Farm Out Your Dealer Facebook Page

[Ryan Pillock]

I've posted elsewhere in this forum about the best use of your time as an Internet Sales Manager and what I feel the need to focus on - selling cars. I recognize that I have to be involved in social media in order to grow the business, but I'm a one-man Internet Department like a lot of others out there.

I knew what I needed and got step-by-step instructions on how to set up a Facebook page for my dealership (http://www.dealerinternetups.com/showthread.php?372-How-do-you-make-a-Dealer-Facebook-Page). It seemed like months months were passing and it was still on my to-do list. I farmed it out for $500 / month, focused on selling vehicles and because of my focus on that had a GREAT month. Also knowing that I need to manage testimonials so I'm farming that our to GoSo (http://www.goso.com/solutions/testimonial_management.html) as well.

I've heard that subcontracting these responsibilities out will not be as effective as doing it internally because a third party can't show the true culture of the dealership. I think I'm OK tough because as I understand it, GoSo's focus is Facebook testimonials. I plan to use that as a backstop while I spend my time trying to get positive reviews on Dealer Rater, (http://www.dealerrater.com/) Google (http://www.google.com/#hl=en&ei=p4XcS4jpJcL58Ab7gvXeBw&sa=X&oi=spellfullpage&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=2&ved=0CAoQvwUoAQ&q=dealer+reviews&spell=1&fp=a86c207b1c79523e), Yelp (http://www.yelp.com/search?find_desc=&ns=1&find_loc=New+York%2C+NY#find_desc=dealer%20review&find_loc=san%20francisco%2C%20ca&sortby=composite), CitySearch (http://www.google.com/#hl=en&q=seattle+citysearch+car+dealer+reviews&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&fp=a86c207b1c79523e) and other review sites.

Where am I going wrong?:confused:

[Anthony]

I totally agree Ryan. I too am the lone wolf in my dealer internet department and I feel that your approach at least gets you in the game. I hope you'll come back to let us know if you are going wrong in anyway.

Thanks for sharing and for asking for the step-by-step instructions to create a dealer twitter account (http://www.dealerinternetups.com/content.php?127-Dealer-Twitter-Account). I have no idea what I'm doing, but I'll let you know how this goes.

[Anthony]

I plan to use that as a backstop while I spend my time trying to get positive reviews on Dealer Rater, (http://www.dealerrater.com/) Google (http://www.google.com/#hl=en&ei=p4XcS4jpJcL58Ab7gvXeBw&sa=X&oi=spellfullpage&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=2&ved=0CAoQvwUoAQ&q=dealer+reviews&spell=1&fp=a86c207b1c79523e), Yelp (http://www.yelp.com/search?find_desc=&ns=1&find_loc=New+York%2C+NY#find_desc=dealer%20review&find_loc=san%20francisco%2C%20ca&sortby=composite), CitySearch (http://www.google.com/#hl=en&q=seattle+citysearch+car+dealer+reviews&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&fp=a86c207b1c79523e) and other review sites.:

I now realize that to be successful we'll need to enlist the help of others. Have you seen this GREAT Step-by-Step Approach to Reputation Management? (http://www.dealerinternetups.com/entry.php?13-Dealer-Reputation-Management)

[Ryan Pillock]

Also knowing that I need to manage testimonials so I'm farming that out to GoSo (http://www.goso.com/solutions/testimonial_management.html) as well.

It's been almost 3 months since I contracted with GoSo (http://www.goso.com/solutions/testimonial_management.html) and frankly it's not all I had hoped it would be. They do know what they're doing and offer very creative ideas for Facebook and other areas (http://www.goso.com/solutions/overview.html). However, the testimonials with that system are weak to say the least - not indexed by Google the way I had hoped. They do index, but the indexing is based on the persons name that submits the review, not the name of my dealership. I think the most important aspect of dealer reviews is the indexing by dealer name so when someone clicks on "reviews" all the work that's done pays off in the form of positive comments.

With GoSo the indexing is not based on the dealership and who is going to search for Joe Blow + dealer name. Am I missing something?