Social media is a fabulous tool to promote your business. Everybody uses some form of social media, and it is a great way to reach your ideal audience quickly. People check their social media accounts sometimes dozens of times a day, and so it is imperative that your dealership gets with the program and learns how to use this tool to your advantage.
You can inform customers of new inventory, tell them about sales, and post changes in when you will be open according to holidays and weekends.
We consulted a used car dealership owner and here are a few tips you should know as you start this journey.
Increase Traffic by Knowing Your Demographic
What are your goals? Do you want to increase brand awareness or make your prospective customers more engaged? No matter what your endgame is, you have to know your target demographic.
By knowing this, you can share things that your customers will be interested in. Ask for CRM (customer-relationship management) data in making your plan. Ask whomever is in charge of marketing to help you find out your dealership area’s general levels of income, professions, lifestyles and more of the residents nearby.
Get in on the ground floor by chatting with customers directly and making mental notes. Then tailor your social media posts so that they match the interests of your nearby customers.
Make A Plan
Simply saying “tailor the posts to your clients’ needs” is not good enough. You will want to post things that are relevant to your clients, but that’s only a small part of an effective social media marketing campaign. Have a plan in place. Utilize a social media calendar and fill it with a variety of content that is specific to your business along with ads each week.
Brevity is the soul of wit here-keep it short and sweet, or customers will just keep scrolling. Another great way to draw in customers and keep them coming back to your page is by holding a monthly prize drawing or contest to generate new leads and reach out to customers who fill out a contest form or “like” your page. It may help to assign the job of responding to all social media posts to someone at your dealership or hire a freelancer to help do it for you.
Be Consistent
Consistency is key when you want to have an effective social media campaign. The way to increase your views is to share more and more useful content. Having a ton of likes on your page is good, but if you do not post at least once or twice per day, your presence is not acknowledged, and your page may be forgotten altogether by some users.
No matter what type of content you post, whether you’re creating your own or sharing somebody else’s, you just have to be consistent about it. Be sure the content that is your own (and others for that matter) is of good quality and relevance. You can share tools that are helpful for prospective buyers, car care tips, your dealership’s top ten safest models, etc.
Utilize Facebook Marketplace
Facebook Marketplace is a relatively new feature that has people buying and selling their stuff to people in their local area. As a dealer, you can post your pre-owned inventory for free, and you have a huge range of people who are actively seeking a car.
You can chat with customers directly right over Facebook, informing them of what they would like to know about the car they are interested in. You can get a feel for what type of customer you’ll be dealing with, and the sales process can move along much faster in this regard.
Conversations can happen anywhere, as people can chat with you via a messaging system instead of a scheduled phone call, which can be too rigid for some. And in today’s tech-centered society, many people feel more comfortable discussing matters over text instead of phone.
Be Mindful of Your Reviews
Aside from posting content, creating traffic with ads, and making sure your material reaches others, you will want to be mindful of the reviews that are posted on social media and sites like Google and Yelp. A good reputation ensures that business stays in the black, so you must effectively respond to each and every review to keep a good reputation.
Direct complaints away from the public eye by providing a person to contact, a phone number, and email so that you can follow up and rectify privately. Do also apologize without admitting guilt, and do not offer to do anything right away (other customers may see this as a way to get free stuff).
You might even use a program like ReviewTrackers that helps you keep an eye on several review sites at once.
Conclusion
In closing, utilizing social media to make your dealership more recognized and generate more leads is a smart business idea. Just be sure to go about it in an organized and consistent way, and it will serve you well.
