Waltham, Mass. – April 30, 2012 - DealerRater, the world’s premier car dealer review web site, today announced that its vice president of sales, Heather MacKinnon, will be a featured speaker at Chicago DigitalCON, to be held at the Chicago Automobile Trade Association, May 9-10. MacKinnon’s presentation entitled, “The Do’s & Don’ts of Building and Leveraging an Online Reputation,” will be held Thursday, May 10th at 4:15 PM. Attendees will learn about the myths vs. the realities involving online reputation management and the “do’s and don’ts” of building credible, third-party reviews.

“One in five consumers change their original dealership choice based on the reviews they read online, and reviews trump both dealer location and past dealer loyalty,” said MacKinnon. “Dealers know they need to pay attention to reviews, but what should they be doing to build more reviews and effectively leverage reviews to sell more cars?  This presentation will help you get back to the basics of building real, credible reviews for your dealership and your employees.”

Attendees will take back to their dealerships numerous valuable insights and tips, including:

• A broader understanding of the importance of an online reputation both at the dealership and employee levels, and the necessary steps to effectively monitor and build online reviews.

• Best practices for building real, credible reviews and how to recognize potential pitfalls in soliciting and building online reviews.

• Key tactics for monitoring reviews across the Web, ensuring a proper review mix, and focusing efforts on third-party review content that matters to customers and prospects.

• Strategies for leveraging online reviews to boost showroom traffic and sell more cars across the Web and in the showroom.