1. GETTING TO KNOW YOUR CUSTOMERS:
Using Online Forums & Blogs to Increase Sales
Tyler Tanaka
CIE Digital Labs
@tylertanaka

2. The Information Shift

3. Confidence Shift
92 percent of
respondents said they
had more confidence in
information they seek
out online than anything
coming from a sales
clerk or other source
*
According
to
Synovate
consumer
survey

4. Conversation Shift

5. Billions of Searches Each Month
It used to be a few educated people who controlled
a finite amount of knowledge. Search has changed
that. Now everyone can be an educated consumer
through the power of collective data.
Over 90% Search

6. The Long Tail
Most page views delivered to 84% least trafficked sites

7. Search Is “All” Powerful
“Michelin PS2 Review”
4,6,8,10,11,18,19,22,2
4,25,26,28
“Bridgestone RE010”
7,12,23
“Goodyear GSD3”
11,12,13,15,17,19,20,2
3,27,19,20,23,27,28,30

8. Be As Smart As The Average Bear

9. Forum Landscape
Networks: To Find Blogs and Forums:
- Vertical Scope - Google
- Huddler - BigBoards.com
- Internet Brands - AllTop.com
- Madison Ross
- Vortex Media
- AOL Independents:
- Many others - NASIOC
- PerformanceIX
- Hundreds More...

10. The Automotive Blog World
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/ http://www.autoblog.com/
http://www.motoiq.com/ http://www.jalopnik.com/
http://www.bangshift.com/ http://blogs.automotive.com/
http://www.speedhunters.com/ http://blog.caranddriver.com/
http://www.sub5zero.com/ http://blog.roadandtrack.com/
http://www.motormavens.com/ http://blog.cardomain.com/
http://www.racer.com/ http://blogs.insideline.com/
To find the best blogs in any category use AllTop.com

11. Original Social Networks
! 43% of US online users visit at least one
Automotive Web Site each month (94.6MM)
! 28% of US automotive resource users visit
automotive forums each month (19.5MM)
Forum Audience Profile
! 39% plan to purchase in next 6 months (7.6MM)
! 81% visit automotive forums daily (15.8MM)
! 26% believe forums reliable source than other
auto information sources
! 28% believe forums are the most important
influence on their purchase decision
! Millenial Smartphone users represent the highest
audience growth segment (20%+)

12. Compelling Data

13. Forum Data:

14. Forum Data:

15. Today’s Panelists
- Andy Jacobson, Vertical Scope
- Chad Reynolds, Bangshift.com
- Brian Lohnes, BangShift.com
- Mike Kojima, MotoIQ.com
Moderator: Tyler Tanaka, CIE Digital Labs
@TylerTanaka / tyler@ciedigital.com

16. Who Are The Users?
• Passionate Enthusiasts
• Loudmouths & Mavens
• Experts (both real & self-proclaimed)
• Searchers Doing Research
• Positive Reviewers & Negative Pot Stirrers

17. How Can Companies Get Involved?
• Community interaction
• Site sponsorship
• Sponsored events
• Promoted Posts
• Display advertising
• Review & sampling programs

18. Best Practices
Make sure to be:
• Authentic
• Transparent
• Human
• Quick to respond to questions
• Above all else, be patient

19. Moving Beyond The Basics
• Product news, pricing, launches, photos, videos and installs
• Exclusive offers, discount codes
• Promotional events drive store and site traffic
• Opinion polls and open forum feedback
• Use forums to drive company product development
• Product content integration…

20. 10 Good Sponsor Tactics
1. Monitor/Subscribe to your sponsored forum/blog
2. Post pricing, product news, photos of part installs, photos from shows/races/meets
3. Offer exclusive discount codes and promotional information to forum members
4. Develop and promote Group Buys and Liquidation Sales
5. Ensure that your banners are relevant, legible and correctly sized. Change them FREQUENTLY!
6. Ensure that links refer customers to a relevant landing page, not just your home page
7. Take advantage of all opportunities to build your brand equity, including commenting, signatures & avatars
8. Use the “search” function to look for posts/threads about products, services and brands that you offer
9. Offer technical advice to those in need – don’t make it a sales pitch.
10. Respond quickly and avoid talking negatively about other vendors and their products or services

21. Reference and Tools
• PostRelease.com - Case studies
• Forrester Research
• Mashable.com – Social media blog/guide
• Quantcast.com – site traffic/demographics
• Compete.com – compares sites
• Quarkbase.com – website history/traffic
• Google Alerts – Customized about your brand online
• Service Excellence Research Group
• comScore Media Metrix
• Big-Boards.com – Forum lookup
• All Top - Blog finder

22. Q&A
Thank you!