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Reputation Management Tools

Posted by Alex Snyder | Friday, October 30, 2009 | Posted in Reputation Management

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If word of mouth is the most trusted form of advertising, what has the Internet done to extend its power? Why is the traditional business approach to fear it?

In 2007 Jeff wrote an article about whether dealers should be using Social Media – you know…those facebook, myspace, and twitter sites. Here we are 2 years later and I am finding quite a few dealers on all of these mediums! Forget whether you agree with dealers being there or not, and let’s talk about how you track what is going on around your brand. I think we can all agree people are using these sites to talk about you.

What are people saying about you on blogs and forums? What are they tweeting while they’re sitting in your F&I office? Did you just get flogged on Google? How do you find out?

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These are just a few tools you can use, for virtually zero cost, to keep score of your reputation online. They’re valuable in other ways too. Of course, the methods listed above are not all the ways to do it. There are thousands more! And thousands more appear each day.

Got anymore you want to add – drop a comment on this article, or join the conversations in the DealerRefresh forums “What Online Reputation Management Tools are you using for your dealer?“

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5 Comments

Brian Pacsh

October 30th, 2009

Alex, for most dealers Google Alerts and Google Reader can be a great starting point for IRM. I use Google Alerts for tracking any posts on my company name, personal name, or keywords that define my industry. (Automotive SEO, Car Dealer Websites, etc.)

There are automated “compilers” of online posts with follow-up tools that have nice interfaces and provide a CRM like tool to respond, track or remove negative posts but you’ll have to pay for that service.

If dealers are not monitoring their online reputation with any tool today, I would start with these two free tools and then after seeing the “field” and “frequency” of posts about your brand, decide if you need more sophisticated tools.
Tweets that mention Reputation Management Tools for Car Dealers -- Topsy.com

October 30th, 2009

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Jeff Kershner and Trilogy SmartLeads, Pacific Dealers. Pacific Dealers said: Reputation Management Tools: If word of mouth is the most trusted form of advertising, what has the Internet do.. http://bit.ly/KsclK [...]
Alex Snyder

October 30th, 2009

Brian – excellent suggestion! I can’t believe I forgot about Google alerts.
Matt Starnes

November 3rd, 2009

In terms of our reputation here at Northside Ford (San Antonio, TX) we have recently started trying to improve our reputation online by asking satisfied customers to tell others about there experience at our store online. We have concentrated on Dealer Rater first and now have 59 reviews with 4.8 rating and that’s the most out of any Ford store in Texas. I’m now going to be spreading the wealth around to other popular review sites online, especially those that index quickly on Google. Since actively trying to improve our online reputation, we are starting to see some results, more sales from those shopping multiple dealers that care how they are treated (there will always be that price only customer). If you’re customers love your store, get them to take 5 minutes and write a review online.
Gretchen Kennedy

November 12th, 2009

I just heard about TrackUR, I assume it stands for Track Your Reputation: http://www.trackur.com

I make no claims about it, just heard from someone highly respected in technology at the PubCon conference that it’s all 90% of companies need for keeping tabs on their brand, and safeguarding their good name and reputation.

Hope that helps!