Four Steps to Connect with Customers on Social Media
Does your dealership have a strong social media presence? Until now, you may have taken the approach of letting shoppers discover your dealership at their leisure and come see you, but the way that shoppers browse for units has changed. Now you need to focus on bringing your dealership to your online customers, who have multiple options to choose from and may not find your dealership without your help.
Dealer Spike has outlined the four main steps of modern marketing to help you plan your social media approach:
Discovery: Current and potential customers alike use social media as a source of discovery, not just interaction. They browse social platforms with the intention to learn new information, answer a question and even make a purchase. If you have a good idea of what consumers in your area are browsing for, you can populate your social feed with that information (such as a promotional coupon, inventory listing or congratulating a customer for their recent purchase at your dealership). By proactively providing the content that browsers want, you’re more likely to intersect their path early on in their search.
Attraction: Once you understand what your audience will want to see on your social pages, you can craft targeted social campaigns to engage the ideal customer demographic. Organically, you can create social media posts that you know will appeal to your audience--seasonal promotions, holiday business hours, your dealership’s value statement and so forth. To reach a higher volume of the right kind of customer, we also recommend investing in paid social ads, which use highly targeted funneling to display your content to specific customer groups and increase your dealership’s exposure--not to mention your customer conversion rate.
Engagement: A good social media strategy is founded on actively managing your profiles and creating a connection with your audience. Getting your content in front of an audience is excellent PR for your dealership, but if you can take it a step further and interact with your followers, you have a much higher chance of converting new customers! Make sure you are responding to any and all comments on your posts and messages in your inbox--ideally within 24 hours of receiving them. Take time to analyze these conversations to help you understand your audience and what they are wanting from your social profiles. Word of mouth is also very important among consumers, so be sure to encourage your followers to share their experiences at your dealership with their social networks.
Connection: Create a well-rounded strategy that blends your promotional posts with entertaining content, such as memes, funny work stories and informational articles. Consumers are much more likely to purchase from brands that they form a personal connection with, so don’t shy away from projecting your business’ personable side on your social profiles.
To connect with modern shoppers in a digitally centric consumer world, dealers need to invest in social media marketing that proactively provides the content customers are looking for and engages them on a personal level. Social media gives you the opportunity and resources to reach specific demographics and target shoppers who would make the perfect customer, even if they haven’t discovered your dealership yet. You don’t have to wait for customers to come to you anymore--go to them, wherever they are browsing on social media, and show them why your dealership is exactly what they’ve been hoping to find!