Digital Air Strike

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Creates Largest Automotive Digital Marketing Company Specializing in Social Media and Lead Response. 

Las Vegas, NV (February 4, 2012) – Response Logix, based in Sunnyvale, California, and Digital Air Strike, based in Scottsdale, Arizona, today announced at the National Automotive Dealers Association (NADA) convention a merger of their two companies. The combined company has  two robust business units: Response Logix offering a dynamic prospect-response digital marketing solution and Digital Air Strike offering complete social media and reputation management solutions. Both companies were co-founded by dealers and have developed innovative technology that is focused on helping dealerships improve their digital marketing efforts and response times to prospects and customers.

“I’m excited to announce the merger of these two fast-growing, ground-breaking companies,” said Tom Mohr, President and CEO of Response Logix. “I’m especially excited that we have brought together a winning team of innovators and powerful digital marketing solutions that are second to none. We are looking forward to working with our fast-growing network of over 1,100 dealers nationwide to deliver world-class marketing communications, behavioral targeting and social media solutions that give dealers a distinct advantage in today’s online marketplace.”

“This merger brings together two very dynamic companies that complement each other in many ways,” said Alexi Venneri, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Digital Air Strike, and now also Chief Marketing Officer of the combined company. “In our industry it is all about responding quickly, whether that’s to leads, online reviews or social media prospects. Our combined solution utilizes revolutionary technology and a team of strategic marketers to help dealers respond incredibly quickly and professionally throughout the entire sales and customer lifecycle.”

With the merger, dealers will now have a combined suite of digital marketing communications, behavioral targeting and social media solutions that reside in a “one-stop shop”, delivering an efficient path to a distinct competitive advantage.

The Response Logix product line features the robust automotive Internet lead management tools SmartQuote, SmartFollow and RapidTouch. SmartQuote delivers an information-rich, multi-vehicle price quote to the customer within 10 minutes of lead arrival, 24/7. SmartFollow provides continuous email and online advertising-based follow-up to prospects for up to 180 days. Through a partnership with a leading automotive call center, RapidTouch ensures that once the quote has been sent, a follow-up phone call is made to the prospect within 45 minutes.

The Digital Air Strike product line offers a complete solution to fully manage over 50 social media and review sites. Dealers can select from multiple levels of service including the Defend package for outsourced online reputation management, the Conquer package for proactive social media marketing, and the Dominate package which is a complete solution that offers the broadest combined automotive social media and reputation management solution.

“Our dealership customer base will now have the opportunity to fully engage prospects on social media networks and throughout the lead management process,” said Mohr. “The combination of professional digital marketing messaging and fast response is an incredibly powerful solution for increasing sales and improving customer retention.”

In the near-term the company will operate under both names while leveraging the strength of their combined management team. Dealers using both product lines will benefit from future integration while being able to respond quickly with professional marketing messages to all types of consumer digital engagement, which will result in selling more cars and servicing more vehicles.

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About Response Logix 

Response Logix is the leading automotive digital marketing solution that enhances sales response and engagement for both prospects and customers. It provides advanced automotive Internet lead management tools for immediate lead response and includes the capability to respond to leads with an immediate, information-rich, multi-vehicle price quote (SmartQuote®); the ability to follow up on leads with a rapid call (RapidTouch), then the ability to continue to follow prospects with ongoing email and online advertising for up to 180 days (SmartFollow®). All information is tracked and monitored in a comprehensive analytical package (SmartFacts®).The company was co-founded by dealers and technology veterans and has powerful patent-pending solutions, all tailored to meet the needs of the fast-paced, multi-tasking internet selling environment. Additional information is available at www.responselogix.com.

About Digital Air Strike

Digital Air Strike is the leading turn-key social media solution in the automotive industry. The company offers multiple social media packages, providing increasing service levels from targeted online reputation management to proactive social media coverage to the most comprehensive social and reputation management solution in the industry, including over 50 sites enhanced and fully managed.  The company’s expertise spans all manufacturer brands and it has a proven track record of helping automotive dealers, dealership groups and OEMs engage with more consumers, improve online reputations and deliver increased website traffic. Additional information is available at www.DigitalAirStrike.com  and at www.facebook.com/digitalairstrike.

Media Contact:  Charlie Vogelheim  /  cvogelheim@responselogix.com  /  949.929.0716

The following video provides additional information on ResponseLogix’s merger with Digital Air Strike and why social media and reputation management should be a top marketing priority for automotive dealers.

Facebook’s highly anticipated Timeline feature has just been released to the masses–It is now available to all individuals, and business pages will eventually see related changes. As Facebook developers, we at Digital Air Strike were able to enable Timeline several months ago, and we have since delved deep into its features and functionality. We are impressed, and we think you will be too.

You can easily enable timeline by going to Facebook’s official timeline page and clicking on the green button at bottom of the screen, on the right. But before you do, it’s not a bad idea to be prepared, especially since Facebook has in the past made changes that have left people wondering if they even know what the word privacy means. Once you enable Timeline you will have a week to make changes before it goes live. So what can you expect?

Your Timeline will replace the Info tab on your old Facebook page.

As you might guess from its name, Facebook creates a timeline of your entire life–from the day you were born to your most recent status update. This is essentially a detailed scrapbook, and the effect is breathtaking–especially if you are a longtime and avid Facebook user who has posted lots of photos and videos–but most anyone will be impressed by their timeline (and those of others).

Facebook makes it easy to add life events to your Timeline.

Major milestones and other important life events such as marriage, children, new jobs, and places you’ve lived are more readily apparent than ever before. Facebook automatically decides what else is included in your timeline, typically including status updates, photos, videos, and other stories that have attracted comments and “likes” from other Facebook users in your network–the  important stuff, in Facebook’s opinion. We have found that Facebook has done a good job deciding what’s worthy of appearing in our timelines.

Starting with a panoramic headlining photograph, you can customize your timeline to your liking, including highlighting specific events so that they are placed in a more prominent position. You also get to decide who sees what, and some Facebook users will find it beneficial to put a bit of thought into this, because with timeline being so comprehensive, Facebook stalkers will rejoice (not that we would ever do that, of course!).

Remember that  photo album from your best friend’s bachelor party 5 years ago that attracted so many comments and likes? Chances are that it, along with all associated comments, will show up in your timeline–so consider for yourself whether you want it to be visible to everyone, no one, or a custom group you create that is composed of only the guys who were in Vegas with you that night. To edit what appears in your timeline, click on the Activity Log tab highlighted in the image below, it will take you to a separate page that is visible only to you.

Every fan page you've "liked" can be found in your Timeline.

In addition to business pages that a user has “liked”, information from third-party apps such as Pandora and Netflix also appear in your timeline for your friends to see, so Timeline brings new opportunities for brand marketing as well. If you’re not familiar with using apps on Facebook, they provide significantly increased functionality for Facebook user while enabling brands to insinuate themselves more deeply into social networks.

Need movie ideas? Check out a friend's Timeline.

One of Facebook’s most significant competitive advantages is that it has more data on its users than any other social site. In leveraging the massive data repository (including data from every app you’ve ever used) that makes Timeline possible, Facebook is reinforcing its position as the leading social network. How will Google+ respond? Only time will tell, but we suspect that Google+ will increasingly differentiate itself by integrating social media with search (SEO), where Google has its own competitive advantage. As these two internet giants battle it out, social media marketers will need to become increasingly SEO savvy.

What about Facebook timeline for businesses? Facebook has released very little information about this, but we suspect it will be very similar to what we are seeing on individual accounts, and we believe that is a very good thing! So, if your business has a Facebook page with plenty of highly engaged fans, you can be sure that your business will look good when timeline becomes available to business.

To see Timeline in action, watch Facebook’s official video.

Scottsdale, AZ (November 14, 2011) – Coinciding with Google’s announcement of the availability of Google+ to brands and businesses, Digital Air Strike is pleased to announce that they launched the first Google+ Pages for automotive dealerships within 24 hours of the announcement. Digital Air Strike also added “+1” functionality to their social media toolbars that reside on dealership websites. Digital Air Strike is one of the leading social media and reputation management companies and helps hundreds of car dealerships connect with prospects and customers through engaging online content.

Digital Air Strike has created Google+ business pages with digital asset integration and is leveraging followers on multiple sites to help accelerate Google+ fan growth, all at no additional cost to Digital Air Strike clients.

“Our dealership relies on Digital Air Strike to help us stay ahead of the curve and their fast response to Google’s announcement exemplifies how quickly they can move to give our business an online advantage,” said Brad Mugg, General Manager of Norm Reeves Honda Superstore in Cerritos, California and the #1 California Honda dealer for the past 21 years*. “The social media landscape changes frequently and every business can benefit from working with a partner like Digital Air Strike.”

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Scottsdale, AZ – (November 1, 2011) – Digital Air Strike, the nation’s leading automotive social media marketing and reputation management agency, was recently chosen by General Motors (GM) to provide social media marketing and online reputation management to its dealerships across the US. GM’s endorsement of Digital Air Strike, the first full service social media and reputation management partner to qualify for GM iMR turnkey vendor status, is further evidence of the growing importance of social media in the automotive industry. Over 4,000 participating dealers across the nation can now access iMR match funds to help cover the cost of Digital Air Strike’s industry-leading social media services.

“GM is committed to helping our dealers fully utilize social media marketing and enhance their online reputations. Digital Air Strike plays a key role in helping dealers nationwide in this area, helping drive more business to the dealer and improving the customer buying and ownership experience,” said Bill Taylor, Retail Internet Strategy Manager, General Motors. “Digital Air Strike has extensive direct automotive experience and a track record of providing solutions that help dealers build lasting relationships with their customers.”

“We are delighted to be partnering with General Motors and its forward-thinking automotive dealerships,” stated Alexi Venneri, COO of Digital Air Strike. “This partnership illustrates that GM is very aware that consumers are increasingly looking to digital mediums during the automotive buying process. To remain competitive, dealers must engage consumers in online conversations on social networks and review sites.”

Digital Air Strike COO Alexi Venneri is an invited speaker on GM’s 2011 eSummit (www.gmesummit.com) conference tour, which provides GM dealers nationwide with comprehensive training on digital marketing strategies.  Attendance at GM’s eSummit conferences is available exclusively to its network of automotive dealers and tour stops this month include Columbus, Los Angeles, Phoenix and San Jose. Any GM dealer who attends Digital Air Strike’s seminar at the eSummit is eligible for a free strategic review of their social media activities and online reputation. Read the rest of this entry »

Over the past 5 years Twitter has become the reigning champion of the micro blogging world.    It’s free for everyone to use and has incredibly powerful search tools that allow business to locate current and potential customers.   Even though the service is free, it is not without cost.  In order to get the most out of Twitter, you need to participate in conversations, actively monitor the keywords in your industry, and generate new interesting tweets.   For automotive social media marketing or any industry for that matter, it’s easy to sink several hours a day into the process.   So, the lure of automating some of these functions is hard to resist.  Routine tasks like following people who follow your account is the perfect job for a bot.   But, automatically responding to tweets is a good way to make your company look like a spammer.
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As the saying goes, “A happy customer tells one friend, and unhappy customer tells everybody”.  The Internet has given consumers an unprecedented reach to express their likes and dislikes on the Internet.  Today we’ve got sites like Yelp, Google Places, and host of others providing a centralized forum where users can express their opinions about a business in a very public way.  A good score can be the difference between a potential customer visiting your store vs. the competition.     With such power over buying decisions, business owners can be tempted to submit false reviews.  They do it for all sorts of reason like bumping up their three star rating to four or pushing down a string of bad reviews.   It’s a dangerous activity that is highly detectable and can cause irrevocable damage to your company’s image.  In this article we’ll show you some ways people who submit fake reviews can get caught and why doing so can inflict far more damage than any single bad review could have.

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Digital Air Strike, one of the nation’s leading social media marketing and reputation management firms, has been chosen by Kia Motors America (KMA) to provide social media marketing and online reputation management assistance to the brand’s dealerships across the U.S..  Kia announced its endorsement of Digital Air Strike at the company’s recent national dealer meeting in Las Vegas.

The relationship between Kia and Digital Air Strike, the only 100% automotive centric social media vendor selected by Kia to support their dealerships nationwide, is further evidence of the growing importance and relevance of social media in the automotive sector.

“Kia has transformed into one of the fastest growing car companies in the U.S., and enhancing our dealers’ social media activities with the assistance of Digital Air Strike will play a key role in continuing our sales and market share gains,” said Michael Sprague, vice president of marketing and communications, KMA. “Digital Air Strike offers extensive automotive experience and has a track record of providing complete social media programs that allow dealers to engage customers and build positive relationships online.”

“We are excited to partner with Kia and their progressive dealerships,” stated Alexi Venneri, COO of Digital Air Strike. “They are a market leader in many ways, including their ability to embrace technology and respond to the needs of their customers. These needs include the increased use of social media and review sites by consumers to facilitate conversation, provide feedback and build an online community around the Kia brand.”

Starting immediately, Kia’s network of more than 745 dealers have the opportunity to participate in the complete suite of social media and reputation management programs offered by Digital Air Strike.

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Google Places just made a change that impacts your Google Maps page listing.

Google Maps search results are now starting to include “phrases” which are most frequently used to describe your business. These phrases come from sources all across the web including reviews, web pages and other online references. Google says they have added this to “help people quickly identify the characteristics that make a particular place unique”.

This could either hurt or help you – it all depends on the words selected by Google.

Here is how Digital Air Strike can help: Read the rest of this entry »

Facebook has been busy evolving the site with new features that are clearly defensive responses to Google+. These features include changes to photo upload size, display design, as well as expanded features for status updates. Finally, they announced the end of Facebook Deals which offered Groupon like social buying.

Photo Changes

Photos are arguably one of Facebook’s most popular features as they get 250 million uploads a day.  Google+ allows users to upload images up to 2048 pixels.  In response, Facebook has upped their size from 720 pixels to 960.  Granted, it’s not Google+ big, but when you are as large as Facebook, you can’t triple the resolution size without opening another datacenter or two.

Along with the increased photo size, they have also changed the color of the lightbox from black to white.  This is a welcome modification since the contrast before was a dramatic departure from their

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Like many Facebook Page admins you probably noticed that the “more” link is missing which means you can’t rearrange your links.  If you are using Fire Fox and the Firebug plugin do the following:
Using FireBug,  find the last link in the list. Below the closing unordered list tag </ul> you’ll see the element:

<div class=”actionLinks”>

Click on it.  In the style section on the right locate this class:

.droppableNav .actionLinks {

display: none;
}

Delete the “display:none;” part and you’ll see the more link reappear.   Click on it and you can now reorder your links.   I’m sure Facebook will fix this quickly but if you are under a tight deadline like we were today this is a great work around.

Hat tip to Toni Pohl and Andi for coming up with this solution on the Facebook Developer’s forum.