social media

Social Listening with Video

by Tim James

It is a well-known fact that video marketing is the most desired and powerful way to engage customers. There are many ways to use video to engage customers including explainer videos, video walkarounds of vehicles, live interactions, and more. Most of these are either customer-initiated engagements via a submitted form or an inquiry to dealers. A good best practice is to send all leads video introductions. But… what happens if they don’t respond to your video introduction? If you aren’t working with a technology provider that allows you to have real-time alerts when someone views your delivered videos, then you won’t know if or when the consumer opened it, and you won’t know when the best time to follow up with each individual is.

A friend of mine had an interesting experience recently that truly shows the power of video. They had purchased a Buick from a dealer that was one hundred miles away. The salesperson delivered the car to his house, it was after dark when it arrived and the salesperson did a poor job of explaining the features. Six months go by and the weather starts to get colder. The friend decided to tweet that he had just discovered (by accident) that the Buick had a heated steering wheel and he was excited! A local dealership replied to his tweet with a message along the lines of, “Isn’t that cool! Here is a video walkaround explaining all of the features you may not know your Buick has.” Even though he didn’t buy the car from them, eventually it will need to be serviced. Out of all of the competing dealerships that he COULD take his vehicle to for service, which one do you think will be top-of-mind? Now fast forward a few years when it is time to purchase another Buick. Who do you think my friend “likes” and “trusts” more, the Buick dealership 100 miles away, or the local dealership that went out of its way to assist him, even though he didn’t purchase from them?

According to this article, 96 percent of consumers have watched explainer videos with 7 out of 10 stating that the explainer video convinced them to buy that product or service.

How do you think this one dealership, out of the many in the United States, found this local person asking a question (or discovering a new feature in this case) and knew he was someone with whom they should interact? Everyone can access social platforms regardless of geography. All platforms use hashtags (in this case #Buick) to read and listen to conversations about those topics. Some can also filter hashtag conversations geographically. In this specific example, going above and beyond and simply replying to my friend’s posting with a video earned this dealership brownie points, and awareness and started a conversation that can lead to brand loyalty.

Imagine using the same hashtag and discovering a post on social media about a horrible experience a customer had at your competition? You could then respond with a personalized video to them, sympathizing with them about the experience and inviting them to your dealership, informing them that they will not have a repeat of that experience with you – that you will take care of them.

Video introductions result in increased response rates and additional engagement, and you start building a relationship between the salesperson and the customer that a text-only email cannot accomplish.

Being “aggressive” isn’t bad if you do it right – with the intent to “help” and not “sell.” The conversation should start around questions asked and include solutions to their problems. Not “buy from me,” but rather explainer videos that you’ve already made that can then be personalized for that person. Listening, caring, and helping are great. Combine that with video and you’ll hit a grand slam.

Posting videos on social media is a great way to have fun and get attention. But posting videos with a purpose will make you money.

Capturing Customer Moments and Making them Marketing Gold

by Tim James

Today’s car buyers are usually excited to show off their new car to their friends, families, and associates, either in person or by posting a video of their new vehicle on social media. This creates a huge opportunity for your dealership to earn sales referral business while building a strong library of customer testimonials to utilize across all your online marketing strategies.  What if YOU assisted the customer with their video while they were still at YOUR store? Now the customer is sharing a VIDEO of themselves with their new vehicle, telling people about the wonderful experience your dealership provided, how happy they are with their new vehicle, why their salesperson was great and why others should buy a car from YOU.

Here is an example of how one successful dealership I know has implemented this strategy.They have an area set up with a gong and red carpet. The salespeople use their smartphone cameras to essentially interview the customer about their experience while they are excited. Best part? The salesperson is in the video WITH the customer. The salespeople work as a team and another salesperson (or manager) does the recording. The dealership gets a solid video testimonial that can be used for marketing; the salesperson gets a little juice to sell himself; and, best of all, the customer gets a video they can share with their friends and family!

You may be wondering how the dealership can get away with doing this, as there are all sorts of “potential” issues with using a customer’s video for marketing and/or review purposes without their written consent.

The dealership does one simple thing to ensure it is following rules, it incorporates a media release into its finance paperwork. This way, when the customer comes out of finance and is taking delivery of their new (or new to them) vehicle, and is excited, the salespeople can capture these memories for the customer. And the dealership can utilize those videos on social media or any other channel they wish. Will every customer agree to do a testimonial? Of course not. But If they do they sign the release in the F&I office.

This is an excellent way to build a solid list of customer testimonial videos that will grow throughout the years. Think about it. If your store sells 9 cars per day and, to be conservative, let’s say 50% decline being filmed, that still means 4-5 video testimonials a day, 120 per month… and so on. You get the picture (or video, I should say).  Now you have a library of testimonial videos to display on a testimonials page of your website, next to your inventory videos, on other third-party touchpoints, on social media, and to use as part of your online marketing strategies.

Some may think it is difficult to elicit these responses. Well, it’s not. Just follow two rules: First, train your salespeople to ask specific questions to get the required response you need; and second, always ask the customer to talk about themselves! Don’t ask them why YOU are wonderful, ask them what THEY thought about the experience. You’ll get the answers you are looking for.

If you incorporate video testimonials into your sales and F&I process and train your staff to ask each sold customer to do one, you’ll have more videos than you could desire in no time. Now, go make some videos!

Become a Social Media Influencer

Did you know 92% of consumers trust recommendations from a social media influencer more than they trust advertisements? Lehel Reeves, Flick Fusion’s Director of Partnerships and Business Development, explains why dealerships and salespeople should start using social media accounts to become social media influencers.

Why Face-to-Face Conversations are More Important than Ever

By Timmy James

 

By nature, humans are social creatures. Need more proof? One of the worst punishments our legal system has come up with is solitary confinement. Not only is this dreaded by inmates, but it can also affect their mental health. Whether an introvert or an extrovert, we all crave personal interaction.

Like many of you, I am currently working from home. And, at the end of one day last week I had an impromptu meeting with one of my customers. The meeting started on the phone but, after 15-20 minutes of the call, we decided to switch to a live-stream one-on-one video call. While we continued talking about the business matter, the conversation quickly changed into a personal chat. Just two people who have been working from home for many days now. While we both interact with people throughout the day, most interaction is via the phone or text. When we switched to the live-streaming video call, emotions changed into joy and excitement that we were having a personal, live, face-to-face interaction with an individual outside of our homes.

Even before this health crisis, people wanted to have live interaction. That’s exactly why sales managers are renowned for telling salespeople to “Just get them in.” Of course, at the moment, we have a quandary. Many salespeople are out of work, CRMs are still spitting out the same messages and consumers are still shopping for vehicles… but nobody is answering them.

We’re dealing with a situation unlike anything seen since the measles or polio breakouts decades ago. The entire country is hunkered down, sitting at home with their families. And many are very bored. What do people do when they are bored? They tend to accomplish tasks they’ve been meaning to but have not yet found the time for. And guess what? This could very easily include researching a vehicle purchase. 33 states have either halted or limited vehicle sales forcing salespeople to stay at home. However, in many cases, their CRMs are still receiving leads. OEMs are offering aggressive incentives and interest rates are low.

Car sales are all about emotions. That’s why the standard has always been to get the customer to test drive, kick tires, breathe in that “new car” smell and take mental ownership. However, before any of that can happen, a salesperson or BDC agent needs to create rapport to get that specific customer to choose their dealership.

Customers currently don’t have the luxury of visiting the dealership. But you can approach that level of face-to-face contact with live video chat. It builds the rapport needed for the customer to decide who to buy from and what to buy. Your dealership can interact with these customers in a personal way while building that emotional relationship with the salesperson, the dealership AND the vehicle. And what do those interactions produce when doing this via live-streaming video calls? The same as it produced for me and my customer — Joy and excitement. It helps move that customer down the line to the sale.

Many dealerships are experimenting with virtual test drives and video calling to provide that in-store face-to-face experience right now and having amazing success. But like all sales processes, it must be done right to have the most effective impact. Many of the popular video calling platforms out there require both users to install plugins or download the same apps to assure cross-platform and cross-operating system compatibility. These platforms are great for organized meetings, entertainment, or educational purposes. But when you need to engage a customer or a lead from your website, or for email/texting communications, the best video calling technology to utilize is one that allows a “one-click” audio and video communication to work inside web pages through direct peer-to-peer communication. This eliminates the necessity to install plugins or download apps and ensures an instant video connection; no matter what device or platform the customer or lead is utilizing.  This could alter the entire experience completely and make the difference between a GREAT video experience, and no communication or experience at all (another lost lead).

So, consider using live video chat to have that face-to-face interaction with your customers that is very much desired, especially right now. Combined with good storytelling through strategic vehicle and dealership marketing videos, it could easily slingshot your dealership into a consumer’s first choice. Not just in these times when it is even more crucial to communicate this way, but also when everything goes back to normal. And now is the time to start planning for the future. You don’t want your competition to beat you and take your customers away!  Get that competitive edge and create those loyal customers now!

3 Video Marketing Applications for a More Profitable New Year

By Tim James

Video has historically played a major role in car dealerships; from training with VHS tapes, to video messaging, text and Live Video Calling. As 2019 draws to a close and we approach 2020, it is clear that when it comes to consumer engagement and digital marketing, video is center stage.

There are many video marketing statistics and trends floating around currently. It is easy to get lost and it can seem a daunting task to stay head of the trends. In this short blog I have put together 3 practical ways to successfully incorporate video into your 2020 marketing strategy.

Communication

Why struggle wondering if your emails are opened and read? According to multiple reports an engaged audience will drop what they are doing to watch a video. In fact, email open rates increase by 7% if you include the word “Video” in the title.

Focus on quality! I always hear people saying, “keep your video short”. The fact is you should put your stopwatch away and focus on delivering high-quality information in an upbeat and emotional presentation. Too often people try to rush their presentation and simply don’t provide an educational or emotional presentation.

Nothing will lead to someone closing your video sooner than if you sound like you are just trying to rush through it, versus truly trying to assist them. If you are providing a great experience in your video message, what’s the worst thing that could happen?  Yep…someone stops watching.  But what about all of those who are truly interested in your message? If you are providing good (relevant) information, and delivering it in an emotional manner, the numbers show that a significantly high percentage of your email (and text) recipients will watch 100% of your video message.

Another good statistic to know is that adding video to your emails can increase click rates by 300%.

Vehicle shoppers appreciate the informational and emotional value of video. Live video calls and video chat are effective at increasing engagement and convert more website traffic to lot traffic as shoppers can now talk to one of your professionals “live,” from wherever they may be.

This does wonders for customer experience by offering a truly unique perspective of transparency. Consumers don’t need to wonder about availability if they can see the vehicle in a video behind you in real-time.

Website Conversion

Users spend 88% more time browsing a website if it has video. Video content humanizes your dealership, builds trust, and inspires higher funnel shoppers to actually pick up the phone and call you with their questions. Video on your landing page or VDP will increase conversion by 80%.

Inventory videos transfer more information. In addition, they help your VDP pages create more emotion from potential car buyers, much more than pictures and text alone. Website videos increase organic search traffic by 157%. You are then far more likely to appear on Google’s page one, driving more online shoppers to your website and into your sales funnel.

Social

For all social platforms , video has 12 times more shares than text and image alone and engagement is 13.9% higher if your posts include video.  How long should your videos be on social media? 30 to 90 seconds is the ideal length for social video marketing. But again, remember that this is because the viewers aren’t there just for your video.  They are socializing and have a short attention span (oh look, a squirrel). But you still don’t want to sacrifice quality for time.  The quality of your content always comes first.

What about the future? 360 degree interactive presentations and Augmented Reality are predicted to be areas with the most growth as marketers enjoy the ease of creating this type of content and it is becoming less expensive.

If your dealership isn’t using video in its vehicle merchandising or customer interactions, you could be missing out on opportunities. Let the consumer experience your inventory they way they want to experience it.  If you limit their options, you will also be limiting your leads.  It’s all about selling more cars and increasing service revenue. Video can help any dealership accomplish both with very little time, effort and cost.

If you don’t believe me, give it a try. I promise you will see the results and will continue to use video marketing at every possible customer interaction opportunity.

How to Make the Most of Your Marketing in a Down Market

Consumers have grown tired of the countless vanilla marketing messages many companies keep sending (and yes, that includes OEMs and dealers.) However, the marketing tactic that is enjoying success is relevant marketing directly aimed at a specific individual. Relevance is the key to winning today’s consumers. But, it’s not only about relevance, it also involves delivering that message in an engaging manner. Well, how do you best do that?

A recent article in Forbes shared that while ad spend is up 22%, the majority of marketing channels and methodology often produce an open rate of less than 19% and a click-through rate under 3%.  Video, however, performs much better. The article shares a story about a business that decided to shift its budget away from traditional marketing messages and instead use personalized video messages. The videos are personalized and available to the consumer on any platform. The results are incredible, with a 98% open rate and a total transformation in terms of reduction in early churn.

Personalization is vital to capturing a consumer’s attention. And there is no more effective way than through the medium they prefer: video.

There are many pieces to each dealership’s marketing puzzle. If your dealership is looking to cut its marketing budget because of a downturn in sales, first consider which pieces of that puzzle produce sales that can be tracked versus those that are shiny objects.

The great thing about sending personalized videos to prospects and current customers is that consumers tend to engage, and it is also one of the easiest types of marketing content to produce, the most affordable and performs the best.

It doesn’t matter which platform your prospective car buyers choose to engage with your dealership; videos perform the same regardless of platform. Videos emotionally connect with people and make them feel more special than an automated template shooting out from a CRM. Consumers can smell those a mile away. A personalized video, however, addresses them by name and shares the exact information they are seeking on the exact vehicle. Which is going to get a warmer reception and build rapport faster?

People like to do business with businesses (and people) that they like. As long as the customer is hiding behind an email address, or ignoring your phone calls, you are simply more noise that is not specifically relevant to them.

There is a reason personal videos made relevant to each individual customer perform better than other forms of communication. The biggest one being that the consumer recognizes that, while they may receive similar auto-responder templates both at the beginning and during the follow-up process, YOUR dealership chose to take the time to address them on a personal level with a video that answered their questions and welcomed their business.

Stop shooting for 3% response rates and think bigger. Video not only engages more customers; it generates more sales and builds loyalty as an excellent side benefit.