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The FTC May Have Just Killed Twitter Marketing For Dealers

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Yeah, in the most absurd move ever, the FTC has determined that Twitter is not excluded from regulatory laws requiring full disclosure on products or services. The Wall Street Journal reports that any disclosures that would apply to any other advertising also apply to Twitter.

Hmm. Let’s think about that a moment. On a platform that allows only 140 character submissions, how, exactly, do you tell your followers about a great lease special, factory incentive or other promotion AND include the tiny, almost unreadable, 2 paragraph disclosure in 6 point font at the bottom of the ad? Well, you don’t.

So, what does that prohibit by default? Pretty much anything you want to promote that requires a disclosure and, for most car dealers, that’s just about everything. Heck, most factory incentives have disclosures. Contests, giveaways, or any other promotion (social media or otherwise) as well as coupons, service specials, and other customer offerings would also be excluded.

The easiest way to determine whether you can or can’t tweet something about any special, ad car, incentive, lease special, promotion, coupon, service special, parts special etc. is by following one basic rule:

If it needs a disclosure, you can’t tweet about it.

See, that was simple wasn’t it?

Now, all of the above being said, Facebook’s Terms of Service in regards to contests, promotions and such are violated, trampled over and ignored all of the time by both vendors (who know better) and by dealers (who may or may not).

That being said, Facebook can’t investigate your dealership and fine you for non-compliance with advertising regulations either.

So, has the FTC effectively killed Twitter marketing for businesses?

It depends on what you’re tweeting about.

If your tweets are informative, quality content or customer service and engagement focused then no. If your strategy is to blast your inventory and specials to Twitter on some sort of robotic RSS feed that forces everyone to not listen to you anyways, then yes.

You make the call. It’s your business but the U.S. Government has spoken.

Update 3.14.13

I spoke with Compliance expert Jim Radogna about this issue. He researched the actual FTC ruling & found the relevant passages and, in his opinion, you can still tweet specials, etc. as long as there is a clear link to the disclaimers included in the tweet. While the Wall Street Journal article seemed pretty straightforward, it’s in his opinion that they’re incorrect in their translation of the ruling and how it applies to tweets.

Business Insider reports that the FTC released more information outlining a way that businesses can continue to use Twitter to market without actually needing the disclaimer physically present within the tweet. Just use “Ad:” within the tweet

How Your Social Media Use Could Begin To Affect You (and Your Business) Financially

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Recently, there have been several cases in which employers were requiring job applicants to give them access to their social media profiles to be considered for employment. This practice has been shut down by a few states already but not all of them and, in some states, the FTC has even backed the employers. While this is certainly one way social media could affect you financially, it is not in this way that this article is about.

What if banks started looking at your social media profiles to assess your credit-worthiness?

What if lenders started using your social media accounts to assist in deciding whether to approve your car loan?

What if credit card companies started changing your interest rates based on your social media use?

Well, these aren’t “what-ifs” anymore. According to a recent article by The Economist, these practices are already happening. “There is a start-up that assesses the credit worthiness of car-loan applicants” through social media presences including LinkedIn contacts under the theory that the character of the people you are connected with are an indicator of your character and can help predict how quickly you can get another job should you become unemployed.

Lenders are recording your Facebook data which is being used to secure loans overseas. They’re analyzing usage patterns of personal mobile phones. A Hong Kong start-up is even requiring “loan-seekers to ask their Facebook friends to vouch for them.”

An online bank in the U.S. “will use Facebook data to adjust account holders credit card interest rates” and, while most banks tend to avoid social media in analyzing a loan applicant, there are many “employees of small banks [who] often search social media or the web for the names of loan applicants.”

Lenders are using the social media data to find correlations between that data and an individual’s credit worthiness. For example, ZestFinance, an American lender, says that “Applicants who type only in lower-case letters, or entirely in upper case, are less likely to repay loans, other factors being equal.” and they are continuously using increasingly advanced algorithms to find more correlations. They claim that their default percentage is 40% lower than similar lenders.

An overseas lender of small loans has found that “An applicant whose friends appear to have well-paid jobs and live in nice neighborhoods is more likely to secure a loan. An applicant with a friend who has defaulted on a Kreditech loan is more likely to be rejected.”

I expect that banks in the U.S. are paying close attention to these activities. All of the actions above (save for the web and social media searches) are done with the permission of the applicant. It’s hard to believe that a US court would prohibit an opt-in component used to extend loans to individuals but that’s up in the air since my guess is that if you opt-out, you’d have no chance at getting approved. I would think that courts would find that it’s certainly up to the bank who they decide to loan money to (excluding certain exceptions for people in protected statuses).

This is another example of how social media is increasingly affecting not only our personal lives but those of businesses that rely on banks extending loans to consumers to make sales.. like car dealerships.

 

SEO Tip of the Month: Maximize the SEO Value Of Your Video Content With YouTube’s Closed Captioning

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Even though it’s the second largest search engine in the world, most users tend to believe that YouTube’s SEO value is primarily tied to the text surrounding the video, like titles, descriptions, and tags. Each of these pieces are important, of course, but did you know that any video you create contains a wealth of relevant, keyword-rich content just waiting to be unleashed?

We’re referring to the closed-captioning function contained within YouTube. According to The Video Marketing Blog, both Google and YouTube are indexing the text contained within close-captions. There are endless combinations of keyword possibilities contained within each video you create, especially with a little strategic planning.

Imagine doing a walk-around video on a vehicle at your dealership. During that walk-around, think of all the relevant words to the vehicle’s make and model that you would normally say, like engine type, features, benefits, and safety features. Add to the end of that a short “plug” for your business including its name, address, phone number, makes sold, and areas served, and now you have a super-relevant page of natural, relevant keywords that directly tie YOUR BUSINESS to every word you spoke within the video. All of this can be accomplished without having a spammy description on your video. In fact, you don’t have to include ANY of these items within the title, description, or tags for it to be indexed (although I would advise that you keep many of them, especially your business information and website URL).

It takes a little planning and effort, but YouTube will do the heavy lifting for you. Detailed instructions can be found within YouTube’s help pages, but here’s the short version:

After you’ve uploaded your video and added an appropriate title, description and tags, you will need to create a “transcript” file to upload. This is a simple text (.TXT) file that contains the “script” of your video. Essentially, you’re just typing what was said. Once finished, you’ll upload it into YouTube via the Video Manager for the video you want to caption. YouTube will take the “script” you created and automatically sync the words to the video.

That’s it! Not only did you add VSEO value to your digital marketing, but your video is doing double-duty by helping with normal search as well. Google gives high relevance to videos, so by combining both the power of video and super-relevant text, it’s like creating a piece of content on steroids (as far as both Google and YouTube search algorithms are concerned.)

In addition to SEO benefits, Google adds translation ability to the videos, so you’ve also created a video that assists consumers who speak English as a second language.

This simple and painless addition to your existing YouTube marketing will supercharge your efforts and help you dominate searches over your competition.

(Article originally published in the November 2012 issue of the 3 Birds Marketing newsletter)

The Little Gopher That Could: How Being Not So Normal Paid Off Big

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Humans are competitive by nature. Throughout history, as a species, we’ve been competing in one way or another whether that’s with each other or nature. So it came as no surprise to us when one of our clients – Princeton Mini – approached us and said that they “had to” win a regional OEM contest being held in conjunction with a national sales event, and enlisted our assistance.

The “Not So Normal” sales event held by Mini was designed to advertise the exceptionally high gas mileage that Mini Coopers have. The contest itself was between the dealerships and they were given little guidance other than being creative and not so normal.

The dealership already had a huge head-start in the contest deciding on building a custom-made miniature golf course (Mini golf course, get it?). The employees themselves built this very creative and elaborate 9-hole course spending their own free time to do so. The contest was to culminate in a dealership event promoting the “Not So Normal” sale and was to be judged by the regional representatives from Mini via pictures and videos of the event.

After brainstorming with the General Manager, Robert Ogust, we came up with a “Caddyshack” theme to build up on the miniature golf course they had created. We scripted out the video based on scenes from the classic movie and incorporated the infamous gopher and make the event even less “normal”. The plot was that the gopher was going to infiltrate the dealership and they needed to get rid of it.

We attended the event and filmed the scenes needed with the employees playing the various roles and to photograph the event. The dealership really went all out for this event. It was very apparent that they had put a lot of time and effort into it. They had given each golf hole Mini-inspired name such as Mini Mulligan, Fore Wheel Drive and Cooper Chute. The employees were all wearing these, for lack of better words, not so normal golf costumes. They had music playing, catered food (including a chocolate fountain), a bounce house and even threw in some large, stuffed sumo wrestling outfits at the end. They were even successful in getting customers to participate in doing some “not so normal” things on camera!

The event was a great success with everyone attending – from employees to customers – having a great time and the dealership making sales. In the end, Princeton Mini ended up winning the contest. Instead of keeping the $3500, the staff at MINI decided to donate their winnings to the Red Cross to help the many people in NJ impacted by Hurricane Sandy. Princeton MINI’s generosity was matched by their parent company, Asbury Automotive Group, and MINI for a total donation to the Red Cross of $10,500.

It goes to show what a little imagination, commitment, elbow grease and fun can earn you. Sometimes it pays to be “not so normal”… and have a pet gopher.

…and if you’d like to see the fun video, you can check it out by clicking here!

Originally published in the January 2013 edition of the 3 Birds Marketing newsletter

Social Media 201: Beyond Facebook and Twitter

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You’ve ventured into the world of social media. You have a Facebook page, promoted it in your marketing and in your store, started posting great content and the people that started liking your page are engaging with you. You created a Twitter account, have been tweeting and re-tweeting content, built a following and are starting to get re-tweeted and mentioned. Life is great! You did it!

…whoa, hold your horses.

As the title of this article indicates, Facebook and Twitter, while a great beginning, are far from a conquest of social media. If we were playing Risk, you just conquered Australia. There are a lot of territories left and some are pretty big. Let’s take a world tour and hit on some more social media sites as you take your social media efforts to the next level.

There are literally hundreds of social media sites. Luckily, you don’t have to worry about most of them, but there are a few that you should definitely have a presence on for your dealership: Google+, Yelp, and Foursquare.

Google + is the 800-pound gorilla in this mix. It has a total of about 250 million users and, while it does not have the level of engagement or activity that Facebook and Twitter has, it is essential to have a presence here. Google has migrated from a general relevance model of delivering search results to an enhanced relevance model on an individual level by integrating a searcher’s social network. G+ has the best SEO of any sites as Google, naturally, favors its own products. Google hosts 11 billion monthly searches which are mostly people looking for relevant and timely content. It is a different platform so you need to differentiate your G+ strategy from your Twitter or Facebook marketing strategies. Google searchers are looking for timely news, offers, information, articles, etc. about not only your dealership but your brand and models. This is the site where your most visible business presence will be through Google searches so it’s important not to neglect this network.

Many businesses think of Yelp strictly as a review site. While it is an important part of your reputation management and review building strategies, there are also strong social media components which exist that could be used to fully leverage your Yelp presence.  Yelp claims to have 71 million unique visitors. Yes, there are some dealers who have strong criticisms of how Yelp holds them hostage when a negative review appears. Did you know, however, that Yelp also has strong location-based components that you can leverage to make offers to people that are near your location? It can also inform them that you are there in the first place, if they didn’t already know. Make sure to explore all the capabilities of Yelp, have a complete and optimized profile and are paying attention to more than just the reviews.

Foursquare is a location-based service which is growing increasingly valuable. Foursquare has 20 million registered users which, according to the company, “check-in” over 3 million times per day and they are about to pass 750 million check-ins total. It is another free service that is also very low maintenance and can be leveraged to not only drive traffic to your store but steal traffic from your competitors. Users can leave “tips” which amount to mini reviews at your location. These are becoming increasingly important as Bing recently integrated these tips into their map search engine. You also have the ability to create “offers” that you can leverage to attract new customers. These offers appear on a user’s mobile device when they check-in at a location. The location doesn’t have to be yours, however. It only needs to be a business in the general vicinity. If your store is in an auto mall, a customer could potentially go onto Foursquare to check-in at your competition (let’s face it, every dealer is your competition when it comes to used cars). They will see a special icon that will indicate that you have an offer. Curiosity may lead them to look at it and, if it’s compelling enough, may persuade them to visit your store.

As you can see, there is more to social media than you probably ever imagined. No one expects you to master all the sites, nor should you. But you should be cognizant of which sites are available, which sites your demographic is using, and which sites are generating traffic NOW, not last month. Remember MySpace? AOL? Social networking sites come and go. The ones that are hot right now may not be in a year. Be where your consumers are engaging and know how they want to be engaged with, no matter where that is. Digital marketing, and social media marketing by extension, is an ever-dynamic field. If you pay attention, you’ll know where you need to be and what you should do when you get there. For now, these are a good start.

Article originally published in the October 2012 issue of the 3 Birds Marketing newsletter.

Stat of the Week and In The News Compilation – December 2012

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In the News – December 1, 2012 – [LINK]

Facebook Tests An In-Store Gateway To Internet Access

In a win-win for Facebook and businesses, Facebook has begun testing a “social wi-fi” service according to this article on CNET. With Facebook supplying the router, and the business supplying the internet, it would work similar to the processes set-up in hotels in that, when a customer first connects to the wi-fi network, they would be redirected to that businesses Facebook page where they would be prompted to “Like” the businesses’ page in order to access the internet. The upside for a business is that it could increase page “Likes” and engagement through the ability to offer Facebook deals to those customers as they log-in. The benefit for Facebook is all about data. Every time a consumer completes the log-in, they are providing Facebook with valuable data which would then assist them in improving Facebook ad performance and targeting. For those consumers who do not have Facebook accounts and/or do not wish to use them to log-in, there will be an option for the consumer to log-in via a password supplied by the business. In our opinion, however, most people will trade the convenience of logging in via Facebook, and the benefit of free internet access, for a simple “Like” as people are being more and more conditioned to trade personal information in exchange for something free. The perfect place to implement this idea would be the service waiting area where a businesses’ wi-fi is most commonly used and available. As this is in the testing phase, it remains to be seen whether it will come to reality for the masses BUT, it would be interesting to see whether, if Facebook abandons this idea, a business could set this up themselves.

In the News – December 7, 2012 – [LINK]

Major Brands Love Content Marketing

Forbes published an article illustrating how 5 major brands have confirmed through practical application and use that content marketing is driving traffic and creating successful branding and engaging both current and potential customers. In their examples, they share how Virgin Mobile created an online newsroom that has grown to over 1 million unique views per month. The Head of Brand Marketing says that the online content “deepen(s) engagement” with their consumers. Marriott also created an online content site with “rich content for engaging guests…(which has seen) record traffic and exponential growth in engagement”, according to the VP of Global Marketing. In just weeks after launch of the, in this case, video content on YouTube, their channel has grown from “tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands views..with more than half staying to learn about the brand”. Some of the tips for content creation included in the article share how online content should “focus on existing customers as well as prospects” and that content marketing is not only a “great tool to create brand affinity but can also be powerful in building a new audience of potential customers.”

 

Why Social Media Degrees Are Like Throwing Money Out the Window

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Social media skills have certainly come in demand for job-seekers in the marketing field and many companies are asking that candidates have some knowledge in how to market using social media. Many colleges have been offering classes in the social media arena for a while now. In fact, I’ve taken some of them. However, according to an article in Social Media Today, some colleges have taken it to the next level and have actually created entire social media degrees. An article published by The Center for Digital Education refers to Newberry College which plans on offering social media as a separate major starting in the Fall of 2013.

While the desire to get educated in social media is certainly admirable, any classes except those taught on a broad level with very general studies would be a waste of time and useless, in my opinion. Social media is a hyper-dynamic field in which one has to constantly adapt. Social networking sites are coming and going all the time. What’s hot today is thrown by the wayside tomorrow. Even if the classes focused entirely on the big two – Facebook and Twitter – even those two sites change continuously and while Twitter hasn’t made too many major changes, Facebook is constantly changing what its delivering to people’s newsfeeds. Even seasoned “pros” that have been working in the field for a long time constantly have to learn, evaluate and analyze not only current social media sites but also emerging ones.

To offer a college degree solely dedicated to social media is pointless on several levels. First, for the most part, the people that a university would employ as professors are typically not spring chickens. In fact, according to Wikipedia, the median age of a college professor is 55 years old with “very few people attain(ing) this position prior to the age of 40.” According to one study, more than half of social media users are between the ages of 25-44. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that a 55 year old person isn’t able to “know” social media well enough to teach it to a bunch of 18 year olds. That being said, I believe most of those 18 year olds probably know (and use) social media more than their professors. As far back as 2009, there was a University that was offering a Master’s degree in Social Media. According to Mashable, “some of the students have already described the course as too basic.”

Learning effective marketing, in general, in association with business and writing skills is certainly valuable to a young person planning on going into the marketing field. However, how valuable will the social media knowledge that is taught to them in college be four years later which was, percentage-wise, not being taught by the most educated (social media-wise) professor? I’ve taken classes on social media in which I knew more about it than the professor, which was why I stopped taking them. My goal was to learn, not spend money for a piece of paper that says I’ve learned skills that are already outdated.

Social media changes constantly. Social networks come and go daily. Learning how to effectively market on any given social media platform is a continuous job filled with analysis and adaptation. Trial and error, testing and re-testing, then adapting strategies based on what works NOW, is how most social media professionals “get the job done”. If there was a magic bullet or concrete list of techniques detailing the best way to market on each platform, whoever wrote that would be rich. I equate it to offering a class on how to create viral videos… while the class may exist, there is no formula that can produce this result consistently or, again, whomever discovered that would be rich. Then, of course, if everyone knew how to create viral videos because some magic formula came along teaching them how, none of them would be considered “viral” anymore.

There is no way social media can exist as its own major and be relevant 4 years later. My advice would be to use college to fill up on effective marketing, statistics, and business courses, in general, and take extra time, on your own, doing what you’re already doing anyways – using social networks. Read and learn on your own from the people who are willing to share their knowledge and expertise online (of which there are many) and are taking the time to keep up with current trends, techniques and changes in the world of social media. You could try and secure an internship at a company that specializes in social media to gain some practical, current, working knowledge of social media marketing.

I guarantee that you will come out of college prepared to enter the job market and will not have wasted 4 years (and who knows how much money) just to learn at the end that you haven’t learned anything.

Santa Doesn’t Visit Car Dealerships

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Coming from a retail background, I can attest that working in sales at a dealership is hyper-competitive. The whole ‘hero to zero’ mentality is meant to motivate salespeople and not let them mentally back off or take the next month easy because they were top salesperson and/or got a fat paycheck. Now, I know that there are some dealerships where this environment doesn’t exist now as it’s been a little while since I actually sold cars but I do know that this environment exists in many stores to this date.

What made me think of this was when a friend was thinking of planning a ‘Secret Santa’ and ‘cookie exchange’ for the holidays. I had no idea what she was talking about which boggled her mind. You see, these things just didn’t exist in retail. I never wanted to give presents to other salespeople nor did I ever receive any. Now, I’m a pretty giving person. I like giving people gifts and making their days a little brighter, it just never happened. Yes, there were times when I was given Christmas bonuses by employers and, while I appreciate money, it doesn’t ‘feel’ quite the same as being given a gift that took some thought regardless of how much the gift cost.

I remember, in my early days in retail when I was a green pea, literally ducking staplers that a sales manager was throwing at me. Public verbal lashings, which included many curse words, weren’t uncommon. Finding innovative ways to take other salespeople ‘off-the-market’ was encouraged and bragged about. Skating another salesperson was commonplace and arguments over customers and deals were daily occurrences.

Learning that these holiday activities not only existed but were fairly common in workplaces was foreign and it made me reflect on just how much I missed out on in my life. We all talk about the high turn-over of salespeople in dealerships and try to find ways to increase employee retention but I don’t think I’ve ever read, or heard, about a dealership cultivating and encouraging an environment like this. Sure, I’ve heard the whole ‘work as a team’ speech many times but, ultimately, that sentiment lasts only until the next deal dispute happens.

The spirit of the holidays, and a conversation with a friend, saddened me. I sincerely hope that my sharing sparks thought in those still out there in the retail sales environment missing this just as I did.

For many salespeople in retail environments, it’s not beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

Stat of the Week and In The News Compilation – November 2012

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In the News – November 6, 2012 – [LINK]

Instagram Rolls Out Web Profiles

Instagram began launching web profiles on Monday, according to Mashable. Facebook has wasted no time in their attempt to knock some of the steam out of Pinterest. In our August 10 “Stat of the Week”, we shared how Pinterest is the 4th largest driver of retail web traffic and drives four times as much as Facebook. It appears as if Facebook is fighting back by leveraging their recent purchase of Instagram to gain some ground in the search arena. The fact that Instagram will have a web presence and is owned by Facebook certainly puts them on the map and in contention immediately. As mentioned in the Mashable article, Facebook and Instagram integration is sure to deepen which doesn’t bode well for Pinterest. It remains to be seen whether Instagram will have the SEO value that Pinterest currently does, but with 100 million registered users versus Pinterest’s 20 million (per Forbes, July 2012) Instagram certainly has a built in audience that position it to do so.

Stat of the Week & In the News Compilation September/October 2012

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September 24, 2012: “In the News” – [LINK]

Free Ride for Facebook “Offers” Comes To An End

If you’ve been using Facebook’s “Offers” feature with your business page, the free ride is over. According to the Wall Street Journal, Facebook began charging businesses last week to run new offers. The “Offers” pricing structure is similar to the “Promoted Post” feature, it will vary based on how many “Likes” you have and how much exposure you want, with a $5 minimum charge for smaller business pages. This move is certainly in line with Facebook’s need to further monetize its services to appease stockholders. While “Offers” may now cost money, the “Deals” feature is still free for businesses to use… for now.

September 27, 2012: “Stat of the Week” – [LINK]

5 million

Apple set new sales records last week, with the much-anticipated release of the iPhone 5. The company sold 5 million phones in just 3 days with 2 million phones sold within the first 24 hours, according to many sources including the International Business Times. Pre-orders for the first batch of iPhone 5s sold out inhours from Apple and all other vendors, the day pre-orders began–and that was just in the U.S. Today, the iPhone 5 launches in 22 countries with inventory already in short supply. Clearly, mobileusers–and smartphone owners in particular– have arrived in force. They are using their phones to read and write customer reviews, search for stores and inventory, and become more connected than ever on a more sophisticated

October 1, 2012: “In the News” – [LINK]

State of California to Employers & Schools, “Quit Snooping”!
California Ruling Bans Employers and Schools from Demanding Social Media Passwords

Last week, California became the third state to pass laws that restrict employers and post-secondary schools from requiring access to social media accounts. California joins Maryland and Delaware in recognizing that social media accounts are private by nature and that forcing an employee or student to grant access is an invasion of that privacy. As quoted in an article from Bloomberg, California Governor, Jerry Brown, says that California is “pioneering the social media revolution and these laws will protect all Californians from unwarranted invasions of their personal social media accounts.” This is a trend that will likely continue to expand as social media awareness and use increases.

October 12, 2012: “Stat of the Week” – [LINK]

48%

According to this article in the Atlantic, “Facebook alone refers more than 48% of small business web traffic.” If you include Twitter, which is responsible for 4% of web traffic, these two social media sites account for over ½ of all small business web traffic. It is becoming more important for small businesses to have and cultivate Facebook and Twitter presences. Just like traditional advertising, you want to be visible where your customers are but, unlike a billboard or newspaper ad, with social media you have the opportunity to engage and communicate not only with your customers but with potential customers as well. With almost 1 in 7 people in the world owning Facebook accounts, learning how to properly use it and other social networks to market your business is no longer optional.

October 29, 2012 – “In the News” [LINK]

In the News: Government & Business Embrace Social Media for Hurricane Sandy Notices

As Hurricane Sandy bears down on the East Coast today, evidence that social media as a common news source and method of instant communication is becoming more prevalent. According to Computerworld, everyone from private individuals, airlines, and Federal, State and local governments and emergency services are turning to social media to relay information. Google has setup an interactive hurricane map, Facebook itself set up a Hurricane Sandy community page, FEMA is using social media to update citizens, airlines are using it to update people on flights with over 10,000 flights cancelled today across the country and the American Red Cross has integrated social media into its “Hurricane” app which allows people to “update friends and family by simultaneously sending out messages on Facebook, Twitter, via text, and e-mail.” The hashtag #Sandy is the top trending topic in all areas affected by the storm. These actions validate that social media has evolved significantly from simply a way to let your friends know what movie you’re watching to a legitimate means of delivering news and information instantaneously to a lot of people all at once in a centralized location.

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