RV Weekly

By: Nikki Becker

As I’m sure many of you know, RV Trade Digest, has joined two social networks: Facebook and Twitter. I have taken on the role of running our Facebook profile. Since the launch of our Facebook page we have become friends with many industry people.

Some utilize Facebook to keep in contact with other industry professionals or friends and some utilize it for business purposes!

A New Jersey dealership is using Facebook to help drive sales and get its name out there to prospects as well as existing customers!

One of the things that inspired me to write this blog is how this dealership utilized the photo album application, a standard feature of Facebook, to promote its rental units.

So far I have seen them use different albums to feature the different rental units available. Each unit has their own album full of different pictures of the exterior and interior of the unit with the title of the photo album describing the unit a bit.

One example they list is entitled: “Brand New Rental 2009 Class C 31′ with Slide” and it has a short description which reads: “Brand New 2009 Coachmen Freelander 1315 with a Queen Bed and Super Slideout.”

They’re also using the photo album application to share photos of their current inventory specials. These photos are typical exterior shots like you would show on your own Web site or an online classified site.

Using Facebook profiles or “fan pages” is one great way to advertise your dealership and/or small business. However, Facebook also offers traditional advertising.

Facebook can be used to get in front of numerous targeted audiences that could be beneficial to a local business. When going to the advertising page on Facebook, you can create your very own ad. The ad allows 25 characters for a title, 135 characters for ad copy and an image.

You then can choose how to target your ad. You can first target by location and then target by key words. For example, your target could be prospects within 50 miles of Madison, Wis., who have interests in outdoors, outdoor activities, camping, RV, etc. You can also target by age, education status, and other categories.

When looking at cost, you can set a daily budget of what you want to spend and you can choose to pay per impression or pay per click. Once that is decided you bid on the amount you want to pay per impression/click.

Now more than ever there are different opportunities for dealers to get their name in front of potential buyers.

What are some of the different things you have done to “think outside of the box?”

RV Trade Digest is pleased to present its Tech Talk forum.

The technician forums are exclusively for use by working RV technicians, RV service/parts managers and RV manufacturer/supplier employees who work with technicians to resolve repair issues.

Repairing RVs should only be done by trained and certified RV technicians at an authorized RV repair facility. Consumers are encouraged to find their nearest RV repair facility for help with RV repairs.

Registration to this forum is free! We do insist that you abide by the rules and policies detailed below.

To be allowed to participate in the forum technicians must be employed at an RV related company and work in some technical capacity related to the construction, repair and servicing of RVs, their internal systems or aftermarket products associated with the use of RVs.

If you are an RV technician and would like to participate in the forum please go to www.rvtradedigest.com/forums and register.

Your registration must be approved by an administrator before you will be allowed to view the forum. Also, all post or comments made in the forum need approval before they are displayed in the forums.

To protect the technicians there are three rules that must be followed:

1. Participants CANNOT talk about money: that means salaries and compensation, flat rates, warranty payments, or labor rates charged to the consumer, etc.

2. Please DO NOT put self-identifying information in your posts such as e-mail or phone numbers anywhere in your post.

3. Be nice. Participate by offering your opinion and technical advice without degrading companies or people in the forum.

The forum will be administered by Master Certified RV Technician Gary Motley, who operates Motley RV Repair.

If you have trouble getting registered, posting or using the forum please feel free to contact the editorial staff of RV Trade Digest by e-mailing editor@rvtradedigest.com

Should you lose your username or password, you can also e-mail the editorial staff and someone will resend that information to the e-mail used to register for the forum.

As a reporter for the RV industry it is my job to help bring relevant news to our readers.

Sadly, in the last two weeks we have seen an abundance of news stories about RV manufacturers filing bankruptcy, numerous RV dealer thefts and plant closings.

I am here to say that this industry needs some good news, and fast.

So, if your dealership, plant, company or firm has any positive news stories I encourage you to send those to RV Trade Digest for publication consideration.

If you would like to share some encouraging comments or stories please feel free to contact any of the RV Trade Digest staff members. Our contact is on www.rvtradedigest.com

If you wish to submit a press release to the editorial staff please e-mail materials to editor@rvtradedigest.com.

RV Trade Digest will continue to report all RV related news (both good and bad).

RV Trade Digest is pleased to announce that it is now a member of both the Facebook and Twitter online communities. Both of these Web sites are social networking sites designed to increase communication among its users.

Facebook.com was developed several years ago as a way for college students to get to know fellow students. However, a year or so later the site opened up to the general public and has been one of the highest rated social networking sites on the Internet.

To see what the staff of RV Trade Digest has created on Facebook go to www.facebook.com and search RV Trade Digest. Feel free to add us as a “friend.”

To view our Facebook page you must be a member of the site. Membership is free and the site is easy to navigate. For those who are concerned with privacy issues, all Facebook pages can be set to private so only selected people (chosen by you) can view your page.

RV Trade Digest’s Facebook page features several applications that tie back into our magazine and Web site. We will be posting trade show videos, photos, blogs, RV Trade Digest cover archives (photos only), links to “RV 2009” on HGTV, calendar events and much more.

Our Facebook page will also update every time RV Trade Digest enters a new entry on Twitter.

Twitter.com is a micro-blogging Web site designed to keep your friends and family up to speed on your daily happenings. However, on Twitter you can only use 140 characters per posting or micro-blog!

To see what RV Trade Digest is doing on Twitter go to www.twitter.com/rvtradedigest . You must also be a member on Twitter.com to get our micro-blogs, leave us “tweets” (AKA comments) and much more! Membership on Twitter is also free and also has privacy settings.

We will be posting all daily news stories, blogs, opinion polls, videos and much more on our Twitter page.

RV Trade Digest is pleased to be the first RV industry trade publication to utilize these two networking sites and we hope that you “friend” us on Facebook or “follow” us on Twitter.

Should you have any questions about these Web sites or how to view our pages please feel free to contact us by e-mailing editor@rvtradedigest.com

On Jan. 22, 2008 RV Trade Digest posted a blog entitled “RV Burglaries on the Rise.” The blog mentioned a dealership that had been burglarized and that it was happening more frequently at dealerships around the country.

Sadly, more than a year later RV Trade Digest is still posting news stories about dealers who have had units broken into mainly for electronic items.

Just this week RV Trade Digest reported that A Mankato RV dealer was not only burglarized once, but multiple times in a short period of time.

I am not a dealer but I would think that removing the electronics from the units would be the best plan of action, but I want to hear from our readers how this problem can be solved or at least limited.

With the current economic troubles RV dealers have enough to worry about then having their units broken into and vandalized.

I would like a discussion on what your dealership is doing to limit burglaries, if you have a policy in place to combat theft or if you intend to implement one.