Managing the dealerships online reputation
Consumers regularly talk about dealers online, but few dealers know what is being said about them and where it is being said.
According to Les Abrams, NADA Academy Instructor, dealers must act to protect their online reputations because online reviews play an increasingly important role in where consumers go to buy products or have them serviced.
Abrams says one of the easiest and best ways to see what people are saying about your dealership is to look at Google Maps. Google is assembling the reviews it finds and putting them into Google Maps, Abrams said. Theyre integrating Google Maps into Standard Google, so dealers and customers alike can see the reviews and ratings in one place.
Abrams, who is the lead instructor for Variable Operations 1, which includes brand management, at the NADA Academy, urges dealers to Google their dealership name regularly. They should see the map and the dealership reviews that show beneath the dealership name. We call it Page One Management, he said. He also urges dealers to update their Google Map photos and dealership information regularly.
If there is a review beneath your dealerships Google location, good or bad, customers have virtually no choice but to click on it, Abrams says. And, if you are not aware of what is there, you are going to pay a price if its bad, he says.
Web review sites typically optimize to have their reviews post first in a Google search. Abrams urges dealers to create sites that will optimize better than these review sites. An example would be videos. Google owns the popular YouTube site. If I were a dealer with a negative review, I would flood YouTube with quality videos, Abrams says.
[I]This article was adapted from NADA Universitys Dealer Pain Points series, in which various issues, concerns, and dealer compliance obligations are addressed in short video segments with NADA U experts. The experts resolve each Pain Point and then the viewer is directed to the wealth of NADA U resources on the topic. Visit www.NADAuniversityblog.com/2011/01/brand-management for this Pain Point. [/I] Download Bulletin PDF