Call me impatient, but I can’t wait for the 1.11 Service Update we’re performing on May 31, 2009. We’ve been working hard here at Dealer HD to provide some great new features to help your dealership build stronger relationships with your customers and we’re really excited to get these out to you. We’ll be discussing these in more detail very soon. Right now, I’m going introduce…

Dealer HD & Twitter

If your dealership has a twitter account and a dealer website by Dealer HD you’re already a person in the know. Now, wouldn’t it be great if you could somehow merge these two great services and do some really great things? Now you can.

Tweeting Your Inventory.

By registering your Twitter account in the Dealer HD Admin we will automatically send your newly added inventory to your Twitter account. Each morning your followers will view the latest additions to your inventory complete with a link to visit the vehicle on your website. If they see a vehicle that interests them, they can simply click the link, review the details and request a test drive.

Your inventory. Everywhere. Anytime. On any device.

Tweeting your inventory is a great way to expose the vehicles on your lot to everyone with a Twitter account and those people who are interested in your products simultaneously. Each “tweet” gets placed on the public timeline of twitter and everyone who has requested to “follow” your dealership gets notified of your update as well. They see your message instantly. The potential exposure this gives your inventory is enormous and makes your inventory travel to your audience faster than ever.

Once your inventory is on Twitter, your inventory can be viewed on almost any device that has an internet connection. In fact, there are so many Twitter applications built that your tweets can be viewed on an iPhone, a Blackberry, via text message, your desktop, your browser’s address bar and twitter.com of course. There are more built everyday and that makes your inventory more portable than ever. Your customers can get your message how they want it.

Twitter is a Search Engine

Twitter is a search engine of real-time messages by real people. People use Twitter to say what’s on their mind. Businesses use Twitter to monitor customer satisfaction. Your dealership needs to be here and be part of the conversation. When someone is searching for Camaro and you’ve got two in stock you have to be listed. Your customers, young and old are using this service and it becomes more popular everyday.

For Free!

Did I mention that this is free? There are other companies out there that are offering a similar service but none are integrated seamlessly into your existing content management system. Dealer HD provides this service free to all our customers because this is a necessity. There’s no reason not to have it and we’re a company that prides itself in customer service. So we like to provide you with the latest innovative ways to help you sell more cars and connect with your customers. You’re going to love this. If you haven’t signed up for a free Twitter account, do it before June 1st.

As our DHD clients know, we upgrade our services quarterly and with each service update we pass on hot, new features that ensure you’re working with the greatest toolset available for your dealership’s success, and we do this for free. These upgrades are standard with the Dealer HD service and are provided to ensure your website will never be obsolete or outdated.

We have all been very busy behind the Dealer HD walls working on our next update. This update is full of tools that will help you connect to your customers in the Social Media space and help you manage it all. We’re also making some major structural modifications to help improve performance and working on a few other surprises that are extremely unique to Dealer HD that you’re really going to love. I’m not spilling the beans just yet… you’re just going to have to wait.

You won’t have to wait too long though, we will be performing the v1.11 Service Update on May 31, 2009. In the next coming weeks I’ll reveal more.

Information travels fast. As soon as news happens CNN.com has it on their home page, RSS news aggregators have delivered the content to subscribers, hundreds have written blog posts, it has a Facebook group, the footage is on YouTube, people are having a conversation about it on Twitter and Google, MSN and Yahoo! have indexed it for the world to discover. All of this happened while you were designing you newsletter and everything you were going to say has already been around the world. The simple fact is, Web 2.0 moves much faster than you. Today’s information is instant. Social Media helps connect us and distribute information faster and in new ways. If you’re thinking about sending out a newsletter, consider the following alternatives:

• Create a Facebook Group: By creating a Facebook group you allow people that are interested in your dealership to join your group. Facebook groups are great places to add photos, introduce new staff members, upload video of new vehicles and answer questions. It is one of the largest social networking sites on the web. There is no reason not to create one.
• Create a YouTube Channel: Creating a YouTube Channel is simple. In fact, if you have a Gmail account you’re already on your way. Upload videos to your YouTube account and be sure to tag them with relative keywords to help people discover your content. People interested in your videos can subscribe to your channel (something YouTube sets up automatically) and be notified when you upload new content as soon as it is available.
• Create a Twitter Account: I absolutely love Twitter. Once you sign up for a Twitter account, you’re on your way to connecting with your customers in a very unique way. Twitter allows you to send messages under 140 characters to the “twitterverse”. Your message is placed on the public timeline where it can be viewed by millions of other users. These users can follow your messages and every time you post a message (”tweet”), the people who follow you receive your message instantly. Other Twitter users can send you messages, comment, ask questions and even direct message you, for a more private conversation.

These are all viable alternatives to delivering the same content that you would normally put in a newsletter and send to your subscribers. The services listed above will have a profound impact on the way we communicate. Email is becoming less frequent, Cell phone minutes are being used less, text messages are being sent more and mobile Internet usage is on the rise. People want instant and the web is listening.

I do not recommend stopping your newsletter all together but do think you can safely start shifting the direction a bit. Start using your newsletter as a vessel to drive people to these “instant” marketing avenues. For example:

• Month One: Create a Facebook Group, YouTube Account and a Twitter Account and announce it in your newsletter. Explain briefly what each outlet is for and provide a link for your subscribers to visit each. Be sure feature this content in the newsletter to ensure people see it.
• Month Two: Move the Facebook Group, YouTube and Twitter information to an area in your newsletter that will be permanent. The placement of these links should not change from now on. Continue with your newsletter content as you normally would. Be sure to dedicate a few short paragraphs each month to each of these new areas. A brief summary of what happened, such as “We received 200 new members of our Facebook Group. Click here to keep up with our Dealership”.

Remember, persistence is key. People may not join or use these services at first, but as other companies and people start talking about it more they will use these new mediums to connect with you. Everything I mentioned is free and you can set all three accounts up in less than 10 minutes. Following these three recommendations will provide your dealership a way to connect to your customers in real time and can be used in conjunction or as alternatives to your monthly newsletter.