Facebook group

[ncautoshop]

I know this may not be allowed, and if it needs to be removed feel free.

There is a very large shop owner group on Facebook. This is an extremely active group, is well guarded and has really helped us!

 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/AutoShopOwnersGroup/

 

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

 

 

[Alex]

Initially I was not for leaving this link up to a facebook group, but if it can help shop owners I am ok with it. We obviously would like community interactions to stay on our platform here, but do recognize that shops may need multiple support group channels 😉

[ncautoshop]

Thanks so much Alex.
This is a group of really great users who GENUINELY want the very best for this industry. I've never been a part of something so powerful to date. I've seen the folks in this group go to unbelievable lengths to help one another and I'm sure they'd love to participate here as well!

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

[pam]

Thanks for telling us about this group. It's great!

 

[ncautoshop]

Thanks for telling us about this group. It's great!
 

I've gained tremendously from the group! I'm glad you've enjoyed it!

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

[xrac]

i think the Facebook group can be useful but could also be a huge time waster. It is hard enough keeping up with this forum. 

[ncautoshop]

i think the Facebook group can be useful but could also be a huge time waster. It I see hard enough keeping up with this forum. 

It can be, but I spend a bit of time advertising my business on Facebook and a few minutes scrolling through some of the post. The big advantages are the live videos done with industry experts such as Rick White, Aaron Stokes, Cecil Bullard, insurance companies, suppliers etc.
There's also advantage as a sounding board, just like here as they will all give input on handling a negative review or marketing campaign but the input is received within moments. Carm from remarkable results is also using the group for his industry panel quite a bit!

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

[gandgautorepair]

I've valued all the advice and views I've seen here. Some of the stuff on the Facebook group is not so good, but some is. I hope that group, which is considerably less focused than this group, does not replace this forum. On Facebook, you have to spend some time weeding through the junk to glean the good stuff.

 

[ncautoshop]

I've valued all the advice and views I've seen here. Some of the stuff on the Facebook group is not so good, but some is. I hope that group, which is considerably less focused than this group, does not replace this forum. On Facebook, you have to spend some time weeding through the junk to glean the good stuff.
 

I agree 100% that's why the two work so well together. This is a much more manageable format, and is much better for precise and clear information from those who have significant experience in the industry!
Hopefully the forum will gain some no clientele. If you guys could have some events or things to draw folks from the group I'd be glad to post them!

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

[xrac]

41 minutes ago, gandgautorepair said:

I've valued all the advice and views I've seen here. Some of the stuff on the Facebook group is not so good, but some is. I hope that group, which is considerably less focused than this group, does not replace this forum. On Facebook, you have to spend some time weeding through the junk to glean the good stuff.

 

You took the words out of my mouth.  For several years I participated in two business forums unrelated to the automotive business.  One was tightly controlled and content was always top notch and well worth investing the time.  However, because of tight control it never grew really large.  The second forum was wide open and attracted more participants.  At first it was very good with lots of good info and people who were willing to help you.  However, overtime it attracted a lot of newbies, wannabes, and people promoting their ourselves and services.  It has degenerated into a lot of cat fights, people posting who don't know much, and a lot of garbage promotions.  Many of the knowledgeable original participants who were helpful have disappeared. 

When I see ASO it reminds me of the first forum and the Facebook forum reminds me of the later.  I think what will happen with the Facebook page is too many newbies, wannabes, advertisers, and people self promoting.  It won't be that there is not good useful stuff there but that you have to spend too much time finding it and wading through too much other garbage.  May be I am prejudging and wrong but that is my gut feeling at this point in time.

[gandgautorepair]

I would love to see more participation in this forum. Can this forum, or has this already, been mentioned/promoted on the Facebook group? 

[xrac]

3 hours ago, gandgautorepair said:

I would love to see more participation in this forum. Can this forum, or has this already, been mentioned/promoted on the Facebook group? 

I think over time that will happen and the osmosis process will cause the migration of there participants to ASO. 

[ncautoshop]

I would love to see more participation in this forum. Can this forum, or has this already, been mentioned/promoted on the Facebook group? 

I mention it there from time to time. I will say that Bambi who manages the Facebook group does a very good job managing the group and keeping some of that trouble to a minimum!
Facebook groups have a way of exploding from my past experiences however this is the first that's been around this long without those issues.
I'll continue to mention the group, but the group needs some activity and happenings to help grow the base.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

[Wheelingauto]

6 hours ago, xrac said:

You took the words out of my mouth.  For several years I participated in two business forums unrelated to the automotive business.  One was tightly controlled and content was always top notch and well worth investing the time.  However, because of tight control it never grew really large.  The second forum was wide open and attracted more participants.  At first it was very good with lots of good info and people who were willing to help you.  However, overtime it attracted a lot of newbies, wannabes, and people promoting their ourselves and services.  It has degenerated into a lot of cat fights, people posting who don't know much, and a lot of garbage promotions.  Many of the knowledgeable original participants who were helpful have disappeared. 

When I see ASO it reminds me of the first forum and the Facebook forum reminds me of the later.  I think what will happen with the Facebook page is too many newbies, wannabes, advertisers, and people self promoting.  It won't be that there is not good useful stuff there but that you have to spend too much time finding it and wading through too much other garbage.  May be I am prejudging and wrong but that is my gut feeling at this point in time.

Problem is this group has all but dried up and gone away except for the industry "gurus" who are...um....selling their wares. I hardly come here anymore and when I do it's just them fighting for any scraps that might be here.

[Alex]

1 hour ago, Wheelingauto said:

Problem is this group has all but dried up and gone away except for the industry "gurus" who are...um....selling their wares. I hardly come here anymore and when I do it's just them fighting for any scraps that might be here.

@Wheelingauto are you getting contacted on this site by people trying to sell you something? If you are getting solicited, just drop me a line. 

8 hours ago, xrac said:

I think over time that will happen and the osmosis process will cause the migration of there participants to ASO. 

I tend to agree but it's gonna be a little bit as people migrate to "other than Facebook" platforms. Facebook is still very good for business and the most widely used site out there for connecting. Facebook groups are affecting participation on many online forums these days but some find they are getting new members from those that tend to move away from facebook to  other networks. I'm not sure on the impact for ASO yet, but traffic has been steady here as it was a year ago and members join every week/day almost, it's not up and it's not down, many readers and less participants it seems.  Registrations are steady. The days of sharing photos and experiences has moved over to facebook and forums have become destinations for support and "fine tuned" niche information. At the end of the day, I think it's all about the content and if its valuable to the reader/participant, whichever channel they can get it from...it's good to have the options in my opinion. The issue I see with running a facebook group is the fact that you don't own it, can't control the interface, and have no ownership over any of the data. Running your own site/platform, you can have complete control over every spec including the borders that surround these quotes...😎 I can't do that with facebook, you are stuck with what they give you and when they take it away. If someone here recommended something that was a great idea and others wanted, I would try to do it....can't do that on facebook 😒

8 hours ago, ncautoshop said:

I agree 100% that's why the two work so well together. This is a much more manageable format, and is much better for precise and clear information from those who have significant experience in the industry!
Hopefully the forum will gain some no clientele. If you guys could have some events or things to draw folks from the group I'd be glad to post them!

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
 

I agree as well. I've been hoping facebook would introduce some sort of RSS or XML import into groups and then maybe I would start one for ASO to post topics and draw into our forums here like we do with regular posts on facebook and twitter, but that doesn't exists because you have no control and they don't want that, facebook wants to control the entire online experience. But we do have Facebook integration in terms of login and automatic posting of content to your facebook profile or page to share what you post on ASO. Anyone in your or other facebook group can click to autoshopowner and then just click the facebook login button and they'll automatically login here as a free member.

If someone visited, while logged into facebook, this topic (and wasn't a member), they would see a box like the one below and could click the sign in with Facebook and automatically register and login, very easy to create an account here with your facebook, twitter, google, and linkedin info. 

Existing members can also link their social networks under account settings. 

[ncautoshop]

I'll mention that Alex!
Mike Bennett did a webinar tonight on emergency car count and seo, it was great!

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

[Wheelingauto]

11 hours ago, Alex said:

@Wheelingauto are you getting contacted on this site by people trying to sell you something? If you are getting solicited, just drop me a line. 

 

Alex, no one is directly soliciting me. Most of the current activity and involvement I see are comments by those who seek clients from this site and what they comment on/about are solicitous (is that a word???) in nature. That rubs me wrong....maybe its just me.
is

[Alex]

11 hours ago, Wheelingauto said:

Alex, no one is directly soliciting me. Most of the current activity and involvement I see are comments by those who seek clients from this site and what they comment on/about are solicitous (is that a word???) in nature. That rubs me wrong....maybe its just me.
is

I understand ☺️. If it's happening, hopefully it's only coming from Sponsor members and in a manner where its not overkill. I would like to know if not. Our sponsor members pay an annual fee which helps support our community and we allow them to mention their products and services. If it becomes overkill, then a mention is due. I would encourage our members to make sure it's a sponsor member if they see this happening and if not, to report the post. I would also invite members to visit our sponsor page to see who supports us here in that manner and give them a little leeway since they have taken the time to become a sponsor and see value in our community: Our Sponsors

Believe it or not, it's some of our sponsors that report solicitations from non-Sponsors to us, which helps us in our attempts to keep the forum clean of a "free for all".

[ncautoshop]

I've been working with Rick White over a 180biz for a while now. I'm sure he'd always be willing to help setup a webinar with you guys. Or maybe you could talk to a sponsor about doing one? Rick will be doing some over on the Facebook group in the future, I'd suggest you guys watch and see what type of interaction it gets! It's certainly very neat, and it really gets the industry professionals on a podium on those who aren't able to attend trainings and such.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

[xrac]

Seems to me that the Facebook site is taking activity away from this site. 

[Alex]

On 1/5/2018 at 7:21 PM, ncautoshop said:

I've been working with Rick White over a 180biz for a while now. I'm sure he'd always be willing to help setup a webinar with you guys. Or maybe you could talk to a sponsor about doing one? Rick will be doing some over on the Facebook group in the future, I'd suggest you guys watch and see what type of interaction it gets! It's certainly very neat, and it really gets the industry professionals on a podium on those who aren't able to attend trainings and such.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
 

One of our sponsors will be doing a webinar for ASO members in the very near future. More info to come.

1 hour ago, xrac said:

Seems to me that the Facebook site is taking activity away from this site. 

I have to agree that this is probably happening at some level. Unfortunately I think facebook will cause many sites to change their strategies in order to compete, but that's inevitable. We are still seeing comparable YoY traffic here but new topic creation has dipped a bit. It's affecting many forums on the web and the only solution is differentiation from facebook groups. 

[ncautoshop]

8 hours ago, xrac said:

Seems to me that the Facebook site is taking activity away from this site. 

I've seen more mentions of the forum than I had previously, and the activity here has pretty much been consistent (atleast in the areas I subscribe) since bringing attention to the group. I used to check the group daily, over the last year I can check it weekly and only see an occasional post. This didn't start with the mention of the group in my opinion. 

6 hours ago, Alex said:

One of our sponsors will be doing a webinar for ASO members in the very near future. More info to come.

I have to agree that this is probably happening at some level. Unfortunately I think facebook will cause many sites to change their strategies in order to compete, but that's inevitable. We are still seeing comparable YoY traffic here but new topic creation has dipped a bit. It's affecting many forums on the web and the only solution is differentiation from facebook groups. 

That's great Alex! Please let me know and I'll share it in the group. 

I think if forums are going to survive the Facebook movement it's going to take members actively working the forums. It's one thing to say, nothing is happening here. It's another thing to be posting useful information, sharing it into the groups on facebook and on personal pages, and then say nothing is happening here. If the forum is going to survive it's going to take action from the members to make that happen! That being said, as much as you may not like the idea, it may require webinars and events featuring non-sponsor speakers. I understand why this could be a problem for the paying sponsors, however if there's no activity there's not much use in being a sponsor. 

Our colleagues in the industry are hungry for interaction and communication with others in the field. But this isn't something that can be forced. It requires influence gained for the greater good, not just for profit. It takes hard work by all involved, for instance one of the key reasons that the facebook group has the growth and activity it does has nothing to do with the platform - It's because Bambi works the group constantly! She's finding speakers, reaching out to shop owners, going to groups where shop owners are present and offering to help and the list goes on and on! Build it and they will come only tells half the story - you need a reason for them to come, value in the experience, presence and a road map so they know where to go. If you want to see more activity here from the group, get a facebook account, join the group and participate! While you can only come to push the group, begin to offer the great advice that was once offered here! Show whats happening here!