One observation from the NADA Convention was the number of website vendors that were integrating social media monitoring and reputation management tracking tools into their client dashboard. Two such companies I had a demo with were @utoRevenue and Dealer.com.
The shift to integrate social media tracking and reputation management alerts will eventually limit the business upside of stand alone reputation management software companies and social media syndication tools. I predict that these stand alone tools will be seen as a silo applications in the near future. These companies will be either purchased by larger website providers or they will fade away.
Dealer.com Social Relationship Manager
The Dealer.com Social Relationship Manager which was unveiled at the 2011 NADA Convention was impressive. Customers of Dealer.com that are engaging in social media and use third party reputation management tools should get a demonstration. This is one slick application!
After seeing the integration of social media signals as well as content aggregation, dealers on the Dealer.com platform will be pleased with this timely feature set. I would say that car dealers are finally waking up to the fact that consumers are influenced by the reviews that they find online.
@utoRevenue Reputation Management Tools
@utoRevenue which focuses on client retention processes for the automotive industry has added an IRM dashboard into their product line.
According to their press release: “The 360-degree reputation management solution provides dealers with an innovative approach to tracking, managing, and influencing their online reputation. Going beyond the traditional solicitation techniques employed by most in the industry, customers engage at key points in the retention cycle, when positive experiences are most likely to be captured and negative experiences can be quickly addressed.”
It makes sense to me that the service provider that is already responsible to email clients, produce newsletters, and keep client’s engaged with the dealership via coupons, offers, and education should leverage that same channel for reputation management. I know that consumers do NOT want extra calls and email from car dealers.
If you are a current customer of @utoRevenue, I would call and get a demo of this new product offering.
Check With Your Platform Provider
Other major website vendors will be rolling out integrated reputation management alerts, escalation processes, and review progress monitoring in the upcoming months. So before you go out an purchase a stand alone product, talk to your website vendor and see what they have in the pipeline.
Data integration will become increasing important in the years ahead, Integrating your IRM data and social engagement stream into your main CRM system will be a wise choice. The opportunities for data mining will only increase when all contact data and outside content are combined in one data warehouse.
