesn’t mean the possibility
doesn’t exist, however, and the FTC is notorious for being very vigilant
with car dealerships and advertising compliance. Chances are that your
dealership’s social media usage won’t attract the FTC’s attention alone.
But should you find your dealership under a compliance audit and/or
under FTC scrutiny for misleading advertising, it’s more likely than
ever before that they may include your social media activities in the
future.www.automotivedigitalmarketing.com/profiles/blog/show?id=1970539%3ABlogPost%3A563843

I doubt that most dealers would disagree that training is important. The problem is who in the dealership should be responsible for training and ensuring that it continues on a consistent basis. I’ve heard many stories of dealers sending their sales staff off to a sales training seminar, returning and implementing weekly (or daily) training, just to see the training slowly dwindle down until it stops altogether. For any training to be effective, make it a priority and ensure that the training program is set up to be consistent and ongoing. Without consistent ongoing training, the enthusiasm and immediate results that are seen right after a training session can quickly evaporate. Those employees then regress to their old habits and methods.An ongoing training program for your entire staff – from the receptionist, to sales, and service – shows your staff that you value their professional growth.It can also foster a company culture that is conducive to your company’s vision. Chances are good that, if you don’t,

Richard Holland writes: "There are many ways to recognize employees and
show them that you appreciate them thadon’t require money. The study
shows that 8 out of 10 employees would rather be recognized for their
work. When employees don’t feel valued, their production and loyalty
decreases. Take a moment of your time on a consistent basis and thank
your employees. Show them that you care and that they make a difference
to your organization. By doing so, you will foster a company culture of
engaged employees who want to help your dealership succeed."www.automotivedigitalmarketing.com/profiles/blogs/for-employees-recognition-trumps-money#.U58fmdp69D4.myspace

Ken Beam starts this discussion with the question of whether or not it is legal, and ethical, to bid on a nearby dealer's business name as the keyword used by consumers during their search queries using the Google Adwords PPC advertising system... www.automotivedigitalmarketing.com/forum/topic/show?id=1970539%3ATopic%3A544206#.U5N0EbWGyoc.myspace

Ultimately, all dealers who obtain
what anyone would call "Success" in managing their dealership's business
reputation will have a strategy and supporting tactical implementations
of business process to communicate with their customers. This
communication objective is essentially to convey the simple fact that
the dealership and its staff appreciates when the customer posts an
online review of their customer experience at the dealership and rate
the dealership as to whether they recommend that others do business
there, or not. Once most of us agree that communication with customers
is important, the next step is to identify how and when.  My experience
with successful Reputation Management strategies shows that there are
two types of retail customers based on timing and location:
Customers at the dealershipCustomers not at the dealership www.automotivedigitalmarketing.com/profiles/blogs/which-review-and-ratings-sites-should-my-car-dealership-use#.U4xwHmZIoEQ.myspace

Facebook dominates all social platforms as a traffic driver, referring
three times as much as its nearest competitor, Pinterest (7.1%), which
itself is growing quickly. Twitter, meanwhile, referred only about 1.1%
of publishers’ traffic in March, rivaled by StumbleUpon (0.99%).Not all referrals are created equal, though, as a recent study from Shareaholic determined.Visitors
referred from Facebook and Twitter were middle of the road in terms of
their engagement with the websites they visited, while visitors referred
by StumbleUpon had the lowest average time on site and average pages
p... of the 8 social referrers measured.  The social platforms
sending the most engaged referral traffic – YouTube, Google+ and
LinkedIn – continue to be fractional players. Combined they accounted
for only 0.21% of the average publisher’s traffic in March, about 100
times less than Facebook.Shareaholic’s results are derived from data
collected from more than 300,000 websites which reach more than 400
million unique

Twitter May Have Treasure Trove of Car Buyers
Meanwhile, Twitter continues to demonstrate
that its user base is ideal for automotive marketers... Recent survey
data suggests that Twitter's existing users present attractive targets
for automotive marketers. The latest annual social media study from Frank N. Magid Associates
finds that compared to the average social media user, Twitter’s users
skew younger and wealthier while spending more time with social media.
www.automotivedigitalmarketing.com/profiles/blogs/instagram-topples-facebook-and-twitter-as-teen-choice#.U34QdlNJOqk.myspace

www.automotivedigitalmarketing.comHow does Google’s DMOZ update impact you?
History aside, Google is clearly paying attention to DMOZ
submissions. In addition to potential rich snippet benefits, inclusion
on this authoritative directory could help to boost a site's link
profile. A comprehensive link profile is an important part of the search
engine algorithm and can result in increased rankings and traffic.
Whether Google keeps the DMOZ rich snippet for years to come or takes it
down tomorrow, we should not ignore this update. Here at Cobalt, we are
in the process of verifying DMOZ indexation and submitting any
important edits for all of our SEO clients. If you work with an
alternate website provider, be sure to check with them to ensure that
they are submitting your business information to DMOZ. Here’s what you
need to know:
Categorization matters – for both industry and locationCoordinate to avoid multiple submissions of your business to DMOZ–
multiples could delay indexation and may even