You’ve probably already been scheming about how to take advantage of the delicious holiday cookies, the free drinks at the holiday party and the seasonal drinks at the coffee shop, but have you thought about how to take advantage of the holiday season for your dealership?

During the holiday season, your customers are practically begging to buy your cars. Websites, provided by CDK Global, saw visits increase by 24 percent during the holiday season last year (October through December 2014) and is currently up by 26% compared to this time last year¹. In addition, new car sales are predicted to “set a record for new car sales this year, surpassing 2000’s 17.4 million sales².” With customers ready to buy, how can you position your dealership for the most success?

Spruce up your website
Your websiteis the first touch point for most of your customers. Start with the basics: is your inventory updated? Can visitors easily contact you? Once you’ve established the basics, start thinking about the season. Share your holiday deals prominently on your site so they can’t miss them. Update your photos to show your vehicles in a festive light; a car with a bow, driving around in snow or your dealership decorated for the season.

Take advantage of manufacturer promotions and incentives
Manufacturers are revamping their holiday campaigns to entice consumers, and you can ride that wave. Iconic campaigns like VW’s Sign Then Drive and Lexus’ December to Remember are just a few examples of previous campaigns that leveraged the holiday spirit to sell cars. You can piggyback off of campaigns like these to amplify your holiday impact.

Create a targeted holiday marketing plan
Every dealer can create a targeted marketing plan to reach their local audiences in a meaningful and “joyful” way. As the season begins, map out your promotions for Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Christmas, New Year’s and any other holidays that fit your dealership audience. Tie in creative elements that celebrate the season; add some red and green, snowflakes or Santas to your marketing or social sites. Be intentional about how you’re bringing the season into selling. If you need a bit of help on the creative side, we’ve got holiday advertising packages and social media management tool just waiting to be opened… err, used.

Increasing dealership exposure during high-activity holiday months is the best way to increase holiday sales and fill your sales funnel for success early in 2016. Though it’s not the reason for the season, you might as well take advantage of all of the holiday cheer for your dealership.

To learn more about how to take advantage of the holiday season, reach out to your CDK Digital Solutions Managers. If you don’t have a CDK Sales Representative, you can learn more here.

^1. CDK Business Intelligence
^2.Detroit News

- See more at: www.cdkglobal.com/insightcenter/taking-advantage-holiday-season

Public Service Announcement: If your dealership isn’t already on social media, you need to be. Social media is influencing consumer thoughts as well as behavior. In fact, 16 percent of car buyers cite social media as the most influential source in their decision, compared to 10 percent for traditional ads and 8 percent for digital ads.¹ When a consumer wants a recommendation, they’re much more likely to turn to friends and family. Nowadays, 80 percent of consumers will turn to social media for car buying advice before a sales associate. You can’t afford not to get social.

Just because you’re jumping on the bandwagon doesn’t mean you need to go overboard. One of the biggest mistakes companies make is going for the “all or nothing” approach and signing up for every single social media site out there. Are the high school kids on Vine really your target audience? Probably not.

Just think of social media as a pill your doctor might prescribe. Will it do what I need it to? Do I really want to waste money on unnecessary drugs? With the right diagnosis, this social media doctor can prescribe the best channels for your dealership.

Facebook
Facebook is still the powerful Big Brother with 71 percent of all Internet users posting, liking and commenting. This accounts for 58 percent of the total U.S. population! If you’re looking for a broad, generalized reach, look no further. Facebook gives you access to people of all ages, races, backgrounds and interests, so if you’re a company that appeals to a general audience, Facebook is your best bet.

Twitter
While Twitter garners a lot of attention, it has a much more selective community. Only 23 percent of Internet users are on Twitter, with the majority of those being millennials. Twitter is unique in that most Twitter users are college educated, live in urban areas and have annual household incomes of over $50,000.

Instagram
Very recently, Instagram has gained momentum to become one of the more prominent social media platforms. Instagram is one of the first image-based social media platforms. Twenty-six percent of adult Internet users are on Instagram. Minorities also have a stronger presence on Instagram than on other social media platforms. Unlike Twitter, Instagram users are pretty evenly spread across education levels, household incomes and location. However, much like Twitter, millennials account for the majority of Instagram users.

Pinterest
If you’re interested in reaching communities of women, Pinterest is without a doubt your best bet. (Pay attention car dealers: women influence the majority of purchasing decisions.) Forty-two percent of women who are online are on Pinterest, compared to only 13% of men. The majority of these women are white, and compared to other platforms; there is a higher rural and suburban community present. Similar to Instagram, Pinterest uses images as its primary source of social content.

LinkedIn
LinkedIn, as you might expect, is home to many well-educated individuals with high household incomes. Thirty to 64-year-olds dominate LinkedIn and users are primarily in urban and suburban areas.

Snapchat, Vine, Tumblr & Reddit
If you’re looking to target millennials, engaging on these platforms is a great idea. Each platform has a different type of audience, specifically based on the type of content that is being created as opposed to the demographics. Snapchat is great for quick updates or behind-the-scenes looks. Vine complements humor, song and dance. Tumblr and Reddit generally revolve around fandoms, humor and progressive politics.
Below embed for poll

When deciding where to focus your social media efforts, take into account the basic demographics of each platform. As you engage more within the platforms, you’ll also get a better understanding of what types of content to create and how to engage with particular audiences in each social network. Keep in mind too that it’s better to focus your efforts on one platform and commit to engaging on that one, than to overcommit and attempt to engage on every platform. Concentrate your efforts and pay attention to the complexities of each platform you’re on.
If you need help navigating the platforms, demographics and audiences, our social media experts can help you make a plan and even execute it for you. If you’ve got it all figured out, enrolling in CDK Social Media Management can give you the tools you need to leverage your social media savvy to make your presence go the extra mile.

About the Author
Kelsey Kruzel is CDK Global’s Social Media Specialist. From writing posts to creating graphics, she maintains that nothing should be allowed to exist without a strategy. As the resident millennial in the marketing department, she enjoys having her coworkers explain references that are lost on her and telling people that yes, social media is a job.


¹ CrowdTap poll of car buyers, Feb. 2015
² Icon made by Freepik from www.flaticon.com

Many dealers are already taking advantage of what social media has to offer. However, there are a lot of things that can make the difference between customers engaging with your dealership or ignoring you online. These quick “do’s and don’ts” will give you the tools to take your social media presence from “so-so” to “stellar.”





Really want to leverage social media? Our Social Media Experts and CDK Social Media Management can help you implement these best practices.

The Super Bowl is the biggest advertising event of the year. With a TV audience of over 100 million viewers¹, Super Bowl advertisements drive immediate increases in online shopping activity. This presents a huge opportunity for dealers to engage with customers online, and ultimately drive more traffic to their website.



Above is a chart of CDK dealer website activity for four brands that participated in the 2015 Super Bowl with either a TV ad or sponsorship. Each circle indicates when an ad aired or a brand received a sponsorship mention and shows the immediate impact on website traffic. ²

But what if your brand is not advertising in the Super Bowl? Even if your brand is not running their own ads, Super Bowl ads create a trickle-down effect on the entire industry. Consider this: 73% of consumers cross-shop between brands while researching a vehicle purchase, and only 20% of consumers purchase the brand they originally had in mind.³ Therefore, though brand X may advertise during the third quarter of the game, brands Y and Z also stand to benefit from the increased vehicle interest and subsequent research.

But all of that brand hype can only go so far. Consumers are primed to buy, but how will you ensure they buy from you?

1. Bump up your advertising budget
Last year, dealers with CDK advertising saw a 5X increase in website traffic on Super Bowl Sunday, versus a 3X lift for dealers not advertising with CDK.⁴ Consider increasing your advertising budget to not just maintain visibility, but capture more than your share of additional website traffic in your market.

2. Create a Super Bowl promotional campaign
Utilizing high-quality ad creative with a “Big Game” theme can help you capitalize on Super Bowl buzz. Come up with your own idea, or leverage your CDK team to design custom campaign creative.

3. Make the most of it

Make sure your landing pages and website are prepared to convert the new window shoppers into serious buyers. Landing pages should be updated with promotional offers and details — along with reasons to purchase from your dealership. 54% of shoppers will buy from a dealership based on the shopping experience rather than lowest price⁵— this is your chance to convince them you’re the dealership of choice.



Now that you’re prepared, you can sit back, relax, enjoy the game (and the ads)!

About the Author
Dane Odden is a digital advertising expert at CDK. He’s worked with dealers and dealer groups for years to build and execute winning digital strategies. In his free time, Dane enjoys spending time outdoors with his wife and son. Throughout the year you can find them on area hiking trails, ski slopes, golf courses, and baseball fields. Email him at dane.odden@cdk.com.


Sources:
^1. 100 Million Viewers: “TV viewership of the Super Bowl in the United States from 1990 to 2015”, Statista.com
^2. Graph: CDK Business Intelligence, February 2015
^3. 73% cross-shop & 20% purchase: Google Think Insights, Constant Consideration: Brand Choice on the Path to Vehicle Purchase
^4. 5X and 3X increase: CDK Business Intelligence, February 2015
⁵4% buy from dealership: Autotrader Car Buyer of the Future Study, March 2015

Icon made by http://www.freepik.com Freepik from http://www.flaticon.com"Flaticon licensed under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0 Creative Commons BY 3.0

Google, Siri and Cortana, are quickly becoming your handheld personal assistant, advisor and maybe even your therapist. Instead of rifling through the Yellow Pages or even browsing through search results, these little voices on your phone can give you the best answers to your every question. “Siri, find me the best pizza nearby,” “Hey Google, where’s the nearest gas station?” “Cortana, find a movie theater nearby.” Using your location, questions like these can quickly return the answer to whatever is nearest to you. As we thought of this, we realized the potential that this might have for dealership websites. So we asked the question:

Can putting the phrase “near me” help you turn shoppers into actual customers?

We looked at 82 dealer websites across our network to study whether or not adding the phrase “near me” to a dealers website could convert customers.

After five months, we noticed several key trends for those dealer websites who implemented the “near me” phrasing in their site.

1. Increased impressions
Over the five month test, the number of impressions with “near me” phrases on the pages increased by 15%¹ compared to websites without that phrasing.

2. Double the click-throughs
Even more encouraging, websites with “near me” content saw 81%¹ more click-throughs than websites without. In addition, adding that verbiage almost doubled the number of click-throughs in the last month compared to the first (8833 compared to 4365). Generally, click-throughs indicate more intent to buy than impressions, so this drastic increase is particularly promising.

3. Urban/metro searched more than rural
Dealers located in urban and metro areas saw more impressions and clicks compared to rural locations. ¹ This difference likely arises from the sheer difference in population in an urban or metro area compared to a rural area. Additionally, populations in metro and urban areas tend to use smartphone technology more often than those in rural areas².

4. Less franchise, more general searches
In addition, we observed that the “near me” impressions shifted from being associated just with dealerships to more general search terms. ¹ For example, instead of searching for “Honda Dealership near me” users were searching for “oil change near me.”

Just a few words can make all the difference in driving customers to your dealership. Talk to your PowerSEO specialist about how to take advantage of this “near me” search trend.

Don’t have a CDK PowerSEO specialist? Click below to learn how CDK can help you bring the right kind of traffic to your website.

About the Author
Colleen Harris joined CDK Global in March 2013 as a Search Engine Optimization Specialist. Prior to joining the CDK team, she worked in digital marketing in the healthcare industry and entertainment industry. She brings a passion for link building and content creation, and has been referred to here at CDK as the “Google Whisperer." Outside of CDK, Colleen has volunteered as a digital consultant for non-profits in the Seattle area.

About the Author
Natalie Kach has been an SEO Specialist with CDK Global since March of 2014. She specializes in all things content, and has a passion for crafting compelling narratives on any platform. Previous experience encompasses a diverse mix of writing, including ad copy for daily deals emails, infographics, video scripts, blogging and more.




Sources:
^1.CDK Research
^2.Pew Research Center Internet Project Survey, January 9-12, 2014

In 2016, digital marketing is no longer optional. It’s required. Your online audience is growing every day, making it more important than ever to be social and present on the Web. Our new eBook can help you improve your digital marketing efforts. Download eBook

Download eBook

Everyone loves beautiful things, but a beautiful thing becomes all the more impressive when it’s functional. The definition of “design” includes references to look, function and purpose. Look refers to the visual appeal of something, while functionality brings together usability and performance. A website with purpose arises when the look is married to the function and aligns with a goal.

But how do you make your dealership website look good while also being functional? You’ve just got to know what you’re building.

Look
Seventy-five percent of users admit to making judgments about a company’s credibility based on their website design.¹ The attractiveness of the design also impacts whether it will grab the attention of a customer and hold it long enough for them to explore your website. Seventy-two percent of users also cited the importance of display on their various devices.² So how can you know what good design is? It’s not just a matter of opinion. Sure, creativity comes in to play, but good design incorporates quantitative measurements too.

Function
Usability is critical to how a user perceives a website. Hubspot discovered that 76% of users said being able to find what they wanted was by far the most important factor in the design of a website.³For example, if a customer comes to your website looking for the latest Sonata offers, can they find them? When a Silverado shopper comes to your site, do you show them content targeted to that vehicle or does your site default to the standard sedan offer? Easily providing them with the information they’re looking for can mean the difference in whether they stay on or leave your website.

Purpose
While look and function are great, they don’t really mean anything unless they drive profits for your dealership. Aligning your design tactics around your profit strategy is key to moving the needle. Adjusting the content on your website to reflect your dealership’s strategies is key to your website’s success. For instance, if you’re a dealership focused on a “one price/no haggle” model, your website should incorporate simple, friendly language and should highlight the amenities and conveniences that your dealership offers.

It’s important that your website looks good, but it’s more important that it looks good AND gets something done…after all, a great website leads to great sales. If your website needs a makeover, check out some of the beautiful and functional designs at our CDK Design Collection.

About the Author
Tom Parrish is a Product Marketer for CDK Global’s website solutions. He has deep domain experience in mobile technology and content, market experience in automotive and has held go-to-market roles in marketing, product management, sales and business development in both startups and Fortune 500 companies. When he is not working, Tom enjoys outdoor pursuits such as tennis, cycling, skiing and spending time with his family.

Sources:
¹Source: https://credibility.Stanford.edu
²Source: http://totalaccess.emarketer.com/
³Source: http://HubSpot.com/WeSci

Google’s newest updates will have an impact on your dealership’s advertising. On February 22nd, Google revamped how paid advertisements appear on their search results page. These changes will only affect desktop and tablet results pages. Here’s what you need to know.

So what’s changing?

1. The text ads on the right hand side of the results page will no longer appear.
2. Four ads will appear above the organic results instead of three. In addition, three will appear at the end of the search page. The maximum number of ads on any given page will now be seven as opposed to the previous 11 allowed.
3. Product listing ads and knowledge panels will still appear on the right side.

How might this affect me?

1. Because there will be fewer ads available, higher competition for those ads could result in a higher cost per click (CPC) and a lower impression share.
2. Fewer ad choices could lead to increased click-through rates (CTR) for ads in the top four spots.

These new changes could have a big impact on your search results and advertising. So what do you need to do to make sure you’re still reaching your customers effectively?

1. Take a multichannel approach
2. Don’t lock budget in any one advertising channel
3. Focus on mobile advertising
4. Compliment - don't compete with - your manufacturer and local dealer association advertising
5. Invest in SEO

If you want to read more about how to this will affect you and how CDK can help you manage these changes, download our guide.

Download Guide

Does your website have the right message?

When I talk to dealers, I often hear, “How do I get the most out of my website?” and “How do I increase consumer engagement?” These are big, vague, questions. To narrow it down perhaps the questions to start with are, “What does my homepage say to my customers? Is it relevant for my visitors?” and “Does my homepage fit with my strategy?”

Keep it fresh
Shoppers won’t spend much time on your lot if something doesn’t catch their eye. So, why would they stay on your website if it they can’t find what they need quickly? You have about eight seconds to grab a shopper’s attention before they move on.¹ Keeping your homepage up to date with the information your shoppers are looking for provides them with the best possible experience. It is your first impression and opportunity to connect the customer with content that grabs them, which increases the likelihood they will call or submit an email lead to your dealership.

How do you turn visitors into customers?

Figure out what matters to your shoppers
Take some time to review your website analytics – specifically how are people engaging with your website. Review them regularly to determine which pages on your site and which inventory are getting the most interactions. Does it align with your strategy? Are there any surprises? Analytics can give you insight into which vehicles people are interested in, if they are looking for special offers, and even which lead forms they are filling out. This information can give you a picture of how shoppers are using your site, which you can use to develop a plan to help them find information more easily. If you find they aren’t interacting where you anticipated, it might be time to reevaluate your website plan.

Now make a plan
Beautiful banner images might seem best, but studies have shown that a personalized experience increases engagement. Now that you know which models and pages visitors are interested in, what do you do about it? Using the insight gained from analytics, refresh your homepage each month with custom images that align to your message and strategy. Take the time to think about the message for each of your focus models and profit centers. For instance, if there’s a lot of interest in a specific model, make sure that vehicle has a specific message and image on your homepage highlighting its offers and features. If your specials page is a top viewed page, make it easy to navigate to from your homepage. Frame your homepage around the customer’s needs and you’ll succeed.

Make it happen
You know what they want and you have your plan. Now it’s time to make it happen. Work closely with your website designers to make sure they know your short and long-term goals. As each month ends, review your analytics, reevaluate your focus and communicate it to your website team. If you don’t understand what the analytics are telling you, one of our ProCare Account Advocates can help you understand the data and apply a strategy that will work for you.

About the Author
Sarah Roberts is an Account Advocate for CDK Global website solutions. She has been in the marketing/advertising field for 12 years, helping clients communicate their message through events, advertising and their websites. Outside of work, she enjoys swimming, backpacking, and volunteering with Purrfect Pals, an organization that works to find homes for cats and kittens in the Seattle area.



¹ Microsoft. “Attention Spans: Consumer Insights.” Microsoft Canada. Spring, 2015.
² The Realities of Online Personalization, Econsultancy, 2013.
³ CDK Business Intelligence, 2014.

When you hear the word algorithm, your eyes might start to glaze over like they did in your high school algebra class, but the algorithms behind search are more relevant to you than finding “x.” Understanding what’s behind the algorithms that drive search is essential – especially considering that nearly 2/3 of website visitors come from organic search. A stronger digital presence helps your Search Engine Optimization (SEO), which in turn will drive customers to your website and eventually into your dealership.

So what’s in an algorithm?
Driving organic traffic to your website with SEO used to be all about updates and keywords for the search engines, but that is no more. SEO should be thought about as search experience optimization. Here are the parts of that equation:

Listings

• We’re talking about how your business looks to Google. While it’s true that Google+ didn’t catch on as a popular social network, your Google My Business page has significant impact on your search listings, especially within the map listings. When you search for your name in Google, what comes up in that box to the right of the search results?
  Is it just a pin on a map? Does it show pictures of your dealership, business hours, and contact information? Keeping Google My Business up-to-date helps pull the relevant information, including hours and images, into the search results.

Links

• Link building is a popularity contest: the more links back to your site, the more authority you get from the search engines. In the past 5 years, a search study by Seattle based SEO think tank Moz has had “quality of inbound links” as a top five contributor to a site’s overall health. It’s no longer about volume of links, but finding those high quality, reputable links.

Consistency

• It’s important that your dealership information is consistent across the web. Moz's most recent local search study has “consistency of citations” as a top three ranking factor in local search. You likely have information about your dealership in various locations like Yelp, Facebook, Google My Business and your dealership’s website. Search engines aggregate this information to validate your presence. If your information is inconsistent, the algorithms will fail to verify your digital presence.

Content

• The content of your site needs to reflect your product and service offerings. It seems basic to say that, but think about it in terms of including a page about your body shop, or going into detail about some of your special financing options on another page. Don’t try to shoehorn everything onto your home page – just as you have different departments within the dealership, your website pages should be targeted to reflect the different things you offer.

Social

• Social media is the final element of the SEO algorithm. Google factors in social influences when evaluating the relevancy of your website. First of all, if your dealership isn’t on social media, you need to be. A strong social media presence that includes your customers commenting and sharing your posts plays into your overall online authority, feeding your search rankings.
  
  Remember – you’re not the only dealership focusing on SEO. SEO isn’t just a great offense, but it’s also a defense against your competitors. Especially in competitive markets, you need to make sure you’re doing all you can to stay on top of the rankings – both on the site and across the web.
  
  You can get the most out of SEO with the help of our robust PowerSEO solution. Schedule a demo at NADA 2016 and learn how this solution can help drive traffic and profits for your dealership.

About the Author
Colleen Harris joined CDK Global in March 2013 as a Search Engine Optimization Specialist. Prior to joining the CDK team, she worked in digital marketing in the healthcare industry and the entertainment industry. She brings a passion for link building and content creation, and has been referred to here at CDK as the “Google Whisperer." Outside of CDK, Colleen has volunteered as a digital consultant for non-profits in the Seattle area.

Your potential customers are getting more difficult to track down, but digital advertising is becoming more sophisticated in order to meet your customers wherever they are. So how do you drive online shoppers into your dealership?

The recent release of branded top-level domains has brought on a lot of questions from local and big businesses alike. But what are they, and is a “.cars” website worth it for your dealership? Here are some essential questions answered:

1. What is a top-level domain?

A top-level domain is the last sequence of letters to appear after the last period in a domain. For example:

2. What does it do?

In the past, top-level domains have indicated to Google and to users what kind of authority a site might have. For example, .org and .edu were treated with high regard, followed by .com, and then .net and others ... not so much. Since .org traditionally indicated a non-profit organization and .edu is reserved for educational institutions, .com domains have historically been the most sought after.

3. Is there an advantage to having a .org website SEO-wise?

No. While there aren’t any restrictions on who can get a .org site now, Google does not value one domain over another. Also, if you aren’t a non-profit, it just doesn’t look quite right.

4. I’m not in the U.S., so what about country code domains? Do those have any more influence in terms of SEO?

It depends. If you’re a GM dealer in London, a URL that ends with “.co.uk” can help Google determine if your website is more relevant to shoppers searching for GM dealers in the UK. However, that country code is not the sole source of relevance, as Google looks at pretty much every aspect of a website that it can crawl – your address, your hours and directions pages, etc.

5. So what’s the point of a generic branded domain like .cars or .google?

Looks, mostly. Google does not give a disadvantage or an advantage to sites with generic branded domains. The most important thing you should do is have a domain that is relevant to the content on your site.

6. So should I change my domain to .cars?

No!

Any time you are redesigning and migrating your site to a new domain, it can result in a drop in rankings and natural search traffic. Moving your site to a new platform generally means your URLs will change. (Think about excellencemotors.com/service compared to excellencemotors.cars/service) Even if your main URL stays the same, the naming conventions for your service and parts pages, new and used vehicle search pages, and contact forms are generally different. Any links you had built over the years would still be pointed at your old website’s pages, your various directory listings to your old .com website would need to be updated, and you’ll need to map each page with a .com URL over to the new address.

If the right process isn’t followed as a domain changes, your websites run the risk of dropping out of the search results completely, and it can take months to rebuild that authority and the rankings.

For some dealers, it might not be within your OEM guidelines to change the domain at all. In addition, a .cars domain costs more than $2500 per year to register, whereas a .com can be just under $10 per year. You do the math.

About the Author
Allegra Rosenbaum is a Bilingual SEO Specialist in Detroit, working with GM Canada and GM US. She has been working at CDK since November of 2014 when she moved from her hometown of New York City for a new adventure in the Motor City. When she’s not optimizing dealership websites, she’s playing Ultimate Frisbee, writing letters to friends across the globe, or making origami.

In this day and age, car buyers want their path to purchase to be simple and stress-free. Unfortunately, for many shoppers, the car-buying process can turn out to be just the opposite. However, as technology continues to be more in tune with what shoppers want, the car buying process can too. But are shoppers ready to take one of the biggest purchasing decisions they’ll make completely online? Not quite. But they are ready to take a few steps closer …

Featured Solution

CDK Connected Store

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With CDK Connected Store, car buyers are able to start their quotes online and can save time in store by eliminating the need to provide information more than once—making the process more streamlined for customers and personnel.

Connect your customers' in-store experience and online experience with a flexible time-saving tool that delivers accurate quotes online and matches them in-store.

Last year, more cars were sold in the months of May – August than any other four-month period, accounting for over 35 percent of yearly vehicle sales.¹ Now is the time to roll up your sleeves and clean up your digital advertising strategy in preparation for the summer selling season!

Toss out the clutter in your paid search strategy

A recent Google study shows that one auto shopper alone can perform over 130 searches when considering a vehicle purchase²– so it’s no surprise that paid search is a great way to drive highly engaged traffic to your website.

But is your paid search strategy reaching the right customers?

Paid search strategies are built on keywords, or common consumer search phrases, that trigger ads from relevant advertisers. For example, a consumer may search “Honda dealership near me” and receive ads for local Honda dealerships. But what if a consumer searches “Honda diecast cars”? This consumer is searching for toys, not Honda’s 2016 sedan lineup. If this consumer clicks on your ad, it could cost you $3-$5 – only to have them leave your site when they don’t find collectable toy cars.

It’s important to regularly review your Google Search Terms Report to help you identify traffic driven by searches where the consumer’s intent is outside your dealership goals.

• Work with your advertising partner to review these terms to discover what works … and what wastes.
• Filter out irrelevant searches by adding negative keywords. In the example above, adding a negative keyword term for “diecast” would eliminate the possibility of your ads showing whenever the word “diecast” appears in a consumer’s search.
• Repeat this process with your top 100 search terms, asking yourself, “Does this person want to buy a car?”

Don’t forget to scrub the data

One of the inherent advantages of digital advertising is the ability to track almost everything. Tracking everything is great, but you could waste a lot of time focused on metrics that have little impact on performance. Level the playing field between channels by focusing on engagement metrics such as inventory searches, vehicle detail page (VDP) views, phone calls, etc. This means tracking website interactions AFTER they click an ad – paid search, display, retargeting, other – to determine whether or not your advertising is reaching active, ready-to-buy shoppers. Then, allocate advertising budget based on what is driving the best engagement.

What you don’t want to do is waste money in channels that aren’t producing results.

Make sure you monitor performance and move budget, in real time. That way you don’t over-bid in Google when there are equally engaged shoppers on Bing, or miss out on opportunities to retarget customers toward the end of the month. Locking budget into a single advertising channel can lead to overpaying for traffic, and wasted advertising dollars, especially when changes like Google made to their search results page could drive up costs in the middle of a month

Now you can breathe easy

Taking a few steps (and a couple of minutes) to clean up your paid search campaigns and scrub your constant stream of digital advertising data allows you to be more relevant to your customers, efficient with your spend and confident that your digital presence is in order. You’ll be ready to leverage the summer holidays and drive customers into your dealership.

Featured Solution

Digital Advertising

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The goal: to rise above the noise and stay in front of your local shoppers throughout their car-shopping journey.

It’s not easy. Only CDK Digital Marketing’s multichannel dealer advertising solutions can keep your dealership present on all the right channels, at all the right times, with all the right messages.

Advertising Solutions

About the Author
Dane Odden

Dane Odden is a digital advertising expert at CDK. He’s worked with dealers and dealer groups for years to build and execute winning digital strategies. In his free time, Dane enjoys spending time outdoors with his wife and son. Throughout the year you can find them on area hiking trails, ski slopes, golf courses, and baseball fields. Email him at dane.odden@cdk.com.

About the Author
Jake Kendo

Jake Kendo is a Senior Digital Advertising Analyst for CDK who has worked in ecommerce and digital advertising since 2010. Jake enjoys continuously investigating the behavioral aspects of how customers make buying decisions. In his life away from screens, he enjoys travelling, Seattle sports and cycling around the Pacific Northwest.

¹ Automotive New Data Center, April 2016
² The Car-Buying Process: One Consumer’s 900+ Digital Interactions, Google, March 2016

There are a lot of myths out there about social media. Should your dealership care about social media? Is it really all it’s hyped up to be? We sat down with our trustworthy, quirky (and animated) Social Media Mythbuster to get to the bottom of all these questions.

Featured Solution

Social Media Management

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CDK Social Media Management combines the power of reputation management and social media to help you make the most of every customer touchpoint — online and on the showroom floor.
Reputation management and social media go hand in hand. After all, social media is a great way to promote your brand’s image and enhance customer relationships. Social Media Management provides industry-leading tools, technology and services so you have the option to do it yourself or take advantage of our fully managed services.

Social Media Management

About the Author

Kelsey Kruzel is CDK Global’s Social Media Specialist. From writing posts to creating graphics, she maintains that nothing should be allowed to exist without a strategy. As the resident millennial in the marketing department, she enjoys having her coworkers explain references that are lost on her and telling people that yes, social media is a job.

Yes! In the early days of the Internet, it was enough for brick and mortar companies to have a website as an online storefront. Now, a new trend is happening—it’s moving onto social media.

The auto manufacturers are making it a priority to engage with customers through social media, and that initiative is carried through to the dealership level. Many car dealerships are adding social media as part of their marketing mix to engage with their customers and their community. In essence, the automotive industry is following shoppers and wants to stay in front of them where they spend most of their time consuming information. Yet, how do business owners know social media is a legitimate and important space to market to customers? Here are some reasons why your dealership should be using social media to reach potential customers.

Top Reasons Why Dealers Should Use Social Media

• A variety of social sites, like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Google+ allow dealers to reach different audiences with different content. (i.e. specials, community outreach, industry news, inventory updates, etc.)
• Mobile! It’s a rapidly growing medium that’s outpacing the time spent on laptops. Your customers are on social while they’re in your dealership, in fact, 58% of consumers used their mobile phones while shopping in store. If you’re not there to meet them online as well as in person, you could be missing huge opportunities to elevate your brand and make the sale.
• Social media is used by anyone 18 – 65+ years of age. This includes men and women, all household incomes, all population density, all education levels, and all races. It’s not just for Millennials!
• Unlike a newspaper ad or billboard, most social media sites have analytics that measure the demographics, usage, reach, engagement, fan growth of your audience. Understanding your analytics can narrow your focus to optimize campaigns and focus on the metrics that matter to your business.

Don’t be left behind trying to keep up with other dealerships that have cornered the market with local fans. These valid reasons are solid indicators to why you should be using social media to stay in front of your current and potential clients. This channel of communication is constantly evolving as consumer online behavior changes. Using social media can be a useful tool to stay top of mind with your customers, build loyalty, and potentially communicate to very segmented audiences.

What are you doing on social media to drive customer engagement? Share what has worked for your dealership below! If you need help, reach out to one of our automotive social media specialists for reporting, strategy or just some fresh ideas!

Featured Solution

Social Media Management

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CDK Social Media Management combines the power of reputation management and social media to help you make the most of every customer touch point — online and on the showroom floor. Reputation management and social media go hand in hand. After all, social media is a great way to promote your brand’s image and enhance customer relationships. Social Media Management provides industry-leading tools, technology and services so you have the option to do it yourself or take advantage of our fully managed services.

Social Media Management

About the Author

Von D. Galt joined CDK in April 2008 as an Account Advocate on the GM team and became a Social Media Specialist in August 2011. Her artistry is practiced in her wedding floral business, which allows her to create custom flowers for weekend weddings and she is a self-published author on Amazon. In her free time, she likes to oil paint, spend time with her dog, her husband, and her 1- year- old daughter, Sammie.

Just like any other marketing strategy, you should think about your social media marketing in relation to your customer’s journey.

Before a customer walks into your dealership, you should be building your brand on your social channels. That way, when a potential customer comes to your channel (which by the way, 85 percent of car buyers will likely do when researching their purchase), you’ll have an established presence. You can:

• Post about events happening in your community and how your dealership is involved
• Share promotions and sales happening at your dealership
• Post blogs that your customers might find interesting or helpful

After you’ve made the sale, be sure to engage your new customer by:

• Taking a picture of them with their new car
• Asking them to post the photo to social media and tag your dealership
• Asking them to post a review of their experience on Facebook or Yelp

No matter what stage of the buying process, you can always continue the conversations and build your reputation with your audience by:

• Replying quickly to their comments, questions or concerns
• Responding to reviews, whether they’re positive or negative
• Engaging with them in a variety of other ways, like liking photos or commenting

Social media is essential to building relationships and creating loyal customers. We’re always here to get you up to speed on how to engage and respond to your customers on social.

Featured Solution

Social Media Management

---

CDK Social Media Management combines the power of reputation management and social media to help you make the most of every customer touch point — online and on the showroom floor. Reputation management and social media go hand in hand. After all, social media is a great way to promote your brand’s image and enhance customer relationships. Social Media Management provides industry-leading tools, technology and services so you have the option to do it yourself or take advantage of our fully managed services.

Social Media Management

About the Author

Kelsey Kruzel is CDK Global’s Social Media Specialist. From writing posts to creating graphics, she maintains that nothing should be allowed to exist without a strategy. As the resident millennial in the marketing department, she enjoys having her coworkers explain references that are lost on her and telling people that yes, social media is a job.

The rise of online communication has opened many doors, but it can also be stressful and difficult to navigate. Email and text messaging allow businesses to communicate with individual consumers at scale. But, thoughtful responses take time and consideration, and boilerplate emails are recognizably impersonal to shoppers. Dealers know that a slow response to a lead is as good as losing the lead - the faster the response time, the more likely the shopper is to engage. What’s not so black and white is just what to say in that response.

So, what language turns a car shopper from a lead to a buyer? At CDK Global, we have been asking just that question. We used sentiment analysis and natural language processing, fields of computer science, to assess thousands of dealer email responses in an effort to determine what language is likely to drive shoppers towards a new car. Our study revealed what email content the high closers are using to bring customers in and what content from low closers may be driving customers away.

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