Three Levels of a Car Dealers Social Media Strategy
By: Jim Rucker
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It's official. Everyone has, at some point, heard of or used social media. Most car dealers have at least considered integrating it into their marketing strategy. Some have taken the leap. Many have failed.
The few who have truly found success fall into three primary groups. Determining which method is best for you and your dealership is as easy as looking at your dealership needs, the level of commitment, and the budget (if any) available. Below, you will find a breakdown of the three levels and learn ways to determine what is best for you.
The Toedipper
There's nothing wrong with being cautious. Social media is often called "New Media" or "Emerging Media" because it is just that - new and emerging. While many social media sites have been around for years and tons of companies have taken advantage of the possibilities for a long time, it hasn't been until last year and 2010 that it has truly "emerged" as a viable option in the automotive marketing arena.
The Toedipper is the most basic and easiest way to get involved in social media with neither the budget to support it or the time to get involved. It's better than nothing, and leaves room for more engagement later if budget and/or time open up.
At the very basic level, make sure your dealership has a Facebook fan page and Twitter account that are updated regularly. Surely someone can fi nd the 10 minutes a day it takes to see what people are saying to you, grow the accounts a little at a time and offer a small amount of engagement to keep the accounts fresh.
As the importance of social media grows, it will become easier to push accounts and pages that have a "rolling start" rather than starting with a new account and no experience later. Update your page and "tweet" interesting things about your dealership, your brand, your city... anything that people might find interesting. The Toedipper should not post inventory or specials very often, as they are not engaged enough to "earn" the right to do so.
Instead, post extra-special things (interesting trade-ins, super sales, etc) sparingly and only when there are enough "non-spammy" updates and tweets to separate each attempt at marketing.
The Engager
With a small budget of either time, money or both, a dealership's Internet manager or anyone who has an hour a day can have a very strong presence on social media. Start off with the primary sites: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr and MySpace. Build these accounts regularly and rapidly, posting updates at least once a day.
The Engager is talking to people. He/she is active within the "community," looking into what others are doing, customizing pages, posting interesting things, and occasionally posting specials or unique inventory items.
An hour a day (normally broken into two 30-minute slots) is enough to be a good engager, though more is better.
The Social Media Presence
If your dealership can either hire a strong social media marketing firm or hire a dedicated person to manage the accounts, you're ready for the "big leagues." Add every profile listed above. Then create a blog. Then add other social media sites - there are thousands. Feel free to contact me for recommendations on others to join, but keep in mind that having a presence on certain sites can be a bad thing if your accounts aren't active. Only bite off what you know you can chew. Services that offer "hundreds of social media profiles" will do more harm to you and your reputation than good.
Post to the blog at least once a week. Talk about things that are happening locally. "Cover" a local little-league baseball game for a team that your dealership sponsors with pictures and videos posted to the blog, Facebook, etc.
Let everything feed upon everything else. If you post a strong blog post, link to it from Facebook. Tweet it. Post videos to YouTube, then embed them on your blog (then post them to Facebook and tweet them).
Talk to people. This is the key. Having someone dedicated to building the accounts also requires that they are communicating with everyone involved.
Regardless of which group you want to fit into, let me repeat a key point: Don't bite off more than you can chew. It's better to have the right level of engagement rather than trying for too much and failing. As your accounts go stale, so too does your credibility and the perception of your dealership.
J.D. Rucker is chief marketing officer of TKCarsites. He can be contacted at866.796.9622, or by e-mail jrucker@tkcarsites.com.
This article originally appeared in AutoSuccess Magazine.
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