Last year appeared to be a year of experimentation with Social Media, and with any new type of marketing, the first thing that gets applied is old school marketing methods from other media.  Social Media is a new media and so it is time for a New School Approach! Fan Building: One of the first [...]

When Lewis and Clark first crossed the Great Plains they wrote in their journals about the sheer size of the buffalo herds. Some stretched for miles. Think of sixty thousand large hoofed animals moving as one. The ground would shake and the sky would darken from the dust. We know how that turned out. The [...]

We talk a lot about Social Media as a marketing platform.  One of the cheapest, most effective forms of marketing is called extraordinary customer service.  When you combine Social Media with customer service, you create an environment where customers want to share their story. Social Media done right is like a supportive cocoon enveloping your customer [...]

Are you viewing your website as the customers see’s it? 8 out of 10 times the answer is NO. Online shoppers are a breed of their own and if you don’t show them what you are made of (website) then you lose out on a valuable customer. Our minds are so warped in sales we [...]

“Getting information off the Internet is like taking a drink from a fire hydrant.” ~Mitch Kapor, Founder, Lotus Development Corp. I’ve spent the last few weeks training a dealer group and their employees on Social Media content strategy.  It’s quite a leap for most employees as their job has never required them to consider how [...]

Have you ever sat down and pondered why we resist mass marketing and embrace word-of-mouth?  What is it about these times where the old ways just don’t work anymore? Trustworthy information comes at a premium and the best way to acquire information is through relationships (word-of-mouth) online or off.  When we’re looking to purchase, we [...]

1. Q) Kathi, you always do such a great job of advising companies on the importance of social media, what would be a suggestion for clients that have no social media presence?  A) First let me say thanks for setting up this interview. It’s fun to talk Social Media, especially with car peeps just like [...]

As we dabble in the wonderful world of social media we find ourselves conversing more with our co-workers, boss or internal departments more than our own family at times. We tend to get so mixed up with our social life digitally we forget the consequences that can follow while being social after hours. What can [...]

I hear it all the time. I can’t get them to follow up. They spend more time smoking and cutting up than working. I have to block Facebook and other sites to keep them from surfing the internet. About the last part, why don’t you get the phone at the dealership shut off and then [...]

  Had I not experienced this first hand, I’m not sure I would’ve believed it. A car dealer said to me, “Social Media doesn’t make me any money”.  This was his objection to adding Social Media as part of the marketing plan for his dealership.  I remained calm and replied respectfully, “Just because you believe [...]

During a recent management retreat, a colleague introduced the group to the Internet’s fastest growing social networking site, Pinterest.com. Pinterest (pronounced pin-terest, not pin-interest) has burst onto the Internet with growth rates we haven’t seen since Facebook. Traffic has jumped to almost 11 million visitors in mid-December, nearly 40 times where it was only six months [...]

Recently, I provided five tips to expand your Google Places profile. Now, let’s go beyond the informational part of the profile and discover ways that you can use Google Places, similar to a social network, to drive customer interaction, promote reviews and drive online word of mouth for your dealership. To differentiate your dealership, take [...]