Valuable Online Traffic

As a dealership owner or manager who values their online presence, you have probably implemented (or at least considered implementing) online marketing through search engines, social media, and more. As you should when faced with a monetary investment decision, you probably wonder – is my money worth it? Am I going to get the return on investment that I’m looking for?

The way people make purchases in today’s world has dramatically changed, with the Internet dominating all marketing and advertising efforts. A key point that may be difficult to swallow is this – the most valuable traffic isn’t always the traffic that leads to a sale.

Word of mouth has always been the most important factor of advertising. No matter how much you spend on a commercial, radio ad, billboard, or search engine advertisement, a person’s raving endorsement about a business or purchase to a friend will always be more powerful. In a time when social media dominates communication, information spreads more quickly than ever. If someone had a positive or negative experience they want to share with others, they can do so with a Tweet or a Facebook post in a matter of seconds. This is why it’s so important to make your customers love you - turn happy customers into representatives who drive traffic to your dealership.

Things like email marketing and social media interaction promote your dealership on a much larger scale. While they may not focus on direct sales, this communication and engagement with your potential customers helps build a relationship with your business. Beyond that, social referrals have a huge impact on driving leads, and one way to get positive ones is through social engagement online. As proof of that impact, research shows that traffic to websites from Facebook posts actually drives more page views than traffic from Google.

There are multiple pathways which customers take to make a purchase. Consider this scenario:

Someone who is interested in dirtbikes does a Google search for a local dealership – if you’ve done your homework and have ensured that your website is in good condition for SEO, your site should show up in the first few search results.

After taking a look at your website, that person may decide to “like” your dealership’s Facebook page. Two weeks later, he sees a Facebook post celebrating the spring weather and encouraging followers to visit the dealership, featuring an awesome image of one of your units. He likes the post, which prompts social media algorithms to keep showing him more of your posts on his newsfeed. Even though he’s not currently in the market, he subscribes to your dealership’s weekly e-newsletter because he wants to buy a bike for himself once he saves up some more money.

A few months later, a friend of his mentions they’re in the market for a new ATV before summer starts. He immediately thinks of your dealership and tells his friend to check it out. That friend comes into your store and makes a purchase.

A best practice tip is to remember that a minority of your online marketing sources may be generating the majority of your website’s traffic. A weekly e-marketing campaign or a monthly promo ad that encourages interaction with your social media followers could be earning you indirect sales leads that far outnumber the TV commercial that you pay thousands for. Don’t underestimate the power of followers who aren’t buying now – they may purchase in the future, and beyond that they may encourage several others to make a purchase.