Understanding the internet and its changing direction is relatively easy. The biggest barrier is the time required to search and read through the mountains of articles, papers and comments. While the internet is huge, within itself it is mainly dominated in the west by a few key and very large players. When on the net you think you are master of your own destination, but behind the scenes the likes of Google and Facebook have a lot to say about what you see and how you find it. In a micro way, Trade Me operates the same way with the presentation of listings based on featuring, listing order and user profile. This being said, the easiest way to spot trends is to follow the major players and their moves.
Presence is a much overused word when discussing the internet, however the reason why is due to the fact that it is very important and the key step to being found. Without a well thought-out strategy on gaining a high profile presence, any online expenditure is wasted. A balance needs to be found between finding the right mass of prospects within a marketplace and then standing out from your competition. This is where we face the first trend within the internet which is driven by two factors:
1. Companies marketing on the internet understanding the value of guaranteed product placement within the first page of a users search
2. Search engine providers being able to value the first page real estate higher than subsequent results
Users are under the impression that when they ‘search’ they are searching the entire web, when the reality is that they are searching an indexed database of the search engine provider they have chosen. From this point the results are displayed based on the highest paid bid to the search engine provider and the quality of clicks. If you Google “Auckland Bars” for example, you will see what I mean. All those bars that have paid Google for advertising are displayed first and down the right hand side. Next are the bars that have registered with Google Places and last, but not least are the non-paid-for listings which are termed “organic”. This trend is growing throughout the web and online market places and to be on the first page you need to pay more, however the positive side of this is that it guarantees you high quality presence.
Community is nothing new as a concept and as humans we love to feel that we belong. In a setting that we belong to, we feel trusted, share advice and are comfortable in promoting our products and services. Understanding Facebook for most of us is an easy task as it just takes what we know in the real world and moves it into the online world where time and distance become far less challenging. Trend two is the collection and use of this personal data and behaviour for targeted sales. We see this emerging in a number of ways from the rapid growth of one day deal sites through to the business offerings from Facebook and Google+. For years companies large and small have invested heavily into customer databases and Customer Relationship Management Systems (CRM) and nowadays, done correctly you can create your own community of customers encouraging interaction and information sharing. Now this can be implemented with very little or no direct cost. We spend a lot of our time with customers helping them to understand this concept and the opportunities it provides.
Trend three is easy if you learned to type at school. I sit here typing with my two figures as my time at school was Tech Drawing and Wood Work while the girls learned to type. Our Gen Y friends want more and more of any transaction completed online; in practice this means that any online interaction counts and the rules of first impressions are just as important online as face to face. The visit to the dealership is being pushed further down the sales cycle and our research shows that prospects may have been researching their purchase for up to 6 months before approaching the dealer directly. That first email or online enquiry really counts and may lose the prospect if not handled correctly. Another fact to consider is that just fewer than 49% of the prospects who visit your dealership could have traveled over an hour to get there after online research and interaction. Not only has online research grown, Gen Y are also quick to jump online to rate and comment on their purchased experiences; have a look at dealer rater.com for the shape of things to come. Remember that this is nothing new for most industries like restaurants where sites like MenuMania have been well established for a long time.
Mobile internet access is growing at a rate faster than the adoption of any other technology or service in history, with Apple raining supreme with the iPhone. Microsoft, and Google with the purchase of Motorola want to become major players within this growing trend. Ubiquitous and mobile access to the internet allowing users to spend more time online brings new value to all the current internet offerings and spends. If you do not have a smart phone you need one as they are easy to use and allow instant and quick access to your Gen Y customers and it has to be said that this is a winning trend for us all!
*AutoBase provide Mobile websites for AutoBase dealer websites. Email us here for more information.
Trend three is easy if you learned to type at school. I sit here typing with my two figures as my time at school was Tech Drawing and Wood Work while the girls learned to type. Our Gen Y friends want more and more of any transaction completed online; in practice this means that any online interaction counts and the rules of first impressions are just as important online as face to face. The visit to the dealership is being pushed further down the sales cycle and our research shows that prospects may have been researching their purchase for up to 6 months before approaching the dealer directly. That first email or online enquiry really counts and may lose the prospect if not handled correctly. Another fact to consider is that just fewer than 49% of the prospects who visit your dealership could have traveled over an hour to get there after online research and interaction. Not only has online research grown, Gen Y are also quick to jump online to rate and comment on their purchased experiences; have a look at dealer rater.com for the shape of things to come. Remember that this is nothing new for most industries like restaurants where sites like MenuMania have been well established for a long time.
Mobile internet access is growing at a rate faster than the adoption of any other technology or service in history, with Apple raining supreme with the iPhone. Microsoft, and Google with the purchase of Motorola want to become major players within this growing trend. Ubiquitous and mobile access to the internet allowing users to spend more time online brings new value to all the current internet offerings and spends. If you do not have a smart phone you need one as they are easy to use and allow instant and quick access to your Gen Y customers and it has to be said that this is a winning trend for us all!
*AutoBase provide Mobile websites for AutoBase dealer websites. Email us here for more information.
