Developing Your Social Media Presence

Once you’ve established a social media presence for your dealership, it’s important to consider how you’ll keep your accounts thriving. Abandoned presences are worse than no presence at all—but by creating a strategy and devoting time in your weekly schedule to social media, you will be able to effectively utilize your social media platforms and influence potential buyers. Creating a social media calendar is a great way to stay organized and on target.

Use what you’ve got

You probably have more to share than you think. Consider ways to repurpose the content you already have as well as creating new content. Can you reuse any press coverage you’ve received and share it on Twitter? Can you take new lifestyle shots and share the images on Instagram? Do you have an event or sale coming up that you can stream a live video for on Facebook? Can you think outside the box and create posts that address problems, concerns or interests your customers have that are relevant to your business? Share behind-the-scenes photos, ways your product or business is helpful in the real world, and showcase client stories and how you helped them succeed.

Share the right mix of content

On every social network, you need a solid mix of self-promotion, testimonials and “randomness,” as well as original content that’s of pure value to your readers. Self-promotion includes direct links to your website, peeks behind the scenes, and news about your company. Testimonials can be pulled from a Yelp page, an email, or a blog or article endorsing your product. Randomness can include funny photos, holiday wishes, quotes and shared content from other resources that is interesting and relevant. Get creative!

Network

No matter what networks you use, you should be actively following/monitoring influencers, experts, marketers, brands, companies, and publications in our industry. This will help you stay aware of what’s important to your customers. Retweet their articles, like their posts, share their updates, comment on their blogs, or link to their content. Your followers will enjoy your shared content, as long as it is relevant. You have to become a consumer of social media to win at social media. The good news is that in the social media land, it’s OK to “steal” as long as you give credit—it’s called sharing, and you should do it often. Set aside at least 15 minutes each day to read your feeds.

Keep at it!

You can make an impact and grow your social following in as little as one hour per week. Facebook’s scheduling feature lets you queue up posts in advance. Social media dashboards, such as Hootsuite, let you queue up content, so you can actually prepare months of content in one sitting.

When you enter the social media space, you’re building a relationship with your audience, potential customers and brand enthusiasts. Check your messages, and respond to consumer inquiries in a timely manner. These relationships can have a huge impact on sales, and a ripple effect in terms of attracting new customers.