Social media is a great way to educate consumers, engage with them, and encourage them to complete some call to action.
To reach your followers best, we recommend focusing your digital marketing efforts on two social media platforms. If you can master two platforms, post consistently, and engage with followers, it’ll make a much bigger impact than simply posting randomly on several different platforms. This way, consumers will get to follow your story and learn what to expect when they see a post from your dealership. You don’t have to post at the same time of day or even week, but some sort of routine should be established. Using some sort of calendar to track posts or schedule future posts can help with this.
Use each social media platform for what it was created to do. For example, Snapchat Stories were created to share short, attention-grabbing videos with your audience. Instagram revolves around quality pictures, so let followers get an inside look at what your dealership does every day and who works there. If you’re looking for quality employees, try using Linked In to recruit a candidate that meshes with your auto dealership’s atmosphere and has the qualifications you desire. Facebook is a great place to connect with your customers, gain exposure for your dealership, and share interesting content. There are several other social media platforms to choose from; you should choose the two that you think will be the most beneficial and have the widest reach for your dealership.
Now that you’ve chosen your two primary social media platforms, it’s time to create some high-quality posts. This will differ depending on which platforms you have chosen or already have in place. However, the main points are the same. You should have fresh, unique content that brings value to your customers. Whether you use pictures, questions, videos, third-party articles, quotes, contests, or other information about your dealership, it should be interesting and relevant to your business and your target audience. Before you can post quality content for your target audience, you must define that audience, so don’t forget to spend time on that as part of your social media strategy. Pay attention to the tone of your posts because followers will notice if it’s not consistent over time or if it conflicts with your dealership’s values.
The purpose of your social media engagement is likely to increase sales. If not, it’s probably something that could lead to an increase in sales such as gaining brand awareness, credibility, or interest from your followers. In order to meet these goals, you have to set them first. You should set measurable, attainable goals as much as possible. You have to have a balance between having reachable goals and realizing that your presence on social media has many impacts that you cannot directly measure. Your dealership’s presence on social media should be focused on the long-term without ignoring short-term goals. You might not see results right away, but you need a good relationship with customers before they will be convinced to visit your website or actually head down to your dealership.
It’s a hard task to get followers on social media to venture to your website, go to your dealership, make a call, or sign up for something online. These call-to-actions are necessary, in moderation, to remind customers to move forward with your dealership. Engaging with those who comment on your posts shows that you care about your followers whether they like your dealership or not. Try to respond to comments, messages, or any other interactions on social media within 24 hours. If you demonstrate that your dealership cares about more than just sales or promoting their vehicles, you might actually inspire more conversations and gain more followers.
Be sure to monitor the effects that your social media presence is having on customers. Use analytics to see where your leads are coming from and how many likes, shares, and comments different posts get. This will help your dealership narrow down what types of posts are most effective in different ways. You can infer what posts are most popular or what information your followers want to know more about.
Social media is a great tool that allows your dealership to engage with customers and potential car buyers while simultaneously increasing your online presence. Using it effectively will only increase the impact you’re having on followers.