It is hard to miss the impact that social media marketing (SMM) is having on all types of businesses. For an automotive dealership, the ability to target a specific audience through SMM is a very effective way to keep in touch with a current customer base and reach out to new buyers.
There are some specific ways that any dealership can get started with automotive dealership social media marketing programs or to tweak the ones already in place. As with any marketing you will want to ensure you have a unified and uniform message, choose branding on all messages that clearly identifies your business, and provide more than just sales information to customers and potential new buyers.
In addition, to boost your automotive dealership social media marketing program try the following simple tips for effective interactions:
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Analytics – it is essential to have some way to track the value of any SMM program. There are free analytics through Google and other services that will let you know what messages are driving customers to your website or resulting in people interacting with your staff or the company site.
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Use the right platform – if you are trying to reach a specific audience you need to use the social media platform that makes sense. Instagram, Pinterest, Google Plus, Tumblr, Snapchat and Vine are great for the younger audience while Facebook and Twitter are often the best options for marketing to a wider audience in age. Sites like LinkedIn may be the perfect option to market fleet services or executive types of vehicles.
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Make posts relevant – customers don’t want to be seen as customers all the time. Providing relevant content that gives them something of value, such as guides, tips for vehicle care or even top road trips in your geographic area are all effective to generate interest and get your posts, blogs and websites shared and visited.
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Engage your audience – the whole point of automotive dealership social media marketing is to be social. That means there is an ongoing conversation between the dealership and the customers, often not directly focused on buying a vehicle. This builds a rapport and creates a feeling of a trusted resource when the customer does decide to buy.
Finally, be sure to identify people in your sales and marketing team that will be involved in interactions on the automotive dealership social media marketing sites. These individuals should be trained in using the specific site to maximize the potential for becoming a trusted resource and also avoiding embarrassing possible issues that quickly become the latest story on social media.
