Being a founder of a public relations firm, I’m expected to know everything about the latest marketing techniques.  Creating a Google+ page keeps your business relevant in the minds of consumers. More and more people are being socially motivated to purchase items.  As a result, if your business doesn’t possess the proper social networking accounts, then you lose out on a crucial consumer.

Several consumers research companies online when they’re looking to purchase a vehicle. If your company’s at the bottom of search results, then you’re losing business. Creating a Google+ account for your automotive business increases your search ranking as well as traffic to your various sites. I have searched for several automotive vendors on Facebook and they don’t show up in the results. However, when I go to Google and search for the automotive vendor their website comes up with a link to their Facebook page. Why not kill two birds with one stone?

Another benefit Google+ offers is segmented messaging. Sometimes you have situations where you don’t want content to be public. When you post information on Facebook, it’s visible for all your followers to see. Google+ allows you to tailor who receives your content with the circles concept. For example, if you are a vendor that has 3 different products targeting 3 different audiences, you don’t want the target audience to be privy to the wrong product. Essentially, you can make certain information available to the circle of your choice. Therefore, grouping your circles with distinct identifiers makes this process easier.

Making your brand social involves creating dialogue between your company and your followers. Facebook gives you the option of making your wall available for others to comment, but Google + takes this idea a step further by giving you the chance to connect with followers through video with the hangout feature.  Vendors can speak to followers to gauge what aspects of your brand and/or services they find favorable or hold a staff meeting. This kind of personal interaction bodes well with consumers and doesn’t cost you a penny unlike Skype.

The only noticeable absences in a Google+ page are a promotion feature and URL personalization. Facebook is a great marketing tool because you can create promotions solely around your Facebook followers. This kind of exclusivity adds value to your brand and makes your followers feel special.

Facebook also allows companies to change their URL making them more distinct and easier to remember. Unfortunately your stuck with the long numeric URL Google+ provides its user.  Since Google+ is relatively new, there is still time for its features to evolve based on the needs of its users.

Here are some examples of how automotive company’s can use their Google+ pages:

Lexus page

Automotive Digital Marketing page

Infinite Prospects, Inc. page

What are your feelings on Google+?

“The social media strategies we have implemented for our clients have opened up new channels of communication for them and have been very well received,” said Sara Callahan, President of Carter West. “The results have made clear that an integrated public relations and social media approach takes a company’s exposure to a new level, enabling them to reach and engage with a very targeted audience.”

The launch of the new social media division is the culmination of more than a year’s worth of trials that have implemented social media strategies into current public relations programs. “Carter West PR has increased our web presence and we are looking forward to seeing the ROI of a full-service social media program with them in 2012,” says Phil DuPree, President of AutoUSA Internet Sales Solutions. “In the past year it’s become clear that as more dealership employees are growing comfortable with the various social media platforms, they are using them to research, find reviews of, and interact with vendors.”

Carter West’s social media services include establishing and building presence on well-known platforms including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, client blogs and automotive-specific social networking sites. Carter West’s social media team provides full-service solutions including content creation, engagement campaigns, comment marketing, video production, design and advertising, reputation management and ROI reporting/analytics. All social media strategies are custom designed to each client’s preferences and specific marketing goals, and are offered as part of an integrated public relations program.

In a recent survey conducted by Carter West PR, 159 dealership management personnel responded to social media related questions (55% owners and general managers, and 45% a mix of other management positions including controllers and CIOs, dealer principals, service and parts managers, and sales managers). Survey results indicate that a growing number of dealership management personnel are turning to auto social networking sites as a primary source of information and news on products and services. In addition, more than 81% of respondents maintain a Facebook profile, and of those, 29% said they use Facebook to interact with vendors. 44% have a Linked In profile and 17% have a Twitter profile. The survey also highlighted the growing usage of social media by dealerships, with 79% of respondents reporting they have a social media program in place.

For more information about Carter West social media programs visit www.carterwestpr.com or call 727-288-2159.

Read all about it:

5square .com in Automotive News

Automotive News PDF

TimeHighway.com in the Wall Street Journal

Wall Street Journal article

STORIES
5square.com in Automotive News
Automotive News PDF

TimeHighway.com in the The Wall Street Journal
Click here to download Word file

MPi in Automotive News
Click here to download PDF of article

TimeHighway.com in Automotive News
Click here to download Word file

MPi in NADA’s Auto Exec Magazine
Click here to read article

MPi and CallCommand in NADA’s Auto Exec Magazine
Click here to download PDF of article

CallCommand in Dealer’s Edge/Car Dealer Insider
Click here to read article

MenuVantage in Dealer Marketing Magazine
Click here to read article

MenuVantage in Ward’s Dealer Business
Click here to read article

CallCommand in Auto Dealer Monthly
Download PDF of article

MPi in Auto Dealer Monthly
Download PDF of article

Kemp Ford on CBS News
Click here to see video clip

GUEST ARTICLES
Al Babbington, CEO CallCommand
Guest article in Dealer Magazine
Click here to read article

Phillip Battista, Co-CEO MenuVantage
Guest article in Dealer Magazine
Click here to read article

Robert Steenbergh, Co-CEO MenuVantage
Guest article in F&I Magazine
Click here to read article

Robert Steenbergh, Co-CEO MenuVantage
Guest article in Dealer Marketing Magazine
Click here to read article

PLACEHOLDER ONLY (LINKS ONLY; ABSTRACTS

Truth be told, I’m not a serious fan of the M-bros, and you won’t find me dressing as Harpo Marx to go to a Halloween party. But, picture this: Con artist Groucho is fast talking gibberish to the sophisticated and confused Margaret Dumont, his foil, who sits across from him in a restaurant. At one point, Groucho stops and asks, “Do you follow me?” Ms Dumont replies in a prolonged and very nasal, “Yesssssssssss.” Groucho snaps back: “Well, you better stop following me, or I’ll have you arrested.”

On the other hand, being followed on Twitter is a good thing, – - and it can often be pleasantly arresting.  Businesses can and should take advantage of this relatively cheap marketing tool. It’s not that difficult to master. In fact, its whole concept is based on simplicity.

First, the basics: Twitter asks: “What are you doing?” Your answer must be no more than 140 characters in length. Your response is sent as a “tweet” to those who have signed up to receive your messages. Best of all, the message is sent via mobile texting, instant message, or the Web. Simply put, those words immediately travel far and fast.

Why would a business want to use it? I should rephrase the question and replace “want” with “must” for Twitter is fast becoming the quickest, most inexpensive and indispensable way to keep connected to your customers, not to mention protect your brand.

It’s estimated that up to as many as 3 million users are following or tweeting on Twitter. Customers can express their feelings about your company, products or service—and when they do, you need to be there to correct misperceptions or fix potential issues before any negative news goes viral. Your average Twitter user is social media savvy and most likely influences many others. Let’s face it, real-time communication doesn’t get any more real or unfiltered.

In another scene from a Marx brothers movie, one of the brothers mispronounced “viaduct” as “why a duck?” Forget the duck and protect your business with a tweety bird. Do you follow me?

Every now and again, I have a client who sorta-kinda assumes that we know everything that’s going on inside their company–or industry–and never bothers to share key developments with us. Hmm. Assuming someone should have known is never a strong or even useful assumption, and it can severely handicap your PR effort.

The solution? Be sure to keep the PR agency well informed of company news and developments including goals, marketing initiatives, and so on.  PR is your contact with the media and is constantly working on developing stories and talking to media personnel about developing trends.  If PR is not supplied with all the latest information, stories that could be obtained can be easily missed.

Of course, every good PR firm does their best to keep up, by reading the trades and blogs, or by attending trade shows and such, and by making phone contacts or exchanging emails with clients. But there’s nothing quite like the latest insider product or company news, the skinny, if you will. Remember, PR is on your side and, unfortunately, we’re not mind readers.

The Roman philosopher Seneca nailed what I’m talking about when he said, circa the mid-1^st century, AD: “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” So, always keep your PR team in the know because they know the best opportunities. And the more you tell them, the better prepared they’ll be to take advantage of any openings. If you want to try plain ol’ luck, there are plenty of States willing to sell you a lottery ticket.

Be prepared is a much better philosophy. Just ask any Boy Scout.

I read a delightfully insightful book last year titled The Victorian Internet by Tom Standage. In brief, it was about how slowly news traveled before the dual inventions of the telegraph and transatlantic cable… and how rapidly the same news traveled after those creations. Today, news travels even faster. Much, much faster.

The book served to remind me of the cornerstone of any successful media relationship: follow-up.

If a journalist requests information, you must reply in hours, not days. If you are slow to reply, a journalist has plenty of other sources available and your competitor can end up being featured rather than you.  If an article is to feature several competing companies, the sooner you get your information to the journalist, the more likely that journalist will be to develop the story to include your company, versus the competition.

The same goes for the approval of press releases and PR materials.  PR has to be timely in order to keep up with breaking trends.  In this fast changing world news can become stale and no longer useful in a matter of days. In other words, old news is no longer “news.”  It’s history. Much like the telegraph is today.

In PR, there may not be any secret handshakes or magic wands, but there are shorter, faster and more reliable ways to achieve your goals. And we know all the shortcuts as well as the conventional routes. We can show you the best path to take.

• Developing a media strategy
• Understanding the role of press releases
• How to create and distribute press releases
• Event planning
• Utilizing traditional and online media
• Optimizing social media tools
• Managing your media relations
• Managing your investor relations
• Media training
• Crisis management skills
• Presentation skills
• Media interview techniques
• Mastering sound bites

Our strategy as well as our tagline is: Good news, traveling faster.  At Carter West we give you all the PR tools you need to get your message out immediately and that includes Web 2.0 participation tools such as Facebook and Twitter. We can help you create an online communication system between your company and your customers, as well as your prospects. You’ll be able to learn what they say and think about you—and about your competitors—in real time. With social media tools, your news gets distributed faster and travels farther.

Whether it’s using Twitter as a virtual focus group, posting a customer testimonial on YouTube, monitoring your company Facebook site or
writing an industry blog, Carter West will make your business socially engaging.

• Social media consulting
• Social media creation and management
• Social media training
• Utilize Web 2.0 tools where appropriate
• Blog creation and editing
• Multimedia creation and distribution
• Reputation management

WORDS REALLY DO MATTER

Content is still king, prime minister, top dog and ruler of what others know and understand about your company. That’s why at Carter West we like to choose our words wisely; we know first impressions can lead to lasting relationships. With that in mind, we’ll put together a complete media kit about your company, or customize it as needed for your special events, conferences and trade shows. From the essential nuts and bolts of press releases and fact sheets to the more fully developed customer success stories and ghosted byline articles, we will help you astonish customers and demolish competitors.

When mere words fail, turn to Carter West. We know how to create copy that clicks and content that sells.

• Press kits
• Testimonials
• Corporate profiles and biographies
• Fact sheets
• Q & As
• Press releases
• Case studies
• Guest-written articles
• Product/service data sheets
• Brochures
• Web site copy
• Newsletter copy
• Wiki development