Social Media Strategy For Auto Dealers
If you are considering using social media marketing, consider how social media is different than paid search marketing or 3rd party lead sources like Autobytel, Dealix, or Cars.com. Social media rests much higher up the purchase funnel than traditional lead sources. While you may use social media to promote service specials and one-off inventory sales, it’s best to remember that social media is more about providing value to the community than throwing up advertisements and special offers online.
Social Media Marketing for Auto Dealers – Where do I Start?
Before you jump into social media marketing, clearly define the goals that are important to your dealership in this medium. Can you use Twitter and Facebook to service more vehicles and sell more cars, most likely you can. But remember, the social area is more about share of mind than taking action now. Using a strong social media strategy for auto dealers allows you to interact with your local market in a positive way and manage your dealership’s reputation. The most important thing you can do here is START WITH A PLAN.
As a business owner you want to control your social media message just as you do with any other marketing you do for your dealership. After all, it’s your dealerships’ name and brand on the line. When your dealership starts down the path of engaging in social media marketing, you are putting your business and brand online for all to see. Your past and future customers can leave messages about how awesome or awful their customer experience was.
Social Media Strategy For Auto Dealers – Step One
Ok, you have decided to give social media marketing a try, so where do you begin? The first basic step in developing your social media strategy will be to determine how you’re going to generate and publish your content for the medium. Content generation and social authoring isn’t something to be taken lightly nor should it be left in the hands of your Internet department. It’s very easy for your Internet sales team to assume that “Twittering” all day is the same thing as selling cars, but it’s not. Responding correctly to inbound phone calls, walk in traffic and email leads is their primary responsibility and needs to remain their main focus. Posting Tweets and sitting on Facebook bypasses your sales processes and the hard work of actually selling cars.
Dealers that have become active in social media have quickly learned that an effective social media strategy can benefit just about every department within the dealership. Before you embrace a social media strategy for auto dealers, decide how it will be managed and who will be responsible for the content generation and placement.
A seasoned digital marketing professional with over 20 years of expertise in digital marketing, search engine optimization, search engine marketing, brand development, conversion optimization, lead generation, web development and data analytics. He is a strategic digital marketing thought leader in a multitude of business verticals including automotive, education, financial services, legal marketing and professional services.
