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{Managing Reputatation} - Offline Business Going to Online

by SocialInsanity
37 replies
Hey everyone!

I recently got a job as as a social media manager, and I need some people to help me bounce off ideas. For those of you who don't know what a social media manager does (which I'm sure you all do ^_^). We manage a clients social media, implement and develop brand awareness, generate inbound traffic and encourage people to buy our product, and many, many other things related to the web (SEO, Google AdWords, Google AdSense, Web Development).

I work at a car dealership (which is tough industry right now) and they want me to generate sales. The owner doesn't seem to understand that social media takes time to build and that the reputation of the company is hard to "renew". He assumes that once I get his dealership on social media, that it'll generate more sales and improve his dealership's reputation. He doesn't understand that the number of Facebook likes doesn't equal to the number of sales.

But here's the main issue: We get a lot of negative feedback due to our financing of vehicles to people with challenged credit histories. THAT'S where the negative feedback comes from. We have a lot of happy customers that come in and buy a vehicle in cash or cheque and off they go. We also have many people with challenged credit histories that finance their vehicle with us - make their payments on time, and in the end result - they're happy that we improved their credit. The only solution in my mind is to stop financing people with bad credit; but that's not our business. It makes sense to stop approving financing for people with no credit histories or challenged histories because then we wouldn't have the negative reviews. However, at our dealership we take the chance and give people the opportunity to improve their credit because no other dealership will ever accept their application for financing. But people reading the reviews don't quite understand that, and just assume we are a 'bad' dealership to go to.

So when a positive experience/review is posted up on local review sites like n49 or Google; people often think it's fake. I was wondering what are things I can do help change people's perception of us? Or ways to market that we are a dealership that gives people chances?

Thanks so much for your help.
#business #managing #offline #online #reputatation
  • Profile picture of the author CyberAlien
    Are y'all personally responding to each of those bad reviews publicly and politely to explain your side and leaving a number for anyone to call and talk to you about it?
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  • Profile picture of the author SocialInsanity
    Yes, I am. But that's the thing before they hired me - the owner responded with some pretty bad things himself. He was blaming the customer and that's a no no. So I'm trying to figure out how to fix up his mistakes, their reputation is pretty bad from what people seen already.
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  • Profile picture of the author bluecoyotemedia
    [DELETED]
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  • Profile picture of the author bluecoyotemedia
    the best thing to do is begin creating positive assets for this dealership that will help balance the negatives.

    people are accustomed to seeing negative with positive so it will be your goal to create a bigger positive footprint.

    press releases

    go and create profiles in all of these platforms and build them out. then you can be aggressive using SEO to these profiles since they are mostly authoritative sites and can withstand the linking.


    http://about[firstname][lastname].org/
    http://about[firstname][lastname].net/
    Zerply[firstname][lastname]
    http://[firstname][lastname].soup.io/
    User account | Fast Company[firstname][lastname]
    Scribd[firstname][lastname]
    Flavors.me : The Digital You[firstname][lastname]
    Hi, I'm your fastest way to a home page[firstname][lastname]
    http://[firstname][lastname].weebly.com/
    Worky | For Your Work Life[firstname][lastname]
    Welcome to Entrepreneur Connect. The social network for Entrepreneurs[firstname][lastname]/
    http://www.lookuppage.com/users/[firstname][lastname]/
    Focus.com[firstname][lastname]/public/
    Plaxo - your address book for life.[firstname][lastname]
    CVshare.net[firstname][lastname]
    http://bx.businessweek.com/profile/[firstname][lastname]
    http://www.diigo.com/profile/[firstname][lastname]
    BizWiz Business, Professional and Social Networking[firstname][lastname]
    Delicious - Discover Yourself![firstname][lastname]
    http://www.proskore.com/profile.cfm?ContactID=[XXXXXXX] Upload & Share PowerPoint presentations and documents[firstname][lastname]
    http://www.flickr.com/people/[firstname][lastname] https://www.swimwire.com/index.php/en/home/[XXXX][firstname][lastname]/profile
    re.vu[firstname][lastname]
    Vimeo, Your Videos Belong Here[userXXXXXXX]
    https://plus.google.com/[XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX]/posts/
    Follr - Digital Identity Site Not Found[firstname][lastname]
    http://[firstname][lastname].wetpaint.com/account/[firstname][lastname]
    http://www.spoke.com/profiles/[firstname][lastname] fikile motsa - docstoc[firstname][lastname]
    http://www.brazencareerist.com/profile/[firstname]-[lastname]
    Business Networking | Ecademy[firstname][lastname] Issuu - You Publish[firstname][lastname]
    Netvibes[firstname][lastname]
    http://[firstname][lastname].publr.com/
    http://[firstname][lastname].tumblr.com/
    http://about[[firstname][lastname].com
    http://[firstname][lastname].org
    http://[firstname][lastname].blogspot.com
    http://[firstname][lastname].emurse.com
    bigsight - world's largest people directory: get connected, be seen[firstname][lastname]
    http://[firstname][lastname].wordpress.com/
    Dantis Mathew's Ryze Business Networking Page[firstname][lastname]
    p list - Professional On The Web[firstname][lastname]/[XXXXX]
    Ziki: Find suppliers for your company[firstname][lastname]
    http://www.peoplepond.com/[firstname][lastname]
    http://[firstname][lastname].posterous.com/
    Naymz: Manage and Measure your Online Reputation. Get Rewarded.[firstname][lastname]
    VisualCV • Get a better resume, online.[firstname][lastname]
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    Connectture : Home[firstname][lastname].aspx
    http://www.ziggs.com/apps/profile/bio.aspx?uid=[XXXXX]
    http://[firstname][lastname].businesscard2.com/
    http://www.linkedin.com/in/[firstname][lastname]
    https://www.xing.com/profile/[firstname][lastname]
    http://www.viadeo.com/en/profile/[firstname][lastname]
    Twitter[firstname][lastname]
    http://[firstname][lastname].multiply.com/


    VIDEO

    on the opposite side of things create video leads magnets and use youtube and other video platforms

    and SEO them

    use a videos distribution system to upload to 10 sites and more.

    if you do this every day you will soon have hundreds of videos out there that will all point to one direction.

    suggest he create an APP that can be downloaded for free to thier phones and they can take advantage of the push technology

    anyway.. a few ideas

    by the way.. the exact profile set up above is what reputation.com uses and charges thier customers $3000 for

    eddie
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  • Profile picture of the author JamesCx
    Originally Posted by SocialInsanity View Post

    The owner doesn't seem to understand that social media takes time to build and that the reputation of the company is hard to "renew". He assumes that once I get his dealership on social media, that it'll generate more sales and improve his dealership's reputation. He doesn't understand that the number of Facebook likes doesn't equal to the number of sales.
    This paragraph already makes me think that the client is going to be an absolute nightmare to deal with. It might be beneficial if you arrange a quick meeting with him and explain to him that this isn't an instant magical fix for more sales. Otherwise he might have unrealistic expectations which is going to cause you a lot of hassle.

    In regards to the reputation management, I'd first look at these aspects:
    • Are the negative reviews left on a site which can be outranked easily and pushed down a page or two?
    • Is there any way to edit original comments left by the owner or contact the website where they've been left to remove them?
    • Is there a simple process which allows happy customers to quickly and easily leave a positive review?
    • Is there any incentive for them to leave a review? (Perhaps enter them into a competition for some freebies)
    Those would be the first things I'd look at and address where possible - assuming you're after a completely 'white hat' approach.
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    • Profile picture of the author SocialInsanity
      Originally Posted by JamesCx View Post

      This paragraph already makes me think that the client is going to be an absolute nightmare to deal with. It might be beneficial if you arrange a quick meeting with him and explain to him that this isn't an instant magical fix for more sales. Otherwise he might have unrealistic expectations which is going to cause you a lot of hassle.

      In regards to the reputation management, I'd first look at these aspects:
      • Are the negative reviews left on a site which can be outranked easily and pushed down a page or two?
      • Is there any way to edit original comments left by the owner or contact the website where they've been left to remove them?
      • Is there a simple process which allows happy customers to quickly and easily leave a positive review?
      • Is there any incentive for them to leave a review? (Perhaps enter them into a competition for some freebies)
      Those would be the first things I'd look at and address where possible - assuming you're after a completely 'white hat' approach.
      Thank you, that's helps a lot. Unfortunately, before I could write back to the negative reviews to explain ourselves. The review site had locked us out from further commenting/editing because of the previous posts from the owner. I just wished I had the chance to make a change. And yes, I have spoken to him about it - he still keeps saying "Oh, we must get more Facebook likes." But I think he's giving me the reins to take charge and do my own thing now.

      However, I feel like I'm at the point where I can't fix his mistakes now, because the main impression of our dealership was from that review site.
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  • Profile picture of the author MaryEJ
    Along with Eddie's awesome advice above...

    Have you tried creating a review site for the company? There is a plugin available.. or it used to be. WP Review Plugin. You create a WP site, send customers to it for review, unhappy customers get messages sent to the owner and positives are sent to review sites to log in and share. Although, I have to wonder if its worth your time and effort to improve such a difficult customer's rep. If he clearly does not care about the customer, are't you just going to be spinning your wheels?
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    • Profile picture of the author SocialInsanity
      Originally Posted by MaryEJ View Post

      Along with Eddie's awesome advice above...

      Have you tried creating a review site for the company? There is a plugin available.. or it used to be. WP Review Plugin. You create a WP site, send customers to it for review, unhappy customers get messages sent to the owner and positives are sent to review sites to log in and share. Although, I have to wonder if its worth your time and effort to improve such a difficult customer's rep. If he clearly does not care about the customer, are't you just going to be spinning your wheels?
      Hmm, that's a good suggestion; and a good point too. I personally think the customer/employees is what makes the company. It's hard for me to tell my boss to change his ways though. Trust me, a lot of us in the office had told him and tried to change his business ways. It seems we are just spinning the wheels.
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      • Profile picture of the author MaryEJ
        Originally Posted by SocialInsanity View Post

        Hmm, that's a good suggestion; and a good point too. I personally think the customer/employees is what makes the company. It's hard for me to tell my boss to change his ways though. Trust me, a lot of us in the office had told him and tried to change his business ways. It seems we are just spinning the wheels.
        If you are like most of us here, you have to see the before and after in what you do. Sure a paycheck is nice, but that is not what people like us do these things for. We need to see an accomplishment ...an end result for our hard work. If he is going to sabotage your work from the beginning, its kind of pointless.

        Personally, and this is just MY OWN opinion... I would not waste my time with this project. He has already indicated he is going to have unreasonable expectations from you and he has already indicated he cares little, if at all, about what the customer thinks. He might have the best staff on the planet, but if he does not care, it won't matter.

        There are a lot of other businesses who would jump for joy if you helped them. Like those who have been given bad reviews out of a spiteful employee or an imbalanced customer.

        Some businesses SHOULD suffer for their lack of customer service.
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  • Profile picture of the author digichik
    As this is a job you have taken and not a client, you are going to have to adjust your perspective on how to mitigate the negative image of the dealership. It sounds to me like you are not sure of your abilities to actually help in this regard.

    The dealership's main client base is with people who have 'challenged credit', they are not going to stop financing these people. You are going to have to figure out a way to make this a positive. Your personal perspective is skewed, you don't like financing people with challenged credit, failing to realize that this in now the majority of the market. Change your perspective and you will begin to see answers to the dealership's issues.

    They are not going to change their business model, it's a good one, whether you realize it or not.

    Follow some of the earlier advice given in this thread, and take a look at this thread for some additional ideas -- Ideas for Reputation Management -- start at post #23.

    If you integrate what BlueCoyoteMedia posted with what the link I referred you to says, and a few ideas of your own, you may end up with a great way to mitigate the negative reviews the dealership has.

    Remember, deal with situations in the here and the now, not what you would rather they be, deal with what they are. Only then can you solve the problem.
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    • Profile picture of the author SocialInsanity
      Originally Posted by digichik View Post

      As this is a job you have taken and not a client, you are going to have to adjust your perspective on how to mitigate the negative image of the dealership. It sounds to me like you are not sure of your abilities to actually help in this regard.
      This is true too. I am a recent grad so I do feel 'new' in the industry and unsure if what I'm doing, and if I'm doing will make a positive impact. That's why I'm asking for help. But reading your post and everyone else's lets me know I am on the right track. A big thank you!
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  • Profile picture of the author Parry
    If the customers don't like you neither will the social sites!

    It may be better to re-engineer some of the internal systems first and create more happy customers and then spread the good word through viral social media marketing.

    If customers are unhappy it is the negative feedback that will go viral first and it may even spin out of control if you activate social media for a company with a poor reputation.
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    • Profile picture of the author MaryEJ
      Originally Posted by Parry View Post

      If the customers don't like you neither will the social sites!

      It may be better to re-engineer some of the internal systems first and create more happy customers and then spread the good word through viral social media marketing.

      If customers are unhappy it is the negative feedback that will go viral first and it may even spin out of control if you activate social media for a company with a poor reputation.
      Outstanding point.
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      • Profile picture of the author SocialInsanity
        Originally Posted by MaryEJ View Post

        Outstanding point.
        Yes, this was another discussion we had at the meeting as well. But I'm thinking of approaching it like what BlueCoyoteMedia and DigiChik suggested. Once I manage our reputation then push the social media.
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  • Profile picture of the author SirThomas
    Originally Posted by SocialInsanity View Post

    We get a lot of negative feedback due to our financing of vehicles to people with challenged credit histories. THAT'S where the negative feedback comes from. We have a lot of happy customers that come in and buy a vehicle in cash or cheque and off they go. We also have many people with challenged credit histories that finance their vehicle with us - make their payments on time, and in the end result - they're happy that we improved their credit. The only solution in my mind is to stop financing people with bad credit; but that's not our business. It makes sense to stop approving financing for people with no credit histories or challenged histories because then we wouldn't have the negative reviews. However, at our dealership we take the chance and give people the opportunity to improve their credit because no other dealership will ever accept their application for financing. But people reading the reviews don't quite understand that, and just assume we are a 'bad' dealership to go to.
    If I had a bad credit and was trying to buy a vehicle, the above explanation would be enough for me to actually stop-in by your dealership. Being upfront about WHY you get some bad reviews is the best way to mitigate the problem. Use it on every review/social media site and your company's site too. I wouldn't hesitate to send out press releases about this also. You can actually build the entire marketing around "Hi, my name is John Smith. I am social media manager at ABC Auto and we get a lot of bad reviews...and there is nothing we can do about it. Here's why..."

    Thomas
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    • Profile picture of the author SocialInsanity
      Originally Posted by SirThomas View Post

      If I had a bad credit and was trying to buy a vehicle, the above explanation would be enough for me to actually stop-in by your dealership. Being upfront about WHY you get some bad reviews is the best way to mitigate the problem. Use it on every review/social media site and your company's site too. I wouldn't hesitate to send out press releases about this also. You can actually build the entire marketing around "Hi, my name is John Smith. I am social media manager at ABC Auto and we get a lot of bad reviews...and there is nothing we can do about it. Here's why..."

      Thomas
      Not a bad idea, thank you!
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  • Profile picture of the author AppsFromHome
    That's some great advice from BlueCoyoteMedia - build as many positive properties as possible. There's plenty of ways to syndicate article distribution and press releases....even video as well.

    Another thing you can do is set up a reward for the customer for going to a site for a free oil change or car wash.

    Once they go to the page ask: Did you have a good experience? And have 2 large buttons saying yes or no with the coupon listed under the buttons.

    Is they click yes, it will bring them to your Google+ local page to leave a review...if they click no it will bring them to a form they can fill out that will go directly to the manager.

    For the angry customers, it gives you the ability to make things right and take care of the issue before it is vented about on the web. For the happy customers, you get a positive review and a repeat customer with the oil change.

    I hope this makes sense, it's an easy concept but extremely helpful one.
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  • Profile picture of the author Cecil Dee
    That's good info, bluecoyotemedia, good to know.
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  • Profile picture of the author Rus Sells
    bluecoyotemedia thanks for the post with all the links! That's super awesome!

    I take a proactive approach to managing online reviews that diverts negative reviews and keeps them internal to the business while encouraging positive reviews to be spread out across the various profiles the business has online. I'm not into the hurry up and wait mode that springs into action as soon as a negative review is posted online. Many services that take this approach and generate tons of content are going too soon find out that Google is onto these types of tactics and the content will soon be labeled as spam and will have zero effect.
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  • Profile picture of the author Eddie Spangler
    Just wondering for research purposes, if you dont mind sharing since you are pretty much anonymous.
    How much are you being paid?
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    Promise Big.
    Deliver Bigger.
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    • Profile picture of the author SocialInsanity
      Originally Posted by Eddie Spangler View Post

      Just wondering for research purposes, if you dont mind sharing since you are pretty much anonymous.
      How much are you being paid?
      Since I don't have much experience in the industry/recent grad. I'm getting paid $12 an hour. And according to my colleagues from college, they get $15 an hour starting wage for doing social media. However, my instructor says minimum usually for a recent grad out of communications is $18 an hour. But, it's really all over the spectrum, depending on the company you're working for and the area where you live.
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  • Profile picture of the author ADukes81
    What about using this site: KnowEm

    I have never used them, but they offer some great pricing. I think just about any small/medium business would be good with the 'business' package with 100 profiles created for $249. You could obviously SEO those sites afterwards as they are authority sites.

    Anyone use this service before?

    Good?

    Bad?
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  • Profile picture of the author maricelu
    Here is a cool post by Nate - a rep. management specialist: http://www.warriorforum.com/offline-...ml#post6169272

    It will come handy to you I think.
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    • Profile picture of the author SocialInsanity
      Originally Posted by maricelu View Post

      Here is a cool post by Nate - a rep. management specialist:

      It will come handy to you I think.
      Thank you, DigiChik mentioned this post as well.
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  • Profile picture of the author sebski22
    just stumbled across this post and have been blown away by Bluecoyotemedia....LEGEND!!
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  • Profile picture of the author NewParadigm
    You mentioned positive comments/reviews are doubted. Well, I'd focus on doing video testimonials from previous satisfied customers. It'll up the credibility. I think many of them would be happy to "star" in an online commercial

    It was a good point made to provide a disclosure that you deal with many very questionable credit prospects and that's part of the territory w/ your business. It will lower expectations of prospects giving you an easier target to exceed. underpromise and overdeliver.
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  • Profile picture of the author bizgrower
    Sorry to rain on your parade and I hope this company really does help people get wheels and improve their credit. (There's other ways to improve or establish credit. Less painful, too.)

    Anyway, I have a contrary view about this job and would suggest that you find another job, IF you do not agree with their approach to business. You are young and do not want to waste your time and energy on a poor business model and pick up the wrong way to do business. And, it's probably a poor place to work. I'm not there, just taking worst case scenario and playing devil's advocate (or maybe angel's advocate in this case). Depends how YOU FEEL at the end of the day while looking in the mirror.

    Some deals just can't be turned around, or ain't worthy of being turned.

    I briefly did temp work for a company that financed cars for people with bad credit.
    And, frankly, what they did turned my stomach. The company is out of business
    because of the high risk. It was a 2 billion dollar company too.

    Bottom line: They charged 21% interest and applied the down payment to the amount at the end of the term. So, a person not earning much got into a car with a monthly that exceeded half their gross income. They paid, for example, $8000 for the car and $40,000 total at the end of the term. Oh, minus the $3000 down payment, so they "only" paid $37,000 - if they made it to the end of the term. SO, most ended up worse than when they started and with a repo'd car to boot.

    Another example: Buy here, pay here lots in the US require a down payment at least equal to what the dealer paid for the car. Then they put a "retail" price on said car that is thousands above actual market value for said car. Say $8000 for a car that is worth the $1500 down payment. Then they do financing based upon the $8000 at 15 to 21% interest.

    So, in either case, the buyer could have taken their down payment and fully bought a car that would get them from point A to point B from a private party or other kind of dealer. Done. No financing and interest payments and repo. And money left over for maintenance and insurance.

    If the dealer is like that, any wonder they don't look good on the internet?

    If I am correct, and I hope not, find a company that inspires you.

    Dan
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    • Profile picture of the author taranisman
      I have heard about reputation dot com charging up to $10,000 for reputation management services. I am charging $697 set up and $497/mo after the first month. I'm just starting out, but is that too little to charge?
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  • Profile picture of the author mrmatt
    I'm going to have to agree with bizgrower. You might want to start looking for another job. If he thinks social media is going to make a big difference in the amount of car sales he makes he is going to fire you anyways, cause it ain't gonna happen.

    Selling services to current customers on social media? Yes. Helping sell cars or generating leads from social media? NO

    And when I say social media I am talking about Facebook, Twitter, G+

    But at the same time this could be a great way for you to learn some things, test things out, try this and try that all on someone elses dollar. At which point you may be able to start your own reputation management agency.
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  • Profile picture of the author NewParadigm
    I'd talk to pawn shops, check cashers, payday loan type places and try to market with them. Even mortgage brokers and home renter warehouse type companies, they run across a lot of people that may need to scale back.

    It's ironic about the $2billion dollar financing company ripping people off going out of business, obviously they didn't charge customers enough to make up for the loan deadbeats! haha.
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  • Profile picture of the author SocialInsanity
    Thanks for all the answers everyone it has all been very helpful. I really appreciate it!
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