The (Unexpected) ROI of Social Media @Tier II

Dealer Groups who want to make real money using Social Media think 3 words:
CONTENT, CONTENT, CONTENT

Ever turn on the TV to a show you didn't like? Of course. We all do. Did you blame the manufacturer of the TV? Of course not. You just grabbed the remote and found a better show.

Ever hear a lousy song on the radio? Sure. Does that mean your radio doesn’t work? Nope. It just means you’ve got to find a better song on another station.

Bottom line: it’s not the media – or in this case, the Facebook Page, that makes us accept or reject it. It’s about the content. The better the content, the better the customer connection.

So, is there a role for Social Media @ Tier II?

Consider this. Few would argue with utilizing Social Media for branding purposes. Fewer still would object to it being an engaging tool for individual Dealers. But many would be surprised by how effective it can be at Tier II. And, it turns out that FDAFs are uniquely positioned to create local content that Fans LOVE.

So, you ask, does interesting content really create quality hand-raisers, sales and ROI?

The answer can also be summed up in three words: yes, yes and yes.

In fact, at Flash Point, it's our specialty. We create proven Tier II content and deliver it to Dealer Groups cost-effectively.  Then we implement their programs, integrating social media with their other digital media. Once everything is up and running, we track it in real time. And report the results from click to sale.

Some (unexpected) results

 
No one argued with us when we said we'd deliver "online advocacy" – that is, encourage people to "like", "comment", and "share" Sales Event-related Facebook posts. But when we claimed we'd deliver hand-raisers and sales, too? We got some raised eyebrows. 

So, one automotive manufacturer put us to the test.

In 2012, four national sales events served as a perfect springboard for Flash Point. On average, 25 dealer groups and 150+ individual dealerships participated in our social media initiatives. The results:

• 114,118 incremental hand raisers
• 4,538 matched sales (new vehicles only; add used vehicles and the number goes much higher!)
• 1,574 matched conquest sales
• 34.7% conquest rate
• A 4% buy rate, double what you’d expect from direct mail
• Millions of earned impressions (not purchased; they came for free!)
• A spectacular ROI!

The choice is yours

It’s all up to you. You could:

1. Ignore social media. You’ll have lots of company, but you’ll miss an entire generation (or two) of potential customers who actually want to talk with you.
2. Buy some banner ads on the internet. But outside of brand recognition, don’t expect ROI.
3. Take the DIY approach… that is, if you’re sure you’ve got both the resources and expertise to design, implement and track an integrated social media program.
4. Or work with Flash Point Communications, an experienced partner in delivering ROI on social media. And      let us help you turn your Dealer Group Partnerships, Sponsorships and Relationships into Facebook gold – driving fans, hand-raisers and sales for your Dealers. 

To learn more about how your Dealer Group can benefit from Social Media in 2013, call or email us today.  Here’s to a fantastic new year!

In Partnership with Ford, Flash Point Communications Succeeds in Developing the World's Largest Virtual BBQ with over 21,000 entries!

Flash Point Communications partnered with Ford Motor Company to promote the World’s Largest Virtual BBQ Event, an online sweepstakes where registrants could win a 2-year lease on a brand new 2013 Ford vehicle. With 23 Ford regional ad groups participating, the program was an integrated digital marketing campaign that combined an online sweepstakes, social media, email marketing and lead generation technology. With both Dealer ad group and local Dealer participation, the program brought in over 21,000 entries and built awareness about Ford’s full vehicle lineup.  

The Summer Sales Event Enhancement Opportunity

Ford gave Flash Point Communications the opportunity to use their digital platforms and innovative technology to achieve noteworthy results. So what were they? Check em’ out…

• 2,158 Sales!
• Over 21,000 handraisers
• 29,000 video views on Ford vehicles
• 40,000 brochure requests for more Ford information
• Almost 70,000 visits to the microsite
• Over 27,000 people attended the virtual BBQ 

You Said Virtual BBQ?
That’s right. The “World’s LARGEST Virtual BBQ”. Once people “attended” the virtual BBQ, they were asked a series of questions related to what they'd like at a real life BBQ. The final step was their entry to win a 2-year lease on their 2013 Ford of choice.  To make it engaging and interactive, their answers displayed the demographics of people attending the BBQ in real-time - what they were eating, drinking, what kind of music they were listening to, what Ford they drove to the virtual BBQ and even how many porta potties were needed!

Infographic

What did Ford ad groups and Dealers get by participating?

First off, the program leveraged a Nationally funded 2-year lease giveaway at a Tier II and Tier III level. Ford ad groups received the vehicle giveaway, custom creative and integration into all digital elements including banners, tiles, email, the Facebook application, and Facebook messaging and advertising. Tier III (Dealers) also received the vehicle giveaway opportunity, creative for their website, Facebook application, and Facebook messaging and advertising with a turn-key easy solution!

Alright, Tell Me Who the Winner is Already!

Out of 21,000 entries only ONE person can be the winner of a 2-year lease on a brand spanking new Ford vehicle! So who was it? Lucky, Lucky, David Ziebarth from Rochester, New York! Congrats David!! We know you were happy when you found out: 

 

Winner of the 2012 World's Largest BBQ!

"Wow! I entered the Ford World's Largest BBQ on Facebook and I'm incredibly surprised at winning!!  This car will come in the nick of time as my Toyota Camry lease is due to be turned any day now. I've test driven every mid-size car and had just picked the new Ford Fusion! Excellent! Thank you Ford and the World's Largest BBQ!!! I'm so psyched!! Nobody can wipe the smile off my face!

I'm still in shock over winning the Ford World's Largest BBQ on Facebook! I barely remembered I had entered the contest.  I had already picked out a Ford Fusion and now I get my own Ford! Thanks to Ford and my dealer I'll be cruising in style, safely and comfort!” - David Ziebarth

So You’re Interested in Future Sponsored Promotions?

To learn more about upcoming opportunities please call or write:

Scott Empringham at Flash Point Communications, LLC

Phone: 657-212-8502

Email: scott.empringham@fpcdigital.com

Amberly Collins at Flash Point Communications, LLC

Phone: 657-212-8506

Email: amberly.collins@fpcdigital.com

please visit www.flashpointcommunications.com or check out our Facebook page.

How to Double Your Facebook Fans with Flash Point-Week 4

Turn Your Goals Into Actions

So you’ve developed a Facebook Policy, set a goal for your page and a timeline for completing it, and communicated this to your employees.

Now here is where the fun starts. The following is a recipe for a quick and low-maintenance way to exponentially grow engagement and fans on your page.

The Refer-a-Friend Promotion

What is it?

·       A twist on the “bird-dog” promotion

Why is it useful?

·       An easy way to target your employees’ friends & family

How do you get results?

·       Offer a small incentive for referrals

Week 4 Action Items

- Announce “Refer-a-friend” promotion via intra-office email

   ·       Need a email template to send out your employees?  We’ve got one for you here!
- Rules:
   ·       Three (3) winners will receive Movie Tix! (or an alternate prize of your choice)
   ·       Most new fans, referred from “you” wins.
   ·       Encourage friends of employees to “like” Dealership page and comment on wall (“I’m a fan of City Ford! First/Last Name sent me!”)
   ·       Hint: Consider extending 2-3 weeks if momentum still building

   Congratulations, you’re halfway done with the Ford Social Media eCourse!

How to Double Your Facebook Fans with Flash Point-Week 3

A Picture's Worth a Thousand Words

What kind of content will really draw attention and engagement from your employee’s friends and family?

In this case – pictures really are worth a thousand words. Take group photos around the Dealership – photos showing people interacting with other employees are more compelling than solo shots of people at their desk.

Find Your Stars  

Once you start uploading group photos, the “stars” of your Dealership will reveal themselves – observe who is getting the most comments and Likes and make sure to include them in as much content as possible and watch your interactions grow!

Week 3 Action Items
- Start taking group pictures
- Upload a minimum of 3 group photos this week
- Tag every person in the photo/have people tag themselves
   ·      Tip: In order to tag employees, create an alias, or a separate profile just for administrating the page.
   ·      Example: Use middle initial, same name
   ·      Friend people from the Dealership in order to tag them

In next week’s lesson, we’ll give you a recipe to stir up your fan base by running a mini-promotion.

Want to check out our Facebook page?  Visit http://www.facebook.com/flashpointcommunications to check out all the ways we're finding our stars!

How to Double Your Facebook Fans with Flash Point-Week 2

Establish Your Goal

No matter where your Facebook page is at now – 0 fans, 100 fans, 500 fans – in order to expand your fan base, you must have a clear goal in mind.

Decide on a goal that is reasonable for you, and set a time frame for the goal so that you can measure your progress and adjust your strategy along the way.

Spread the Word

Have your target goal? Great job! Now that you have a goal in mind, it's time to share it with the rest of your team.  Getting people motivated and supporting your goal only takes a few simple steps.

Week 2 Action Items
- Decide a goal and a time frame
- Email all employees communicating these key points:
   ·     Utilize our dealer email template
   ·     Clearly state your goal
   ·     Ask them to “Like” the page if they haven’t – tell them you’ll need their help
   ·     Ask them to “Comment” on the wall to confirm they’ve liked it (i.e. Looking forward to a great week ahead!”)
- Keep everyone informed of the progress, and let them know getting there can be fun – throw a pizza party once you reach the goal!

Now you’re really cooking! Stay tuned for next week’s lesson – creating exciting content by finding the “stars” of your Dealership!

Want to check out our Facebook page?  Visit http://www.facebook.com/flashpointcommunications to see all the ways we're reaching our goals!

How to Double Your Facebook Fans with Flash Point-Week 1

Why Facebook?

Searching for a way to actively engage with your consumers as well as a place to get your dealerships name out there?  Facebook is just that place.  Unlike a traditional website that generally just displays information about your business, your Facebook page is an interactive, engaging community hub. 

At the core of this community are the people who care most about your business – your employees. 

Taking the First Step

The first step to building this community is involving your fellow employees on your Facebook page.  Each Facebook user typically has an average of 229 friends- by freeing up just 20 advocates to interact on Facebook, you could be reaching over 4,000 potential customers through their connections. 

Free Facebook

With an open system does come risks – you can mitigate that risk by developing a Facebook Policy. Wondering what a Facebook Policy looks like? For your convenience, we have a template that you can view here that you can customize as needed!

 

Week 1 Action Items
- Adapt our Facebook Policy Template to Your Store

- Communicate your policy to your employees

- Unleash the power of Facebook!

Find your 20 advocates and get the ball rolling!  Next week, we'll go over the steps to get your advocates in motion!

Gimme The Gig II Promotion Turns the Power of Social Media into Incremental Sales for Ford

 2012 Ford Focus

If you’re one of the last, remaining holdouts who have trouble believing that social media can deliver qualified leads and incremental sales, check out our Gimme the Gig II Promotion for the Ford Focus.

The final numbers tell the story:  1 coordinated promotion.  29,811 leads generated.  94.3% of leads converted into hand-raisers.  19,485 test-drives.  8,622 new Facebook fans.  And 103 incremental vehicles sold.

Here’s how The Gig came to be.

You can’t just camp out on a social media site and expect the world to come running to your in-box.  You have to give people a really great reason to stop by, and an equally great reason to stay.

In this case, Ford client Tom Grill’s concept was brilliant: commission "Mad" Mike Martin of TV’s Pimp My Ride to create a Ford Focus Mobile Recording Studio.  That way, the cool new digital technology and functional design in the all-new, 2012 Ford Focus could be demonstrated and new, young prospects could connect with the Ford brand. 

 "Mad" Mike with the Ford Focus Mobile Recording Studio

Then, we took the Ford Focus Mobile Recording Studio on tour all over the Western U.S., from San Diego, California, to mile-high Denver, Colorado.  Social and digital media followed the campaign, generating thousands of test drives and high-quality leads.

Hottest Mobile Recording Studio in Town

But the best was yet to come.

In the end, three lucky bands were selected to have their music produced by Grammy-Award-winners Don Was and Krish Sharma right in the Ford Focus Mobile Recording Studio.   

 Tom Grill, Don Was, Krish Sharma at a performance

You have to agree…that’s pretty cool.  And the actual recording sessions were taped by KTLA in Los Angeles and featured in three one-hour specials.  Check out the videos from the finals below! 

 

Gimme the Gig Finals - Episode 1

 

Gimme The Gig Finals - Episode 2

Gimme The Gig Finals - Episode 3 

Details, details.

You can’t take success for granted just because you start with a great idea.  You have to carefully execute every step of the way.  By concepting Gimme the Gig II, Ford gave Flash Point Communications the opportunity to use our tested digital platforms and technology to get maximum bang for the buck.  The results?

• 21.7 million impressions
• 2,500 band applications
• 204,747 unique website visits
• 29,811 leads generated
• 28,113 hand raisers captured
• 94.3% leads were converted into hand-raisers
• 19,485 test drives
• 8,622 new Facebook fans
• 103 vehicles sold

So let’s “bottom line” this.

• A compelling, carefully executed social media campaign can generate lots of high-quality leads. 
• Solid leads convert into incremental sales. 
• As younger buyers spend more time on-line (and we’re talking several times a day) and less time (if any) reading a newspaper, the future of lead-generation is in digital and social media.

We’d like to give a special shout-out to Tom Grill, Don Was, Krish Sharma, Daryl Kinson, and “Mad” Mike Martin for all their great work and partnership  And to everyone who came together to make Gimme The Gig II such a great success, thanks again!

Interested in future Gimme The Gig events?  Visit www.gimmethegig.com and sign up to receive news about future events.