When the Big Boys come to town

What can automotive businesses learn from the likes of Google? Well, a lot. When the opportunity arose to attend the iStrategy Global Digital Media conference with keynote speakers from Google, Facebook, Microsoft, ESPN, MTV and Dell, I was not going to turn it down.  One of the best attributes of the internet is that it is ultimately a scalable business model and what works for Dell (who earned $10B US last year in online sales alone) can work for any NZ based car dealership.

Before I discuss the learnings and hopefully provide you with thoughts and ideas on improving your internet results, I would like to cover off the difference between tactics and strategy. There is a lot of great information forthcoming from the US on internet based automotive sales and they do set the benchmark. When watching a pitch from a person perfect hair, bright white teeth, a blue shirt and brown dockers, it is generally a vendor that has identified a revenue leak in your business which they can plug with a product. These are tactical solutions.  

Understanding internet trends and merging this with your business direction is strategy.  

While the internet is not owned by any single entity, it is shaped by a number of very large players. For most of us Google dictates what we see and the order we see it, Facebook provides access to the third largest country in the world (with 650 million virtual inhabitants), Microsoft powers the desktops and gaming consoles we use, Twitter distributes news and information faster than light and the online media companies are replacing broadcast TV in the supply of content. The world is changing rapidly.

At AutoBase we have an advantage that most businesses do not have.  The internet is our day job and we spend many hours ensuring our understanding of the above is translated into value for our customers. Lesson One - Partner with a company that can keep you up to speed and provide advice on emerging trends within the internet environment. Your main focus should be on your strategy for results not buying more and more vendor solutions.

Lesson Two - Presence is the key to strong internet sales. The internet is not a friendly place; it is very competitive and not free. This is the part Google loves as businesses want more and more presence on the web and they are prepared to pay for it. Organic search results (which are the ones where Google does not receive a dollar) are dropping further down on the first page and the sponsored searches and paid for advertising is increasing.  With the Rugby World Cup coming up, try to Google ‘Auckland Bars’.  What you see is the face of the internet future with hotly contested competition for first page internet real-estate. We have a model that we share with our customers outlining that 70% of online spend needs to be on gaining a strong web presence. In our unbiased view this should be directed to Trade Me Motors. A scattered spend on the web gets you nowhere, it needs to be focused to get you to the top of the page.

Lesson Three – 20% of online spend should be targeted at enhancing your listing to ensure a great click through rate.  Using the Trade Me Motors example, a feature listing can be used to place your listings at the top of each relevant search category. While the internet can be a bit hostile the 80/20 rule applies. It is very easy to represent your business within the top 20% as 80% of businesses put very little effort into their web presence. Again, have a look at Google to see this.

Lesson Four - Treat anybody you communicate with as well read. The last Nielsen Automotive Report found that after completing their online research 48% of customers were prepared to drive between one and two hours to visit a dealership. There is also the Gen Y factor where they wish to have more and more of the transaction and discussion completed online.

Lesson Five - Social Media is the panacea.  Well to be honest that is a lie. What social media or what now just seems to be called ‘Social’ provides is access to a secondary customer base. In old school terminology we know it as referrals and repeat business.  These tools and applications provide a great way to stay engaged with existing and potential customers.  The key is not to get too hung up on the hype and to choose what suits your business to communicate with your future customers the best. If you can write an entertaining and engaging blog relatively often (a few paragraphs a couple of times a week is good) - write one; if it does not come easy - don’t.  Twitter may be for you if your customer base is more niche and fast, quick communication is the goal.  Facebook works well if you run community events or provide sponsorship as part of your business strategy. If you are a dealership, do not just blast your cars out there because as the young of today will say ‘Epic Fail’. You want a conversation that leads to a sale.

If some of the above has been of interest we will be running seminars for our customers in the coming months covering these topics and more.  On the chance you have read to here and been totally uninterested drop me a note and I will supply you a list of the best bars and restaurants we found in Melbourne.

Print a copy of this article HERE.

C63 AMG Challenge

Yesterday I experienced an AMG challenge day at Hampton Downs Motorsport Park. It wasn't free and it wasn't cheap (although Mercedes Benz NZ told us they had covered the majority of the cost) but it was brilliant. This was the first time an AMG challenge event had been run in New Zealand - these events in Australia are usually sold out in about 7 or 8 minutes, and I know why. Not average, not OK, brilliant. And the cars are also brilliant. If I was in this market I would go and buy one right now.


So, what do you get?
Exclusive use of the 2.8km Hampton Downs track for a day, the use of about 25 Mercedes Benz Events C63 AMG's and a lot of fearless instructors. These guys are all race drivers with their race licences. Some are retired, some are racing at a top level (V8 Supercars) and some are still making their way up. But all with plenty of experience. And as it's MB they really turn it on - you also get an AMG vest, AMG cap and a USB stick that looks like an AMG key. The coffee, refreshments and lunch were all pretty good too.


Hampton Downs
In my limited experience, Hampton Downs is a great track. I've been around it once before, so sort of know the ropes. There's several corners that you just can't see until you're on them - the one at the end of the main straight is most important to pre-empt as it's where you've got the most speed on board.


The cars
The vehicles were all brought in from Australia and are stock standard - exactly the same as you could go and buy right now from an MB dealership. They're powered by AMG's 6.2 litre V8 that delivers 336 kW (or 457 hp in old money) and 600Nm of torque via the AMG Speedshift 7 speed sport transmission. Top speed is limited to 250kph. AMG reckon this car will propel you from 0 - 100kph in 4.4 seconds. Smokin'.


The challenges
The day is split into 2 areas; activities in the morning and track time in the afternoon. The morning activities consist of drag racing, a slalom course and the skid pan. These were challenging and great fun, but the track time was best.


Track time
After lunch the track time was split into 3 sessions based around the cars being limited in speed in order to ease the drivers into some real pace in the final session. The first session was limited to 120kph, the second 150kph and the last was unlimited. During the first and second sessions you're getting instruction and just trying to hit the braking points and corner apex markers. And I should mentioned, the track is well marked with cones so you know where to point the car, so you don't need any experience. 
I particularly enjoyed the last session. And you soon realise it's not all about going fast. There's one golden rule to make a fast lap; slow in = fast out (of corners). If you go in or out of any corner too hot, with the tyres howling, you'll be slow and you'll likely miss the race line. And this directly translates to your speed at the end of the next straight.


So how did I go? 
Well, my mission was to go as fast as I could. And I got positive feedback from the instructors. They didn't time the laps, but as a benchmark, several people asked how fast  they might go. The instructors answers were something like "I don't know how well you can drive". They did tell us the fastest speed they managed down the front straight was about 220kph.
Of course when you're driving flat out, you're really concentrating. So apart from an occasional glance at the speedo, you don't really know how fast you're going. Remember I mentioned a USB stick? Some of the cars are equipped with camera gear to record your drive.They simply plug in the stick and it records.
Video playback is cool and shows the main view out the front of the car and in the left corner a smaller video of you driving. The top left corner is overlaid with an active longitudinal and lateral G-Loading matrix and the bottom right corner shows the speed. The top right shows track position, but they didn't have Hampton Downs loaded. I'm fairly satisfied that my top speed down the front straight was 205kph.

If you're in the market for a sedan that can be very sedate but clearly has race DNA click here. For all other Mercedes Benz, click here.

Reality Check – Are you on your game?

These days most people advertise their vehicles online with dealer & private listings appearing side by side on classified websites.  Private sellers are a dealer’s biggest competition. So is there anything that dealers could learn from private sellers?

Time, Motivation and Emotion

As we see it, there are 3 main factors that distinguish private sellers from dealers that in reality, dealers should be up to play with. Time, Motivation and Emotion. Private sellers spend the time to put blood, sweat and tears into their listings. They only have 1 vehicle to sell – so can put everything into it.  They’re motivated – they need the cash, for a new car, or an overseas trip or some other reason. They have to sell it. They’re emotional – the sale of that vehicle will mean a trip, or an engagement ring or a new car. They put this emotion into their listing, they will think of every single benefit and feature to mention in their listing to promote their vehicle. They tell a story about how great the vehicle has been, how well it runs, and how well they have looked after it.  Let’s take look at the things that private sellers are doing well.

Taking the time

We recommend that dealers spend 30min to 1 hour day 3x a week loading and editing listings.  This is a reasonable amount of time to spend, and you will reap the benefits. You can usually display up to 20 images on your listings – we recommend 10 images minimum which show the exterior and interior of a vehicle. Once the listings are loaded, you can go in and edit them as required. Change around the photos. Add details you may have forgotten. Some vehicle management systems provide features that save you time when loading or editing your stock. For example you may be able to upload multiple images in one go, or load generic information about your dealership onto every listing without cutting and pasting it in one by one, e.g.: “Acme Motors is a family-run industry and has been in Auckland for over 40 years. All Acme Motors vehicles are AA Safety Certified, AA Appraised, AA Serviced, and odometer certified. Delivery can be arranged anywhere in NZ.” Your vehicle management system should enable you to load stock once, and have it appear on your online classified website and your own company website, without having to load each vehicle twice. It is worth asking your VMS supplier about such features which will save you time loading and editing your stock. That bit of extra time spent in creating great listings will benefit you in the long run.

Private sellers may have time to focus on selling one vehicle, but dealers are easily contacted and flexible. A private seller is often at work, cannot be reached all day and cannot show the car at any given time and they are generally slower in following up their leads than a dealer is.

Listing quality

Recently I saw a dealer’s listing for a vintage Mercedes. What did it have in the comments field? Two words –“leather seats”.   Private sellers do not subscribe to the thinking “If people want it – they will contact us”. This just isn’t the case. Buyers search for and compare multiple vehicles online, and are more likely to contact the person whose vehicle has a lot of information and special features listed than one which has a one or two word description. Private sellers put more detail into their listings – they are packed full of features, comments and tell a story about the vehicle. There is a lot of competition on the internet, so you want your vehicles to stand out from the crowd. 

There are free, easy ways to create good quality listings. Firstly, make the most of all the space available to you – fields, comments, photos.  Pack your listings full of key words such as ‘automatic’, ‘turbo’ or ‘economy’ that will be picked up in a buyer’s search results.  Be emotive - tell a story about that vehicle – what condition is it in? How does it drive? List all the features. What special deals or services are you offering around this vehicle?   Vehicles should be treated the same way when advertised online as they are when being sold face to face on the yard. Use classified websites as your ‘digital salesperson, and take the same care and level of detail when listing your vehicles as you would showing that vehicle on the yard. 

Use your levers

Dealers have multiple levers that private seller do not. Private sellers just want to get rid of their vehicle, and have one lever – price. Dealers can use multiple levers when trying to sell the vehicle, such as warranties, finance, price, trade-ins and other comparable vehicles. Dealers also have information on the manufacturer and model of the vehicle that private sellers may not - design changes or important factory information or could offer advice on replacement parts for that vehicle. Promote these benefits and services in listings and when speaking to the buyer to capture their attention.

Promote your knowledge and services

Dealers provide confidence.  Many dealerships offer vehicles that have had full mechanical checks, are AA approved which reassures the buyer that their purchase will not break down a week later, or that they have after sales services available. It is in a dealer’s best interest to make sure that the vehicle is mechanically-sound vehicle and will run OK after sale. Selling a lemon is bad for the dealer’s reputation, so it's in their best interest to sell a reliable, compliant vehicle.

 

 So when listing your vehicles, take a leaf out of the competition’s book – utilize time, motivation and emotion to drive more traffics to your listings and beat private sellers at their own game.

Establishing loyalty through Social Media

Social media is a highly effective way of maintaining a relationship with our customers. Retaining clients in what is a long sales cycle is one of the challenges we face in the automotive industry. By keeping in regular contact during what are traditionally dormant periods through social media we can improve loyalty and generate repeat sales and referrals.

The Nielsen New Zealand Social Media Report Wave 2: 2010 described Social Media as where consumers have the power to review, compare, rate, and recommend ideas, products, brands, and anything they connect with. During the last year 73% of Kiwis using the internet turned to other consumers’ opinions found in blogs, message boards, comments on social networking sites (such as Twitter or Facebook) and other ‘social’ websites. The credibility of social media networking was expressed by those surveyed saying that friends and family referrals were “Trusted, impartial, reliable, experienced, knowledgeable - knowledge from a person with a genuine wish for me to get the best deal.” We have talked about the power of Twitter and Facebook in previous articles, but as an industry we are increasingly adopting other forms of rich media (ie. interactive multimedia) to spread our message like videos and blogs.

Video

Fronting a video can add value to our business by creating a personality and brand that people can identify with, and relate to - look at The Mad Butcher! And people are looking - the Nielsen Online Social Media Report 2010 showed that New Zealanders are increasingly turning to rich media to support their decision making. In 2010, a massive 1.6 million Kiwis* watched an online video about products or services they were thinking of buying. Online videos were mostly accessed straight from a company website when viewers were researching products they were considering buying – this was followed by YouTube (You can also embed YouTube videos into your own company website). YouTube has a male skew (62%) and has a large proportion under 40*, targeting our videos to our audience will help us get the best results.

Blogs

A blog is like a message board and can be part of a website or stand alone. The blogger writes regular entries listed by date, often with pictures, video and room for visitors to leave comments. Several Kiwi automotive identities regularly write blogs within the industry. A good writer will gather a following, and is great advertising for their dealership. You can talk not only about your business and products, but review vehicles, or discuss industry news, events and views. This is yet another way to stay connected with your customers and continue to put a face, personality and credibility behind your business and brand. In the last 12 months more than 1.4 million Kiwis* read online blogs.

Sharing

Another reason that social media works so well to retain clients and generate referrals is that it is just so easy to share information and products online. At the click of a button you can email dozens of friends a classified listing, video, website or blog to check out, or post a listing or link on your Facebook or Twitter for all to see. For example Trade Me Motors and AutoBase now have buttons on every listing allowing viewers to share that listing by posting it on their Twitter or Facebook site. In the past year 62% of Online New Zealanders over 18 watched online video involving a product or service and 44% sent or shared that video clip with a friend!

Connect, Contribute and Converse

Social media provides us with an array of simple tools we can utilize to continue to Connect, Contribute and Converse with existing customers and prospective buyers. The great thing about social media is that it’s FREE - all it takes is time. It is sometimes hard to know where to start and what to use that’s why it is important that you have a solid digital strategy and establish the medium that best suits you and your business. Some people love making videos of their vehicles and have the charisma to be in front of a camera. Others enjoy writing so may start a blog to post articles about their dealership and products, or review vehicles.

Step into the ring, get amongst it

Updates to your website, YouTube channel or Blog give you the opportunity to enter the social media marketing ring with some clout; the delivery once again is your choice eg. you can use a link on Twitter with its short sharp jabs (140 character tweets) which are persistent, quick and timely or Facebook’s right hook delivering an in depth well connected shot . Whatever you do don’t sit on your hands, Social Media is an opportunity!

*Source: Nielsen Online Social Media Report 2010, surveying the New Zealand online population aged 18+ of 2,628,000 ?

Gone Fishing - but not the good kind!

Last year and once this year our dealers were targeted by a ‘phishing scam’ - a bogus email  e.g:

A group of AutoBase clients received an email asking them to confirm their account – it had the AutoBase logo and branding on it and looked fairly realistic. When a few of our clients clicked on the link in the email, a website that looked exactly like the AutoBase site appeared with fields to enter their Username and Password. It all looked authentic – apart from the fact that the URL was wrong. When a few of our clients clicked on the link in the email, a website that looked exactly like the AutoBase site appeared with fields to enter their Username and Password. It all looked authentic – apart from the fact that the URL was wrong. This was the fake website which looked real as it was copied directly from our own site - However the URL was http://admin-autobase.com/ which is not the correct one. Our website would have come up as http://admin.autobase.co.nz/ - the mere difference of a ‘dot’ instead of a ‘dash’ and extension. 

Another example of the URL of the fake website a more recent scam used is www.idealerbase.co.nz instead of real www.dealerbase.co.nz. The mere fact of an addition letter in this case was a subtle change to the URL address.

Only a few clients actually entered their details, which took the Phisher into their AutoBase account where on some existing listings they reduced listing prices, added ‘Half Price Liquidation Sale’ to the comments, changed the images to look like an AutoBase brochure and changed contact details by entering an email address they had created. They also added bogus listings including all of this information.  Some viewers on Trade Me who saw the scammer’s listings took interest and emailed the bogus address, where they were asked to deposit money for the vehicle into the scammer’s account.

Luckily, bogus listings were spotted and reported to AutoBase within hours of the client entering their username & password into the link in the scam email.  Within hours myself, the General Manager and the IT team were in the AutoBase office. The bogus listings were pulled and amended and all clients’ passwords were immediately changed to protect anyone who had already sent the scammer their details. Every client was sent an email warning them of the scam and advising of their new passwords. Trade Me were notified and sent an email to every person who viewed a bogus listing, letting them know it was fake. The Police Departments National Cyber Crime Centre (yes, a Cyber Crime department does exist!) was contacted and the bogus site was shut down.  Due to the quick response, no sellers or buyers were affected - and the scammer got NO money!

You may have received one of the most popular phishing scam emails that appear to be coming from a bank asking you to confirm your account details. More often than not you don’t even belong to that bank! Phishers are ‘fishing’ for your personal details or even worse, your customer’s details – they want your username and password so they can access your private accounts such as your bank, email (Gmail, Xtra, Hotmail etc) or Trade Me. So how do you stay safe and avoid being duped? The rule of thumb to keep you safe is NEVER enter your username and password into a website link that has been emailed to you. If in any doubt, call the company who appears to be sending you the email – guaranteed it will be a scam. 

Scammers and Phishers are becoming increasingly clever. Click on the link and the website looks real, with legitimate looking logos and design exactly like the real thing - this is how victims are lured into entering their details. It looks real, so they assume it is real.   No matter how realistic the website looks, do not enter your username and password.

How do I identify a phishing scam?

• The email fails to confirm that the company does business with you (i.e. by referencing your account number)
• The email fails to address you by your name, and may be addressed ‘Dear Sir/Madam’ or‘Dear Cardholder’
• The email warns that you have been a victim of fraud
• The email says that you need to confirm or enter a new password
• The HTML tags behind the links on the email will reveal that the underlying URL usually does not link to a page within the authentic domain.
• You did not initiate contact with the sender or may not have expected to receive it
• The email contains grammatical errors and spelling mistakes

Do not reply to any email that requests your personal information, or click on the link provided. Again, if in doubt, contact the company who appears to be sending you the email. For more information, check the Ministry of Consumer Affairs scam information here.

Footnotes

 1. Scambusters NZ website - Click here

Pimp that listing!

Our dealers often ask us, ”How do I make the most of my online advertising?” The key is to have a simple plan and work your online provider as hard as you can. Henry Ford said about his Model T “Any customer can have a car painted any colour that he wants. So long as it is black.” Luckily, that’s no longer the case. Online classified websites contain thousands of vehicle listings of every price, model, make and type. So how do you get buyers to locate and look at your vehicles?

An online classified provider like Trade Me Motors gets almost two million Unique Browsers a month (that’s individuals, who have visited the site one or more times in a month, who are counted once). You want to funnel as many of these potential buyers as you can toward your vehicles, so start by placing as many ‘arrows’ as possible pointing to your vehicles. The more vehicle and brand information you have displayed, the more likely a buyer’s search enquiry will pick up on your vehicles. One way to do this is to utilise the ‘comments area’ to the max (i.e. the area where you enter free flow text to describe the vehicle). On most automotive classified sites vehicles can be searched for by categories such as region, body style, make, model, price and year, enabling buyers to filter down to exactly what they want. So be specific and include as many descriptive keywords within your vehicle descriptions as you can such as colour, CD player, AA Appraised, turbo or remote locking to further refine a browser’s search.

Also think about how you would approach a customer and sell that vehicle if you were on your yard. Parlay that same approach and information into your online listings - tell the story. What is special about this vehicle? What condition is it in? What would you say if someone was inspecting this vehicle on your yard? This might sound obvious, but you would be amazed how many scant, lack luster listings we see.

One of our dealers rang me recently concerned that he wasn’t getting many enquiries on his vehicles. When I had a look at his listings the answer was clear – the descriptions listed were very brief with no features, and nowhere near enough information in the description. Most of the comments contained just one word – “petrol”! There was only one poor image on some vehicles and some had none at all. The pictures were taken on a cloudy day and on a funny angle that either cut the back off the vehicle or a corner. We had a chat and the dealer went back and updated all of his listings, adding more information, features and photos plus benefits of buying from his dealership. Within a week he had seen a good increase in his enquiries and vehicle views. We continued to monitor his vehicle views so that he could see which vehicles were getting less views, and figure out the reason why. In most cases, the reason was a lack of information or poor photos. The solution was basic, but it was the difference between working the vehicles and not.

To further attract and drive buyers to your vehicles, use any upgrade features that your online provider offers - feature your listings so that they appear at the top of searches, add a hyperlink to your website, showcase your vehicles in an online showroom or store. If you have a company website, promote it. Putting your website on your business cards and signage is great, but having a hyperlink to it online when someone is already sitting at their computer is far better and there is much more chance of them clicking into your website. Having a website but not advertising it properly is like having an advertisement for your yard on the 100th storey of a building – yes it’s out there, but who’s looking at it?

Also, think beyond just your product. Having your vehicles online is one thing but having your brand online is another. Sell your proposition as well as the product - what does your dealership offer that the next may not? Include information about special services, warranties, finance, deliveries etc. Work your listing space to its absolute capacity to sell not only your vehicle but your brand and proposition.

Finally, work to a plan - but make sure you understand it and you can follow it through. What is your budget? Where will you get the most bang for your buck? Identify your target audience. Where can you reach them and how? Online advertising has rapidly become the foundation to automotive dealers’ marketing plans. New Zealand’s online advertising spend for 2009 was $213 Million - a 10% growth since 2008. So seek out business partners who will put your brand and products in front of a large, relevant audience. In my next article we’ll drill down into how to create and work a simple, targeted sales plan. In the meantime if you are using an online classified website, work that site to your benefit to promote your vehicles and your brand and you should start to see results.

See this article also for 5 free and easy Tips on improving your listings. 

Social Media – Word of mouth on STEROIDS

We are always looking for ways for our dealers to maximize their online presence, and have had dealers ask us how they can integrate Social Media, particularly Facebook and Twitter into their digital strategy. That’s why we have recently added some new features to our dealer services area which allows dealers to send vehicle listings to their Facebook or Twitter accounts. This is another ‘arrow’ that can be utilised to drive online traffic back to your stock. There’s been a lot of talk amongst dealers lately about social media – what is it and do I need it? Is it a flash in the pan or is it actually relevant to my business? Here is a bit of a brief about what it all entails.  

What is so important about Facebook and Twitter?

In the 2009 Nielsen Online New Zealand Automotive Search Report; “Friends and Family” were the most useful resource when buying a vehicle. Other studies support this and a 2010 report says “In terms of the impact of Social Media on advertising, word of mouth is the popular option with 78% of customers trusting peer recommendations on sites. While, only 14% trust advertisements”

Facebook and Twitter are word of mouth on steroids, giving businesses the ability to tap into these trusted networks of friends, family and followers, which ultimately leads to sales.

What is Facebook’s business application?

Facebook was originally created for everyday people (in fact university students) to keep in touch and share photos. As an extension of this, individuals can also create a Facebook Page to share interests, or in our case, business information. Individuals can “like” your business’s Facebook page, so every time you post something they will get an update in their News feed on their personal wall.  A post may be as simple as writing a comment or you can create links back to your listings and more in depth information on your website. You can manage the information posted on your Facebook page, and share it using the networks of friends and family already connected on Facebook.  

How does Twitter work?

Twitter has also exploded in New Zealand.  After setting up your free Twitter account you choose who to ”follow”. This means when you log into Twitter, you are kept up to date with the news & information from the people who you want to listen to (“follow”).  Tweets are posts which are limited to 140 characters, are predominantly text-based and can include links to websites, articles, videos and images.  Tweets should be timely and relevant to your audience of followers (people who follow you, to listen to what you have to say).  80% of Twitter users use Twitter on mobile devices (Smartphones like an iPhone) which have become an essential tool to deliver high frequency conversations and keep up with the play.

Auto marketers and dealers are increasingly realising the value of Social Media and using it to increase their online presence, or ‘digital footprint’. Today, almost half of all Kiwis using the Internet are interacting with companies via social networking sites.

Social Media can be used as an effective marketing tool to:

• make it easy for friends, family and followers to refer your business or vehicles
• engage in conversations about your business or product and reinforce your brand
• promote specials, events and information
• be aware of what your competitors are doing and discover trends

Like having a company website, using sites such as Twitter & Facebook needs to be well-executed and managed. So before you start, ensure that you have a digital media strategy. A badly managed Facebook or Twitter account can do more damage than good. Look at corporate behemoth Nestlé, reduced to a vulnerable deer in the headlights due to their badly managed Facebook page in one of the year’s most epic corporate blunders. Once Nestlé put up their Facebook page, it was lambasted with ‘digital protests’ and abuse from the public and Greenpeace  for their use of palm oil and using companies accused of illegal deforestation of rainforests. Questions about Nestlé’s products were being asked on the page by the public, but Nestlé were not answering them. The page became flooded with protests and negative comments about the brand. The furor rapidly grew from Facebook to Twitter and is now all over the media like a tumor. Given that Google now index Twitter and Facebook, all that negative publicity comes up when you type ‘Nestlé’ into Google. A Nestlé employee admitted ‘The person responding for Nestlé seems to be junior. In future they need to look at the person who is responsible for monitoring the page and use someone more senior.'

Social Media is here to stay and is growing within the New Zealand automotive industry, but having a solid digital strategy in place before entering the social media arena is absolutely vital. As a business the way you engage should be quite different to your personal approach. When engaging be authentic and remember these 3 C's - Connect, Contribute, Converse. If you want to have a discussion about social media, give us a call, post a comment or send us a tweet; we’d be happy to hear from you.