Page 40 - GIADA-Oct 2017-Final

Google Capable Not

Only of Search,

But Search

and Destroy

BY STEVE FINLAY | WARDSAUTO

Bad reviews “no better

way to drive customers
to competition,” Fawaz says.

Dealers who get panned “Google is determining winners and los- “People on Google are looking for some-
enough times find themselves ers, with the winners getting the most 4- thing quickly. Boom, it’s fast. Facebook is
and 5-star reviews,” says Ali Fawaz, direc-
more leisurely. People are reading things.
in the digital equivalent tor-social media at Ford Direct, a digital Facebook knows you. Google needs you
of no-man’s land. marketer for Ford dealers. to tell it what you want. Facebook knows
much of what you want. Google is more
Search engine Google can perform search “If you get bad reviews, there’s no better transactional.”
and destroy, at least when it comes to its way to drive customers to the competi-
treatment of car dealers getting bad re- tion,” he says at the 2017 Automotive Cus- He offers dealers these reputation-man-
views from consumers. tomer Experience Summit here. agement tips relating to reviews on Goo-
gle, Facebook or any other social-media
That’s because Google’s search-result list- Many online car shoppers selectively look website:
ings of auto retailers – which come first, at dealership reviews, he says. “They want • Monitor and respond to customer re-
which get buried – are based, in part, on to see reviews that get lots of stars. Nothing views within 48 hours.
the quality of those reviews. matters if it’s one or two stars.” • Check reputation scores monthly.
• Respond authentically. “Don’t cut and
Accordingly, the power of Google can dev- The awesome influence of social-media re- paste.”
astate. Dealers who get panned enough views is demonstrated in the fact that since • Solicit customer reviews and thank
times find themselves in the digital equiv- Facebook began running them 18 months people for good ones.
alent of no-man’s land by appearing deep ago, “there has been unbelievable partici- • Assign someone at the dealership to
down on the search results. Showing up on pation,” Fawaz says. handle the reputation management as-
page six or seven of a consumer search re- sociated with reviews. “If you can’t do it
sult is nearly tantamount to not showing He discusses the differences between “the at the dealership, hire it out.” n
up at all. two big kids on the block,” Facebook and
Google.

38 | GIADA Independent Auto Dealer OCTOBER 2017