Successful Social Media for Local Dealerships

Recently we discussed four foundational steps of social media marketing. Now we want to emphasize the importance of engaging actively on your dealership’s social media channels, especially as we move into 2021, which will continue the digital-heavy consumer trends of 2020.

While social media is central to the modern customer’s digital shopping journey and holds a wealth of opportunities to build your brand’s notoriety, it remains a low priority for local and smaller dealerships. We understand that an active social media presence requires time that your busy team may not have, but we also know that the lead-boosting benefits of marketing on social media more than compensate for the effort expended on your accounts.

Most notably, social media is your dealership’s outlet to establishing a more personal connection with prospects and customers alike. When consumers reach out to large, multi-million-follower brands, they often are one of thousands of voices that don’t receive acknowledgement from the company. Alternatively, when a prospect contacts a local dealership through their social media profiles, the dealership can easily establish a connection by responding with a personalized greeting, answers to questions and an invitation to stop by the dealership. Shoppers feel a natural affinity to businesses that are local to their area, especially when that business capitalizes on their locality through warm, personable interactions that make it clear the business has a firm understanding of their community’s expectations and needs. 

Your local community can be your strongest selling point, and social media is your gateway to keeping your dealership involved. Your dealership offers the commodities that are valuable to your customers一and may be one of just a few local options一so social media helps you get the word out to consumers who are searching for your services. By building a following among your neighbors, you can establish your dealership as the go-to source for quality units and care. The more you engage with your following, the more your prominence will grow, and other community members will see your regular online engagements and recognize your commitment to your community. Social media makes it easy and natural to invite prospects through your doors by promoting a grand opening or seasonal sale. Furthermore, you can track pre-event engagement and follow up with attendees to receive feedback and gauge customer interest.

Dealerships who are more limited in their marketing funds often find social media to be the perfect solution for affordable marketing and customer engagement. For a handful of dollars, you can boost a social post and reach dozens more of your followers. Platforms like Facebook offer laser-focused targeting parameters to project your content to prospects who meet a desired demographic, such as radius, previous engagement and/or interactions with inventory similar to yours. Hyper-targeted content maximizes your marketing funds because it costs less and appears only to highly promising leads. 

While your dealership may not have as large a following as big-name brands, your local operation gives you a competitive edge because you have the advantage of establishing a personal connection with your community, which boosts the likelihood of converting a casual follower into a repeat customer. Social media doesn’t require hours of labor to generate results一especially if you have assistance一and the outcome is highly valuable to your dealership’s lead generation goals. 

To learn more about crafting a successful social media campaign, contact our Dealer Spike team today.