Automotive Industry Veteran Arnold Tijerina Joins Dealer World as Director of Business Development

April 14, 2021 By Arnold Tijerina

Lehighton, PA, April 14, 2021 — Dealer World, a full-service advertising agency for franchise and independent car dealers, today announced that well-known automotive industry veteran Arnold Tijerina is joining the company as Director of Business Development.

As Director of Business Development, Tijerina will oversee sales and assist in developing strategic partnerships.

Tijerina brings over 19 years of automotive industry experience to Dealer World, including holding just about every sales and management position at auto dealerships. He also served as a successful Internet Sales Director for two large dealer groups in Southern California that were selling more than 1,000 units per month each at the time of his tenure.

An active and respected member of the automotive community, Tijerina is known for his expertise in digital marketing and social media. He is a highly sought-after speaker for industry events and has been involved in over 50 conferences arranging agendas and consulting on speaker applications.

Tijerina is the founder/owner of Storytailer and for the last eight years has worked with many vendors in the automotive industry overseeing their content marketing and social media and has been responsible for the syndication of dozens of blogs in top industry publications. He is also the owner of DealerElite, an online community with almost 12,000 vetted automotive industry professionals.

Commenting on the addition of Tijerina to the team Troy Spring, Dealer World CEO stated, “As we continue to grow at the pace we have been year after year, adding Arnold to the team just seemed natural. He brings years of sales experience to the table that matches our culture of not really selling anything. We think very much alike when it comes to simply finding dealers that need help and helping them. That has always been our core value. Because our values align so well, my growth projections were adjusted by another 20% the second Arnold agreed to join the Dealer World team.”

Dealer World offers a truly unique and winning experience and understands the car business because its employees have worked in or managed dealerships. All clients’ automotive advertising needs are under one roof, and each department is managed by an industry expert. From online media to offline media, there is no need for a dealership to outsource advertising to different vendors.

“I’m excited to join the Dealer World family and look forward to assisting in the company’s growth. I have a strong belief that Dealer World’s services bring value to dealers and am excited to have the opportunity to be a part of that growth.” Tijerina stated.

About Dealer World
Based in Lehighton, Pennsylvania, Dealer World is a flat-fee, full-service advertising and performance agency that provides franchise and independent dealerships with best-in-class digital marketing, social media, and traditional advertising solutions. Founded in 2009, Dealer World has a proven track record of providing exceptional customer service while helping dealers cut costs, drive more traffic and increase sales. For more information, contact us today or call Arnold Tijerina at (951) 490-8000 or email him at arnold@mydealerworld.com

Pokémon Go as A Traffic Driver to Dealerships

July 15, 2016 By Arnold Tijerina

So it’s been a long time since I wrote a blog (for myself, that is) but after attending Jim Ziegler’s Internet Battle Plan and watching a kid yell “I found a Pokémon!” then promptly walking into a wall then watching adult auto industry attendees, vendors and speakers choose to go Pokémon hunting rather than network with industry colleagues and dealers, it got me thinking. First, yes, I downloaded the app just to see what all of the fuss was about. My Pokémon Go experience lasted all of about 15 minutes. I’ve seen people argue that Pokémon Go is silly and a waste of time while also seeing others relay the benefits of the game including physical exercise, exploring one’s neighborhood and connecting with new people with (at least one) similar interest.

I probably wouldn’t have been even interested in exploring the app at all but for the fact that a client created a clever ad that tied into their business message and we started exploring ways in which we could exploit this trendy craze. Who knows how long this game’s popularity will last but, for now, it’s the hottest thing around. Playing to trending things is nothing new and if you can leverage it in a way that supports your message or drives business, I’m all for it (sans tragedies, politics and the other taboo topics).

In my research, I found that there are things called “lures” in the game. You get these by catching Pokémon and doing various things BUT you can also purchase them for $1 each through the app. These “lures” are like catnip to Pokémon and the area in which the lure is set shows up within the game to other players. Of course, seeing as the goal of the game is catching Pokémon, it’s easy to understand why dropping a lure (which lasts 30 minutes) would attract nearby players. For $1 per half-hour, a dealership could pretty much leverage lures to the tune of $20 per day (given a 10-hour business day) and get a fair share of explorers. [EDIT: A fellow automotive colleague and self-professed Pokémon Go addict informed me that lures can only be used at already established Pokéstops. I do know that there are businesses that have been designated as such so this strategy would only work if your dealership were already a Pokéstop apparently. The overall intent of the article is discuss the marketing opportunity soon to be available as described later in this article.]

There are also things called Pokéstops and gyms which naturally attract players but Niantic (the game’s creator) decides where these Pokéstops are located. Of course, the concentration of Pokémon or the ability to train them (level them up) make these popular places for players. While actual user numbers haven’t been released, I’ve seen articles that report that daily use of Pokémon Go is extremely close to surpassing the daily use of Twitter. That is huge.

Well, it looks like (unsurprisingly) that Pokémon Go is going to make it very easy for dealerships (or any business) to leverage their game to drive foot traffic to their location. Of course, a company that’s pulling in $1,000,000 (yes million) per day just through in-app purchases decided to commercialize by extending business sponsorship opportunities. It’s reportedly always been in their plans but, due to the super-fast popularity (including a 50% increase in Nintendo share price), those plans have been expedited. Soon, businesses (read: dealerships) will be able to pay to be a “sponsored location” which would (hypothetically) make the business an uber-popular place to visit for Pokémon Go players.

Seeing as the game’s developer, Niantic, is a spin-off owned by Google and the game engine itself uses Google Maps for the GPS function within the game (i.e. finding Pokémon) it’s no surprise that the revenue trigger (i.e. what needs to happen for revenue to be produced) has been altered from the traditional cost-per-click to one of cost-per-VISIT. Yup, you read that right.

Now, knowing that you’d be charged based on how many Pokémon Go players show up at your dealership, the question now becomes… Is that something you’d want to pay for? Are these people worth having around, running around your lot searching for these cartoon characters while staring at computer screens?

I was told of at least one dealer group that’s already running a promotion leveraging Pokémon Go by running a contest in which players explore the lot and, when they find a Pokémon, screenshotting the Pokémon at the dealership then sharing it to social media including Instagram and naming the dealership. This is a new promotion (just like the game) so I don’t know how it’ll work out for them but I wish them well.

In my opinion, whether a dealership should become a “sponsored location” will depend on several things – the dealership’s demographic and whether they want people running around looking for Pokémon rather than buying a car (I mean, even people really there to buy a car are staring at their phone showrooming you so you probably wouldn’t know the difference between the two unless one of them is 10 years old). The opposite side of that argument is that a busy lot snowballs and attracts other buyers. I mean, we do use inflatable gorillas and wavy tube men, right? Now you can have Pokémon hunters attracting others and forgo the gorilla. (I wonder if the gorillas and wavy tube men qualify for unemployment or food stamps.)

All of that being said, we don’t yet know what the “cost-per-visit” will be but my guess is that it will be determined just like any other Google advertising – based on bids. Get into an auto mall and that might get expensive. It could offer the kids something to do while the parents are shopping or you could see the parents hunting Pokémon WITH their kids. If you subscribe to the “happy, sense of community, getting out and meeting people” philosophy, it could be a way to make a name for yourself (or become a more popular destination) within your community. Of course, being a sponsored location probably won’t end when you lock the doors. There could easily be people jumping your blocker cars to explore your closed dealership just to hunt Pokémon. I may know of someone that might possibly have broken into a miniature golf course just to catch a Pokémon… but that’s just a story I was told so I totally have plausible deniability… besides I would plead the fifth anyways.

So what do you think? I’d love to hear from dealers and/or vendors on their thoughts as to whether this sponsored location option about to come around through Niantic, Nintendo, and Google via Pokémon Go is one that a dealership should consider.

Do I believe that it will make the dealership a popular place to visit? Yes. Do I think that it would increase foot traffic? Yes.

The real question is whether it is foot traffic that a dealership would want.

The Dislike Button: Facebook Is About To Open Pandora’s Box

September 15, 2015 By Arnold Tijerina

According to Business Insider, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced today that Facebook is working on – finally – implementing a feature users have been clamoring for for years – the “dislike” button. In the interview, Zuckerberg explained that “what [people] really want is the ability to express empathy. Not every moment is a good moment” and that the addition of the dislike button was to allow users “an option to express feelings other than ‘liking.’”

While his sentiment – and goals – are good, I believe that Facebook is about to open a big giant can of whoop-ass. This action could easily become the equivalent of opening Pandora’s box – or Face-mageddon.

Let me explain.

I get it. Someone posts about a death in the family, an illness, an injury or just a bad life experience. We’ve all seen those and hesitate to interact using the “like” button ‘cause who wants to “like” someone’s tragedy? Facebook’s thought-process probably followed the lines of “if we give users a way to interact with those types of posts in a way that shows empathy (as Zuckerberg said) then.. well.. people will interact with more posts… which gives us more data. Don’t think for a moment that every article you share, post you like, comment you make or status you interact with in ANY WAY isn’t translated into Facebook’s mysterious algorithm that determines what is shown to you in your news feeds. In addition, I’m fairly certain it is also integrated into your Facebook user profile data… permanently.

Here are a few scenarios in which a dislike button is bad:

Right now, Facebook can only tell what type of content you interact with. It doesn’t know your personal feelings about that content unless you comment in a positive or negative way. There is already software designed to automatically identify positive vs negative sentiment. With the introduction of a “dislike” button, Facebook will now be able to better understand how you FELT about the content, not just the fact that you interacted with it.

Why is this important?

Let’s look at things that people post on Facebook… sports, religion, politics, guns… all things that could be very polarizing or controversial topics. We’ve all seen posts turn into bitter arguments. Heck, one of the most popular memes has got to be this one:

We love us some drama. Don’t deny it. How many reality shows exist again? Facebook is like one huge reality show except the actors are actually people you know.

Back to that list. Let’s go with the easy one first… sports. Are you a fan of (insert team name here)? If not, every time your friends post something positive about that team, you may feel inclined to hit that “dislike” button. Not only will this probably annoy your friends (especially if the “dislikes” outweigh the “likes”) but now Facebook knows that you more than likely do not like (inserted team). How will your friends know that you disliked their post? Well, you can already view the people that “like” your posts so I would guess it’s safe to assume that you’ll also be able to view the people that “dislike” it as well.

You see where I’m going? Religion. Politics. Gun Control. Gay Marriage. Kim Davis. Abortion. Hunting. Confederate Flags. Prayer in schools. Civil rights. Whomever’s Lives Matter (this week), Legalized drugs, Immigration Policies… this list could continue but I think you get my point.

Not only does a “dislike” button offer the option of inserting a passive-aggressive “vote”, if you will, on the subject matter rather than chiming in but it can also provide valuable data about YOU to Facebook. Instead of being forced to actually GIVE your opinion on a controversial topic, now you’ll simply be able to click a button and subtly share that opinion. I can’t wait to see friend’s calling other friends out in comments such as “Hey [friend], why’d you dislike this? You suck!” etc.

What about (God forbid!) someone “dislikes” something your BUSINESS (i.e. Facebook page) posts?

It’s really a pretty genius move on Facebook’s part. Its users have been asking for this forever… so now they’re giving it you them… and they can collect more data, keep you on Facebook longer and provide you with more content you like. Once it figures out you don’t like [insert team name, political figure, movement, etc here], it simply won’t show you that content any longer. Facebook will become a happy place full of Skittles, unicorns, puppies and motivational quotes… unless, that is, you don’t like Skittles, unicorns, puppies and motivational quotes. You know all of those “I’m going to flood Facebook with cartoon pictures to drown out all of the negativity” posts? Well, now you won’t have to anymore ‘cause Facebook will be your personal screener. Sort of like that poor guy who gets to taste all of the king’s food before the king eats it to check to see if it’s poisoned.

Perhaps advertisers will soon be able to start targeting “People who don’t like Donald Trump” or “People against gay marriage.” Even scarier is how ELSE could Facebook monetize this data. Can you imagine a world in which employers, insurance companies, government agencies, etc. could access this information? I can. And no, I’m not a paranoid conspiracy theorist. What I am, however, is a realist. Facebook is a public company that needs to find ways to monetize itself. It does that mainly through Facebook ads at the moment. That being said, we all know that data is money… and we certainly give it data. Lots of it.

Now they’ll be able to combine CONTEXT with ACTIONS and that’s a slippery slope into creating a more perfect data profile of a user which, of course, allows them to, at the very least, open up new ways for advertisers to better target their audiences. You better believe that Facebook will – and already is – keeping track of everything you do on it’s site. I’m sure that buried someplace in some Terms of Service document, by using Facebook, you’ve given them ownership of the data they collect about you. Now they’ll just get better insight (cough.. data) into your thoughts and beliefs as well.

Like one friend of mine said when I posted the article this blog refers to in the beginning, “ Oh, it’s about to get fun again.”

Yes, it is.

General Motors Creates Stupidest Mobile App EVER

June 19, 2014 By Arnold Tijerina

I came across a recent article on ComputerWorld about GM’s China R&D Division’s reveal of a mobile app named DiDi Plate.

In summary, here’s how the app works:

While in your car, you use your mobile phone to take a picture of the license plate of the car in front of you.
After the plate is scanned, it gives you the ability to text the driver/owner of the vehicle.

Some potential uses that director of GM’s China R&D Division, John Du, shares are:

“…a male driver uses Didi Plate to scan and then message a woman driving in front of him. He asks her for a date, which she quickly accepts.”
“…a woman’s car is blocked in a parking lot, so she scans the plate of the car that boxed her in and tells the driver to move the vehicle.”
and, for bonus points, you can “Message people to tell them they’re terrible drivers.”

He even explained that they have “adapted the app to work with Google Glass. Just stare at the plate and it scans it and brings up the persons online profile.”

There are so many fails about this app and potentials for abuse I could go on forever but let’s just cover the very basics here in the interest of brevity.

Some genius at General Motors created an app that you use WHILE DRIVING to TAKE PICTURES and then TEXT MESSAGE people. Seriously?
I’m sure every woman (or man) would completely welcome unsolicited text message propositions from complete strangers while driving around town. What happened to the old fashioned catcalls of yesteryear? You know the wolf whistles and “hey babe” that men yell to attractive women passing by. That worked fine, didn’t it? This is the digital equivalent of that. It’s like one of those dating services where all the attractive women get bombarded with messages from lonely men (or vice versa). So much for your cell phone battery life.
Now, instead of just flipping off the idiot who cut you off or screaming obscenities at them that they may or may not hear, you’ll be able to ensure that they understand exactly what you say by simply text messaging them. Maybe you can send a selfie of you flipping them off accompanied by some choice words. Of course, when you text message someone using this app it is a) obvious that you are in the vicinity and b) your phone number is displayed on their phone. Now all of those unstable drivers who cannot control their temper will have even more opportunity to participate in a little road rage. Anybody up for the Roadside Fight Club? (It’s OK as long as you don’t talk about it.)

This is the most boneheaded, stupidest, insane, irresponsible, crazy, dangerous (I have a lot more adjectives for this) app ever conceived by anyone much less an automotive manufacturer’s R&D division. Yeah, it’s only in China so that makes it OK, right? They have too many people anyways. Perhaps this is GM’s way of contributing to world overpopulation.

At least they gave it an appropriate name.. Didi. I don’t know what that means in China but all I can think of when I hear this in context of this app is Carlos Menica’s signature phrase:

Twitter Announces Photo Tagging and Multiple Photos In A Single Tweet

May 28, 2014 By Arnold Tijerina

Twitter recently announced the rollout of two new features: multiple tags of people in a photo and multiple photos per tweet. These two new features will allow Twitter users to tag up to 10 people in a photo in a single tweet without affecting the 140-character limit. This is extremely valuable to twitter users, including dealerships, as there are many times that tagging multiple Twitter users with simple @ mentions takes up a considerable amount of characters within a tweet. The ability to tag people in tweets will allow you to have the opportunity to alert up to 10 people while still maintaining a legible tweet.

The new multiple photo feature gives users the ability to include up to four photos in a single tweet which is then automatically turned into a collage. This will allow dealers to better showcase vehicles utilizing the Twitter social platform. Dealers who strategically use Twitter to target in-market car shoppers will be better able to display their vehicles to potential buyers using the Twitter platform. It’s long been considered best practice to use multiple pictures to market inventory. However, if you are in conversation with a car buyer in your market on Twitter, up till now you could only tweet a single photo so your only alternative was to either stick with one photo or send multiple tweets.

Twitter users should welcome these new features, as it will allow for the inclusion of more people in a Twitter conversation without detracting from the core message. One must simply ensure that a photo is included in any conversation that a user wishes to have with multiple people.

If your dealership hasn’t been using Twitter as a prospecting tool, you should really consider learning how this easy and quick method of interacting with people in your area can lead to more sales.

You Can Now Be Hidden On Twitter Without Being Unfollowed

May 13, 2014 By Arnold Tijerina

We have all known for a long time that dealerships must be careful about the quantity of posts they publish on their Facebook pages. Inundating a Facebook user’s News Feed with content – even quality content – can easily get you hidden. Facebook users primarily want to use the social network to find out what’s going on with their networks, not your dealership (or business). Getting “hidden” on Facebook is like the kiss of death for any Facebook page. The problem with being hidden is that the Facebook user technically still “likes” your page but they will never see any of your content without directly navigating to your page after hiding you. In addition, as the admin for a Facebook page, you’ll never know who has hidden you or who has not. With Facebook reach continuing to decrease, it’s imperative that you try to avoid being hidden. This has always been true but is getting increasingly important.

According to a report by TechCrunch, Twitter is introducing a “mute” feature which they are going to start rolling out immediately to all users. This feature will allow a Twitter user to basically “hide” any users tweets without having to unfollow them. In the past, unfollowing someone “could” put a user in a precarious position when choosing how to deal with that co-worker or peer who incessantly tweets and/or clogs up your Twitter stream.

A Twitter user essentially had only a few choices when deciding how to deal with this:

They could unfollow that person/company.
They could create “lists” of people they really want to listen to and exclude those Twitter-hogs.
They could put up with it.

Depending on who the Twitter account spamming your news feed is, unfollowing them may bring up uncomfortable and/or awkward conversations in the future. Going with the second option took a little more Twitter knowledge and/or effort than many users have. So, until now, many people just put up with it.

Not any longer.

In the past, users have employed many methods of populating their Twitter feeds through automation – RSS feeds, Facebook posts being sent straight to Twitter, and other software and apps that throw content onto your Twitter account. While many people use Twitter for different purposes than they would Facebook, the one commonality that they share is that NOBODY wants to look at their Facebook News Feed or Twitter stream and see one account monopolizing it. This is especially true if it’s obviously automated content.

Twitter users and marketers would be wise to examine their Twitter content posting strategy for both quality and quantity to ensure that they are providing useful information and interaction with their followers. If you’re simply pushing content via automated streams, posting links to your inventory pages and/or “for sale” messages, continuously soliciting your product or service or posting large quantities of syndicated content, you are in danger of being “muted”. I believe that once this feature is completely rolled out and the Twitter-verse learns how to use this feature (which is not difficult) that they will eagerly (and with great satisfaction) quickly “mute” those accounts that have been annoying them. And, just like Facebook, you’ll never know who has muted you.

My advice: Make sure that you append every content share with some sort of comment or indicator that shows other users that it was NOT an automated tweet. Make sure to use tools like Buffer or third-party software in which you can schedule content like Hootsuite to ensure that your content is spread out and not all clumped together and/or posted all at once. Make sure to also include original and relevant content as well. People followed you for a reason, make sure you know what your audience wants to hear and deliver.

Twitter now has a kiss of death. Do your best to make sure that your customers don’t choose to use it.

When Charity Isn’t Charity: A Contrast in Two Auto Manufacturers

November 2, 2012 By Arnold Tijerina

Every time our country experiences a natural disaster, many businesses rally to assist those affected. These shows of empathy and the willingness to help their fellow human being are great and can show true character from the company.

Recently, due to the devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy, automotive manufacturers joined these relief efforts.

An interesting contrast exists, however, in two major automotive manufacturers philanthropic strategies.

Toyota pledged to donate $1 million to assist in Hurricane Sandy relief efforts and to also match employee contributions to relief efforts and organizations.

Nissan took a different route by offering “deep discounts” on vehicles to consumers affected by Hurricane Sandy.

As I read these, one struck me as a genuine act of kindness and an effort to ‘give back’ to the community while the other struck me as a thinly-veiled grab at some publicity and an effort to stimulate some sales. Can you guess which is which?

I don’t know about you but if I were affected by Hurricane Sandy with results ranging from flooded houses to no electricity and fuel rationing, the last thing I’m probably thinking about is buying a new car. Sure, maybe my car is underwater and totaled and I will need one eventually but is it truly philanthropic to offer what amounts to ’employee pricing’ to affected consumers? Nissan is already blaming slow sales on Sandy. Now, it appears as if they are attempting to stimulate sales by capitalizing on it.

“Employee-pricing” just doesn’t seems like philanthropy to me, personally. I know that, in many cases, a consumer can negotiate a price below what an employee would have to pay. Most auto manufacturers and/or car dealers have offered employee pricing to their consumers at some point in time as simply a normal sales promotion. What turns this oft-used sales promotion into an act of charity all of a sudden? Nothing.

Both companies have offered to assist customers of their respective lending arms with payment extensions and flexibility, which is great, but only one of these “efforts” seem like a true charitable gesture…

..and it’s not the one offering a discount on a new car.

BREAKING: DealerTrack acquires Clickmotive

October 2, 2012 By Arnold Tijerina

Acquisition Strengthens DealerTrack’s Digital Interactive Marketing Offerings for Automotive Retailers

LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y., Oct. 2, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — DealerTrack (Nasdaq: TRAK) today announced the acquisition of ClickMotiveLP, a leading provider of interactive marketing solutions for the automotive retailing industry. Total consideration for the transaction is expected to be $48.9 million in cash, subject to a standard purchase price adjustment and net of certain expenses. Additionally, the sellers will be eligible to receive additional consideration of up to $7.65 million, payable in 2014, if ClickMotive achieves certain performance targets in 2013.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20101028/DEALERTRACKLOGO )

ClickMotive, which was established in 2005 and based in Plano, Texas, is the innovator of an award-winning digital marketing platform that combines the power of Web, mobile, search, social, video, inventory, call-tracking, tag, and dashboard tools to generate qualified leads and increase sales for automotive groups and individual franchised dealers. Currently, more than 3,000 U.S. automotive dealerships leverage ClickMotive’s platform.

“With this acquisition, we are able to significantly expand the website and interactive marketing capability we acquired with eCarList,” said Mark O’Neil, chairman, and chief executive officer, DealerTrack. “Additionally, we believe this acquisition will enhance the competitive positioning of our inventory solution and expand our relationship with a number of key OEMs.”

“From helping dealers acquire customers to managing those customers throughout the entire purchase and delivery process, DealerTrack continues to be an integral part of managing a dealership’s overall workflow,” added O’Neil.

“We are looking forward to joining the DealerTrack family,” said Stuart Lloyd, chief executive officer and co-founder of ClickMotive. “This acquisition will allow us to reach more and more dealerships, enabling them to create their own unique digital voice that can be heard across multiple Internet, mobile, and social platforms.”

Details on the financial impact of this transaction are expected to be discussed on DealerTrack’s third quarter earnings conference call in November.

About DealerTrack (www.dealertrack.com)

DealerTrack’s intuitive and high-value web-based software solutions and services enhance efficiency and profitability for all major segments of the automotive retail industry, including dealers, lenders, OEMs, third-party retailers, agents, and aftermarket providers. DealerTrack, whose solution set for dealers is the industry’s most comprehensive, operates the largest online credit application network inthe United States, connecting over 18,000 dealers with more than 1,200 lenders. DealerTrack’s Dealer Management System (DMS) provides dealers with easy-to-use tools and real-time data access to enhance their efficiency. DealerTrack’s Inventory offerings provide vehicle inventory management, transportation, and merchandising solutions to help dealers drive higher in-store and online traffic with state-of-the-art, real-time listings, accelerate used-vehicle turn rates, and increase dealer profits. DealerTrack’s Sales and F&I solutions allow dealers to streamline the entire sales process as they structure deals from a single integrated platform. Its Compliance offering helps dealers meet legal and regulatory requirements, and protect their assets. DealerTrack also offers processing and other solutions for the automotive industry, including a web-based network for arranging vehicle transportation and shipping, electronic motor vehicle registration and titling applications, paper title storage, and digital document services. For more information visit: www.dealertrack.com.

Safe Harbor for Forward-Looking and Cautionary Statements

Statements in this press release regarding the benefits of the acquisition of ClickMotive, including enhancing our inventory solution’s strategic positioning and expanding our relationships with OEMs, and all other statements in this release other than the recitation of historical facts are forward-looking statements (as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995). These statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements of DealerTrack to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.

Factors that might cause such a difference include the successful completion of the acquisition of ClickMotive, meeting its financial goals, the acceptance by dealers of DealerTrack as the owner of the acquired company, and other risks listed in our reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ending December 31, 2011. These filings can be found on DealerTrack’s website at www.dealertrack.com and the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. Forward-looking statements included herein speak only as of the date hereof and DealerTrack disclaims any obligation to revise or update such statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events or circumstances.

TRAK-G

SOURCE DealerTrack

[VIA PR NEWSWIRE]

Stat of the Week & In the News: Compliation August 2012

September 5, 2012 By Arnold Tijerina

August 2, 2012 “In the News” – [LINK]

Bing Deepens Facebook Integration
Allows Users to Tag Friends within Search and Share Instantly to Facebook

Bing announced earlier this week that they’ve further enhanced their integration with Facebook, enabling users to tag Facebook friends directly within search results and share queries instantly on Facebook. Using this functionality, users will now be able to more readily involve friends in decision-making by soliciting their advice while searching online.

There are obvious implications for digital marketers and online vendors—and for automotive dealers in particular. Imagine a car shopper searching “Toyota dealer” on Bing, receiving results, and then instantly asking specific friends on Facebook if they’ve had any experience with a given dealer. This deepened integration with Facebook further illustrates the importance search engines are placing on social media in order to deliver relevant search results to consumers.

The subtraction of a step in the sharing process will not only make it easier for people to share search-related content on Facebook, but also to tag friends, which will then cause those results to on those friends’ timelines, thus exposing the question to their social networks. Typically, the easier you make an action, the more people will use it. Think of the ease of the “like” and “+1” sharing buttons that millions of websites have adopted. This makes it even more important than ever to ensure that your Bing presence is optimized, reviewed regularly, and filled with positive customer testimonials.

If you want to see more about how it works, check out Bing’s video by clicking here.

August 3, 2012 “Stat of the Week” – [LINK]

One million users in 6 hours.

That’s how many people signed up for Microsoft’s re-vamped Hotmail email service, which they relaunched as Outlook.com this past Wednesday, August 1. Many reviewers, such as Gizmodo, are declaring Outlook email the “biggest victory since Gmail.”

The Wall Street Journal reports that it’s Microsoft’s attempt to capture more enterprise customers by integrating themselves into workers’ personal lives. This news should interest online vendors and digital marketers alike. That’s because many consumers favor the use of anonymous-type email addresses (Yahoo, AOL, Gmail, etc) when shopping online or communicating with vendors–including car dealers–because they offer less personal information up front. Chances are good that you will start seeing Outlook email addresses showing up in leads. You need to ensure that your CRM isn’t going to view the new outlook.com email addresses as spam.

On another note, if you were part of the land grab of e-mail addresses on Wednesday, you might have been able to get some really sweet e-mail addresses–maybe even using just your first name. The momentum of sign-ups is sure to plateau, but as long as desirable and easy e-mail addresses are available, we believe many people would make the switch rather than have a long, hard-to-remember Yahoo or Gmail address because of the lack of availability. Would you rather havejohndoe@outlook.com or johndoe34872@yahoo.com? The choice seems easy.

August 10 “Stat of the Week” – [LINK]

What drives up to four times as much retail traffic as Facebook and is #4 out of the top 7 web-traffic-driving social networks in the world? Pinterest.

We came across this article on socialmediatoday and were shocked to learn that Pinterest is responsible for so much traffic to websites. We were also surprised to learn that StumbleUpon is the #2 social media site in terms of driving traffic, but the steep downward trajectory that it’s on means it will most likely be overtaken in the near future.

Pinterest interests us so much because it is driving almost as much traffic YouTube and, although YouTube certainly isn’t something to disregard, Pinterest definitely has the momentum right now, with major brands adopting the platform for marketing purposes. YouTube will always be relevant (well, as “always” as anything can be in the fast-paced world of the internet), but we don’t see their traffic spiking anytime soon. In fact, it could very well decline now that YouTube’s license with Apple has expired and the company’s will no longer be available to iPhones.

Not only that, but Pinterest currently appeals largely to women, making the site both a unique challenge and an especially tempting nut to crack for businesses like automobile dealers. Have you experimented with Pinterest for your business yet? If so, tell us what your experiences have been!

August 14 “In the News” – [LINK]

Recently, two major automotive manufacturers released innovative apps designed to enhance consumers’ buying experiences by making the process more interactive using technology developed for mobile and tablet devices.

This past spring, at the Geneva Auto Show,Volvo unveiled an iPad/iPhone app that “reads” markers placed around Volvo vehicles, allowing users to walk around the cars and experience an x-ray-like view of the vehicle’s skeleton and inner workings, complete with callouts featuring patented Volvo innovations.

Then, this past Monday, Ford released an iPad app designed to assist consumers at the dealership by allowing them to virtually build vehicles equipped to their specifications, then use that information to locate vehicles in the dealers’ inventory that most closely match their desired specifications.

These apps are likely just the beginning when it comes to vehicle manufacturers adopting mobile and tablet technologies in ways that allow salespeople at the dealership level to integrate the latest tech into the sales funnel and make the buying process more informative and interactive for customers. Auto dealers: what’s your take? How do you think car shoppers will respond to these apps and others like them? How would you incorporate them into you showroom experience? And what app would you design for use in your showroom if you ruled the world?

August 17, 2012 “Stat of the Week” – [LINK]

148 million negative impressions.

Whether or not you liked how NBC handled their coverage of the Olympics, as this articleillustrates, the network ultimately fumbled a golden opportunity (McKayla would so not be impressed)—and damaged its reputation in the process.

As you may know, NBC made live-streaming of the Olympic Games available only to those users with an eligible cable provider account. Needless to say, this tactic left many frustrated, would-be viewers—many of whom rely exclusively on the internet rather than cable to get their TV fix—fuming. So much so that they took to Twitter and decided they were going to talk about the Olympics anyways, namely by creating the hashtag #NBCFail.

During the month of the Olympics, netscore counted 93,000 tweets utilizing that hashtag, which accounted for a whopping 148 million negative impressions. This number is made all the more damaging when you consider that NBC itself reported that only 157 million people actually watched the live streams.

Imagine if NBC had made the live streams easy to access, available to everyone, and free (by which we mean, ad-supported). Those 93,000 negative tweets probably would have been replaced by positive, patriotic tweets that included NBC mentions and hashtags. Instead, they chose monetize the content in a different way—one that earned them 157 million short-term internet viewers whose attention shifted elsewhere when the Olympics ended and almost 100,000 negative comments that will live on the Internet forever.

August 27, 2012 “In the News” [LINK]

During the 2008 presidential elections, Barack Obama made waves (and ultimately won the presidency) by enlisting the grassroots support of voters. What made it all the more remarkable at the time was that much of the campaign’s grassroots action took place online, in the context of social media.

So it comes as no surprise that the 2012 presidential elections would continue the trend. According to Fox News, political parties are increasingly recognizing the importance of social media within their campaigns. Both Republicans and Democrats have opened up their conventions and debates to be live-streamed on the internet, hired full-time bloggers and teams of people whose only jobs are to engage with voters via social media channels.

To put some perspective on how much social media channels have grown in importance since the last presidential elections, consider this: according to Twitter, the number of tweets sent on Election Day 2008 was “equal to about six minutes worth of tweets today.” Like businesses, politicians stand to reap huge rewards from social media—that is, if they manage to keep a handle on the conversation. With the help of social media, politicians (like businesses) are able to reach more people and, in circumventing traditional media, they are able to do so without compromising their messages. But social media is a live wire, and if businesses and politicians aren’t on their game, they also stand to get burned (a la #McDStories).

It remains to be seen which party manages to finesse social media to greater advantage, but either way, new media will play a role in deciding the next president of the United States. The good news for businesses is that, no matter how much political activity is taking place on social media channels, businesses won’t be priced out of social media they way they will with traditional media. Traditional media is finite, while digital media is unlimited. [TL/AT]