Is your dealership on social media? Are you posting content regularly? If not, then you are really missing out on the chance for real growth in your business.
Back in 2015, a study determined that social media had a bigger impact on the auto industry than previously predicted. Approximately 75 per cent of car buyers were more interested in visiting social media and review sites to make a purchase rather than the dealership’s actual website.
So, with that in mind, it might be worth the time and effort to learn some strategies going forward in social media advertising.
Carefully Choose Your Platforms
No matter what platform you choose to advertise and socialize on, each one can have their individual advantages. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and even YouTube have their specific audiences and it can be important, even vital, to understand those audiences before diving in head first.
Facebook is an absolute must use to target consumers. Despite recent discoveries and opinions with the platform, Facebook still continues to be the most used platform of all social media, with research showing that possibly over 70% of the planet’s population have a profile.
You can create a page specifically for your business to update consumers about new product, updates about the business and anything else you feel needs to be known. But, it’s Facebook Ads that’ll really help you gain traction online.
When used correctly, you can place advertisements specifically aimed towards those who are in the market for a new automobile. This is made even easier by the ability to select the audience you think will most likely gravitate towards your business, including gender, consumer interests and much more.
You choose the budget, which determines how many people can see the advertisement and how far it’ll reach out. No matter what you think, this is an investment that’s worth the effort. Research from Unified has shown that auto ads are twice as likely to be clicked on than the average Facebook advertisement.
Twitter can sometimes be a real question mark for those new to social media. The character limit and “questionable” audiences can be intimidating but, in reality, Twitter is a very popular choice for auto consumers.
Back in 2013, Marketshare research discovered that the platform drove approximately $716 million in car sales. Research from Canvs also found that more than 327,000 auto-related tweets are sent out on the daily, with 75 per cent related to owning or shopping.
Twitter is all about quick quips, hence the limited characters allowed in tweet. This is not a platform for long reading, it’s about getting to the point. And with the ability to “@” anyone you want in a tweet, you can easily connect with those you want to do business with.
When using Twitter, you should be using keyword targeting. This method can be picked up through signals and direct messages and advertising can be sent directly to the consumers who displayed intent.
Can you guess which demographic loves Instagram? If you guess millennial or younger, then you would correct. It’s actually so popular with the younger generations that a survey conducted by Facebook determined that more millennials are choosing to leave Facebook for Instagram.
This shouldn’t be a huge surprise since Instagram’s whole deal is the visual; uploading and sharing videos and pictures. This could be a terrific platform where you can really tell your brand’s story in a fun, creative way. This can start with simply sharing top-notch photos of your inventory, all shiny and new but then gradually move up to sharing quick videos of test drives and interior/exterior highlights.
The younger generation isn’t interested in reading about why your product is great, they want to cut through the needless fat and see with their own eyes why a certain automobile is for them. If you want to target a younger audience, Instagram is not only a great start, but an essential beginning.
YouTube
Did you know that 84 per cent people on the market for a new automobile plan on watching auto videos? It’s true, it was proven through research with Force Marketing.
Can’t be that surprising though, buying a car is big deal. This isn’t something you can just look at people’s opinion, they need to see it in action. These buyers are interested in looking for additional information on a vehicle they are interested in purchasing, including safety features, model comparisons and so forth. You can deliver all this information through a YouTube video.
It’s very similar to Instagram, except your not constrained to the one-minute maximum on your content. When you post to YouTube on your own channel, you can embed the videos on your website and even share them to other social media platforms.
Something else to keep in mind, when you reach 1,000 subscribers on
Also, there’s always the possibility of your channel really taking off, meaning you could earn a little extra revenue if you choose to do so.
Be 100% Committed
It’s easy to look at the world of social media and think, “This can’t be that hard, it’s just posting some updates every once in a while.” But, unfortunately, this is not the case.
While sure, we’ve seen that really anyone with an opinion can write some nonsense and send it out into the internet for the world to see, but it takes real talent to create engaging content. It takes proper copywriting, graphic artistry, planning, creativity and even luck to become really successful on any platform.
However, the one thing you must keep in mind is that you need to keep at it. No matter how futile it may seem, garnering an audience doesn’t happen overnight. You need to plan how often you want to publish to each platform, what you want to publish to each and then keep to that schedule. It’s not only about creating engaging content, but understanding what kind of engaging content your audience positively reacts to.
Being active and staying on course is one sure-fire way to become successful on social media.
Communicate!
The deepest root of social media is communication. It’s not so much about putting some advertisements and content out into the world, it’s about creating a line of communication with your consumers.
Every once in a while, create some content with the intention of engaging with your audience. How can you do that though?
Well, you can simply start by mentioning some people and/or businesses in your posts, giving them a chance to communicate back. Collaborate on some blog posts if that’s how you’re running your website. Eventually, you can do regular polls, quizzes or anything else you want to use in order to connect further with automobile enthusiasts in your area.
If you give your consumer audience a platform to voice their opinions, you’ll see positive results.
Tell A Story
Don’t be afraid to really dive into some real storytelling on social media. You might think that storytelling could be boring, or it won’t get as many engagements. However, the opposite is most likely the case.
If you were to do a post about the history of a particular car model, chances are the right buyer will be interested in it, and that’s what this is all about. You can also talk about production and development about a new model coming to your inventory. This is also possible with used vehicles, going into detail about the maintenance history, specs and anything else that’d be noteworthy.
Eventually, you’ll end up creating a community where it’s encouraged to share similar stories; using comedy, emotion and other means, allowing your business to continue growing online.
Use Analytics
When all that’s said and done, one of the most important strategies in social media marketing is the use of analytics. On each social media platform, you can access to analytics of each post which include the engagements, clicks and other stats of each post you create.
No beating around the bush here, this will essentially be the lifeblood of your success on social media. Studying this data will help you determine what’s working with your audience and what’s not. You can use this information to shape your future content to fit what your audience will react more positively towards. Guaranteed, if you use analytics frequently and effectively, your social media journey will be a lot easier.